Category: Recording Update

Murder Buds

The Ear Buds have finished writing and recording demos for the latest EP. The original goal was to have final recordings ready for mixing and mastering by the start of September but time and power outages and going back to school during COVID makes fools of us all.

A week or so ago Blonski and I met virtually to listen to the demos and talk lyrics. We decided it only made sense to do so while slaying hordes of undead nonsense in Diablo III. Naturally we recorded it.

We’ve got pieces of two songs laid down for the final album and hope to get moving on the rest in the coming weeks. More info as it comes…

-Mike

Odds and Ends

Despite a lack of posts and varying levels of quarantine, Small Glowing Pig has a handful of projects in the cooker. Let the updating begin!

First, in late spring, Jefim, Steve, Devin, and I began writing some new tunes. Steve, Jefim, and I recorded a bunch of ideas and we’ve laid down partial tracks for six songs – two from each of us. Most of the bass, rhythm guitar, and percussion are done and there are vocals on two of the tracks. The progress has slowed a bit in the last month, but hopefully more will come of this at some point.

Next up, Steve Blonski and our Forefathers has not been abandoned, but is on a recording hiatus. One of our goals with the project was to get the instrument recording sounding the way we wanted and then take a few weeks to lay down each instrument in a sonically consistent and cohesive way. With COVID mucking up any chance at consistency in the short term (and long term?), we’ve decided to wait on this a bit rather than compromise on sound.

In the meantime, Steve and I have started writing for the next Ear Buds EP. Our timeline has us finishing up the demos of the new songs in the coming week and then taking August to record the proper versions of each track. We’re also planning to change the formula a bit. There will still be a few songs that we write and “pass off” to each other for full re-recording, but we’re also going to record some tracks and have the other person build off of them to complete the song. It should result in an album that’s a little more varied than the stripped down original. If all goes according to plan, we’ll have a release ready in September.

Finally, here’s the mp3 version of the General Pancakes show from a year ago at The Cue in Danbury. Enjoy!

GP Live at the Cue 2019.07.31

General Pancakes2016

Wild World
Daniel
No Woman No Cry
Won't Back Down
Ziggy Stardust
Comedy Night Advertisement
Crazy
Bad Leroy Brown
Easy
Brown Eyed Girl
Mary Jane's Last Dance
Last Call for Raffle Tickets
Hard Day's Night
Land Down Under
All Night Long
Santeria
Brandy
Jenny (8675309)
50-50 Raffle
Movin' Out
Stuck in the Middle with You
Superstition
Comedy Night Advertisement Reprise
Hey Jude

-Mike

Socially Isolating the Snare

Amidst a backdrop of toilet paper shortages and Lebanese shawarma, Blonski and I met to hit some drums and think really hard about the sounds that came out of the computer afterward. One of our goals with Going Down in History is to take our time (maybe not this much time…) with the recording process. With this in mind, we spent months recording demos of each song. Our next step is to get the right sound for each instrument as we record them.

First up is drums.

Just imagine the drum sounds that made these bars dance around…

We set up the kit in Blonski’s new studio room, muted the toms, and placed the mics. Here’s a tour:

Next time we brave the distopian COVID-19 lockdown, we’ll record drums and scratch bass for one or two tracks. Updates forthcoming…
-Mike

Nondescript Flapjacks

Hello!

Two quick updates… First, General Pancakes debuted at The Cue in Danbury last month. Steve, Jim, and I hung out with family and friends, played songs by Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and Lionel Ritchie, and dined on exquisitely smoked pig and cow parts. The delicious footage can be found below.

Will there be a second show for the General? We’ll have to wait and see!

On the recording front, Steve Blonski and our Forefathers has been making progress in spurts when we have time. We’re nearly finished recording a complete demo of the album, but there’s more work to do. Once we finish that, our plan is to take our time getting the recording sounding right so that it all gels together well. More info when it comes…

Until next time, keep partying, karamuing, and liming.

