Make A Rising

Got a new synth today. Juno 60. Blowing cash on Craigslist. Been messing around with it all night. It’s 2AM now.

I’m back in Los Angeles. Waiting for a new preamp and ribbon mic to come in the mail. Will start tracking violin, vocals and synths as soon as that happens. I’ll be using the Roland SH-1000, a Melotron sampler, Moog Little Phatty, Korg MS-10, and possibly a Juno 60. Been listening to a lot lot lot of Franco Battiato, from his first classic albums to his 80′s pop work. I think this is heavily informing my sound desires.

I’m hoping to have all essential tracking done by May and then mix/mastering in June.

A few more days of recording in Philadelphia, and then I transport the tracks back to Los Angeles.

The album has gone from 8 songs to 12. About 50 minutes of new musicccccccccccc.

I have a cold.

Three of the five of us got together for the first time in 2-ish years tonight. We were at the Dr. Dog studio to rehearse material for our 3rd album. Sorry about the bad sound. I recorded it on photobooth. All of December will be rehearsing and recording. After tonight, I’m very optimistic about how this will turn out.

The new songs are poppier and more concise than on previous records, with exception of one 10 minute thing that I’m still trying to figure out. It might get shorter. Anyway I hope to get all the rhythm and guitar tracks done by the end of the month. Maybe we’ll have time to put in vocals and extraneous percussion. Then I’ll take this stuff back to Los Angeles to finish it up.

I know this video doesn’t really reveal anything and it’s not fun to watch, but it is proof that we’re still creating, despite living on opposite coasts.

As I stated in the previous post, I have a bunch of demos sitting on my computer, waiting for proper recording. After powow-ing with the group, the plan is this:

1. Members of the group learn the parts on their own.

2. I book studio time in mid December in Philadelphia.

3. Record rhythm tracks with Justin, John Heron and myself.

4. Depending on how that goes, bring in Travis and Nick to lay down their parts.

5. Bring the tracks back to LA for overdubs.

6. Mix in LA. Album 1 complete

7. Justin come to LA in February. I take a week off to record tracks with him.

8. He takes tracks home and writes arrangements.

9. I record arrangements, and mix here. 2nd album done!

THAT’S THE PLAN!!! See you in December 2011.

Hey. This is Jesse. I don’t know who checks this blog, but today I put together a 35 minute sequence of demos. Half of it is old MAR songs that haven’t been recorded, the other half is new material that I’ve been writing for the past year. So I guess I got pretty excited listening through them. Most of this stuff falls further into pop territory than before, with a majority of the tunes clocking in under 4 minutes; even a couple 2 minute jams.

I’m still working out arrangements on the one longer track, and gonna re-write the melody/lyrics for an older MAR song that we never quite figured out how to play live (and have it sound good).

That’s my hair in the upper left corner. This is where I’ve been recording my demos. Not the most exciting picture I know, but pictures help.

Meanwhile, back on the East Coast, Justin hasn’t had access to a piano in like, a year. We have one sitting in storage, but his new apartment isn’t big enough to host it.

That’s it for now. Sorry I don’t have anything else to show, but I’m going to try to get these songs recorded as soon as I can.

best,

Jesse