Waiting.......

Still waiting.

War stories: Flood Fail: The ballad of mold and mildew: The murder of our songs by pro tools.

Hey everyone! Read this blog and all of your wildest dreams will come true! OK, so things have been slow for saints at sundown for a few weeks. Basically, the record is "in the can" just waiting to be mixed. Well....it was in the can.

I will tell you a story. You will understand our struggle and send us boxes of money and a vial of your sympathy tears.

Last week, my good friend and sound engineer, Dave Sonner, and myself entered summit road recording studio to start mixing. Upon entering the studio we were greeted by about 2 inches of standing water, and a mildew-ey kind of gross smell to the air. YUCK!!! With wet feet and dashed hopes and dreams, we fired up the console and proceeded to do a little mixing work. There was a wierd hum in the monitors, but we did manage to mix 1 song quickly and get out of there without getting shocked. S.A.S.: 1, mother nature: 0. EPIC WIN! My theory is that the forces that make the world go round are afraid of what this record is going to do to our beautiful little planet. We are being "rock-blocked" by mother nature herself! BRING IT ON, LADY!!!!

Exactly 1 week later, I met Dave at his place before our 2nd mixing session. We fired up pro tools to find that my vocal tracks had been ERASED during an upgrade to pro tools!!!! WEAK SAUCE!!! Where the *blank* did they go? About 1/3 of my tracks were gone so we spent the morning re-tracking vocals. The good news is that I nailed killer takes that were as good or better than the first ones. The bad news is that these takes SOUND different from the first ones. It's a pretty noticeable difference. We used a different mic pre-amp, thinking it wouldn't matter. MISTAKE. SO, chances are I'll have to re-record the vocals again, for the 3rd time. YIKES, this is becoming tedious. I wonder what could have erased the tracks??? Aliens? Obama?

This week, with the studio all dried out, we did manage to make progress on the overall mix of the record. Let me tell you, it sounds pretty amazing! I'm really happy with how it is turning out. It's taken a couple of months longer than I hoped, but in the end the wait will be worth it!

With everything against us, we are at our strongest!

Love,
S.A.S.

Soon.

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We fluff the pillows with the air

Hey friends, it's been too long since I last posted so here goes! I'm bout to drop some knowledge bombs on y'alls brains! And on your minds.

News Updates: Things have progressed slower than expected. Sometimes life gets in the way of getting things done. That said, we are SO close. Most of the vocals are done, and the record is ALMOST ready for final mixing. Hopefully, the vox will be finished up next week, with mixing to begin soon after. You might be able to listen to this record while you blow up your neighbors mailbox with M80's on July 4th!

We are still working out artwork, websites...etc so expect to see something "official" on the web from us pretty soon.

To wrap it up, I'm just gonna leave you with this juicy nugget of rock to blow your minds:




Love,
Jacob and Will aka S.A.S.

The waiting is the hardest part

It's been a couple of slow news weeks for SAS. I took a weekend off and spent the last week finishing up the last tidbits of guitar work, mainly acoustic guitar and slide guitar for one tune. The guitars, bass, drums are now 100% done and this week I am starting on vocals. I thought making the actual record would be the hard part, but I'm finding that the hardest work is yet to come.

It seems like releasing a small time record is easier than ever, but truthfully, it's next to impossible to get anyone to notice! Back in the day, you made a record, burned some copies, played shows, told people about it, and that was pretty much it. Now there are blogs(which we have obviously mastered), RSS feeds(not even real sure what these are), websites, facebook, myspace, bandmix, soundcloud, bandpage, .com addresses, internet radio, college radio, I-tunes, Cd baby, tunecore, album covers, cd layout, cd pressing, cd promotion, one sheets, press kits, EPK, photos, logos, branding....etc. The list goes on and on thanks to the internet. To help us out, I got this book, "The indie band survival guide," which is pretty great so far. It's making me realize how far behind the technology I am. I don't even own an I-pod. I still like to go to a store and buy a physical product, but I am wondering if we even need to press Cd's since everyone buys online anyway? Your thoughts and ideas would be appreciated here!