-Mike

Demos and Dead Political Figures

I was originally planning to put the demo tracks for Volume I of Ear Buds up about a month after the EP released, but here we are and it’s November already. That happened fast…

In any case, these are the original demo tracks. We passed these to each other a year or so ago and then took another few months to learn them, practice them, and record them.

01 – Edification Demo [download]

02 – Going Home Demo [download]

03 – Paint Demo [download]

04 – Moments Demo [download]

In other news, we’re in the thick of writing the next album. We’re finally getting around to an idea Steve had probably a decade ago for an R&B album about the founding fathers. Who else could be more qualified for this endeavor than the two of us? We’ve written parts of seven songs and are at the point where we can arrange them and fill out lyrics and melody. The goal is to have some demos laid down in the next few months so that we can practice and then record before/during the summer of 2019. Hopefully we’ll have more to talk about soon!

-Mike

Theme music fit for idiots

For the past few months, I’ve been working on some new theme music for theidiotcast.com‘s podcasts and video content.  They have three different categories for their content: the IdiotCast Says, the IdiotCast Plays, and the IdiotCast Reads.  I figured each could have the same melody and construction, but be recording using different instrumentation.

First, I used LoopStation on my phone to record a chord sequence and melody idea.  It’s a pretty neat multitracking program that Blonski turned me onto.  Works surprisingly well for how simple it is.  Here’s the raw result:

I figured an acoustic arrangement would work well for Reads, the book club podcast, but that the Plays and Says intros should be different.  For Plays, I went with a pretty standard rock sound.

For Plays, the obvious choice was to make it sound like an 8 bit NES chip.  I used the peach and toad VST plugins from Tweakbench to recreate the feel being six and sitting on the floor, cursing at Megaman 3.

Finally, I revisited the original acoustic version for the Reads podcast.  The video below chronicles the recording adventures!

And here’s the mixed version of the track:

To hear the Plays intro in use, check out the IdiotCast Plays the Witness.

Until next time!
-Mike

Blonski Jams With Some Cool Fellows

Jammin
I didn’t grab a pic, so this is a depiction of what Predator would see when looking at a band of clay models. Relevant!

My bass hands, they are rusty. These past couple months have been the longest stretch in a while that I haven’t been in at least one group, holding down the low hertz waves.

Slow Blues:

My co-worker Fred and I have jammed occasionally over the years, with a rotating cast of his friends. Fred sings and plays a mean guitar, and even though his musical tastes diverge somewhat from mine, I love getting to learn and play some more old school stuff.

Born On The Bayou:

This time we got together at my place and rocked it with Brian (Guitar and some sick CCR-charged vocals) and Billy (Drums and all around great guy) to see if we could maybe get a thing going, and possibly play out some time. While the results were a little rough, there was a lot of cool stuff in the recordings, and it was really only a first shot together, with no plan or songlist really. Very cool to see everyone kinda lock in a figure out a song on the fly.

Spooky:

Mike had generously let me borrow his 8 track recorder, which worked great! Unfortunately, I took the effect out from the PA for vocals, so the tracks have an ethereal quality sometimes. Balance was an issue too; I had set up 1 room mic, 2 drum mics (overhead and bass), direct in on bass, and the aforementioned vocals from PA. I had hoped to get the guitars pretty good from the room, but it was loud and the mic picked up one guit more than the other. Definitely would direct out or close mic the guitars next time, and if that happens I’ll be sure to share the end product too!

Thrill Is Gone (Funky):

-Blonski

Google Hangout leads to drum video recording

I like playing Steve’s drums and the way that they sound and I like hanging out with Steve.  I told him we should do those things.  The text messages went as follows:

gtalk01

I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get to his place before 8:30, and so I requested caffeine.

gtalk02

Steve obliged and also had chicken nuggets.  Later, we reflected on what could be done better the next time.

gtalk03

Still, it’s worth watching at least part of.

-Mike