I’m a recording junkie. Not a bad one. I don’t lie about being somewhere else, I never soundproofed my bedroom (at least not technically), and I don’t fall asleep with headphones on, though I do have a slight scar on my ear from using my old Grado headphones for hours on end. Not that being a junkie is bad, mind you. I’m just saying that I used to have a habit, and now I don’t really. A few years ago, maybe six, I would write and record a new song once a week. Fully-fleshed out songs. I would usually start with a guitar part and record it. I would then add layers of other guitars, keys, drums, or whatever else I could borrow from someone, always writing each part as I went. Lastly, I came up with some lyrics, found space for ... read more >
In the previous post, there was talk of the shitty album. Closer inspection of said blog would reveal that ‘shitty’ referred to the overall quality of an album as a musical piece of work. Something that somehow didn’t occur to me at the time, despite the fact that we here at SnowGhost are complete wine snobs of audio quality, was the sonic production value of an album. Obviously, though this wasn’t so obvious to me very recently, the way an album is recorded and how it sounds is crucial to the level at which one can enjoy it. A shitty-sounding album, even if it is full of great songs, is still shitty, right? Or is it a great album that transcends sonic concerns because it is a marvel of songwriting, band cohesion, emotional captu... read more >
Ah, the old days. Sun Studios, Motown, golden takes, session players, and all-night jams. Groupies, cocaine-fueled time signatures, breaking equipment, tantrums, tracking, and overdubs. The recording studio used to be a hallowed and magical place to me. The mysterious sonically separated rooms, the endless supply of instruments and gadgets where songs were hatched. I would read stories about how Keith Richards would spend days trying to get one little riff, or how much booze and coke Derek and the Dominoes went through while creating their masterpiece. If I dreamed of being a rockstar, the part where I got to swig whiskey and smoke various substances with a pair of headphones on while a guy in the booth told me we were rolling ... read more >
