FC RECORDING JOURNAL

10.18.04 - Mixing - it would kill a normal man. A never ending cycle of listening to a song over and over, only to take it out to a car, and listen to it again (or in the case of last night, listening to it in two different cars), and then coming back and making changes. But, in one very real way this is the most important part of the process. A great sounding record can be butchered by a poor mix. So, we go about it slowly, carefully, and with room to fix things later on.

A rush and a push, and the land is ours - as of this time, we are completely done with the record. Last night we mixed the remaining seven songs and remixed Moving Up. I think we achieved a pretty distinct sound for this record. The vocals are really up front in the mix, making the melody the very first thing that grabs your attention. The next step is some minor editing we have to do, and then we will listen to the full record after a break. That ought to give us a better perspective than we had last night at 3AM. If anything needs to be changed, we can still do that, and once this process is done, the record is off to get mastered.

If you are still with us, thanks for reading and being a part of this with us. It's been fun keeping this journal, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed running it. To answer the question on everyone's mind, the record should be out early next year, in January or February. However, we will start playing new songs as early as the show we have coming up this Thursday. If you have been reading the journal, come up and tell us, we'd love to hear from you. Sign up to our mailing list on the front page of this website to receive periodic updates on shows, and record releases. -GM

10.16.04 - We are now down to our last few days of work. We started mixing with "Skull and Crossbones" for no other reason than that it was the first song on the first reel. After a couple of hours we had a test mix, so we went to Bob's house up the street to test the mix out on a couple of his home stereo's, and in his wife's car (Bob's car is too vintage to have a stereo). The track sounded pretty good, minus a couple of tweaks that needed to be made with the vocal and snare drum. We headed back to the studio, and basically the rest of the day was a combination of: mix a song after listening it to about 20 times, send it to the 1/2 inch tape machine, burn a CD, go out to the car and listen, compare with Joel Plaskett record, go back inside, EQ bass, etc., remix to tape, back to car..... our ears were wrecked by 10pm so we called it a day after finishing 5 mixes. Monday is the last day, so we will have to finish the other 7 mixes. -RW

10.15.04 - Making records is an amazing thing. You start from nothing, and then, songs are written. Then, they are practiced, arranged, parts are written. Then the studio. You start with something that is so bare and basic, the drum beat. You move through different instruments, and you begin to grow meat on the skeleton. But, much like Dr. Frankenstein's monster, you don't know what will come of it. Quite often, it is nothing like what you were expecting or envisioning. This isn't because things get out of your control (usually), but because you hear things, you follow something, and you let music be the guide. And then it appears ... your new record, your new creation.

Today was a day of loose ends. "That part didn't work, this section needs something new, this song needs a tambourine," etc. But, the amazing part to me, having not been able to come in for a couple of days, is the way these songs are turning out. My favorite part of making a record, is hearing the song with the melody on it. I still remember each day that it happened for me, for different records. That is the day it all "made sense." I guess today was that day for me. Yeah, there are lots of cool background vocals, and many cool guitar parts, and even cool keyboards, but the MELODIES are now all there! It all now makes sense, THAT is why we play that beat, THIS is why I play that note, and go to that chord, all to serve the melody.

So, with all the romanticism out of my system, today should be the last day of actual tracking. Tomorrow and Monday are the days we are mixing the songs, and that should finish it up. Of course, lots of things come into better focus during mixing, so maybe we will need to add things or redo things, that is possible. If we aren't done Monday, we roll into the next day, and so forth. And after that ... we are done recording. And then all the other things that need to happen in the process begin to take place. Photoshoots, designing the artwork, setting dates, promotions, etc. And then ... it's all you. Will you like it? Will you buy it? Who knows ... we've done everything we could, and it's been great. -GM

10.14.04 - Today was not a very productive day at Flying Blanket Recording. There were interruptions, shipping mix-ups, angry bands...etc. We did get quite a few random vocal things done once we were actually able to work, but tomorrow will be a full day of final tracking items, which we thought we would finish today. Oh well. I work a regular job where unproductive days are not looked upon very well, so it's a little hard for me to sit around for large quantities of time when i know there's work to be done. But that's the name of the game in the studio. You kind of have to just go with the flow at times. Things are coming together nicely though. We're doing more background vocals on this record than we ever have before. I'm usually pretty opposed to them for the most part, but i think they have added a depth to the melodies on this record that i haven't achieved before. -RW

10.14.04 - There isn't really much new to post today. We finished pretty much all the vocals minus a few little things here and there. Tommorow will be the last official day of tracking, and then on to mixing on Friday and Saturday. This record is coming out quite different than I anticipated. -RW

