Second Chance "New Record" Studio Updates
Wednesday May 28, Day 8, 3:00pm
We arrived and pulled up the track we last left off on. It's a track called "7 Years". The song has been around for a while now but we were never really happy with it so it found its way in and out of the set lists over the years. Since we decided to scrap all the lyrics and come up with new ones we decided a new approach was what it needed with new melodies and all. In 4 hours (the longest we've ever taken on a vocal track) the vocals were done. In a session that involved the 3 of us (Larry, Rich & Derek) writing new lines, vocal melodies and harmonies...the end product was entirely new and fresh. There are actually vocal harmonies and phrasing that can be compared to Bad Religion (the studio must have inspired us).
At 9:00pm we ordered three $18.00 Ahi Tuna sandwiches, well worth the price but an hour and a half to deliver was a bit ridiculuous.
2:00am the mix is done on the last two songs of the session.
We are now done with the 1st phase of the album. Now we will begin on the 2nd phase...the "acoustic sessions". Yes we will finally get to that acoustic EP we've been talking about for years. It will all be on the new album...a double EP on one disc.
Next stop...Loaded Bomb Studios
Saturday March 29, 11:00am
Back at DOB Sound today but it wasnt to work on the album, it was to pack the whole studio up and move it from Glendale to Orange County. We packed up all the small gear, removed all the acoustic treatments from the walls and ceilings, gathered all the wiring running thru the walls, untangled a million cables, lifted a ton of amps and speaker cabinets, packed up a big truck full to the top, changed a flat tire, drove to the OC and unloaded everything into the new studio, set up the control room and called it a night.
All in all took us about 12 freakin hours. Hopefully we'll be back in the new DOB Sound next month to continue working on some new music and get some more work done before Derek leaves on another tour with The Adolescents.
Saturday March 1st, day 6, 2:30pm
Arrived in the studio (DOB Sound) late today due to terrible 210 Fwy traffic which had us sitting parked and caused us a later start than we were hoping. Bobby was stuck at work so we had our buddy EricHead playing bass while we track the drums. We laid the 1st track "7 Years" first, went over it a couple times since we had never played it with Derek before and it went over nicely, even though we decided to rewrite the song last minute. Tracked the guitars and by the time we were done with the song Bobby had arrived in time to track the 2nd song....Save Me, which we premiered the song at the House Of Blues and had a great response.
Had a quick break for some food and continued tracking.
Before the night let up, we were able to get in the vocal tracks for "Save Me" and called it a night.
We'll be back at Loaded Bomb Studios writing some new material and we should be back at DOB Sound in April before we head off to Vegas.
Monday January 28th, day 5, 6:00pm
We arrived at the studio to find Derek finishing the mix on the last song. We took a listen to all four tracks, made a few small adjustments and they are done. We're really happy with how they have turned out...pretty rockin'.
We will hopefully be back at DOB Sound in April to start laying down the next crop of songs, until then we'll be back at Loaded Bomb Studios in pre-production.
The tracks are: Suicide Machine, We're No Angels, Standing Tall & Devil's Child.
Until next time journal
-SC
Sunday January 27th
Had to push the mixdown till tomorrow afternoon...should be fun.
Saturday January 26th, day 4, 2:00pm
It's been a month and a half since the last session and it was time to give a listen. Larry decided to ad a little more lead guitar to the "Suicide Machine" track and Bob re-cut his bass tracks to the song to give it a little more life. That didn't take long at all, we had a short lunch break and it was time for vocals.
Since last time Rich didn't get to the vocals until the wee hours of the morning we totally scrapped what he last did and started again fresh. Even though we just got off the stage at Rude Dog about 13 hours ago, he was ready to go. Rich spent the next 5-6 hours dropping vocals for the 4 tracks we laid down, about another hour laying down all the backing vocals and it was about time to call it a night.
Before we left we Derek added a little latin flavor in the form of some timbales to go along with the congas, bongos, shakers he previously laid to the "We're No Angels" track...you got to hear it.
