Textures

We're getting close to finishing the tracking for The Man With Guns For Arms, Follow the Earth's first full length LP, and full in length it is. A blistering, yet aloe-soothing, two hours of music.

I've been really interested in creating textural soundscapes and ambience, and I found this recording process as a good template to experiment with that. For one song, "In the Wake (Of the Reoccurring Glory of God)", I put the majority of my pedals to work. I recorded one solid take throughout, using my Digitech Hard Drive Reverb pedal (set to a well delayed reverse effect) along with my Digitech Bass Synthesizer pedal (on a wha-type setting, low sensitivity), the Electro-harmonix Bass Big Muff (Set on dry, with Volume at 1 o'clock and Tone and Sustain both at 2), and movement with the Ibanez wha pedal throughout. I'm really pleased with the results. Hopefully either this week's paycheck will see my purchasing of Electro Harmonix's new Sustain Pedal, called Freeze. That, or their Phaser pedal, I haven't decided yet.

As far as our schedules go, it's been pretty hectic. I work in the morning from 6-2 monday through friday, Andrew works basically every day from 3-10ish, and Brandon and Shane both work graveyards, typically 10-7. So the majority of the second disc has come about rather distant from each other. Andrew and Brandon recorded most of their parts together, and I came in to do my parts seperately, because I have a rather strict, self critical curfew. It has been coming together really well though. We have some natural soundscapes and ambience we'll include near the end, then the brutal mixing process, mastering, then completion. And I'm still trying to figure out some appropriate artwork for this beast. Stay tuned...

Update and stuff

One does not live in Wyoming. They live, lose their mind, and leave Wyoming before they're lost to it forever. As many probably know by now, we're back from that terrible place with some new gear, tunes, and a tour bus. And as soon we arrived, we started pre-production on our first full length (the "Jesu" and "Memory" EPs, while an almost hour of music, isn't considered a full length, as far as our music goes), "The Man with Guns For Arms".

So recently we have been recording this massive piece and looking for jobs. We are working with the great Travis White (Empirates, Indiephonic Records) on this massive project. The project began with demo tracking all sixteen songs, then setting metronome tracks for all but a few of the songs.

Initially, we wanted to record on analog tape, then bounce it to Pro Tools, but a few songs in we had some technical problems with the tape itself being stretched while recording, so regretfully we decided to use the tape machine as an interface, which is working rather well. We have the bulk of the first disc finished. Here is a list of the songs on disc 1 and everything it needs:

1. Iccasis Overture: Everything, we haven't recorded this yet solely because we are taking samples from the other songs

2. All Was Well: Female vocals, possibly a little auxiliary percussion

3. Interlude: As far as I'm concerned, this one is done.

4. Act I: Brandon's screaming vocals, synth at the beginning

5. The Walk: Auxiliary percussion and organ

6. Act II: I think a few vocal tracks, but I'm not entirely sure

7. The Sound of Winter: A few synth tracks, bass ambience

8. The Silence of Winter: Everything. We need to rent a saxophone and a flute for this one.

So it's all going rather well. I'm very pleased with the results thus far. I would try to explain the packaging for the album, but it's best to just see it.

We have succeeded in obtaining jobs, Brandon and Shane now work at Walmart, Andrew at Western Wats, and I got my old job back at Smiths. We're also playing a show September 16th at Velour, which I'm pretty excited about. Stay classy Utah County.