Recording at Bear Creek = New EP!

Well, we've just had a very fun and productive week. On Monday, August 18th, we went in to Bear Creek recording studio with a plan to record four songs in two days.

Day one, we laid down basic tracks: drums, bass, guitar and vocals. The idea was to get really solid bass and drum tracks, while the guitar and vocals were scratch tracks and served mainly as placeholders. We were able to get great drum sounds thanks to house engineers Taylor Mann and Jerry Streeter. Switching to the Superphonic snare was the ticket to the great snare sound we ended up with. The kick was dialed in using three microphones placed at different distances and positions. All of the other instruments were well isolated in their own booths or rooms. We even amped up and miked the keyboard!

Day two was for comping and overdubs (look it up). We started by laying down some Wurlitzer electric piano, played by Thom Collins, to replace the temporary synth version. After that we added some percussion including shakers, cowbells and hand claps. Meanwhile, Kyle honed his guitar tone and managed an even creepier vocal for "Gutter Creep." The coup de gras was the Hammond B3 organ through the Leslie cabinet... Ahh, what a beautiful instrument. Turning up the speed on the spinning speaker in the middle of a playing a riff while attempting to muffle and mask the loud CLICK sound from the pedal is a technique in and of itself. All in all, we managed to get in all the tracks we needed for four songs in about 24 hours. I'd say we did pretty good. Now it's time to mix. Keep your eyes and ears open for the Waverunner EP! Coming Soon!

Photo: Andy Snyder