Wound up doing sooner than later.

Overall, the sequencing works very well i'd say.

The one exception i found, was in and out of Track 11. For me, going out of 10 into 11 is far too abrupt of a mood shift, and it is not i think just because 10 sort of halts abruptly, just the flavor seems too much too quick of a mood shift to me.

Then, i also find the transition going from 11 to 12 to be a bit wonky/awkward.

Actually, i find that cutting 11 entirely works for me. Meaning, that the transition from 10 to 12 is much easier to take. You still get the lift from 10 but it is less abrupt and jarring than the switch from 10 to 11.

Now, i don't know where this puts Track 11 though, because i think that the rest of the sequencing is very good as is. The movement of moods and tempos works very well as is IMO. I just don't know where i would put 11 instead. I feel like it kind of works well without it.

Hrmmm... 11 being... Tender Mercies. Easily the most straightforward rocksong on the whole thing, and very vocal-driven. Something I can't Make Weird, and I've tried. It's like some sort of evil power pop. I didn't intend on changing much other than performing it better than the original demo from forever ago: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13184331/11%20Tender%20Mercies%20(drunkass%20demo).mp3

Problem being I do really like the lyrics and its vibe as a rawksong. Looking at it objectively though, it doesn't really fit- it could be off a Tom Petty or REM record or something, save for the verse riff where I try and pretend it's heavy, mostly because I can hit that low B on the bass two octaves below the guitars. Granted they would never be that full of rage, but still, you get what I'm on about referencing that?

I suppose if it doesn't work it doesn't work; it's meant to be an album, in order and in context. And if dumping something is what it's asking for, well, that's what it's asking for.

Yarr, it isn't really about it not being weird enough or anything to me, but rather that the pacing/tempo of it doesn't seem to fit where it is in the sequence, and i personally cannot see a good place to put it, with the rest of the transitions on the album working very well.

Perhaps a B-side?

Or maybe it could be slotted in somewhere earlier in the record, before the flow of the record is really deeply established(and thus before it can be interrupted)? Could it even work as the beginning of the whole thing? I don't really know.

I agree with Chris' assessment and as an answer to the dilemna at hand: If you wanted to keep it, you could throw it in after Extinguisher I think, and not really mess with the flow of things.

I like the B-side idea. I'm being fairly rock-traditionalist about the whole thing- thus the structure/pacing/running order as an album. Do people even do B-sides anymore? I don't know, but I think it works in that context- something that was good enough to be released but doesn't fit on the record for whatever reason. That and the cover of Savoy Brown's Hellbound Train would make fine B-sides for... Well, whatever seemed the most single-worthy. That, I suppose, will have to wait 'til I'm done with the thing.

I think the flow of the thing early on is solid and I don't really want to monkey with it, so dropping something works.

Listening back, it does flow a lot better without Tender Mercies as track 11. The transitions there are much smoother cutting it. If I wanted to keep it on there, it might fit where Autralopithicine is- similar tempo and feel, if a bit more straightforward of a song.

It occurs to me I should go down and reamp the bass, what with the whole thing being sorted at this point.

Running this past a few friends of mine. I have some re-tracking to do before I am going to reamp the guitars and bass with the guy Garda works with. I knew that anyway. There were bits where I lost things or just left the scratch tracks.

Re: the rough mixes, my favorite is how big Imaginary Girl sounds turned up. Loving the snare in the choruses, even if the guitars are a halfass stereo stem because there are a ton of tracks I didn't feel like importing. I think the bass tone is gonna be pretty snazzy. This can only get better with real guitar toans, and Our Guy has a much bigger amp collection than I have available to me. Not necessarily better as I can get my hands on classy shit, but bigger, and moar better mics and pres. Can I track down a Hiwatt for this?

The word is out that this will be a real band and wheels are in motion.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13184331/ImaginaryGirl_Vox_test_3_9.mp3

I may go back to some other takes for this, especially for the verses. Or at least just parts of the verses. Choruses I mostly like if I can sort out the backups. Overall I don't know.

Wasn't too thrilled with the vocal 'verb either, so I pulled it way down. Still needs the vocoder anyhow. Just roughly edited down some vocal takes over a 2-track mixdown.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13184331/AWBR_VoxTest_3_9.mp3

I decided to say "screw the bleed" and sing with the monitors on, even the quiet bits. I like it.

I always sing into a compressor when tracking, even if it's just a software insert, because it affects my mic technique. When I had my RNLA, I ran it as an insert on the pre and recorded with it. I still did that here- yes, into a very hot mic + pre combination and a compressor with speakers going in the room. Fuckit. It works; I got better performances.

On both of these i like that you are pushing into trying different angles on things, in some cases kind of drastically different from the earlier ways you were singing them.

This last one is especially odd to hear this way, being used to the other versions. I don't know that i prefer the approach, but i suspect that this is more because it sounds so different from how i expect it to.

Imaginary Girl is sounding good, but the backup vox are confusing the issue in spots, kind of makes it feel a bit more chaotic than your normal sound. I wonder if they are only too close in volume level to the led vox, and mayhap just need to be pushed back a tad?

I like the experimentations though. It is often hard to be able to see different angles on things you are used to, but you have found a pile of them here.

