Hey friends,
To start, the band has decided on a title for the new EP. The new record will be called Waiting to Begin. The title comes from the name of a song that will be on the EP, but that's not our only reason for us choosing it. We also feel as though it describes our situation as a band. Like so many other bands out there (some great, some not), we are putting out what we believe to be high quality songs, in the hopes that other people will hear them and that they will catch on to some extent. I don't think we are pioneering any new territory by wanting to play to a larger audience. That's kind of the idea. Music is a form of art and expression, and for us, and likely for most bands, we would enjoy the opportunity to express ourselves to as many people as possible.
With that said, Waiting to Begin is coming along great! To give you some background information, here are the steps we needed to take in order to get this record out to you, the listener.
1. Recording - For this album, we went for more of a live and natural feel, as mentioned before. Thus, we recorded everything simultaneously, rather than one instrument at a time. Of this recording session, we keep the drums, bass and keys - not guitar. The reason for this is simple. When recording live, the rhythm guitar and vocals are recorded through the same microphone, making it impossible to turn the guitar or vocals up or down separately. Not only that, but rarely are vocal performances ever recorded live, while the singer is playing an instrument. Strumming a guitar and singing at the same time would cause the vocals to be bouncy and not a true measure of the singers potential.
2. Editing - After the initial recording session is done, drums, bass and keys are edited. The band recorded each song several times, so editing consists largely of combing through the different takes for each instrument, picking out the best performances and putting them in place.
3. Recording Part II - Once step two is complete, we move into a second bout of recording. This is where, as mentioned above, we re-record the guitars and vocals. Since this is the last of the general recording that is done, editing will be done as we go, not at a later time. However, the process is the same: we pick the best takes and use them.
4. Tinkering - Alas, my favorite part of making a record! This is where we go through each song thinking, what else could I add to this song? This part is fun, but kind of tricky, because it's easy to go overboard. When adding effects to a song, it's imperative that it is done with good judgment, because, at a certain point, these things stop making the song better. Instead they start overwhelming the song, making it worse.
5. Mixing - Once everything is seemingly in place the way we want it, we start mixing. This consists of a lot of things. Part of this includes adjusting the equalizer settings to make each instrument/vocal track sounds as clean, clear and full as possible. This is also where we adjust the levels of everything to insure that nothing is too loud or too soft. For example, we wouldn't want any one instrument to be so loud that we couldn't hear the others. This may sound simple, but it is anything but that. It involves going back and forth between different sets of speakers and headphones, trying to make sure that no matter what the listener is listening to us on (i.e. laptop speakers, car speakers, headphones, etc.), it sounds as good and even as possible.
6. Mastering - This is out of our hands, for the most part. Once the mixing is done, we send the songs away to a company that specializes in mastering. They employ various complex techniques that are really too difficult to explain, but in a very general sense, what they do is they make sure that the album sounds good as a whole. They insure that when you flip from one song to the next, it's a smooth transition and nothing jumps out at you. This includes everything from making sure that no track is louder or softer than the rest, or that no track has a lot more bass than the rest. Again, they do a lot of things. This is just an attempt to give you a vague idea as to what all they do.
7. Artwork - This, for us, will occur simultaneously with the mastering step. Basically, an artist will be drawing up some examples of what our album could look like. When they design something that all of us like, we agree to that design and the manufacturing begins.
8. Manufacturing - This is where the artwork is brought to life. It is printed onto CD cases and to CD's themselves. Then everything is packaged together, wrapped in plastic, put in boxes and sent to us.
9. CD Release - Those of you who helped fund this project by donating to our Kickstarter account will be shipped your copy of the CD (along with any other gifts you donated for) as soon as we have the record in our hands. There will be no delay. As for the rest of you, you will have to wait until the CD Release date, which has yet to be determined. In the near future, New Inhabitants will be booking a show, probably, but not necessarily in Lawrence, KS. The show will be designated as a CD Release show for this album. At that time, you can purchase your copy!
Currently, we are embarking on step #3, the second bout of recording. That may sound not very far, but let me tell you, the first three steps are much more time consuming than the rest. Steps #4 and #5 will likely take a total of two days in studio and steps #6-8 happen simultaneously over the course of a couple weeks, if that gives you any idea.
Anyway, that is where we are at! I hope this gives everyone some insight. I leave you with a couple videos from the studio. Enjoy!
