engine11 studio log
Salmagundi Studios, Northfield, MN
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| Day 1: 10/22/2000 |
| 11:55 |
Arrive at studio. No Steve. Dan calls Steve, who responds, "I thought we were going at noon." |
| 12:15 |
Steve arrives, helps load drums (band very impressed) |
| 15:05 |
Drums are set up; $8,000 mike still intact. Vikings are on - trailing Buffalo 7-3. Steve is setting up the patch. |
| 14:15 |
Jon arrives; he's excited Cris Carter caught a TD (fantasy football) |
| 18:05 |
Old School's a keeper ® 3 takes (Dexter minus 2 fingers). Jon going to pick up pizza. |
| 00:34 |
After 1.5 hours working on a drum loop of Careless Cavalier, we're ready to re-record guitar & bass (Dexter embarrassed of his erratic drumming exposed while sampling the loop) |
| 01:04 |
All are tired (except Steve). Time to go home. |
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Day 2: 10/23/2000
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| 18:00 |
Dan & Dexter arrive at Salmagundi. Jon already present. Steve is dumping the scratch vocal tracks (too much memory on the Mac) |
| 19:50 |
Instance: 2 takes. Jon & Dan break for burgers |
| 20:30 |
Mo' Bigga. Jon requests click track. Tanner keeps requestin' mo' faster. Dexter realizes after click track that he speeds up after every fill. |
| 21:15 |
The First Side. After 1 take, band admits it likes the slower tempo. Break for acoustic guitar set up. |
| 00:00 |
 Just finished Savior. Got it in one take, but Steve pulled out the crazy Indian instrument (Tambura). Jon laid down the Tambour tracks. Steve gets big kudos for Tambour call...Two more songs - the end is near. Band dreading work tomorrow.
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| 01:25 |
Hallway's a wrap, after much frustration from Jon. Time to tear down the drums. |
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Day 3: 11/02/2000
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| 18:00 |
Tanner reports to Salmagundi for a night of laying down guitar tracks. Rhythm section not present; they are catching up on family time.
Tanner reports session goes "really well." He got a couple versions of each solo.
(Rest of band wary of what Dan recorded with Jon & Dexter not there to keep him in check. Long, wailing guitar solos expected.)
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| 01:30 |
Dan finally calls it a night and heads home. |
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Day 4: 11/06/2000
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| 18:05 |
Band arrives at Salmagundi. Agenda for the night:
- Food (Jon dictates Chinese)
- Steve needs to load songs into computer
- Harmonica
- Auxiliary percussion
- Red Dress bass solo
- Red Dress vocals (if Jon is finished w/lyrics)
- Mo' Bigga vocals
- Any other vocals
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| 20:30 |
 During the woodblock part of Savior, Steve makes an observation that it sounds latin, but the Tambour, conga, etc. sound eastern. "It's mixing metaphors, but maybe that's too intellectual." |
| 21:15 |
Green Bay has tied the Vikings 10-10 on Monday Night Football. Just finished tambourine for Bedside Manners. Dan recants the chorus: "They ended somewhere in between a shameful setting, and a glory scene."
Steve: "What the hell does that mean?" |
| 22:13 |
Done with percussion; Jon's up... |
| 22:21 |
engine11 declares it will never play stadiums (they lose the intimacy) |
| 23:35 |
After many takes, the raving perfectionist Jon finally has a bass solo he's satisfied with. He's heading home; he's got a cold, so the Red Dress vocals will be postponed. |
| 23:45 |
It's Mo' Bigga time |
| 00:35 |
Mo' Bigga vocals are done (it's a good thing, because we're out of disk space) |
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Day 5: 11/16/2000
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| 19:12 |
Scribe arrives @ Salmagundi. Vocals underway. Bassist absent. Tanner's nite of vocals. Hallway is in progress.
Steve: "I need to find out what bothers you." (re: the vocals quality) |
| 19:30 |
Dan's ego is deflated.
