posted
Yeah. My new band, here at Oberlin, recently went into the studio to record a recent song of mine, "Kira".
It's done, for the most part. My lead singer had a cold, and it destroyed his voice, which is painfully evident in the song, so we're gonna rerecord his part. Also, my lead guitarist's solo in the bridge didn't mesh well, so we're retaking that part too.
I can send people what we have though. Neither version have my lead guitarists solo, but I have a version both with and without lead vocals.
Just lemme know if you want to hear it.
P.S. Everything we did in the recording we can actually do in concert. Well, not really. We can't make the echo sounds and effects like that, but we didn't do more than one track for member of the band or anything like that.
Posts: 1934 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
Sure, send it to the email addy in my profile. ::Peeks into profile to make sure she isn't lying::
Posts: 701 | Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
Wow, Noah, it's sounding so great! I can't wait to hear the final verson. The new band is really good, aren't they? I'm so glad you guys found each other!
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Me too! You have no idea how happy this band makes me. We all love music and love playing it. We're all totally into this band. And screw humbleness, we're all really good musicians. Three of us are even Music Majors in the Oberlin Conservatory.
As for names, we've almost settled on one.
"Double Booked" It's been voted "yes" already by three of the seven of us. I have yet to hear from the other four, who probably just haven't checked their email yet.
The coolest part about it is it tells the story of how we got together. (Note: This is a LONG story.)
It all started when I posted on an Oberlin-to-Be (for incoming freshman) Liverjournal community during the summer that I wanted to start a serious band when I got to Oberlin, and I was wondering if anyone was interested in trying out.
This kid Patrick replies, saying he loves to jam and also wants to be in a band, but the problem is he's also a drummer like me.
I never really spoke much to Patrick throughout this semester, but occasionally we'd ask each other how the band stuff was going. First both of us were having a hard time finding a place to store our drums since there are only three closets shared by six bands in the one oberlin practice room.
I managed to get together a bass player (Jay), a singer (Noah, no not me. Another Noah), a guitarist (Ralph), and a keyboardist/backup vocalist (Matt).
We signed up as an official oberlin band, giving us access to sign up for time slots for the practice room. Only problem is, I still didn't have a drumset.
We decided to try recording a song (Kira) until we could get closet space for Spring Semester. I laid down the drum tracks, and laying down bass was next. Now don't get me wrong. Jay's an awesome kid, and I know he can play bass really well, but the guy both wasn't really into it, and flat out gets drunk or flakes out all the time. We were supposed to come up with a bass part and practice it, then go into the studio the next day, having the song practiced enough that we could lay it down easily, quickly, and efficiently enough.
Jay was drunk off his ass that night. The practice was a waste of time, and lasted 20 minutes.
We were supposed to go into the studio the next night, but once again he was drunk, and didn't make it.
Finally we got him into the studio the next night, but since he didn't really have a part to play, we spent an hour figuring out a decent bass line, and he spent time teaching it to himself. We wound up only getting half the song done.
Now what you have to understand is that my drum track had taken a while too (not quite as long as Jay), because I too had to figure out a drum part for the song (simply because there had been no drumset on campus I knew of that I could practice it on). Needless to say at this point the guys who were recording us were getting pissed cuz it was taking so long, they were putting a lot of work into it, and they were doing it all for a cheap ass flat rate of $120 cuz they knew we were just starting out, wanted to help us, and love recording. (They also just started up their own recording studio).
This is where things started to change. I knew what the band really needed if it was to survive was a real jam-session practice where everyone was present. I had tried once before to borrow a friend's drumset and bring it into the practice room, but I wound up not being able to get a car to transport it, so the practice was cancelled the day before.
But back then I had asked a sort-of-friend if I could get her help with her car transporting her drums, and she told me her boyfriend, whom hangs out with my roomates friends, had a drumset in the closet space, and to ask him if I could borrow his. I just hadn't felt comfortable doing that. At the very least, I wanted it to be more casual, asking him if I randomly ran into him, rather than seeking him out to ask him.
So yeah, now back to the part where I realized that after the failed attempt at Jay's recording, we desperately needed a full band jam sessions. I brought it up to the guys and they wanted to do it. I planned it a week in advance, and ran into my friend's boyfriend, who said I could use his drums.
Fast forward to the day of the practice. I go to my bass player's room 30 minutes before the practice to remind him of it, for fear that he had forgotten when he got drunk the night before. He said he'd be there. Then I proceeded to carry and roll all the massive amounts of equipment with some of my guys to the practice room.
Patrick and his band had also booked the room for the same time, because the stupid people in the Student Union had three sheets for the same week. Patrick's band had been going really slow too, and I'm not certain, but I think this might have also been their first practice.
We decided to switch off, cuz he said only his bass player was there, that none of his other guys had yet come and he didn't know if they even would. I thanked him, and asked him if I could use his drums which were already set up in the room, instead of having to get out the other set. (He had managed to acquire closet space somehow). He told me I could.