Thanks for listening,
Tyler (New Inhabitants)
To start, the band has decided on a title for the new EP. The new record will be called Waiting to Begin. The title comes from the name of a song that will be on the EP, but that's not our only reason for us choosing it. We also feel as though it describes our situation as a band. Like so many other bands out there (some great, some not), we are putting out what we believe to be high quality songs, in the hopes that other people will hear them and that they will catch on to some extent. I don't think we are pioneering any new territory by wanting to play to a larger audience. That's kind of the idea. Music is a form of art and expression, and for us, and likely for most bands, we would enjoy the opportunity to express ourselves to as many people as possible.
With that said, Waiting to Begin is coming along great! To give you some background information, here are the steps we needed to take in order to get this record out to you, the listener.
1. Recording - For this album, we went for more of a live and natural feel, as mentioned before. Thus, we recorded everything simultaneously, rather than one instrument at a time. Of this recording session, we keep the drums, bass and keys - not guitar. The reason for this is simple. When recording live, the rhythm guitar and vocals are recorded through the same microphone, making it impossible to turn the guitar or vocals up or down separately. Not only that, but rarely are vocal performances ever recorded live, while the singer is playing an instrument. Strumming a guitar and singing at the same time would cause the vocals to be bouncy and not a true measure of the singers potential.
2. Editing - After the initial recording session is done, drums, bass and keys are edited. The band recorded each song several times, so editing consists largely of combing through the different takes for each instrument, picking out the best performances and putting them in place.
3. Recording Part II - Once step two is complete, we move into a second bout of recording. This is where, as mentioned above, we re-record the guitars and vocals. Since this is the last of the general recording that is done, editing will be done as we go, not at a later time. However, the process is the same: we pick the best takes and use them.
4. Tinkering - Alas, my favorite part of making a record! This is where we go through each song thinking, what else could I add to this song? This part is fun, but kind of tricky, because it's easy to go overboard. When adding effects to a song, it's imperative that it is done with good judgment, because, at a certain point, these things stop making the song better. Instead they start overwhelming the song, making it worse.
5. Mixing - Once everything is seemingly in place the way we want it, we start mixing. This consists of a lot of things. Part of this includes adjusting the equalizer settings to make each instrument/vocal track sounds as clean, clear and full as possible. This is also where we adjust the levels of everything to insure that nothing is too loud or too soft. For example, we wouldn't want any one instrument to be so loud that we couldn't hear the others. This may sound simple, but it is anything but that. It involves going back and forth between different sets of speakers and headphones, trying to make sure that no matter what the listener is listening to us on (i.e. laptop speakers, car speakers, headphones, etc.), it sounds as good and even as possible.
6. Mastering - This is out of our hands, for the most part. Once the mixing is done, we send the songs away to a company that specializes in mastering. They employ various complex techniques that are really too difficult to explain, but in a very general sense, what they do is they make sure that the album sounds good as a whole. They insure that when you flip from one song to the next, it's a smooth transition and nothing jumps out at you. This includes everything from making sure that no track is louder or softer than the rest, or that no track has a lot more bass than the rest. Again, they do a lot of things. This is just an attempt to give you a vague idea as to what all they do.
7. Artwork - This, for us, will occur simultaneously with the mastering step. Basically, an artist will be drawing up some examples of what our album could look like. When they design something that all of us like, we agree to that design and the manufacturing begins.
8. Manufacturing - This is where the artwork is brought to life. It is printed onto CD cases and to CD's themselves. Then everything is packaged together, wrapped in plastic, put in boxes and sent to us.
9. CD Release - Those of you who helped fund this project by donating to our Kickstarter account will be shipped your copy of the CD (along with any other gifts you donated for) as soon as we have the record in our hands. There will be no delay. As for the rest of you, you will have to wait until the CD Release date, which has yet to be determined. In the near future, New Inhabitants will be booking a show, probably, but not necessarily in Lawrence, KS. The show will be designated as a CD Release show for this album. At that time, you can purchase your copy!
Currently, we are embarking on step #3, the second bout of recording. That may sound not very far, but let me tell you, the first three steps are much more time consuming than the rest. Steps #4 and #5 will likely take a total of two days in studio and steps #6-8 happen simultaneously over the course of a couple weeks, if that gives you any idea.
Anyway, that is where we are at! I hope this gives everyone some insight. I leave you with a couple videos from the studio. Enjoy!
Thanks for listening,
Tyler (New Inhabitants)
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