don't quit your day job

The Party Faithful, off duty

10.18.09

oh boy, here we are at it again....trying to be cool drummers when really, we're clearly meant to be on a keyboard (me) and guitar (patrick). 

this shot came after 24+ hours of being holed up in our studio in a recording session for drums. no complaints, just a lot of set up time and being a supportive bandmate. a huge eye-opening experience...just by watching. 

here's the rundown:

DAY 1, Friday:

11am: waiting in a coffeeshop with bobby (our said drummer du jour), over tofu scramble and coffee.  we head over to our first stop in willyburg to pick up some special gear, only to find out that fedex hadn't arrived at their quoted time (as per usual).  luck beholds us and just as we're about to leave stop #1, bobby sees the fedex carrier walking towards my car holding a package...potentially ours.  after a quick chase and signature, the package was released and put in my trunk. Success.

1:30pm: personal errands in the city, since we have about a 5 hour gap before heading to our other pickups, which could only be arranged post-work ours. i drop off thankyou cards to my future employer thakoon (wheeee), and we stop by sam ash for some mics. i play with photoshop on my laptop, waiting in the car, while he does his thing in sam ash.

6pm: hungry and tired. breakfast only lasts apparently for a few hours.  by this time we are both starving to the point where all conversation is put on hold, the silence entertained by the subpar radio music. back to greenpoint we situate at Brooklyn Label (yum) and prepare ourselves for the trip to Long Island, to pick up more gear.  

7pm: mic pickup, done. head to Dream Hire for more mics. (yes, we need a lot of mics). the poor guy helping us out has a tough job, working 10-8 every day, including holidays.

  

8pm: arrive in Long Island for, you guessed it, more mics. i meet We The They, who invite us to a halloween gig, tbd. it's interesting to see how other band studios are set up, which instruments they use and how they use them...the lights, the backdrops, everything...after chatting with their keyboardist, i realized i'd rather have the larger nord electro 2 than the smaller but more powerful nord electro 3.  to each their own...i guess i really do need those extra ivories to feel like a pianist.

10pm: back in our studio in williamsburg for the grand Setup. clear the studio, set up drums, set up mic positions.  

1am: signal processing. (wtf?) i later learn it's a serious skill to understand the web of cables that are involved in cable hookups for Recording. i am convinced that all recording engineers are are cross between electrical engineers and mechanical engineers. brilliant minds.

4am: day 1, over. the room is ready for recording, aside from finalizing mic positions. oh, we are still missing 2 mics....to be received the next morning. i drop bobby off and head home. don't sleep until 6am.

DAY 2, Saturday:

11am: get a text from Patrick saying he'll arrive at my door in 45 min. i rub my sleepy eyes and psyche myself out for the day.  it's going to be another long one.

12pm: Patrick and I arrive at coffeeshop for more, um, coffee. bobby meets us there and we chill for a bit, talking about our next song and how we want a Steinway grand and real orchestra to be a part of the recording. dreams and coffee...pretty good combo.

12:30pm: finalize mic placement.

1:30pm: ready to record drums!!! it's awesome.

7:30pm: it's a wrap for today. more tomorrow, but time to party.  we gorge on delicious tacos from La Esquina (interesting crowd, fantastic food) and grab some drinks at the Gatsby before meeting erica and friends to watch a band play. then we head to B Bar, for shots of Petron, shop talk, and munch on fries and calamari while 6 of us cozy up in a round booth. 

2:30am: band sleepover. yay!! i pass out, after having 'discussed' loudly with erica my apartment situation. we should just get a band house already....oooor, not.

DAY 3, Sunday:

11:45am: i can't believe i sleep until then.  bagels and coffee, then back to the studio for the final round of recording. but first, a drop off to our mixing engineer of the drums tracks from Saturday. 

2pm: more drum recording. this time i'm up for playing the keys, for "2013"...i'm liking it a lot. literally, music to and in my ears.

7:00pm: it's a wrap. it's always crazy when you realize it took 18 hours to set up, for 1.5 hours of breakdown. it's all in the preparation....

8:30pm: to sunnyside, where we all mentally and emotionally part ways yet stay under 1 roof.  totally pooped. but totally worth it. We are halfway towards an album.