It's now midnight, we're burnt and it's pouring rain...going home to rest and come back tomorrow for the mix down.
Tuesday January 1st 2008, Pre-Production, 4:00pm
Larry & Rich were in Loaded Bomb Studios working on two brand new tracks called "Save Me" & "My Confession"...two of the most strongest rockin' songs to come out of the SC camp ever. Larry has been working on new music over the past 10 days or so in the studio and has a good 12 songs in the pot that the boys will enter DOB Sound with later this month.
Derek is now back from touring with The Adolescents and the boys will be getting together to play their first show of 2008 at good ole Rude Dog.
Thursday November 29th, Day 3, 6:00pm
Larry was the first to arrive and started knocking out the guitar tracks...a total of 8 rhythm tracks, 4 lead tracks and 3 lead overdubs and harmonies were done by 9:30pm.
By that time Bobby is ready to tackle all the bass parts. Midnight strikes and Bob is done, we all take a short break and get some air. Its a nice night in the hills of Glendale, the stars are out and it was chilly...just the way we like it.
About 12:15am we decide to get back at it and try a little vocals. Despite Rich having to go in to work in less than 5 hours he gives it a go. We wind up tracking till 2:00am at which we all decided it was time to call it a night.
You can see it in the eyes. It's hard work sometimes and we all fill the effect tonight.
Derek will be on tour with The Adolescents and Punk Rock Karaoke pretty much all December so we wont be back in the studio till January. Damn that's a way, but we all know it will be here before we know it.
We talked about booking a show at Rude Dog to start the year off...guess we'll get on the phone and start booking.
Wednesday November 28th, Day 2, 7:00pm
Night began with everyone setting up and getting all the tones dialled in. Things moved along rather quickly until some technical difficulties delayed us a couple of hours...it will be after 9:00pm before we start tracking the first song. By midnight we had knocked out 4 songs. The only thing we are keeping is the drum tracks...tomorrow we'll come in and knock out the guitar/bass tracks and hopefully get to vocals...at 1:00am we're out the door.
Monday November 26th, 2007, First Night, 8:00pm
We intered D.O.B. Sound Recording Studios in Glendale, CA with Derek O' Brien. We spent a couple hours jamming the first 4-5 tunes that we will recording. The session was very good. At this point we had previously jammed three times together (with Derek on drums) and played two shows (not alot at all), but we are starting to get really tight as a unit and Derek has brought an amazing energy to the new songs. We will start to actually record this Wednesday. Really excited about this album.
Thursday May 22, Day 7, 1:00pm
So we finally get to back in the studio. It's been almost two months at this point and we're looking forward to another session. This time we head out to the city of Encino to go to Greg Hetson's (Bad Religion) studio "Gourmet Sound". It was pouring rain in Chino Hills but cleared up half way thru the drive making it a bit nicer. The drive was about an hour but for once we arrived right on time.
Rich and myself arrived at the studio where Derek and Steve (Greg's partner) were doing some last minute re-wiring. After about 20 minutes we started getting some guitar tones. This time I used an early 1970's Marshall and a early Fender Bass Man to get a nice killer tone. Oh yeah, and a Vintage Tube Screamer pedal...what? I dont use pedals. I cut two guitar rythm tracks and a lead track and it was up to Rich to cut his vocals. We knocked out the vocals for one track then got stuck on another. We weren't really feeling the lyrics so we decided to drop all the lyrics and write all new ones and while we were at it why not re-structure the song and come up with new melody lines as well. Probably not the best time to scrap lyrics but what the hell, we got time.
Greg drops in to say hello and finds us doing nothing but sitting and writing lyrics, seems he got a little kick out of our strategy, if you can call it a strategy. After about 30 minutes of writing Rich started laying down some vocal tracks. The newer version is better but a little tough for Rich to lock into so quickly. We kicked it around for about 45 minutes and decide to call it a night and get back together next week. At this time Bobby calls and announces hes arrived...just in time to go home (sucks to be you my friend).
We hung out for a while and then truly called it a night...its time for food.
-Larry