Steve: "I'm trying to be gentle" |
| 20:25 |
Movin' on to Bedside Manners. Pro Tools crashes again. |
| 21:50 |
Dexy on a water run (singer parched) |
| 22:15 |
Adding harmonies to Bedside, under Steve's direction. |
| 22:36 |
Scribe set to go home. Vocals will continue... |
| 23:30 |
Bedside harmonies have been redone; movin' on. |
| 23:50 |
Savior's a quickie. Careless next. |
| 00:12 |
Careless in the books. (vocals) harmonica next. |
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Day 6: 11/21/2000
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| 19:15 |
Settin' up at Salmagundi. Another night o' vocals on tap. The bassist will reportedly make a cameo as well. Will the Red Dress lyrics be done? Will we see the gong? Only time will tell... |
| 19:21 |
The First Side will be first. Hard drive space is cleared. |
| 19:23 |
Jon is in the house. With gong. Band is pleased. |
| 19:26 |
Jon is identifying ships on puzzles for Steve. |
| 19:27 |
Band leader sees minutes, asks if he can be Dex's minion when he owns a company someday. Possible consideration... |
| 19:30 |
Steve admits someone the other day said they liked the name "engine11" (but it was a slow person. From Duluth) |
| 19:55 |
Dan asks Steve if he can get some more bass in his voice. Steve: "Sure, just take some hormones."
Jon has gone to a secluded room to be introspective & finish the Red Dress lyrics. |
| 20:30 |
Moving on to "Violent Skies." Jon has emerged from hiding and has proceeded to be the band jerk. |
| 20:31 |
e11 and Steve have a discussion of how wives can't sleep while we're away. |
| 20:36 |
Jon complains his feet are cold, puts gloves over his socks. "I will procure gorilla feet." |
| 20:49 |
Recording stops for Florida supreme court decision: manual recounts will be accepted. All in studio are happy. |
| 22:01 |
Violet Skies finally done, after much editing. Band very pleased with Dan (& Steve's) efforts. Red dress up next. |
| 22:35 |
Jon's about ready to shake his booty - |
| 22:41 |
Jon asks to hear the take. Steve informs him of the "listening surcharge." |
| 23:18 |
e11 emerges from Red Dress falsetto session. |
| 00:00 |
Dexter finally done with gong exploits. Too long… (last few gong hits were good. The last - buildup was best) |
| 00:01 |
Jon's on the road. Dan's getting ready to sing Waterfall. |
| 00:40 |
Steve notes that Dan's Waterfall vocals sound like Bruce Springsteen. |
| 00:50 |
 Dan hits the devil's interval |
| 01:20 |
Waterfall's a wrap; last song of the night is Boomerang |
| 01:45 |
That's all, folks. |
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Day 7: 12/01/2000
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| 19:19 |
Scribe arrives @ Salmagundi. Instance vox just about wrapped up. |
| 19:20 |
OOB for the night:
- Vocals (instance, gauntlet, stellar, old school, 53)
- Hand in the Groove work?
- Sample - Leif's terrain track
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| 19:34 |
Getting ready for Gauntlet. Dan wishes "he could sing like Aretha Franklin."
Steve: "Have you considered castration?"
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| 20:12 |
Dan hits the devil's interval again…and keeps it. |
| 20:32 |
Steve admits he'd like to win a grammy. Dan says e11 is trying to get him there…w/Red Dress. |
| 20:40 |
Dexter, in a moment of inspiration, adds the "Kenyarine" part to Gauntlet. |
| 20:49 |
On to the song formerly known as Starlight. |
| 22:02 |
Adding harmonies to Stellar. Dex pleased he finally got Dan to sing angry. |
| 22:29 |
Steve on Dan's harmony: "That would make the devil's note blush." |
| 23:05 |
 Old School... |
| 00:10 |
Steve's cracking the tuning whip. |
| 00:57 |
Discussion of shtick. Steve says Dan is "flirting with disaster" |
| 01:00 |
Steve talks about bands he's kicked out of the studio:
- a sloshed heavy metal band "My equipment was in danger."
- A neo-nazi band - the bastards.
