The Comadre LP is finally finished.
There is nearly two years into the making of this record. We are all
very proud of the work we have put in, and are ready to get back
out and play (after a 10 month hiatus). Enjoy…
Filmed and edited by Kyle Camarillo.
http://www.comadreblog.com
http://www.vitriolrecords.com
http://www.getcreepy.com
Hey Now!
These fine young gentlemen would love your help for the vinyl
release of their new record. And you can get all sorts of perks
and whatnot by participating in the fundraising.
This was a fun record to be a part of. Get yours. Its a banger.
Find out more details right down here…
http://www.indiegogo.com/intothevalleysun/
I am very happy to welcome the newest member of The Atomic Garden
gear family. It is a Kawai Upright Piano (pictured here getting its first
setup/cleaning/tuning).
Its predecessor was a 110 year old pile that was nearly impossible to
tune and became more of a visual piece than anything worth listening to.
The new piano sounds fantastic! After playing many similar models I
finally found something that had the “rock and roll” sound that I was
looking for. It is very bright and lively. Perfect for the kind of use a piano
gets around here.
Another recent addition to the studio live room is a beautiful 1961
Hammond M3 Organ. All kinds of tone pouring out of this thing. You’ve
got to oil and crank it like an old clock and its got a built in tube amp and
speaker. Good times.
The piano and organ have made it on to several recordings since their
recent arrivals. Meanwhile, there has been a keyboard sitting in the
corner and collecting dust for over six years. People seem to be inspired
by the real thing.
…I think this is technically 2 days worth of photos in studio (maybe even 3 days?). But anyways, back to work on the 8 songs that we have started with for our new record. Not sure which ones will actually make it on the record after we finish these and start the next batch, but we’ll see; so far it’s looking like it’s gonna be hard to choose. Things done these few days were: guitars (electric and acoustic), more tambourine and shakers, played a saw, and even some standup bass. Again, some different shit for us, but all in good taste; everything is sounding awesome.
I can’t wait to start posting some video/audio teasers. Keep your eyes peeled, homie.
And check out the other 2 posts from our recording process.
…Another day in our studio, working on our upcoming full-length. If you caught the first post about this recording process, then you know that we are trying a few new things on this record (in both the writing and recording process). Some things maybe more dissonant than others (at least for us), but overall, we couldn’t be more stoked on the outcome of everything so far. I love the way it is all turning out and absolutely love how this new Comadre full-length is sounding. It’s been a while. Gotta do something way tight…and I hope you’ll like it :)
But anyways, this day we worked again on this first batch of songs using: a piano, an organ, cymbals (by themselves), shakers, a tambourine, and we also did some vocals.
So far, so good.
Enjoy your weekend.
…Here’s some photos from DAY 1 of many more to come in the process of recording our new full-length. As we’ve stated before, we are long overdue for a full-length, so we are making sure to take our damn sweet time on this one. We gave ourselves no due date and no rush, so hold on tight cause this might be a while till you hear a new song. But just to get the ball rolling on some excitement (cause we for sure as hell are), here are some sneak peaks on what you can expect of the new record. We’re trying out a bunch of new thing, and so far everything is sounding awesome. It is of course being recorded at The Atomic Garden, which is owned and operated by Jack.
One thing you can notice is that we set up the drums in the warehouse next door to his studio to get some crazy reverb off that huge room. And this of course is all going to tape. We also only recorded a handful of songs, still have more to write and more to get down in the coming months. Next up are the guitars for these few songs.
Enjoy the photos. More to come in the next few weeks/months. Might also have to sneak in some videos of the process as well :)
Ps…feel free to ASK questions now; I opened that function up on this blog now.
Please help a dear friend, Sarah Kirsch, who was an important figure
and driving force in the 90s punk scene and beyond. She continues to
be an important part of our community, our culture, and our music
scene.
Even if you don’t recognize this name, you probably know Sarah. She
has been a huge part of the punk/radical community for decades as
Mike Kirsch (Fuel, Sawhorse, Pinhead Gunpowder, John Henry West,
Torches To Rome, Bread And Circuits, Please Inform The Captain This
Is A Hijack, Baader Brains, Mothercountry Motherfuckers, etc…).
She not too long ago came out as a proud trans-woman, and almost
immediately was confronted with these terrible health problems. Money
is badly needed— please help, and spread this appeal around!
Details….
Our good friend Sarah Kirsch was diagnosed over summer with
Fanconi Anemia - a rare genetic disorder that causes Leukemia & other
cancers. Despite being put through the f’n ringer by chemotherapy, a
bone marrow transplant and very long hospital stays, Sarah is staying
strong and fighting hard, finally out of the hospital and at home with her
amazing partner Jess and loving full-time caregivers and friends, Paul
and Ilya.
Aside from the unconditional emotional and physical support Sarah has
received from her devoted extended family and friends, donations to
date have been enormously helpful in lightening the financial burden of
this kind of illness. The demand for supplies not covered by insurance is,
however, unending and deepening - from food to cleaning supplies to
lotion to kleenex to parking at the hospital… It is adding up and multiple
life savings have already been depleted.
If you’re able and would like to contribute in this way, please check out
our Wepay account below. There is no donation too small, every $ helps.
https://www.wepay.com/donations/sarah
Thank you.
Big thanks to Siah from Foreign Key Records for bringing Grammy
winning reggae singer Mykal Rose through the studio last week. It
was a fun session, for sure. I’m looking forward to getting into the
mixing next week.
Keep an eye out for the 7 inch single, coming soon!
Ok, so it’s more like analog sound replacement, or re-amping, but
that doesn’t sound as cool.
Recently, I had a song sent to me for mixing. After reviewing the
first mix, the band wasn’t happy with the snare sound. They had
used a busted snare that was all “pop” and no “rattle.” What to do?
I had read about this technique for years, but never really had a
good reason to try it… until now.
Here’s how it works: The original snare track is sent out of a speaker.
A snare drum is placed in front of the speaker. A microphone is
placed in front of the new snare. Then, when the original track is
played back, it triggers the new snare and produces the rattle we
were looking for.
After blending the original snare track with the new snare track, the
whole thing felt much more balanced. Good Times.
Imagine, if you will, a time before computers. Before there was reverb
software that could be slapped on a source to add space and depth.
Even way back in the day there was artificial reverb, but it was attained
through more creative means.
One way of achieving this effect was through the use of an echo chamber.
This would be a medium or large room, located somewhere in the studio
building, that had an acoustically reflective quality (usually concrete, brick,
tiled rooms, etc). Some studios would use their bathroom. Some would
even use an old elevator shaft. Anywhere that could achieve a naturally
reverberant sound.
In one of these spaces, there would be a speaker on one end, and a
microphone (or two) on the other. Then, while mixing, anything that
needed reverb would be sent out of the speaker, into the echo chamber,
then recorded back through the mic (or mics) on the other end. Finally,
that reverb would be mixed in as desired.
So, long story short, The Atomic Garden has recently gained access to
such a space. This is very exciting for me because I have a soft spot for
old school techniques like this.
Just below, you will find a quick test I did to see what I could get out of
this 2,500 square foot warehouse space. In just few minutes, I was able
to set up something that was more gratifying than opening up a reverb
program in my recording software.
I’m really looking forward to getting to know this old school technique
in the near future. More tests to come…
