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Although I only listen to them now when my iWhatever brings them up on shuffle, Soundgarden was my favorite band for a few years. UltraMega OK, Louder Than Love and Badmotorfinger (especially) ruled my world. Having Sabbath as my favorite band growing up (not unlike most “metal” folks), Soundgarden, to me, was a graceful and rippin’ evolution of all my favorite elements from the first four Sabbath albums. It probably goes against all of the band’s personal musical tastes and/or interests, but I was really hoping their music would get heavier and faster while keeping the epic vocal melodies. So when Superunknown was released, no doubt I was disappointed, but it is a great album; just not as great as Badmotorfinger. And the last album… I can even remember it’s name. Anyway, I digress.

Back when Badmotorfinger was the shit for me, I transcribed the drum music for it. Sorry that it’s hand written and sloppy, but I did this in the early ’90s. Enough, said. If someone knows of a notation software that does a drumset staff format (cymbals top, drums middle, bass drums bottom) right out of the box, plz let me know about it.

Go get it.

With my previous recordings, I was just glad that I actually made it through the recording process without my body nor my equipment falling apart. Finally, I’ve produced a recording I’m proud of the drumming and the production. I’m pretty psyched about the bass and feel that the guitar is acceptable. So without further adieu, here is Adon Olam:

Adon Olam

How is this awesome feat of metal put together? First there’s a vision. Then there’s practice. And more practice. And more practice. Then there’s the draft recording. Remember, as I play all the instruments, I never actually hear them all together till I actually make the demo. Luckily at this stage of my music “career,” what I hear / envision is pretty close to if not to exactly what I hear back from the draft recording, minus the glaring imperfections in my performance. So I make mental notes of what to improve on for each of my parts. Then it’s “back to the lab again” for more practice. I finally get to a point when I know I’m not going to improve dramatically in my performance execution and if I find my capability acceptable, I then proceed to do a real recording. If any of my performances on any of the instruments do not meet my standards (which are very low, I assure you) then I scrap the idea of recording that song and move on to another till I’m ready to revisit my previous issues and are ready to knuckle down and get past them. Well, in Adon Olam’s case, I was ready to make the “real” recording. Here’s how it goes down.

I set a pre-recording count of 4 bars before the computer actually begins recording. I then let two bars pass before I begin playing. This gives me enough time to internalize the tempo of the tune and some recording “space” prior to the actual execution of the song. The first instrument of course, is the drums, as it is my strongest ability. I’ll usually rip out two or three takes. Next comes either the bass or guitar, depending on how strong I am in the execution of the parts. I always record two guitar parts and when I record the second guitar part I hard pan it with the previously recorded part so I have a clear distinction while recording. Then comes the preliminary mix which is just a simple level balance and performance review. Finally come the vocals. That’s easy. Plugin, hit record and yell. I wish I could yell like that a lot more often. Damn is that therapeutic. It’s so much fun, I double the vocals as well. Even though I always plan for “gang-esque” back-up style vox and some actual harmonic vocalization, I never get around to it, cuz I just want to get to mixing.

Mixing. I just thrown on some compression, reverb, eq and level balancing. I then play the mix through my PC speakers, a few sets of earphones and my cheap car stereo. Viola. Now because I don’t have complete “mastery” of Logic Express, I export my mix as an AIFF and import it into Audacity where I crop, fade and export as an mp3.

So there ya have it. I want to give a big shout out to JDub Records for hooking me with a plug for Maoz Tzur during Christmas week and to the sites who have picked up on The Schleps and have linked to JDub and have got in touch with me. I hope you folks enjoy the tunes and the story behind them. I have a freakin’ awesome time doing this and I am eternally grateful for all the support from my family and the internet community.

Got the drums to two new songs today.  I would have had the guitars if I would have practiced before attempting to record today.  Either way, I should have the guitar tracks done tomorrow.  Oh yeah, my Adium Iron Maiden themed dock icon set got updated tonight.  Check it out: Somewhere Online.

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