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| 01:10 |
Talk of good drummers, & how rare they are. Steve praises his 12 year old son's great "feel for the pocket." Scribe is feeling inadequate... |
| 01:12 |
Time for 53 (the last vocal track!!!) |
| 01:31 |
Tanner lyrical miscue: "Why whip out what's grown?" |
| 02:24 |
Scribe needs to hit the road. |
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Day 8: 12/06/2000
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| 18:16 |
Scribe & Dan arrive @ Salmagundi. Detours were required, because somethin's going down in downtown Northfield. |
| 18:17 |
Agenda:
- Sample for Violet Skies
- Hand in the Groove transfer
Steve tells Dan transfer is going to be "hellacious." |
| 18:30 |
Must remind Steve to bid on puzzle (ebay) in two hours |
| 18:59 |
MIDI cable needed for transfer, but Steve's is missing. Crisis averted by calling Jon. He will pick one up on his way here. |
| 19:40 |
Sample is down. |
| 19:44 |
Dan bitter about Napster. Steve: "You can't be a rock star without being bitter." |
| 20:00 |
Jon arrives, w/MIDI cable. The day is saved. "See, Dan, I told you he'd be good for something." |
| 21:04 |
Operation has moved upstairs for transfer. e11 decides not to attempt to redo "groove" bass line.
Steve: "It would be a better double-entendre if you called it 'Hand in the Pocket'." |
| 21:15 |
We hear the "groove" drum track downstairs. Jon & Dexter have revelation about track (never heard hand clap, extended toms before). |
| 19:35 |
Transfer still not working. Scribe wonders if this is the most efficient way…Jon has called "groove" a "brilliant piece of music." Hopefully, it's worth all the fuss. |
| 22:45 |
Going to Plan B; mixing on Dan's device & then going to ProTools in stereo instead of track by track |
| 22:47 |
Band rockin' to groove. Mix sounds good. Let's cut it.. |
| 22:55 |
Jon comparing hand in the Groove to Beatles. "John Lenon wishes he wrote this song." |
| 22:57 |
Jon has decided to redo Red Dress solo. |
| 23:06 |
Jon stealin' Steve's sweet tarts. |
| 23:10 |
Scribe on the leave. |
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Day 9: 12/19/2000
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| 18:20 |
Let the mixing begin! |
| 18:27 |
Steve turning on lots of lights (effects equipment).
Dan: "I thought GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) didn't apply here."
Steve: "It does, but I can put a lot of perfume on it." |
| 18:30 |
Dan off to get sandwiches. Steve gets him to also stop by the bookstore to pick up an x-mas present. Dan's got no cash, bummin' from Steve. |
| 18:31 |
Scribe is happily fiddling with all the neat percussion stuff that happens to be about |
| 18:45 |
Dan returns with sub, but without book. He owes Steve $20. |
| 19:07 |
Jon arrives, very bitter at the traffic. He immediately puts on his slippers. |
| 19:09 |
Jon asks Steve how he is. Steve responds, "I'm always the same." |
| 19:10 |
Stellar on full blast. Now we're moving... |
| 20:18 |
Steve speaks on diminishing returns. He says Stellar is at "80-85% of the realization." e11 thinks it sounds good. Time to put it down. |
| 21:12 |
Steve has been fed, and is loading Old School. e11 has been warned of the snow emergency. |
| 21:49 |
Jon's bass is a-poppin'. Steve clicks the "evaporate into the ether" button |
| 22:52 |
Burning Old School. Instance will be next. Dan is doing the Beavis & Buttheadä dance. Dexter fondly remembers that show. Jon mentions he likes the movie 'Tremors.' Perhaps e11 is getting tired... |
| 23:59 |
Steve has a couple places to do vocal tuning on Instance. Jon's hitting the road. 10 minutes until the snow emergency. Must come up with a plan to move our cars. |
| 01:14 |
Still tuning Instance... |
| 02:08 |
AMAZING!! Instance is finally done. |
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Day 10: 12/20/2000
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| 18:00 |
Mix-o-rama, part II |
| 18:10 |
Scribe arrives at studio. Street has been plowed, so hopefully no car shuffling tonight. Steve has just arrived himself. The studio refrigerator broke down today. Will cost $500 to fix compressor. Cost of new refrigerator @ Best Buy: under $400 |
| 18:29 |
Steve informs scribe about today's other bad news. The toilet broke, but Steve is working on fixing it. |
| 18:31 |
Dandan arrives. Jon will not be attending tonight, since he will be watching his appearance on the Discovery Channel. The show will be about the search for a sunken Japanese ship. |
| 19:11 |
Steve reveals secret longing to participate in a demolition derby. (there's a derby on right now on the Discovery Channel). |
| 19:19 |
The First Side is heard. |
| 19:22 |
The last of Sanna's chocolates have been eaten. |
| 20:01 |
Steve tells Dan he doesn't understand the vocals for the first side |
| 20:03 |
Steve quizzing Dan on his chords. |
| 20:11 |
Steve is tuning vocals. He talks about computers being all about "controlled randomization" |
| 20:58 |
We finally see Jon on TV. He positively identifies the Kaga. |
| 21:49 |
Dexter still getting denied on 2nd guitar part on First side chorus. "I'll give up."