We all go up to the room. Out of my band, only my bass player is missing. Figures. My guitarist, who had been jamming with Patrick and Patrick's bass player, Eric, suggested we all just screw it and jam together. We all agreed.
It gets better.
We were gonna try and have Patrick and I playing complex beats at once, and get both drumsets out. Yet when we open the closet, the other drumset isn't there.
We had an extra guitar though, so I pick that up. Turns out that both Patrick and I play a small amount of guitar and have been teaching ourselves.
Which meant we could have Patrick and I switching between rythm guitar and drums.
The six of us jammed for a long time, and were all surprised at how good we were, how much chemistry we had, and how much fun it was.
After the practice we decided to combine and make one large band. It was perfect.
There were only a couple things left to figure out.
Our band still had that recording to finish. I was worried that Patrick and Eric wouldn't want to jump so quickly into recording. I mean hell, they'd also have to pay their share of the recording, and we had all only had one practice together.
Eric was quick to agree. He loves to play, and the recording was only gonna cost us each $16, which is really cheap considering it's music-recording.
Patrick and I talked about it for a bit, and I quickly convinced him. Just mentioned how we'd need a demo to get any shows regardless. That it would mean we wouldn't have to do it in the spring, and that it wasn't too expensive. And lastly, it's just flat out fun to show the recording to your friends and be like, "Damn straight, that's ME playing!." After that last remark, he was like, "True enough. Alright, I'm in."
Only one piece of the story remains.
We had our lead singer, Noah. Matt could sing harmony. But I remembered Matt telling me much earlier that he could only really sing a lot when playing non-complex stuff on the keyboard. Fair enough.
I had a good friend of mine, Rick, who was in the Obertones, an awesome A Cappella group at Oberlin. Earlier when I played and sang (on my acoustic guitar)for him and our friend Shawn the song "Kira" which at the time I had written a few days earlier, he harmonized with me on the spot, singing lyrics and all. I found out much later that Rick has perfect pitch. Rick had told me that day that if our band ever wanted a singer, to let him know. I thanked him, but we already had a singer. Also, he didn't seem overly enthusiastic about it. I mean, I know he meant it, but he was content either way. Also, Rick's schedule is fairly busy at a lot of times, so it might be too hard for him to schedule practices and stuff.
Yet I had been thinking about it a lot, and thought he might be the perfect addition to the band. Someone who could sing awesome harmony, since Noah doesn't have the training to do that. Also it would mean we could do overlapping lyrics, and have Noah and Rick sing at each other. Cool stuff like that.
I brought it up to Noah, but it never really surfaced until the night of the six-guy band practice. I kind of jumped the gun and mentioned the idea to Rick that night, saying we might be looking for another singer. He was busy though, and we said we'd talk about it later.
I talked it over with a few of the guys, and they agreed that it would be a good idea to add him. I kind of slid it under the cover and decided to ask Rick without consulting everyone (namely Patrick and Eric, cuz I wasn't sure how they would react after having just joined the band themselves).
We were all going into the studio in two days, and I emailed Rick asking him to join, and explaining why he'd have a lot of fun doing it and what he could bring to the band. No reply. I was getting antsy, cuz if he joined, I would much preferred to have him in the recorded song with the rest of us.
I found out the next morning that he had just gotten dumped by his girlfriend, and Shawn and I both agreed that it'd be better if I wait a while before I asked him. I knew it was the right thing to do, yet I was still a little bummed, cuz I was really hoping he would join in time.
That night, I ran into Rick, Shawn, and a couple others who were on their way to go bowl. Rick was in a much lighter mood, and mentioned it. I decided to take the chance and ask him. He was very intrigued, and had said he had read my email, but said he was really busy. I mentioned that we'd probably only be meeting about once a week, except for the beginning of spring semester, where we'd be focusing on getting together a setlist for a concert.
He said, "Well, that's a different story." Later that night he joined the band, and recorded with us the next day.
Now he's as into this band as I am.
We recorded, and sounded great. Jim was really impressed at how together I had gotten things (I had gotten all the parts written or had gotten people to write them, and we had all had small rehearsals before going into the studio, which made things go pretty smooth), and really got into things, letting us record later into the day then we had agreed on, so we could get the song finished (even though we have to redo the lead vox and a guitar solo).
The guys had fun recording too, and we're all pretty pleased with the recording, and with the future ahead of us.
Anyways, to make a very long story short, that's the history of our band, and that's why it's looking as if we're gonna name ourselves "Double Booked".
And now I'm gonna study for my three exams i have today, which I should have done a long long time ago.
posted
I definitely like the song too. Only criticism is that i think maybe the levels need tweaking, because the guitar intro is somewhat highpitched and screechy (at least on my computer, maybe it's my settings that are off).
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Yeah, the rythm guitar's a bit too loud at the beginning. The screetchyness (mostly heard in the beginning) is just part of the beloved traits of the electric guitar though.
Posts: 1934 | Registered: Jun 2001
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