engine11 studio log
Winterland Studios, New Hope, MN
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| Day 1: 04/21/2007 |
| 10:50 |
Arrive at Winterland Studios. Steve is already present. Dan pulls up. Also a dude in the parking lot blasting some sort of hard core metal. Seems to be enjoying it fully, given the head banging. Danimal informs us that he works for Winterland, and will help with the setup.
It's a warm day (67 degrees Fahrenheit) with lightning flashing in the west. |
| 11:04 |
Engineer Brian pulls up. We're loading in the back. |
| 11:15 |
Settin' up. Brian informs Dexter that he'll be using the house snare. Ok with me, except for Devolver and Willingly.
Band meets assistant Nate. He's helping us load in and then charting away.
Enter Robyn. She's brought her statistics homework. Brian and Dexter agree they couldn't do homework anymore.
Brief discussion of the lack of album name. Brian suggests "Behold the White Horse". (That was the title of a book that exposes government secrets. E11 declines, preferring to remain off the CIA watch list. |
| 11:25 |
Jon is here (he was held up in traffic - bad accident on 94). |
| 12:05 |
A cracking noise is heard from the corner. All look to Steve. He has broken his amp "skateboard" while sitting on it.
Steve: "How embarrassing" |
| 12:07 |
Dexter declares e11 too old for MySpace. |
| 13:00 |
Nate checks out. True to his word, he was only here for the setup. |
| 13:50 |
 Drums are done. Time to eat (Chinese). Dexter munching the veggie delight. Dan asks Robyn what she's eating (they're cream cheese wontons). |
| 14:15 |
Back to business (for Jon, anyways). |
| 17:00 |
Dexter having major issues with Astro. He swears we've never played it this slow (although the metronome would beg to differ…). |
| 17:34 |
Flickerfly first take. Jon's happy; Dan's not. Dexter has to listen. |
| 18:00 |
Dan and Steve doing more takes of Flickerfly. Are they tiring?
Dexter: "The excitement is palpable"
Brian: "You guys need some incense?" |
| 18:15 |
Dan: "Can I just redo the intro?"
Brian: "Sure. Just you or Steve too?"
Steve: "Yes" |
| 20:46 |
Dan accuses Jon of mispronouncing "Red firebird". Jon points out that it's white firebird. |
| 22:27 |
Jon is cobbling together Willingly. Last song of the night.
22:38 Jon comes out of cobble session. Dexter asks "What do you say, Mr. Picky?" Sleepy Robyn thinks he said "Mr. Piggy". |
| 22:40 |
Jon has a good "Budula-dudula-ding" |
| 22:47 |
Brian: "I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken"
e11 continues to marvel at Brian's Pro Tools proficiency. |
| 23:00 |
Dexter punches in a final fill on Willingly. Day 1 is in the books.
Coordinated Willingly fill will be first day 2 order of business. |
| Day 2: 04/22/2007 |
| 11:00 |
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| 11:36 |
Brian talking to e11 about their kids. As expected, he is surprised to hear about Superfly's 5 kids. He said he's in line for twins. Evidently, there's twins back two generations in his family. |
| 12:49 |
Jon and Dexter still struggling with Devolver. |
| 12:52 |
Brian asks if anyone has seen a calculator (to keep track of all the punch-ins). Robyn doesn't catch the sarcasm and produces a calculator from her purse. |
| 12:58 |
Dan is biggest screw-up on Devolver. |
| 13:02 |
Dan attempts to strike hi-hat fill. "That's supposed to be there, Dan". |
| 13:10 |
Dan says how funny it would be to have a picture of e11 on the studio wall. Maybe we could work up a fake aluminum (instead of platinum) album. |
| 13:15 |
Jon plays the Seinfeld bass line. Dan demands a retake. |
| 14:55 |
On to Crimson. Guitars done in two takes. (As usual), rhythm section requires additional takes. |
| 14:55 |
Jon: "I fluffed it" |
| 15:10 |
Brian: "Has anyone played a B3?"
Dan: "I have a Wii." |
| 16:20 |
 On way back from Arby's, Jon spots the Crazy Buffet. He mentions some interesting Americanized restaurants he saw in Japan: "Flesh Food", "Godburger". |
| 18:50 |
Finally finished with basic tracking, thanks to a drawn-out brushes vs. sticks debate on Alibis. Resolution is ½ sticks, ½ brushes. |
| 18:52 |
Robyn begins Alibis vocals. |
| 18:53 |
The trusty pencil gives out. Scribe grabs a Winterland pencil. |
| 19:00 |
Jon leaves the room to take a nap. |
| 19:04 |
Dexter grimaces at dorky fill. |
| 19:09 |
Dexter still obsessing about dorky fill. Brian says he's going to blog about that dorky fill. Actually, he doesn't see a problem.
