REAL drum tracks are imminent!

We met with Mike over dinner last night to set the arrangements for recording the drums. Mike seems pretty into what we've got, and he's definitely got some cool ideas brewing (we observed a definite eyebrow raise and smirk at certain points while were previewing the click tracks in his studio). Since he's an exceptional drummer, his performances should make our songs even more interesting and dynamic.

As you can imagine, Josh and I are pretty stoked to get the tracks done. We're scheduled to start tracking Monday night, so anticipation is high! We'll keep you posted...

Drum Roll, Please!

I wasn't sure if I was going to make our session last night. The weather report was calling for freezing rain and sleet, which would have made my ride a beast. Having finished a crappy day at work, however, I decided to brave the elements and take the journey to Mark's house. I wish I could be a weatherman; it seems like you hardly ever have to be right. Lucky for me the weathermen in the area were wrong, and instead of freezing rain and sleet we just had rain.

We got right down to business by first listening to what we had so far with ATM. When we last left the song two weeks ago, we were just about finished; all we really needed was to flesh out the ending. Luckily we did that pretty fast last night. I came up with a pretty cool, very Rush-esque ending. Mark seemed to like it, and so we ran with it. It's a fairly simple yet powerful ending that brings the song full circle. In the end it's about 13:45 in length. (That's minutes, folks...)

Once the ending was in the can (c'mon, get your minds out of the gutter for crying out loud!) we went back and added a few guitar parts to fill out some sections of the song that we hadn't written guitar for yet. All in all I'm extremely happy with the music, and it's right up there with my favorites on the CD. It's going to be hard to decide which song I actually like the most.

Lyrically we still have a little work to do. There are two verses and choruses that Mark and I are working on, as well as one small vocal section that we're trying to decide what to put there. I hope that won't take too long to finish, because we're finally at the end of the tunnel and I'm hoping our creative juices will continue to keep us moving forward and not wallowing in allusion hell.

Mark also played for me what he's been working on with Hey You, Part III. We originally wanted to include it on the album, but in reality I'm not sure we're going to have the physical time space for it. I absolutely LOVE what Mark has written so far, and I don't like the idea of Mark cutting material from the song to make it fit the time constraint. It's his decision, of course, and I'm behind whatever decision he makes, but what he has right now is incredible and really deserves the full Din Within treatment. We'll have to wait and see...


Late, Breaking News: I spoke with Mike via email today, and he's confident about starting drum recording over the holiday weekend. Mark and I are trying to coordinate a time to go over to Mike's to hear what he's come up with, and I can't begin to tell you how exciting we are at the prospect of hearing Mike lay the smack down on our CD's rhythm section. If we could get cracking on actual drum recording in the next two weeks, I will be the happiest camper alive.

Diversion

So last night's session was... interesting, thanks to a visiting "artist." A friend of my brother's is a stand-up comedian and aspiring actor, who just so happens to have Tourette's Syndrome. Louis has joined us a few times for our casual bowling nights, and a few months ago I had mentioned that I'd help him with a comedy song he wanted to record. Last night he cashed in on that offer. Josh agreed to take a DW break to help the guy out. Man, we had no idea what was in store!

Long story short: Louis had a melody in his head, but was open to ideas on how to realize the song style and sound. We put together, over the course of 3 or so hours, a crazy mix of lounge jazz, alt-rock and 80's hair metal, finally ending up with "One Tic at a Time." Truly insane.

The best part: Louis appeared on XM Satellite Radio this morning, on the "Opie and Anthony" show - and they played the first half of the song on the show! They seemed to find it entertaining, and invited Louis back for another appearance next week.

All in all, an interesting diversion from our normal course of musical activity, and we'll get back on track next week with ATM.

New "view" on the music…

I just got some new toys, and just had to share. This should make the studio a little easier to work in... I've been using a pair of Trinitron monitors, a 21" and a 17". they work well, and have a great picture, but having two different sized monitors was a hassle because having something stretched across both monitors didn't always line up perfectly. Plus, there was wasted space on the big one because the small one... well... was smaller. Last (but definitely not least), the two CRT monitors were heavy as... "a two ton... heavy thing."*

Well, I've just upgraded to a pair of matched 19" Acer Flatscreen LCDs. I got a good deal from buy.com, and they showed up fast! I figure I have approximately the same viewing area, but in a much more usable format. The picture(s) are great, and it takes a BIG load off of my desk, which is good as well. Take a look at how they integrate into Digital Din - click the photo for a larger version!

*(Extra points awarded for knowing this reference)

Almost ready to put "Awaken" to bed!

Okay, so that was bad.

But the song is good. Josh and I have continued to find inspiration and come up with song pieces that work for both of us. Granted, several of the puzzle parts need some ironing out to make them really "work," but it's almost there.

One thing that continues to galvanize our progress: we've both (mostly) developed the vision to see what the other is envisioning. This has proven to be a VERY valuable asset; I know that for both of us, previous projects have seen us fighting for ideas we just knew would work, but had to go to extremes to even audition for the rest of the band. (Granted, I now have the complete understanding that my bandmates in those groups felt exactly the same way about my attitudes towards their ideas that didn't immediately strike me!) But it's refreshing that Josh's and my agreement to really try to overcome this short-sightedness continues to work favorably - we've come up with a lot of music that really makes me proud of our work. And I'm pretty sure Josh is stoked about it as well.

Anyway, I'll get off of my soapbox! With most of the basic tracks down (but the vast majority being scratch tracks that will desperately need to be re-cut), it's nice to see the framework almost complete. Now to dive back in and start doing the detail work.

(Hoo boy.)