Steve - "Don't give up, just bend."
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| 22:09 |
First Side is done. Thank God. After 4+ hours of mixing, I never want to hear that song again. |
| 22:34 |
General venting on Microsoft (Salmagundi's a Mac shop). Starting Boomerang. |
| 23:10 |
Steve discovers Dan has placed the hot pizza box on the organ bench, causing potential damage to the finish. Steve, obviously upset, graciously offers a bit of humor: "Well, rock n' roll is all about tearing things down."
This is the third tragedy of the day:
- Refrigerator (active)
- Toilet (passive)
- Organ bench (neutralizing)
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| 23:45 |
Boomerang's a done deal. |
| 23:51 |
Steve's rolling another take of Boomerang. Less hi-hat, more bass. |
| 00:09 |
Boomerang files are taken care of. Loading Cavalier. |
| 01:04 |
Dan and Dexter request one point of vocal tuning. Steve says, "That's probably the most in-tune note on the entire album." e11 laughs at their tonal incompetence. Scribe thinks Steve must be laughing on the inside. |
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Day 11: 12/28/2000
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| 19:05 |
 Scribe arrives at Salmagundi, and will be the lone e11 rep. Excuses:
Jon - flying to Colorado tomorrow
Dan - picking up a new car (the Probe finally died). |
| 19:12 |
53 will be mixed first tonight. |
| 19:38 |
'Lake Placid' is showing on TV. Dexter groans & then has to explain to Steve (the movie isn't very good). |
| 21:42 |
As expected, the vocal tuning for 53 is taking quite a while. |
| 22:48 |
Wrapping up 53. Steve comments that this is one of his favorite e11 songs. |
| 23:00 |
Steve muses about all the things he could do for the song. Ahh, if money were no object... |
| 23:28 |
Steve's bringing up Bedside - he's going to work on that and the scribe will exit. Mixing resumes tomorrow. |
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Day 12: 12/29/2000
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| 18:34 |
Tan man & scribe in the Salmagundi house. Drove together, but not in the new Tanner Passat (Steph's hogging the new wheels). Bedside Manners will be first up. |
| 19:13 |
Steve gives pocket analysis of the band; Performance problems all over the place (some individual parts too ambitious?), but pretty good songwriting. |
| 20:39 |
Just about ready to lay down Bedside. Dexter questions Steve turning down the tambourine level. Steve responds, "It was an amount you'd never notice - more of a psychological move. Here, I'll move it back up." (pretends to move level up) |
| 20:53 |
8 more songs to go. Dan blames large quantity of tracks on Dexter. Scribe is baffled. |
| 20:58 |
Dan will find food. Steve is loading Violent Skies, at Dan's request. |
| 21:41 |
Steve asks for permission to add effects to feedback track. Band opens the floodgates for effects on this song. |
| 00:04 |
Done with Violet Skies. |
| 00:12 |
e11 raids Steve's refrigerator. Scribe accepts a coke, but Mr. Picky wants something non-caffeinated. Steve has a ginger ale: "I have to import these things from Michigan. He damn well better enjoy it." |
| 00:15 |
Steve is loading Gauntlet, the final song of the night. |
| 00:58 |
Gauntlet's a go, in record time. "It is what it is." |
| 01:45 |
OK, we've tinkered with Gauntlet some more. Cut approx. 1:15 off the end of the song & brought in a second guitar solo (from the original guitar track). |
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Day 13: 01/09/2001
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| 19:00 |
e11 all present and accounted for. Steve is finishing loading the songs. Jon is setting up his laptop (he's got work to do). Dan is setting up the table he brought for Steve to prevent any more pizza incidents. Scribe is scribin'. |
| 19:02 |
Agenda for the night (i.e. to mix:)
- Red Dress
- Mo' Bigga
- Waterfall
|
| 19:05 |
Jon informs us Steve can't mix tomorrow. He's hoping to get it all done tonight. 6 songs in one night? Ambitious... |
| 19:09 |
 Dan picks up guiro, says, "It's a flute!"
