Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Guitars for the Christmas EP
I thought it would be fun to do a nerdy update regarding the guitar recording process for the Christmas EP. Here we go...
Guitar-wise, we used Eric's Tele, and strat for parts that needed that single coil bite and twang. The Ric was used for thicker humbucker stuff. The Taylor solidbody is cool because it fits somewhere in between a single coil and a humbucker on the tone scale. It has the girth and thickness of a humbucker, but more bite. Both Eric and I used this guitar quite a bit on the EP.
The Matchless and AC30 were used heavily, as well as some cool mini little amps... a cute little Gretsch and an adorable Gibson (missing the bs on the badge, making it a 'Gi on.'). We had tons of fun messing with different amp/effects/cab combos, often running multiple amps simultaneously (especially when coming out seperate outputs of a stereo delay like the 'echo park.')
When it comes to mics, Eric told me (his exact words...) "An SM57 1/4" off the center of the speaker cone at a 30 degree angle. Use a protractor, a laser level, and a plumb line to make sure that it is exact. We will not move the mic EVER."
He did actually say something like that, but it was very sarcastic and we both got a good laugh. For some reason, people tend to read books about engineering that tell you stuff like this, and they follow it blindly. If music is about hearing, then it seems like using our ears is a better option when it comes to mics, placement and getting tones in general. All that to say, Eric would usually be in the control room, and have me move mics around until it sounded right for that particular guitar part. Most of the cabs were mic'd up with some combination of an SM57, Royer ribbon, or Sure KSM (large diaphragm). It's easy to talk about gear all day, but no matter what gear you have or use, ears and the way you play are WAY more important.
Being that this was my first time in the studio with Eric, I learned to be way more picky about moving mics around until it sounds right! No excuses... laziness is not tolerated!
Also notable is the Sean Cimino patented "jacked up" pick trick. We used it for edgy and edge-esque tones. It is pretty basic... just destroy a nice smooth pick edge with something sharp, and scrape it across the strings. It was often the extra push a tone needed to cut through in a mix. Thanks Sean.
This video also has some info about effects and amps:
Future of Forestry Christmas Part 4 from future of forestry on Vimeo.
Sorry if that was boring. If you made it this far, congratulations, and my deepest apologies for taking up your time.
-T.J.
Guitar-wise, we used Eric's Tele, and strat for parts that needed that single coil bite and twang. The Ric was used for thicker humbucker stuff. The Taylor solidbody is cool because it fits somewhere in between a single coil and a humbucker on the tone scale. It has the girth and thickness of a humbucker, but more bite. Both Eric and I used this guitar quite a bit on the EP.
The Matchless and AC30 were used heavily, as well as some cool mini little amps... a cute little Gretsch and an adorable Gibson (missing the bs on the badge, making it a 'Gi on.'). We had tons of fun messing with different amp/effects/cab combos, often running multiple amps simultaneously (especially when coming out seperate outputs of a stereo delay like the 'echo park.')
When it comes to mics, Eric told me (his exact words...) "An SM57 1/4" off the center of the speaker cone at a 30 degree angle. Use a protractor, a laser level, and a plumb line to make sure that it is exact. We will not move the mic EVER."
He did actually say something like that, but it was very sarcastic and we both got a good laugh. For some reason, people tend to read books about engineering that tell you stuff like this, and they follow it blindly. If music is about hearing, then it seems like using our ears is a better option when it comes to mics, placement and getting tones in general. All that to say, Eric would usually be in the control room, and have me move mics around until it sounded right for that particular guitar part. Most of the cabs were mic'd up with some combination of an SM57, Royer ribbon, or Sure KSM (large diaphragm). It's easy to talk about gear all day, but no matter what gear you have or use, ears and the way you play are WAY more important.
Being that this was my first time in the studio with Eric, I learned to be way more picky about moving mics around until it sounds right! No excuses... laziness is not tolerated!
Also notable is the Sean Cimino patented "jacked up" pick trick. We used it for edgy and edge-esque tones. It is pretty basic... just destroy a nice smooth pick edge with something sharp, and scrape it across the strings. It was often the extra push a tone needed to cut through in a mix. Thanks Sean.
This video also has some info about effects and amps:
Future of Forestry Christmas Part 4 from future of forestry on Vimeo.
Sorry if that was boring. If you made it this far, congratulations, and my deepest apologies for taking up your time.
-T.J.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Download the Christmas EP!!
After many many many hours and weeks and months of work, the Advent Christmas EP is ready to escape from the studio and hit your ears! We're excited about it, and you should go buy it for $4.95 right now over at futureofforestry.com/store.The CDs will ship on November 24th. You should download it now, and then buy copies for all your friends in a few weeks!
Hope you like it!
-T.J. / FoF
Monday, November 3, 2008
Live interview and Acoustic set Wednesday!
Tune in this Wednesday at 6 pm Pacific to the internet show called 'Crossrock TV on the spot.' Eric and I (T.J.) will be bringing a bunch of instruments and doing some acoustic versions of some Christmas tunes, an interview and possibly a bonus song...You can watch it live at CRTV's Ustream page, our myspace, or at FOFTV.
Also, if you live in San Diego, you can come to the live taping! It is free, and it would be sweet to see you. Here's the address: 10752 Coastwood Road • San Diego, CA 92127 . It is at a coffee shop called Cana Cafe, and I believe it is attached to a Church. You might want to get there about 15 minutes early (5:45) just to be safe. Hope to see you there, or on the internet.
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