We've just finished the instrumental tracks, and are preparing for the vocal dubbing.
In my book (yes, I am indeed trying to write a book on record production), each production begins with a framework. In the academe, a framework is a set of philosophies and theories that guide the work. In the pre-production stage, I met with both the band and the engineering team to come to grips with what everyone wanted, and what I felt the album needed. In our very first pre-production conversations, Ebe discussed with me the problems of performing live as a three-piece band. The studio however, allows such a small ensemble to transcend the limitations of manpower. But one has to be careful how this advantage is applied. On the one hand one can take the no-frills approach and record with a minimum of extra instruments, much like in a live performance. "Sa Wakas", while not completely spare in terms of instrumentation, sounds slightly minimalist compared to a lot of other pop/rock bands releases. While it worked on many levels, he found himself looking for more. On the other hand, Ebe felt that, in hindsight, "Dramachine" was the opposite, being about as far as one could go production-wise without blowing things out of proportion. My instinct told me that Ebe was looking for some kind of middle ground on this third album. So my framework involved two targets. It is common wisdom that each musical element has to be recorded not just as an isolated entity, but within the context of the whole arrangement. Its very easy to get enamored by a novel sound or recording technique. But it is worthless if it disturbs the rest of the arrangement. This requires foresight, something Ebe expected me to provide, but which in reality everyone actively contributed to. The second target was provide as many options in the recording of each component as possible. The following are examples of how these targets were operationalized.
Bass players are often the most neglected musician in a band. There is a saying, that "bass is bass", meaning there is only so much that can, and should be done with them technically and musically. This attitude is not only unfair but totally wrong, since the bass line is the foundation of the harmony, specially for a 3-piece band. During the pre-production rehearsals, I reminded Jal that the bass is not only tasked with providing the harmonic root, but is equally responsible for the propulsion of the rhythm section. I've heard a number of recent albums in which the bass, due to too much compression, is reduced to a muddy drone. The way out of this trap is to strike a balance between tone and attack. So for the bass tracks I set up a three-way signal split. The first was sent "direct" into the recorder. The second was sent through an electronic amp simulator (in this case a SansAmp). The third was sent to a real bass amplifier in the studio floor, then miked into the pre-amps. This was done to get a gritty sound of a real amp. All these options were set up so that in the mix, we could use any single, or combination of sounds at any part of a song. All this was done not just as an indulgence, but as a means to access different sounds emanating from one single performance. This might not be "heard" in casual listening, but I guarantee it will be felt in the final mix.
For the guitars, Ebe had a special request. He specifically asked if we could dispense with using "stompboxes" (foot-controlled guitar effects) in the whole album. He is apparently going though some sort of "gadget overload". This was providential because I too had grown quite weary of too much dependence on these kinds of devices. One of the problem I have noticed of many recent local band recordings is that guitars are so heavily processed/distorted that you can't hear the tones anymore. Call me "old school", but I've got this thing for "physical" sound, and I am only too happy to surround myself with real amplifiers and microphones. So I eagerly agreed to Ebe's request. We rented three amplifiers, a Laney full stack, a Fender Twin, and a Fender Hot Rod. Together with Ebe's three guitars (a Fender Strat, a Fender Tele, and an Epiphone with humbuckers), we could come up with an infinite number of combinations. Of course, I have to mention that we also used Vin Dancel's now legendary Norman acoustic guitar. Again, we have come up with a wealth of options that can be deployed come mixing time. The guitar tracks are everything I aimed for, and more.
Through the whole process, our engineering team, chief engineer Angie Rosul and assistant engineer Mark Villena, have been instrumental in giving us the most fantastic sounds for all our instruments. I've worked with Angie for many years, and he actually has more experience with the band than I do, having engineered all of the Sugarfree albums, as well as producing most of the first. What I find especially valuable about him is that he can not only immediately "get" some of my more abstract ideas, but can make it come out even better than I originally imagined. In addition, Angie has his own set of favorite sounds, and we welcomed those he suggested because they added even more options than we originally planned. Mark, on the other hand is an interesting fellow. He seems to have this obsession with constantly tweaking things. These incremental tweaks may not always work, and I have on occasions gotten a bit impatient. But when they do work, his contribution is invaluable.
I'm very, very happy with what I have heard so far. There are a number of pleasant surprises that have popped up, but these have resulted from a careful application of the framework. When my wife first heard the instrumental tracks, she immediately bugged me to start on the vocal tracks because she liked what she heard so much that she couldn't wait to hear the completed songs. We still have some way to go, but I can't wait either.
