Gettin' Busy

Ahhh, the last day of May. I'm fixin' the mixin' on Monster and re-doing the vocals. Got word back from Cleopatra about a Best Of Kill Switch...Klick CD. They say they might be interested. Man...this year is gettin' busy all of the sudden.

Dinosaur

Took the kids to see Dinosaur today. A pretty decent movie, especially the asteroid scenes. I give it a 4 out of 5 star rating. Worked on the guitar solo/ break on Monster and started recording the vocals. Gotta a real nice rock-a-billy vibe goin' with the slap back echo applied liberally to the vocals.

SONY MDR-750

Finished the lyrics for Monster two days ago. I was recording the backing vocal tracks and scratch lead vocal when my headphones died yesterday. So I had to go to Guitar Center here in Seattle to buy a new pair. $100.00! I've been using SONY MDR-7506's since the deGENERATE album (about 4 years ago). They are great studio reference headphones, and I'm used to their
flat response (limited coloration). I tried using a cheap-ass Radio Shack pair yesterday and was totally lost. It's hard to explain but without a clear reference point you can't mix sounds against each other. It takes alot of practice to mix. Not too much or too little bass, strong but not overpowering drums (I have a tendency to mix the drums out front)...and don't bury the vocals. You get used to something and that becomes your point of reference. Now I'm adding vocals and guitar breaks to Monster...should be finished this Memorial Day Weekend. I love 3 day weekends. I have a day job unloading trucks, and sometimes I'm so tired when I get off work I don't wanna do nothin'. I hate that. iRegular has been doin' better so I am cutting down my schedule this summer
to 4 days a week. It'll be like 3 day weekends all the fucking time! Except...owning a label is even more work than a 9-5'er. At least it's something I really enjoy. My wife is playing her Djembe upstairs. She has an all-female dance & percussion group.
Our house sounds like a music store. Stuff going on all the time, people coming over to jam or record.
It's all about music, music, music.

Monster...again

Working on the lyrics for Monster...again.

5:15

Everything went well at AVAST Studios last night with the Faith & Disease sessions. The last piano track got a little out of sync. Might have been my recorder. We couldn't figure it out, but fixed it by moving the track in my hard disc recorder and re-dubbing it to the master tape. Got The Who song 5:15 laid out for Mike Ditmore to do the drums in the next week or so.

Long View To The Sk

Got the new Diamond Fist Werny CD that I did two remixes for. Its called Long View To The Sky. Tonight I'm going over to AVAST Studios to finish dumping the completed tracks for Faith & Disease's song Rubena Verde.

Rubena Verde

Working up the strings and french horns for Rubena Verde. This version of the song is going to be different from the one I did for Faith & Disease a year and a half ago that appeared on the Italian magazine compilation Losing Today Volume One. This version has live drums which gives it a more organic feel and meter. I'm supposed to take the finished tracks back to AVAST Studios tomorrow.

Faith and Disease Interview

Went back over to AVAST to interview Eric Cooley of Faith & Disease for a documentary film I making. I also interviewed the rest of Faith & Disease to document the recording of their album Beneath The Trees. The tape looks very good. These are the
first interviews I've ever done on the interviewers side of the camera. It was a strange- but I liked it.

Avast

I went over to AVAST Studios today, where Faith & Disease are recording their new album and dumped a rough mix of their song Rubena Verde onto my hard disc recorder. By doing this I can take the rough home in my recorder and add keyboards and percussion in my home studio, then bring my hard disc recorder back into AVAST and dump my finished tracks. I work faster that
way and don't have to drag all my equipment over to AVAST. Besides Faith & Disease won't loose precious studio time as I record my parts. We striped the 2 inch master tape with time code so syncing the tracks I record at home should be no problem.

Lyrics For Monster

Back to lyric writing for Monster. It's starting to flow, albeit slowly. I could always leave this one as an instrumental...

Happy Mothers Day Mom

Happy Mothers Day Mom! "Such a good boy he is..." Got the Faith & Disease version of Eventually mixed and ready for 'em. Sounds very nice. Watched the Trailblazers - Jazz game on TV. Man...Utah has gotta kick some serious ass to win this one. Down 3 games to 1 and headed back to Portland. Hey this page is starting to read like a journal.

Washington State DMV

Spent the whole morning at the Washington State DMV getting my license back. I haven't been able to drive for close to 7 years because of old parking & traffic tickets. In Washington State, if you don't or can't pay your tickets you can't renew your license. How fucking lame is that?!?!? They have recently talked about instituting a payment policy because the number of drivers without a license and insurance has gotten out of control. Seems the insurance companies complained and now the state legislature is changing the law. If you want change get big business behind you (they are already behind us- fucking us up the arse hole) and by golly things will change faster'n you can say Insurance Lobby. So I finally took my driving test, passed and got the damn thing back and can legally drive. Whoop de doo. Didn't do much else except hang with my Mom. She's gotta work tomorrow.

Best Of Kill Switch...Klick

Eric Cooley came over again to sort out the version of Eventually that's gonna be on the new Faith & Disease disc. We killed most of the percussion and I'm adding another trombone part. This should be interesting...more ethereal than the Kill Switch...Klick version. Eric also said he heard my mix of Plato's Cave for Diamond Fist Werney's CD on the radio the other day. It's good to know that one of my remixes is actually getting some local airtime. I also finished the basic template for 5:15 this morning. It's been a busy weekend. P.S. I left a message with Cleopatra Records owner Brian Perera about doing a Best Of Kill Switch...Klick album. I thought it was about time. We'll see what he thinks about the idea.

Being John Malkovitc

Started tracking a song for a WHO TRIBUTE CD I'm putting out on iREGULAR. The song I'm doing is 5:15 off the Quadrophenia album. My old drummer Mike Ditmore is going to play drums on it, so it's gonna be listed as a Kill Switch...Klick track. Rented Being John Malkovitch. What a freaky-ass film. Very interesting premise. A thumbs up for a rental.

Basio

Working on the lyrics for Bassio (working title), a rippin' groovy blues track featuring James Whiton on Upright Bass. Lyrics can take the longest to write when your trying to match them to a finished piece of music. This seems to be the case for all the tracks on my new demo/CD. Monster is being a pain in the ass. The lyrics are coming in fits and spurts. I'm taking a break from it for awhile to get a fresh perspective. The Flathand 5 tapes are still a sittin' I need more time.