Dan: "…and he's a professional"
Brian: "I'm a fropessional" |
| 19:10 |
Steve asks what time it is. Dexter tells him it's 7:10. |
| 19:24 |
Steve: "Margin's been marginalized" |
| 19:25 |
Dex: "I'm almost tired of writing stuff down" |
| 20:00 |
Robyn admits she's in her "circle of hell" listening to herself sing. |
| 21:27 |
Jon's finished with Lighthouse vocals. He's made some last minute lyrical changes. |
| 21:54 |
Movin' on to SuperAge. Dexter wants Jon to get more sassy. |
| 22:17 |
 Robyn calls Steve on his earlier comment about the partially hydrogenated fats in the cheez-its.
Robyn: "What did you eat at Arby's?"
Dexter: "He had a market fresh turkey sandwich"
Steve: "But I didn't eat it at Arby's"
Steve then claims his all-natural diet coke came from a diet coke tree.
|
| 22:21 |
Steve and Robyn state the album must have a vocal credit for Petey O'Toole (a reference to all the ProTools vocal work). |
| 22:24 |
Jon tells Brian his business. |
| 22:25 |
Jon quickly retracts. |
| Fat Lorenzo's: 05/01/2007 |
| 20:05 |
 Order of business:
- Pay Dan
- Next sessions (4 hour) – when? what?
- Mixing – when?
- CD production
- Practice space
- Next show – when? where?
- Album title?
|
| 20:50 |
Dan mentioned he's impressed with how smoothly recording went. "With Brian, we never skipped a beat."
Dexter: "Well, some of us didn't skip a beat" |
| 21:05 |
Discussion of Steve's moustache (now shaved). "No one laughed" |
| 21:10 |
Steve notices Jon is de-braced, and now sporting a stylish retainer. |
| 21:50 |
Robyn owes $182.25 for studio. She asks if she can write out the check for $185.
Dan: "Do you not have enough change in your pen?"
(Band owes Robyn $2.75)
Robyn: "I look like the youngest one in the band" – Princess forgot she was 32 (Dan's the youngest)
|
| 21:54 |
Dan: "Steve, you've had some alcohol now. You should be ‘funny Steve'." |
| Day 3: 05/07/2007 |
| 7:51 |
Jon warms up in an operatic fashion. |
| 7:52 |
Robyn realizes she is not witty and clever. |
| 7:55 |
Yes, yes |
| 8:45 |
Steve: "It sounds like lemmings falling off a cliff" |
| 8:56 |
Dan realizes he is not witty or clever.
Robyn's worried about getting an ulcer. |
| 9:07 |
 First take of Astro. Dan relentlessly claims he can't hear himself. Surrogate scribe is skeptical. |
| 21:13 |
Surrogate scribe realizes log entries, until now, are recorded in an ambiguous 12-hour format. |
| 21:21 |
Surrogate scribe likes to record interesting times. Palindromic times are more interesting, but he missed that one. |
| Day 4: 06/06/2007 |
| 18:01 |
Dexter arrives at Winterland, noting we missed the devil's date (06/06/06) by a mere year. Hopefully not a bad omen.
Zach the engineer asks what's in store for the evening:
- Percussion tracking
- Dan's guitar tracks
- Steve's guitar tracks
Zach then asks if this is for a band. Yes. Name? engine11. Still no recollection. I mention Dan was here last time – tall guy with short red hair. Still not sure… Four different vocalists last time. No light bulb yet… There was a bald guy, with glasses and a beard. Instant recollection. Why am I not surprised? |
| 18:55 |
Percussion is a wrap. Danimal up next (he's currently showing off his Carvin guitar to Todd). "It's a $300 special. Sounds better than my $1200 special." |
| 19:10 |
Astro first. Dexter plays Uptown Bar recording, demands Dan reproduce "flicky thing" before second verse.
350 milliseconds = Dan's delay setting
-> changed to 252 |
| 19:34 |
Dan has done 3 takes of Astro solo. Dexter undecided between #2 (starts low) and #3 (mean-sounding chords).
Dan: "It weighs heavily on Zach's opinion"
Dexter: "Are we paying the evaluation fee?"
