Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Neon talks gear

Ian recorded drum tracks for "Tonight," "Portrait" and "Greenback." Two very early rough demos of the album are made and distributed to friends.

"What's the budget for this album?" ----Excluding the equipment we already have, we have spent $40 for new speakers from Rite Aid.

"I heard of some band that spent $1000 on a new mic." ----Honestly, I don't notice the difference between mainstream, high-budget recordings and the ones we are making with the $30 RadioShack mic we've been using since the days of Sound Check. If anything, our recordings sound better because they are produced with more love and care. For the kind of music we do, we don't believe in using recording studios because they are a complete, criminal ripoff in this day and age when you can put together a decent home-recording studio for cheap. Remember, most people don't give a flying fuck about your sound quality if the songwriting and arrangement are good.

"Do you read books about recording techniques?" ----We once had a book called Home Recordings with Pro Tools, but mostly for the Pro Tools Free CD that came with it. The book taught us the keystrokes and shit like that, but you will learn mostly by doing. And that's what we've done for the past 4 years. I've seen other books about recording music, but they are such a dreadful bore. Especially those that expect you to buy a $500 mixing console, $1000 mics, and MIDI shit. One day, I will write a book about the joys of recording with a portable tape recorder.

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