Well, that wraps up another exciting update. We are real close to having this thing "in the can," and we cannot wait to share it with all of you! This week starts vocals, and we are talking with a local artist about artwork...so yeah, it's getting there.

Waffle House,
S.A.S.

Guitars. are. done.

This record is nearly complete. That is all.

Love,
S.A.S.

before we're done here.. y'all be wearing gold-plated diapers

AM-I-RIGHT??? Hey everyone. Good news! Good news! Things are moving along quickly the last couple of weeks. I've been hard at work putting this album together. Bass and guitars are nearly done! YAH!! Anyways, I have a few photos of my workspace to share so you can see the environment that is required to create the best record of all time! We don't need no stinkin mood lighting! On my off days from work, I'm pretty much down here all day working. It gets lonely. Come visit.

First, like Dr. Frankenstein I gather my tools of creation, only instead of a monster I create gold records:

 
Thanks to Matthew Vermillion for lending me that sweet jazz bass!

My workdesk. Pretty simple, but gets the job done:

I recorded guitar and bass with this Avalon U-5. Jealous?? It is on loan from summit road recording studio. Thanks to Dave Sonner for hooking me up with that:

The key to a huge guitar sound is having a huge dude on top of your amp. I feel that Shaq is a really important part of my guitar sound:

As always, I am being seduced by the power of the dark side:

Well, I played the record for this dude and he loved it. Maybe that's a good sign:

Sometimes, we all need a playbreak, right?

Next week: GUITAR SOLOS. Yep, all 3 tunes have solos. Too much??? NAAAHHH!

As always, thanks for reading. If you are coming into this late, or missed them you can check out album teasers at Soundcloud.

More fun soon.

S.A.S.

Ok, up next, these two guys have been here for the last couple weeks. They asked me to read this:

Sorry, not finishing that quote. Anyone that knows what it's from gets a shiny new penny!

So much is happening right now in the world of Saints at Sundown! As you all know, William went into the studio last week and laid down his drum tracks. He brought the thunder and dropped some of the most devastating beats of all time!! Shout out to Tom at T-mix studios. He did a great job tracking and is a heck of a nice guy. www.tmixstudio.com for those of you in the DFW area.

Ok people. We are excited to show what we have been working on!! Below you will be able to hear TEASERS FROM THE ALBUM!!! WHAAA??? Yes, this really is happening. Accept it. Feel the joy that only ridiculously loud rock and roll can bring. Weep, rinse, repeat. You will hear the drum tracking that Will did last week, and the "scratch" guitar tracks that I recorded when I first wrote these songs. The next time you hear these, they will be full blown studio productions. Enjoy. We love you.

Song number 1: You ever see that scene in scanners where that dudes head blew up??

http://soundcloud.com/saintsatsundown/saints-at-sundown-song1teaser

Song number 2: I'd like to thank Black Sabbath for giving me hundreds of riffs to rip off.

http://soundcloud.com/saintsatsundown/saints-at-sundown-song2teaser

If you are still alive at this point, then I assume you are filled with joy and want for nothing. That is all I could ask for. That'll be 100 dollars, please. =). Oh, and if you like what you hear, please spread the word. Share the link to our blog.

Stay tuned, folks. There is still much hard work ahead, but good things are happening!

The Diary of a Mad Tragically White Drummer

PROGRESS!!! Today Will went in to the studio and laid down his drum tracks. It went great! Both drummer and engineer left happy with their bellies full of ROCK SAUCE!!! He took along a camera, but he was busy making the best record of all time, so no photos of this historic event were captured. Fortunately, this evening William wrote me the following:

I wrote a blog. Here it is:

Hello, my name is Will and I play drums. Today I recorded drum tracks for Saints At Sundown. I always enjoy the studio. I enjoy the challenge of nailing a perfect take (though I don't think it's ever happened), and I love dialing in a good and heavy drum sound... It's loads of fun to do, and it's cool to listen to the playback and hear the kit sounding all professional and whatnot. 