Zach: "Those are some pretty lofty expectations"
Zach's take: #3 is best, but somewhat repetitive. He suggests splitting #3 left & right and mixing in elements of all three takes.
Zach: "You know, getting all tripped out"
e11 approves: work your magic, Zach. |
| 19:45 |
Dan's a-doublin' Lighthouse verses. Still no Steve. Dan phones. Steve's on Boone. |
| 19:50 |
Steve enters, and presents scribe with minutes from day 3…complete with illustrations. Gold stars all around! |
| 19:55 |
It appears the Day 3 minutes are in Robyn's class notebook. The previous page is quite interesting. Looks like subliminal message in equations: |
 |
| 20:02 |
Dan setting up for acoustic Crimson. |
| 20:16 |
Dan reprimanded for breathing. Zach will cut and paste. |
| 20:22 |
Steve hears one last thump. Zach will remove it. |
| 20:30 |
Dexter taking a break for a pear and cheese-its. |
| 21:02 |
Alibis est finis. On to Steve's solos. |
| 21:03 |
Steve grabs the whammy bar. |
| 21:16 |
Dan instructs Steve on falsetto. |
| 21:23 |
Dan: "You can always tell me to shut up" |
| 21:30 |
Steve's summary of SuperAge solo: "Just dumb blues" |
| 21:35 |
Steve's anger emerges. He must learn control – or forever will it dominate his destiny. |
| 22:30 |
Still here. I think Crimson is a wrap (phew). Dexter wants Steve's strumming at the tail end of Threshold, then he's calling it a night. |
| 22:37 |
Threshold's a one-taker. |
| Day 5: 06/28/2007 |
| 12:30 |
Scribe is on the scene. Engineer Brian and Danimal already present.
Brian (upon Dexter's arrival): "Here's trouble"
Dexter: "I am the anti-trouble"
Dan asks Dexter if he's been at work. "You look kind of dressed up"
Dexter: "I always try to present a neat appearance"
Brian: "Me too" (tongue in cheek) |
| 12:34 |
Dan shows new album cover concept. Dexter thinks it's too feminine. |
| 12:35 |
Brian boots band out to lobby; he can't work with the album cover banter going on. |
| 12:47 |
Band back in mixing booth. Mix order for the day:
- Ray Junior
- SuperAge
- Flickerfly
|
| 13:11 |
Jon's vocals are patched in.
Brian: "He sounds chewy" |
| 13:30 |
Robyn's vocals in the mix. Dan says she sounds like Debbie Gibson.
Brian the magic maker: "It's like putting together a puzzle" |
| 13:47 |
Dan and Brian spontaneously air drum at the same time to one of Superfly's fills. |
| 14:19 |
 Brian and e11 take the ‘Saturday morning cleaning' listen to Ray Jr. |
| 15:10 |
Conversation of old macs and Siamese fighting fish (what's the proper pronunciation of Betta?). |
| 15:15 |
On to SuperAge. |
| 16:00 |
Back from lunch break.
Brian and Danimal: Chinese
Dexter: peanut butter sandwich (crunchy)
e11 learns that Brian is planning on having 3 or 4 kids. Dan and Dexter share their fatherly wisdom. |
| 16:32 |
Brian asks us how loud we want the agogo bells… "A bonus, so to speak?" Sup wants a touch more than a bonus. |
| 16:58 |
Robyn's arrives. She's been to Chaska today. |
| 17:04 |
Did Robyn sing the same line twice in the middle of SuperAge? |
| 17:13 |
Dexter: "Is the hi-hat on the last beat of the song obnoxious?"
Robyn: "It always is, Dexter" |
| 17:46 |
After significant effort is spent taking eye photos, Dan heads home. |
| 18:34 |
 Robyn remarks that listening to the studio recording is quite different than what she hears at practice. "For example, I've never heard the bells before." (they've never been played at rehearsal) |
| 19:05 |
SuperAge is a wrap. |
| 20:48 |
Dexter and Robyn back from dinner break. End of Flickerfly has Robyn's giggle.
Brian: "You can hear the cash registers going off" |
| 22:32 |
We're writing Flickerfly. Looks like we're on schedule. |
| 22:40 |
Dexter and Robyn vacate the premises. |
| Day 6: 06/29/2007 |
| 17:12 |
Scribe is on the scene. Mixing in progress.
Brian: "There's trouble"
Dexter will not be baited into duplicating yesterday's material.