No, Dan. It's not a flute.
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| 19:15 |
Steve says he can mix tomorrow if we can watch his kids.
Dan: "They're nice kids, right?"
Steve: "I said they were interesting kids."
Jon: "We're not afraid of your kids."
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| 20:00 |
Talk of the devil's interval and the Romans misinterpreting the Greeks. |
| 20:05 |
Jon ignores warnings, macks on Granery Girls' pretzels. |
| 20:10 |
Discussion of Pooh characters. Steve expresses resentment toward Piglet, "He was too much of a wounded bird. He needed to be done away with." Dexter admits Eyore is his favorite. |
| 20:14 |
Disaster avoided as Jon was computing on Granery Girls' tape box. Luckily, the laptop had an external power supply, so the tape is probably ok. Scribe feels déjà vu w/the pizza incident. |
| 20:45 |
e11 breathes a collective sigh of relief, as Granery Girls tape is ok. |
| 21:25 |
Dan's making Granery Girls T-shirts on Jon's laptop. Steve suggests the slogan: "Granery Girls: I striped the tape."© |
| 21:34 |
Red Dress is a wrap. |
| 21:41 |
Steve admits e11 is part of "the death of rock n' roll. Not breaking any new ground here." - But Steve admits he's not doing anything to solve the problem either. |
| 22:02 |
After talking about the state of rock n' roll for a while, Steve backs off his earlier statement a bit, admitting e11 "does stretch it a little" |
| 22:08 |
Computer failure; time to reboot. Dan & Dexter to make a gas station run. |
| 22:28 |
Back from the run. Results:
Jon - snickers
Dan - licorice, Gatorade
Dexter - juice
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| 22:46 |
Mo' Bigga is well on its way.
Jon - "We're breaking old ground beautifully"
Dexter - "We may be breaking the bounds of good taste." |
| 23:45 |
Mo' Bigga is laid down. Waterfall is next. |
| 00:30 |
Dan says every other thing Steve says is a joke. Waterfall not quite ready, Steve's still shuffling files. |
| 00:44 |
Jon's now grabbing Steve's dinner (a bag of potato chips). The man has no shame. |
| 01:00 |
Jon makes his exit, but not before he grabs a couple of Steve's altoids for the road. |
| 01:40 |
Waterfall in the bag. Loading Hallway. |
| 02:55 |
Hallway's in the books. Time to adjourn. Next session - Thursday, 1/18 |
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Day 14: 01/18/2001
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| 18:20 |
Dan & Dexter arrive @ Salmagundi. Steve is deciding between mixes of another group's song. Sounds good; rocksy-bluesy with the female backing vocals Dan wishes we'd had. |
| 18:30 |
Steve turns on Savior. He's spent time mixing it already, and it's sounding very close... |
| 19:00 |
 Mix sounds good, but where's the gong? |
| 19:46 |
Dan's not wild about the gong, but gives in "to keep the Ellingson gods happy." Steve has snuck a second gong hit into the song. "The first one seemed lonely." |
| 20:16 |
Hand in the Groove mixdown begins. |
| 20:30 |
"And there you have it." Hand in the Groove has been burned.
Steve admits of 'Groove": "I like that song. Actually, I like a lot of your songs." (most meaningful compliment e11 has received to date) |
| 21:49 |
Steve is organizing files and getting ready to burn a "preview" CD-R. he still hasn't talked to Doug Wild, so we're not positive what media will be required for mastering. |
| 21:51 |
e11 learns the CD will be 70 minutes long. Pushing the limits (74 min). |
| 23:49 |
Steve's just about done burning our CDs - with ProTools files, etc. |
| 23:55 |
Steve breaks out the bill. Dan pays up. |
| 00:03 |
Discussion of next steps: Dan will call Doug Wild tomorrow to see if he can work with audio CDs (he'd have to have a converter or CD player w/digital output). If he needs DATs, Steve can convert our stuff to DAT next Wednesday. |
| 00:06 |
Steve's tips for mastering:
- needs to be bright, but not too bright!
- Level matching (compression)
- Song order, spacing between songs |
| 00:10 |
Signing off from Salmagundi |
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