Another night of slaughtering our own works. This time with videotape to prove it. After grinding through “I Am Death”, “Hallowed Ground” and “Forced Entry” we took a shot at “Monsters” and came to several decisions:
- We suck.
- We suck just a teeny-tiny bit less than yesterday.
- My Bass simply can’t handle being tuned down to B for the song I Am Death. How we actually recorded the song with this bass in that tuning is beyond me. So until I replace my bass guitar, we won’t be performing songs in that low key. It’s a shame, because I Am Death is quite fun to play. I’m in the market for a new bass, but my bank account is not.
After the practice, we tried jamming on some new material, and I came to a couple more decisions:
- It’s a whole lot easier to structure songs using cut-n-paste in Sonar. Identify the verse, the chorus, the bridge, the key changes Here and Here, cut/copy/paste and press play. Bam.
- Jamming the song live is WAY more fun than cut-n-paste.
We found a groove, and some new material manifested itself that might not have come out in a Studio session. I’m thinking that this approach of writing songs in the practice session instead of in the recording studio might result in songs that sound more ‘organic’ and less ‘synthetic’ than our “Days From Evil” material. When recording in the studio, the temptation to toss in a virtual instrument or sound effect is hard to resist.
This new writing process might result in more simple songs, less layers, and make recording easier, (Although “Let It Out” was supposedly a “Simple” song with FORTY TRACKS!!!!) but I can’t say yet whether it will make better songs or not. Time will tell.
Yours Darkly,