Well, I didn't take any pictures, unfortunately. I brought my camera, but left it in the truck, and didn't even think about until I left the studio. Oops! Well, since I don't have any photographs, what I can do is be a bit of gear nerd for all you gear nerds and tell you all the gear nerdy details about the kit I used today. 

The drums are my trusty Ludwig Vistalites. 10x14 tom, 16x16 floor tom, and a 14x26 kick drum. The toms have clear Remo Emperor batter heads with clear Ambassadors underneath, and the kick has an Aquarian Force 1 batter, with a Force 1 front head. There's an offset 4" hole on the front head for miking, and no additional muffling on it (or any of my other drums, for that matter- I like to move as much air as possible). A lot of drummers don't understand not having a pillow or something in the kick, but I like to use 2 self muffling heads to soak up any unwanted resonance, and this allows the inside of the drum to be free of clutter. It makes it easier to mic up, it makes it louder (ALWAYS a good thing!), and it makes the kick end up sounding meatier. We all love meat, so that's definitely a good thing. 

The snare I used is my 5.5x14 Tama Copper shell, with die cast hoops. I've got some Puresound snares on it, a coated Remo Emperor batter (again, no muffling), and a Hazy Ambassador snare side head. This snare has a pretty thick shell, which makes it cut, but the copper shell makes it a little darker, and a little more natural sounding than most other steel shelled snares I've heard. It is a beast that can not be tamed. 

Just to reiterate, for any drummer out there who might be reading this and wondering why I don't muffle anything: Move air, son! A good recording always starts with a good source. Your drums are going to get mixed down, have a bunch or different effects thrown on them, and then they'll be compressed all to heck and back, so why on Earth would you want to suck even more life out of them right at the start?! 

Anyhow, the cymbals I used are 14" Soultone Hi Hats, 18" and 20" Sabian APX crashes, and a 22" APX Solid Ride. Nothing fancy. Meat and potatoes. This was the first I've recorded with my Sabians, and I was really impressed. Very clean and musical. 

And, as always, my sticks are Pro Mark American Hickory 2Bs with wood tips. 

So there you go. Tracking these tunes was a load of fun, and I'm stoked to hear the final product. Hope you'll enjoy it!

So, there you have it folks. That's the real stuff right there! Yes, we are nerdy. Speaking of which, I have to go. Star Wars is on SPIKE tonight. That is not a joke.

Love,
Saints At Sundown

No alarms and no suprises please.

At this moment in time, Will Jaeger is at T-mix studio in Dallas, TX laying down his drum tracks. I'm so excited I can barely speak. Ok, I can speak fine, but it's nice to see this project starting to take off. I wish I could be there, but alas, I'm a working stiff and I'm at work. Hopefully pics coming tonight! More lyrics to share soon, as well. Good stuff ahead folks! Just think, you'll be able to say "I knew them back when they were just a couple of over the hill morons playing way too loudly and ripping off Led Zeppelin." YEAH!!!

Bringing a knife to a gunfight

When I first conceptualized this record, I wasn't quite sure how to make it happen. There are a lot of logistical issues when the other half of this duo is a 12 hour drive away. This is not an easy way to work, but it is possible and we are making progress. Will goes in to the studio on March 20th for drum tracking.

It was suggested by a friend that it would be much easier to find a drummer here in Denver, or just do it myself. Well, there are a couple of reasons that I really wanted Will to be involved in this project. Mainly, Will always gets what I'm trying to do in a song, and supports that vision with his drumming. I trust him completely to make the right decisions for the song. It doesn't hurt that he brings mad chops to the table that are way beyond what I can do on my own.

Below is a short clip of Will demonstrating one of the songs we are working on. He sends me these clips so I can hear what he is doing and we can discuss it. He has my guitar parts and a click track in his headphones. Notice the rock faces and the stick twirls at about 12 seconds and 30 seconds in. If only we could get those on the record somehow. =).




