Our fourth day in the studio was slotted for nailing down the electric guitar parts, which unsurprisingly would prove to be one of the more complex and time-consuming parts of the recording process. Over the course of the day, in addition to countless re-dubs and second takes (not to mention writing new parts), Jerry, Geoff and Steve spent hours measuring delay times, tweaking gain settings, and cleaning up sustain and fuzz (just a few of Steve's favorite things). Phrasing for electric guitar is so important, and today we learned that what we should have been doing during practices was nailing down exactly what we were each playing, because jamming quality does not equate to studio quality. Each note needs to be carefully orchestrated, and purposefully articulated - that goes especially for something as technically involved as lead guitar.
School's out.
Some low-quality samples of what you loyal fans are in for (and more of Jerry's superb drumming):
"Baaanaaanaaa..." (Geoff, in the next room)
"I'll give you some feedback..." (Jerry, to Steve)
"I'm playing with the grabber." (Richmond)
"Do whatever you did yesterday to get rid of all that... squishiness." (Jerry)
"My e-mail wants me to improve my love life." (Richmond)
"Tuning translated into Japanese means 'avocado of the sea.'" (Joe, via the internet)
"Listen to the bass. It's incredibly tight with the drums. I know, because I put it there." (Jerry)
"This next part is ugly, nasty, and terrible." (Steve)
"Well, if you can think of a way to make it not ugly, nasty, and terrible, then we can use it." (Jerry)
"I think we should just do that song from Zelda, and modify it to fit in there." (Joe)
"This guitar tends to hit amps like a sock full of nickels." (Steve)
"...and then... there were guitar players." (Jerry)
"Your feet are mildly moist." (Joe)
"Oooooh... Chooooclate..." (Geoff, in the next room)
Tomorrow: vocals and cleanup detail!
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