Back in business after a long recording session

Skywalker

Howzit everyone 8)

So after a loooong absence from the forum I am back in the land of the living so to speak.

I've been holed up in the studio with The Summer Underground recording our debut full length album "Damage Done" for the last year or so and man.....am I happy it's over ?. Anyone who reckons being in a band is an easy job really doesn't have a clue. This was just the beginning of it all.

A few nuts and bolts of the recording process:

-At least 6 months pre-production writing, re-writing, re-working and perfecting our tunes.
-Recorded and edited by the band at Skebanga and Sanctuary Studios in Pro Tools.
-Guitars, bass and vox recorded "direct" using exclusively Line 6 Modelling software.
-Mastered at SAE Institute in Cape Town.

I guess it sounds simple but trust me, there were ALOT of weekday "school-night" hours and weekends sacrificed and ALOT of time away from loved ones and family to get it done. Never mind the frustration of having 5 hard-headed,over worked and tired guys in the same room butting heads and trying to get their points across to eachother.

Some choice snippets...

1.) "Let's try that again...except try and play it this time with some GEES!"
2.) "One more time for luck" ....After 20 plus bloody takes of the same riff/lick/vocal/drum track.
3.) Space bar clicks to start track.....space bar clicks again 3 seconds in to stop track...... "That was K@K.....try again dude ???

All worth it in the end though.

Anyway...Enough chit-chat. Check out the teasers below for a taste of what's on the album.

http://thesummerunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Bottoms-Up-Teaser.mp3

http://thesummerunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/That-Day-Again-Teaser.mp3

In-between all of this we still managed to find/make time to record a video for our first single. Check it out below 8)

After all of that, we will finally release our album next weekend at Mercury Live. Our salute and farewell to the "album" as we will be giving a copy of the album away as part of the cover charge.

Pull in, have a drink and rock out :goodtimes: :bopping:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=503149706477191

Rehearsal calls :? Stay tuned

Rock n Roll \m/

Mixerboy

The first track is pretty harsh on the ears after listening for a bit.

The music and playing is good though, I quite like it.

doc-phil

Sounds like good fun music, the type of band I can imagine putting on a good live show.

Why the choice to record guitars DI with amp modelling? Not a criticism, just curious. I assume there would have been some amps lying around to record.

Skywalker

Thanks guys!!!

Mixerboy - What do you mean by harsh?

Doc - I guess it was just easier in the end really considering that we took so long to record that it would have been a bit of a schlep to make sure that mics were in exactly the same positions as the previous session etc. We wanted consistency with the guitar sounds/tones aswell . Plus we were getting some really cool sounds from the Line 6 at the time so we just went with it 8) I am a stickler for recording mic'd up though-maybe for album 2 we'll experiment a bit more (and probably take double the time :?)

evolucian

"Making Slayer sound like Danny K"?????? Please enable comments on that vid (number 7 if your memory isn't good enough).

Otherwise it was ok... your vocalist needs replacing.

babbalute

Where are the days that one walked into a small house studio with a vague idea about a song, got some guy's together either at the recording studio or after a quick call and sat down and jammed for a while. By the end of the day a few songs were done and all got to Top 1 in USA. Of course I'm talking early days but often wonder why it can't be done these days like that.
Anyway all the success wished to you hope the years work pays of for you.

AlanRatcliffe

Heh - Good stuff. The more commercial songs would fit right in the late '80s/early '90s California scene.

Mixerboy

Harsh as in it sounds like the treble has been boosted/distorted too much so it gets a bit "ear fatiguing" quite quickly, like razorblades to the ears (could just be my speakers though)

Skywalker

Mixerboy wrote: Harsh as in it sounds like the treble has been boosted/distorted too much so it gets a bit "ear fatiguing" quite quickly, like razorblades to the ears (could just be my speakers though)

Aaaah...Got you 8) Rock n Roll is supposed to fatiguing though ?

babbalute wrote: Where are the days that one walked into a small house studio with a vague idea about a song, got some guy's together either at the recording studio or after a quick call and sat down and jammed for a while. By the end of the day a few songs were done and all got to Top 1 in USA. Of course I'm talking early days but often wonder why it can't be done these days like that.
Anyway all the success wished to you hope the years work pays of for you.

Cheers man. I suppose the main reason for taking so long would be trying to balance family,work and band all at the same time ??? It would be great to be able to do this full time and actually get paid decently for doing it but it just isn't possible here unless you're churning out the radio friendly/flavour of the week hits.

evolucian wrote: "Making Slayer sound like Danny K"?????? Please enable comments on that vid (number 7 if your memory isn't good enough).

Otherwise it was ok... your vocalist needs replacing.

There's a reason why comments are disabled on the vid. I'm sure I don't need to explain why ?

feel free to comment as much as you like here or on our Fb page
https://www.facebook.com/TheSummerUnderground

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Heh - Good stuff. The more commercial songs would fit right in the late '80s/early '90s California scene.

Thanks Alan 8)

Skywalker

Teaser # 3 for your listening pleasure 8)

http://thesummerunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/BULLETMAN_Teaser.mp3

eyesuc

Almost there! DD-day is close now...

eyesuc

Great show guys! Lots of energy on stage. Would like to see you guys at a ROAR type venue with a in-your-face kind of stage.

I was a little disappointed with the sound at Mercury though, but I haven't been there in a while so perhaps this is the norm now.

Skywalker

Thanks dude. Shot for pulling in.

I was a killer evening!!

Agree with you on the sound though. It wasn't great. Sound at ROAR is good. We'll probably be there soon again.

We're here next though:

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/guitar-events/rock-revival-with-mark-haze-the-summer-underground-and-haiven/