Apologies…

…to anyone who tries to follow this blog. It’s finals week and I’ve been extremely busy with school AND work combined.

As far as updates go, we have the master copies and everything is uploaded onto the MySpace. Now we’re just trying to get copies made so we can start handing them out. We received the artwork from Mike on Wednesday, and it’s pretty intense. The only obstacle we’re facing right now is the expense of required materials (blank cds, cases, printing the covers) and the fact I’m only just learning how to use the program which allows us to burn the cds in their original quality (rather than using iTunes or other typical burning program).

Also, yesterday I took my bass amp to the nearest Gallien-Krueger approved repair shop, so that should be fixed soon.

Almost there!

A major milestone has been reached in our saga. Yesterday we did in fact meet up with Shawn to obtain a number of master and backup CDs with the album on them, along with the .mp3s which I have since uploaded onto the MySpace. I also fixed up the MySpace to look a little better than the standard profile.

In short, the new album is complete and is out in the open for the general public to listen to.

Go forth and listen!

New video.

An older video of us practicing “Charge The Fields”, the last song on the album.

Album, first edition.

Yesterday, while Ted was at work and DJ home for Easter weekend, Trentski and I went to Shawn’s studio and heard the first mix of the album. Shawn played the CD on a quality boom box in his spacious living room, which had better acoustics than the basement. Then he gave Trent and I four copies of the CD, one for each of us, so that we can listen to the album in our car stereos, computers, portable media players, and whatever other audio systems we can find in order to make sure the CD sounds as good as possible on everything. So far I’ve listened to the CD in my car and on my computer, and I have to say that I’m impressed with the sound of the recording (not that I was expecting otherwise), and I’m excited to hear the final version after a few slight changes are made.

At this point I want to get some of the new recordings uploaded onto the MySpace so everyone can finally hear for themselves, but I’d rather wait until the final product is ready. Patience!

A better update.

Yesterday we accomplished the following:

• Trent added a new keyboard part over the end of “Headhunter.”
• DJ, Ted, Trent and I recorded the group vocals for “Headhunter” and “Charge The Fields.”
• Sara, who is Ted’s wife, came in later in the evening to record a short speaking part over the album’s intoduction.

If you’re wondering what group vocals consist of, it’s when a group of people shout lyrics in unison in order to emphasize the vocal line. For example, Finnish metal band Children of Bodom uses the technique often, and the results can be seen in this video about 2 minutes in:

A few pictures from yesterday’s session:

Trent at his keyboard.

Shawn at HIS keyboard.

Update on vocals.

Last night we spent a little over 4 hours finishing up vocals for the remaining songs. DJ was stuck at work, but Trent and Ted were able to be there. Shawn suggested they play Grand Theft Auto IV on his PS3 to pass the time, and an addiction was born:

Meanwhile, Shawn and I were in the other room, doing all the real work:

So yeah, all the vocals are done except for some group parts that we’re going to wrap up this afternoon before I have to go to work.

Progress on vocals.

I managed to record vocals for two songs (“Buried Alive” and “The Vulture’s Eye”) with my throat intact, mainly thanks to a large bottle of water. Bryan, the vocalist from The Fifth Sun, was there to offer help hints and other suggestions, as well as DJ and Trent. Next date to record is this Friday.

Vocals.

So, weather permitting, we’ll start on vocals tomorrow night. I’ve been tweaking lyrics in my spare time (HA!), trying to get them in the best shape possible for our record.

In the meantime, a few more pics from the Sunday afternoon session:

Bass is done!

We wrapped up the last two songs this afternoon. Shawn also gave us a cd with a rough mix of our instrumental, “The Authentic Sound of Death” so we could listen to it and decide what could be changed.

Off to work.

It’s 8:21 AM.

And I’m ready to record some bass. I’m going to pick up DJ and Trent in about an hour so we can go get some McDonald’s breakfast before we go to the studio. McGriddles FTW.