Getting ready to record in LA.
The studio we’ll be in in Los Angeles to record basic tracks is quite small with only one isolated room. So that must be for drums. Matthew and I will be in the control room. This was often the case recording Rattlesnakes at The Garden…
I will be playing electric guitar on most every song, I expect, as the spill form an electric to the vocal mic is much less than with an acoustic and so, if we get a great live vocal we might be able to keep it.
This means I can’t go through an amp, and neither can the bass. We will record ‘directly’, ie without speaker cabinets involved, and then we may replace these tracks or re-amp by sending the signal to amps later.
Today I spent a couple of hours in my room at SoneLab (he in Easthampton) with my Gibson ES 335 trying out various pre-amps so that I can ship some gear ahead of time. Not surprisingly I ended up choosing the SansAmp rack unit http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/sansamp/psa1_1.html. I used this to record much of the electric guitar on Music IAFL and Antidepressant, in fact many of my favourite guitar tracks have not involved ‘real’ amps – eg. the solo sound on Cutting Out.
Today’s happy accident was I noticed my Last Gasp Labs Sick Pitch King (I guess they don’t make the big one I have anymore) http://lalweb.com/effects-e.html and plugged it in to see what it might sound like with the 335 and SansAmp and I found some wild, nasty, beautiful sounds, somewhere between echo and tremolo. So I’m making a note of it (hence start of Studio Journal) so I remember to try in once we’re on to overdubs.
The pedals I’m taking to LA are –
The Way Huge Saffron Squeeze http://sdtspedalmania.blogspot.com/2009/05/some-pictures-and-info-regarding.html
MXR ten band EQ http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/m108-10-band-graphic-eq
Way Huge Piercing Moose http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/wayhuge/piercingmoose
Schaller TR 68 Tremolo (the only remaining pedal from the 1989 sessions) http://supernoize.blogspot.com/2010/06/schaller-tremolo-tr-68.html
Ibanez AD-9 Delay http://www.ibanez.com/electronics/model-AD9
Fulltone Fat Boost (older version than this link) http://www.fulltone.com/products/fat-boost-fb-3
Analogman Chorus http://www.analogman.com/clone.htm
Most likely I’ll only use the EQ and the Compressor, but writing this made me realise that I might have a great guitar idea when I’m there so I might as well ship a few extra.
One of the Young Idealists living in LA – plasticsoul – is also lending is a few small amplifiers.
Fred Maher is providing a Gibson J-45, a Les Paul and a Telecaster (we’ll have them set up to my specs this week) and I’ll be taking my Santa Cruz acoustic on the plane and checking in the 335.