If all goes well, we'll be pressing record a little bit after lunch today. Mic's are run, patching and labelling are complete. Preliminary sounds are ok, and we'll tweak a bit more before we start.

You guys suck.. making us wait and wait and wait for your god damn shit to come out. RECORD ALREADY!!! Fuck!!!!

How many mic's are you using? What about placement? What software are you using?

We're using (gag) Cakewalk with 2 Aardvark Q10's. It's a bit more intuitive than Logic 5, which I also run. Since we're just doing drums, here it is:

Kick: Audix D6
Snare: Shure SM57
Toms 1-3: Audix F10's
Tom 4: Audix F12
Hi-Hat: MXL 991
OH L and R: Audix F15's
OH Center: AKG C300B
Percussion: Equitek E200, set on Cardioid.

11 mics in total. Toms and Snare are all close miked. Maybe a 55 degree angle down and 1-2" above the head. Rim-mounted clips. The 57 on the snare is at a bit less of an angle, like 30 degrees, 2 inches off the head, 3/4" inside the rim at about 11:00 as I look down at it. OH L and R are both pointed straight down. covering (I hope) the "side" cymbals, like the chinas, splashes, etc. Set so that the mic is 3 feet directly above the ride on the right, and the 8" splash on the left. The AKG has both the low cut and the pad engaged and is meant to fill out the center image of the two main crash cymbals. The Equitek is below the percussion, facing up at basically my left ear at about a 45 degree angle. This is a challenge because I'm trying to mic 7 instruments with one microphone, but so far it all sounds pretty even. We're going to make the decision today about possibly compressing the snare very lightly to "tape." It might not even need it, but we'll see. Oh yeah, Johnny, what's up with this new-found obsession with world leaders' lips? Are you gay? Cheers, dude!

I think you'll be alright. I just hope nothing bleeds through to the other mic's if you need to edit. I'd talk to Sid about getting your tracks mastered through him too. He's fucking sick and can do it very cheap; maybe an hour or two. ($70) Just and Idea..

Also, when doing Lance's Guitars. Make sure to double them up, record him once on the left side, then record him again for the right side.. It'll make it sound sick and thick and full and stereo. But you already know this man..

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Oh yeah, Johnny, what's up with this new-found obsession with world leaders' lips? Are you gay? Cheers, dude!

Far from that man! My girlfriend has been giving me shit for that video too.. heheheh Honestly, I wanted to just show world leaders/politicians or "Suits" talking or making those decisions that lead to the inevitable. I guess I went over board at the start.. maybe not enough live and war footage of shit being blown up and Tristin punching air.

Or I’ll just add these lips next time.

Oh, it's gonna be a bloody motherfucker in terms of bleed, but it's ok. Because I don't believe necessarily in having to edit drum tracks. It should be perfect, 1 take. We actually will probably triple Lance's guitars, with small noodles here and there on a center track. Thanks for thinking of us though, Johnny. We'l see you on saturday.

I highly recommend Sid for mastering, or any part of the process. He is so good at what he does that it ends up being pretty economical.

Just make sure the bass is clear in the mix. This is very practical advice because otherwise you may end up loosing half of your market.

You need tons of midrange for the bass to cut through the high gain guitars (better to push low mids around 180-200hz than low bass). If it sounds a bit harsh/midrange oriented by itself, it will probably sound the way you actually want it to in the mix.

Yeah, Aaron will be fun to mix because of the full-rangedness of the six string and the fact that he plays all those big chords. We're going to try to make the bass sound like the world is ending. Oh, and we also got 4 useable drum tracks yesterday. Dirty Grains/Bread Moth, Holy Man, and Mucus Vortex.

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you may end up loosing half of your market

You mean like you (Thunda), the bass player for WDF and our bass player sko?.... hahaha j/k the Plague has fans!

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the Plague has fans!

You left off like 7 more people, Airman! Seriously though, we just don't seem to speak to the masses. The musicians seem to like us, but I think we do too much stylistically for most people to like. They're comfortable in their genres. Like for example; the beginning of Shattered Sky. Long bossa nova beginning, followed by a straight up ska beat. The metal guys like the long double kick runs in that tune, but they're not into the beginning. The indie folks like the little reggae breakdown in Harmony 7, but hate the rest of the song. But whatever. We'll shove it down their fucking throats. On a less philosophical note, we got Structure and Troll drum tracks laid down this afternoon. Polished it ain't gonna be, but I do guarantee a multitude of raw, heavy beefiness, but mixed correctly. Hehe. Thunda, I got myself a nice flask. Part of the gift set Jim Beam Black. Leather-bound with Jim Beam Black in gold on the side. I'm sorry to say that the wise Mr. MacGregor has yet to grace the insides, though. I'm more of a bourbon man. Right now it's filled to the brim with Bulleit Bourbon. I guarantee you I'll have it the next time I see you. Cheers.

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we just don't seem to speak to the masses.

Whenever we start promoting a show at work everyone's always like "is Simfonik Plague playing with you guys this time?" And recently I've had to say no cause we haven't played with each other (not in a gay way, but musically) since the cell... Anyway, back to my little cheer-me-up for you. They always say man I wish you were playing with them cause they fucking rock. So, you have the attention of a lot of people in my squadron, and, my wife and her friends really dig your music too.

There is a large faction of LB fans that love the plague.

simfonik plague = inferiority complex.

And I think the computer might have shit the bed last night. Fuck. I'm gonna work on it when I get home. Fuck.

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the computer might have shit the bed last night

jewever get that mess cleaned up? should be smellin pretty rank by now...

We think we've got it taken care of. I hope we do.