10.12.04 - This morning we got started tracking vocals. I have a love-hate relationship with this part of making a record for a number of reasons. But it's nice to finally hear the songs as they are meant to be heard. After an hour or so of dialing in the right sound, we were on our way. Overall things went smoothly, thanks to the punch-in feature... We finished the lead vocal track on "I can't fall asleep", "my worst nightmare", "person of the month", and "the cells divide". Tommorow will be the big day, because we technically need to finish the rest of the tracks. Or at least most of them. -RW

10.11.04:

This record has been in some ways the hardest and in some ways the most pleasant I have done. Having so much time, and being able to come home each night and rest and have a semi-normal life while recording is great, but at the same time it's hard not to stress over every detail to the point that you lose the songs to the sounds. Basically, I'm just ready to get the vocals done and get to mixing this record. I have high hopes for these songs. Here is the current tracklisting:

1. Skull and Crossbones
2. Rated-R Movie
3. Prosecute Electrocute
4. Moving Up
5. I'm Sorry for the Hating
6. Bivouac
7. My Worst Nightmare
8. The Cells Divide
9. Don't Frown
10. Person of the Month
11. I Can't Fall Asleep
12. Are You on Drugs?
13. Write Down all the Words to Every Song You Know
14. Read Your Rights

Today we finished most of the keys, so we should be ready to begin tracking vocals in the morning. On our past records we have used mainly the Juno 106 for all our keyboard sounds, so this record I wanted to try some different things. We ran pianos through amps and pedals and compressors. We also got some nice results with our Micro Korg by running it through my Silvertone with it's wild reverb and a compressor, and tracking it using a room mic. We basically tried anything we could to keep the pianos from sounding like pianos and the synths from sounding like synths. Bob laid down some Rhodes licks on a couple jams. I think it came out pretty nice. -RW

10.08.04 - Dooley came in and out of us like a butterfly ... (Another signed copy of the record to someone who can name this quote (minus the Dooley part)). By mutual decision we decided to take the weekend off. Give our ears a break and come back refreshed. So, we pick things back up on Monday. -GM

Today Withem and I spent the whole day finishing guitars for the album. I sadly cannot mention what I did on what song because I do not remember the titles. As of now they are all complex guitar driven instrumentals. I added some acoustic guitar to a very pretty song in the vain of John Lennons Across the Universe. I also added some Echo and the Bunnymen (Lips Like Sugar) type leads on some songs. People ask me how the record sounds and the best way to describe it is: It is a real rock record for today. When you hear it you will only hear Fine China and once in a while you might think "Oh, I bet they have Radiohead or The Smiths in their record collections." Bob is awesome. I am heading back to California sore because of mine and Markov's trip to the gym. -JD

10.07.04 - Sometimes having a lot of people in the studio can be fun, but sometimes it can be a real pain. Everyone hears something else, everything wants something else. But, it can also mean more interesting ideas. Today Rob, Dooley and myself were in the studio the entire time tracking guitars. Some really, really cool things happened. Some on the spot parts and some twists to existing parts. So, where we stand right now, is that we are about done with guitars on 10 songs. Technically we have four more to do. Plus, Dooley will play some parts on the ten songs we have tracked down already. The rest of the time in studio will be spent on various keys, singing and mixing. I think we're making amazing progress. I was thinking yesterday, why are we moving so fast? I think it's because we are so used to being pressed for time, we don't know how to waste time in the studio! We work hard beginning to end, and crank things out. I mean we were done with ALL drums and bass in three days! We still have two weeks left in the studio, which is great because we can really focus on getting the singing right, without a rush, and getting great mixes. Those really are the most important parts of the record anyway! -GM

10.06.04 - Today I tracked more guitars on "Moving Up", "The Cells Divide", and "My Worst Nightmare". Overall I am feeling a bit clouded by all the tracks we have done the past two days, like maybe I need to switch gears a little. We're getting some really great sounds, and doing some pretty complex layering of parts, but I'm feeling like we might need to strip some of these songs down a little. My plan for the morning is to lay down scratch vocal tracks, and then finish all the basic guitar tracks. Once this is out of the way, I think we may switch to doing some keys, and then come back to the guitars for any final layering. I think I just need to get some more perspective on each song as a whole, as opposed to building them from the ground up, track by track, as I've been doing this week. I don't know. -RW

This is what has now become of Moving Up. On a side note, the reason that all the photos have only two angles, is because there are only two places to sit in the control room. On the chair, or in the back on the couch. So, naturally, all photos are either taken from the couch or from the chair. Get it? I suppose Bob could take the photos from a third location, the captains chair, but he won't touch the camera, it's too new for him, I think .... -GM

READ THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNAL HERE.

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