Order of business:
- Astro (done)
- Every Lighthouse
- Alibis
|
| 17:16 |
Studio manager Todd takes a brief listen. Ambiguous facial expression. |
| 17:37 |
Dexter's wondering where the keys are in the mix.
Brian: "It sounds like a Casio" (which, indeed it is) |
| 17:52 |
Dan hears spikes in the railroad tracks. Dexter very sad that the keyboard recording is bad. |
| 18:07 |
Dexter ready to wring Steve's neck for keyboard debacle. |
| 18:15 |
Scribe states, for the record, that he still likes Every Lighthouse, despite his emotional outburst over the keys. |
| 18:19 |
Steve is on site. |
 |
| 18:29 |
After Saturday morning cleaning listen, Robyn's gettin' picky with her vocals. |
| 18:32 |
Dexter asks if we wrote Every Lighthouse yet.
Brian: "The technical term is ‘print'"
(Brian does concede that he is writing to disk) |
| 18:37 |
Robyn breaks the conflict resolution pen. |
| 18:46 |
Steve: "What are moles called? Melanoma? Menoma?" |
| 19:10 |
Robyn confesses she never owned a My Little Pony, but she did have Star Wars "figurines". |
| 19:19 |
Brian: "You guys know how to play foosball, don't you?" (not-so-subtle invitation for e11 to vacate the control room) |
| 19:51 |
Grumpy Jon walks in. His family was given free movie passes. He drove through rush hour traffic, arrived at the theater, only to be told that the showing was full. |
| 20:17 |
e11 reminisces about Arid Extra Dry jingle during photo shoot. ("Get a little closer…don't be shy. Get a little closer…with Arid Extra Dry") |
| 20:29 |
Jon is out. |
| 20:49 |
Foosball game ends: Dex and Dan 5, Robyn and Steve 4, with Brian watching.
Dexter: "I was just thinking this was an expensive foosball game" (i.e., we're on the studio clock)
Brian: "You would think of that. You gotta record that. Time is 8:44"
Five minute time discrepancy with studio duly noted. |
| 20:55 |
"One would be less than two" |
| 20:52 |
(studio time) Brian says "Ow!" (bumped his knees against Dan's chair) |
| 21:28 |
Robyn offers gum. No takers. |
| 21:37 |
Alibis is over six minutes long.
Brian: "Don't bore us, get to the chorus" (Dexter laughs)
Brian: "Surely you've heard that before"
Dan: "I told you we're amateurs" |
| 21:40 |
 Printing Alibis. Someone turned up Dan's goofy knob. He's singing about moldy cheese to the Alibis melody. |
| 21:46 |
Scribe can't remember what he duly noted. Robyn reminds: the five-minute discrepancy between studio and master time is unacceptable. |
| 21:51 |
Robyn gets snippy with Dan.
Dan: "Pay no attention to the woman in the corner"
Robyn: "I'm not in a corner" (she's sitting in the middle of the room) |
| 21:57 |
Talk of cell phones.
Brian: "I haven't had a land line in 3 years"
Steve: "The ony reason I have a land line is so I can get back into the matrix" |
| 22:02 |
On to Willingly. Dan's vocal track: emphysema. |
| 22:04 |
Steve goofs around singing.
Brian: "Sounds like a goat"
Dan: "That's another thing I wanted"
Dexter: "A goat?"
It's falling apart. |
| 22:15 |
Brian: "Bouncin' off the wall like a rag doll"
(Steve's telling the story about the 300 pound Polish machinist. |
| Day 7: 06/30/2007 |
| 17:45 |
 Scribe arrives. Steve already present. Dan has already come and gone. Devolver in the mix.
- verse: bass up, guitar down
- loud part – "wall of guitars"
- Steve's screechy guitar down
- end: guitar up, bass double up
- vocal: delay? (verse)
- don't lose robyn's harmonies during loud part
- guitar rhythm before end off?
- remove guitar noodling at end of 2nd verse
|
| 19:15 |
Brian has addressed all concerns, except the performance problems, over which he has no control (sigh). Print it. |
| 19:42 |
Talk of Freemasons. Steve gives some historical perspective.
Sparse scribing today. Headache and cold… |
| 19:52 |
Removing Steve's Crimson whistles. |
| 20:04 |
RMS = Root Mean Square |
| 20:12 |
Steve proposes alternate album title: "Handy for Clothes and Counters". |
| 21:57 |
Brian: "Noise is our enemy" |
| 22:25 |
Saturday cleaning listen of Crimson approved. |
| 22:26 |
Studio log end. |
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