Thanks, Chris. Part of it is very actively intentional, and part of it is simply due to my having developed a different style than when these were originally written. I'd like to think I'm a "better" singer now, in the technical sense, and certainly a more confident one. I've formulated, consciously, a style that I didn't have then- as a frontperson I was comparatively inexperienced; yeah, I could do it, but I didn't have nearly as much of it under my belt. That being said, there is, revisiting these after so long, something raw and spontaneous I miss about the originals. No time machine though, so... I can't duplicate the past, or even grab anything from the original tracks, so I wind up thinking "how would I do this now?" and just going for it.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I'm not particularly fond with how most of Imaginary Girl came out save for the lead vocal + double on the choruses. (The center bits; it's not a true double.) I have other takes though, and might just wind up grabbing the verses from the demo of the Revised New Version and maybe dropping in a word or two here and there. Recorded on the same gear in the same room, shouldn't be much of an issue sonically. The backups... Er... I do agree they are too loud, for one- it was a headphone mix at home as my housemate had friends over at the time and no doubt they would have totally appreciated that (not that they'd have minded the music, having good tastes, but mixing is a little schizophrenic sounding). I am referring to the high harmonies here. I could dump them entirely and just go with the vocoder there, but I, well, need to borrow the MicroKorg for that, and more to the point, my bassist needs to remember to bring it.

The actual sonics of the stuff, though, the recordings themselves, I am totally pleased with, despite the fact I can't afford the reamping at the moment without hocking gear. (Our Dude is generally cool and I don't have to pay up front, but the No Income thing puts a damper on spending money. I don't want to owe the studio though, and I have a good rapport with them.) I may ghetto-reamp the bass if I can find a day/time there's no one in the building and I can turn a big GK bass rig way up. Hard to do, and probably means something icky like 7 AM on a Saturday. If it doesn't hum like a really humming thing, I'm good to go. Even the DIY Recording Equipment Line2Amp Rev C is beyond my means at the moment, because I can't eat it in a pinch, being made out of metal.

I'll give the vocal mix on Ms. Imaginary there another go later, and then my drummer and I have a demo reel proper with the first three tracks on the record (though I'm tempted to start with Extinguisher because it's the most aggressive of the three). Sourcing people from other bands has proved little luck save for a live electronics operator and getting my metalband guitarist to cover the other guitar slot live if we need someone. Which isn't really a bad idea as he can play anything, loves the effect-y stuff, and has Taste outside of metal. And an AxeFx. Unfortunately so much of this stuff is two-guitar, but driven by the bass, and I don't want to have to sing over those bass riffs unless absolutely necessary. I'll delegate all the fun guitars, and said friend would- I know him- learn all my solos note-for-note were it necessary.

It occurs to me re: All Will Be Revealed, I'm actually singing it a lot higher now. It came up randomly and I had to compare it with the original. I think I'm now actually doing it in the right key. The thing's in C major, which is moderately unusual for a rock guitarist (though A minor is not, and the bridge + outro are A minor). Funny, the original I sing the verses in falsetto and how it is now I rock it in full voice. Has all the drinking and smoking made my voice higher? What the fuck?

I sent this to my metalguitaristfriend and he'd commented about the vocal range being above what I normally do. I didn't realize, honestly, until I A/B'd them. See Chris' comment re: experimenting. I didn't even realize I was doing it!

That is probably why it sounds fucked up.

I've realized I use at least three distinct voices on this stuff. I have a few singerfriends I want to bounce these off of, but I really want to be set on the takes first. They are theatre/opera, though. One of which is my ex. I don't want to say anything about that. The Judge Of Judges. With a right to be, too.

Dem rockin' chorus vokillz. I really enjoy hearing you do rougher vocal stylings.

I like singing things in a rougher manner. These last two (well, they're early up in the record) are basically a couple of pop songs. Weird ones, and All Will Be Revealed has some chunky guitars. But they are what they are- despondent lost love major key pop songs; at least, when you hit the chorus. It's like the Dave Grohl thing- I'mma write a song that is not heavy and then scream the hell out of it.

I don't know, still, how to get the full effect of it on the track. I can get close, sometimes. Some of this stuff is loud, like, can be heard over hard-hitting rock drummer without a mic loud. Used the SM7 in the B room tracking vocals 'cause the Neumann M149 was distorting loud. The super-low stuff is as quiet as you'd expect; I'm obviously no basso profundo though I can hit those notes.

I prefer the way my voice sounds dirtied up, recorded. As I've mentioned before, I intentionally smoke and drink before cutting tracks. Changes the resonance of my voice. It's a raspier, deeper thing, even on the high stuff. Oddly, I find I do the falsetto high notes best when it's totally blown out and I am very... equine (read: hoarse) sounding.

I do definitely have a recognizable sound on those choruses though, and my friends have commented on it. I almost wonder if it's not over-done. But it's one record, after all- well, the Garda stuff too, but that gets reined in by the band as that is very collectively written. I think I'm, at this point, a good enough singer I could get away with one track and it would be fine, but I do love my harmonies and effects. The choruses of the above two have only (only!) five tracks (All Will Be Revealed) and four (Imaginary Girl) respectively. That, for me, is pretty minimal. Considering I usually have, like, twelve.