So, that's a little bit about how we are working over long distance and why we are choosing to work this way. I hope you enjoyed the video, and feel free to share it. Check out Will's other youtube videos as well. Subscribe to our youtube channel, more videos soon.

Until next time.
S.A.S.

Noodles and Lyrics

Today, as I clumsily slurped up soft rice noodles from an over sized bowl of pho, I realized something: I have the worst chop stick skills in all of human history! I work as quickly as possible, but it takes me a while to finish. Still, compared to writing lyrics, this meal is a piece of cake.....except that it's noodles. 

For me, writing lyrics is something like eating a bowl of noodles. Really? That sounds weird. Well, it's not. It's hard to do, it takes me a long time, and I'm pretty sure that if I'm not careful I could poke my eye out.

Many times the hardest part is just figuring out what to write about. I'm sick of hearing love songs and dudes who are angry. Quit whining, man! Tell her how you feel and go kick your dad in the balls! I could go the AC/DC route and write 15 songs about rock and roll, but I could never pull that off. Rock n' roll is just rock n' roll, indeed. One technique I use a lot is just to start writing stream of conscious style paragraphs until I stumble upon something that I connect with. A few days ago, I was struggling with lyrics for a Saints At Sundown tune so I used the above method. I ended up with this short verse:

I'm trying to find a way back home
It's slipped away
No one wants to live this life alone
Or so they say


After all this time are you still mine?
We spent all of our lives and we're still trying
After tonight, there's nothing left but the crying

Ok, It's got a good beat and you can dance to it. Unfortunately, this is NOT going to work for the song I was working on. Even worse, it's a love song. I did take time to work up a quick demo for a song possibility for these lyrics. Check it out below: 
http://soundcloud.com/saintsatsundown/onlythecryingclipmp3 


Yep, I ripped off Led Zeppelin bigtime....but if Jack White can do it, then I guess I can, too. I have no idea if this song will turn into anything, or just go in the "vault." But I found it interesting in the context of making a record. Sometimes, inspiration takes you somewhere that you didn't think you were going. It's useless to fight it, you just have to keep plugging away and hope that you finally end up where you want to be. 

E-mail subscriptions

SO, I have discovered that on blogger.com your followers do NOT get an e-mail when you update your blog. I have added a new widget on the right that allows you to sign up for e-mail updates when the blog is updated. Those of you who signed up to follow the blog, I went ahead and put your addresses in(for those of you that I have e-mails for). Just click the link in the confirmation e-mail and you should be good to go! It would have been nice to know this earlier. Oh well.

Thanks!
Jacob

Studio Time booked!

Amazing news. Studio time booked in march for drum tracking! Now just to beat these songs into submission over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more fun.

We are making a record. It has begun. There are demos. They are loud.

The record is starting to take shape in my mind. It's a sound that I hear in my head that only a few these days are doing. I call it BIGROCK. It's an age old formula mixing everything I love about rock and roll music. Intricate playing, big riffs, a tight and dynamic rhythm section, and a healthy dose of BALLS. There are some elements of rock, metal, indie, and blues all rolled up in a BIGROCK burrito and smothered in chile. Will Jaeger, of Red Pyramid fame, will be at the helm, handling the percussion duties. Despite what I've said, don't expect all bombast and hard limit mastering. This will be a loud record, but it's intricate. It does have some heartfelt quiet moments, some finesse and dynamics.

We are in pre-production now, working out arrangements and lyrics. Tracking should start soon, and we hope to have it out by July 2011. We expect it to sell 1 million copies by August 2011. By September 2011, we expect to be in our carbohydrate, sequined-jumpsuit, young-girls-in-white-cotton-panties, waking-up-in-a-pool-of-your-own-vomit, bloated-purple-dead-on-a-toilet phase. By October 2011? We'll probably be dead.

Stay tuned, more fun to come......