3rd Album update: I Fell On My Keys.... Man.....

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME UPDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATES!!!!????

*ahem*

Hello guys and dolls. Another little update on where we are on this crazy ol' 3rd album of ours.

I just finished the first pass keyboards and sampled parts only a few moments ago. I've updated not only the sounds themselves, but in many cases replayed the performances from scratch as some dated back to 2004. All of the new parts have benefitted from a lot of the new virtual instruments I've been amassing lately, and I'm quite pleased with the results! I'm still going to go through them again soon and make sure the new parts I added are working well with the pieces, and maybe edit or adjust a part or two, but overall it sounds wonderful.

The rhythm guitars are all finished, along with all of the clean electric parts and acoustic phrases. All that is left for John is a few solos and a stray lead or two we forgot to get on our previous passes. One would hope that this will not take too long.

Bryan still has a decent handful of songs to complete for bass though. I assumed this process would go much quicker then the guitars, but life for both he and I got in the way for a bit. We'll start working again tomorrow and try and pick up the pace.

So here is my tentative goal: to have all of the parts recorded before the end of this month (including all of my vocals) and begin mixing bright and early in September. I think this is reasonable enough, but as I have experienced before, things can change in a heartbeat. Please remember, because I may be mixing in September, does not mean you will be hearing it in September. In fact, I will probably wait a bit to release the album, as I have a lot of work to do with promotion, building a new website from scratch (the old one has not been updated in well over a year), plus we need to location scout, take lots of photos, possibly do some filming (I'll tell you later) and create something new for a presentation. So maybe by the very end of the year you can hold this sweet goodness in your hand (or whatever part of the body you hold things with).

I'll post again once more progress happens.

P.S. I posted an interesting blog on the topic of self-perception on my personal page if you want to check it out.

NIKO

3rd album progress report: Bass, etc

Greetings again mouskateers,

Although John is not quite finished recording all of the rhythm tracks (he's slow, I know) we have started our first bass session with Bryan.

Things went very well (I think), and I aim to get things done quicker then the pace of the guitars. One thing I aim to do on this album is to have the bass take a more active role and really try and put some great, interesting and at times, showy bass lines in there. The more ear candy, the better.

The exciting thing for me is that after putting this album on the back burner for a while due to life getting in the way, now we are really attacking the recording of this with a very ambitious pace. Here is what I mean:

As opposed to doing each element separately, we are now doing them simultaneously (which by the way, sounds sexier too).

Weekends are reserved for guitars, which at this point we have one last song for rhythm guitars left, then a pass with acoustic, then finally, leads and solos.

During the week we will record the bass, which we only started.

Between bouts of that, I am reworking all of the original keyboard parts and re-recording them.

On top of that I have been revising my final pass of lyrics, and should be able to start vocal takes in the next few weeks.

So, a lot of stuff lined up. Although we are all getting restless and want it to be done as soon as possible, I think you will all agree that the most important thing is that it is done well, not fast.

I'll post again, once more significant accomplishments are made.

Thanks for sticking with me over all these years. I hope this album will be as impactful to you as it already is to us.

Soon my pretties, soon.

NIKO

Guitar recording underway for 3rd album

Yesterday, we completed the 2nd day of guitar recording out of what is sure to be a decent amount of days in total.

At the moment, John and I are only able to work on the weekends, mostly due to his work schedule, but also in part because he wants to have the whole week to make sure he is playing the parts as accurately as possible.


We worked on the 3rd song on the album this time, and it proved to be a much bigger challenge and frustration for him then he intended/wanted. There are some really crazy parts in that song, and it only ramps up from there.


At this rate, we won't have the guitars completed until late June, but hey, at least they are finally getting done eh?

Then we are on to bass, guitar leads/solos, and then it's probably my turn. . . which reminds me, I have some work to do still (looks embarrassed).

I'll update you all again when we make some more progress.

NIKO

Drum recording finishes, drum editing commences

Late last week on a very tiring Sunday, Eric and I finished the last remaining drum recording for the upcoming 3rd record.

Eric was nearly destroyed by the end of the sessions, his leg muscles a bit swollen and sore. I, of course, think that the idea of the third album material bringing him to the point of death (slight exaggeration) is a pretty cool badge to wear.

To get to the point, we got some really great performances and now I am in the tedious and dull process of drum editing. I’ve been pretty hard on myself to get this done quickly, and I aim to begin working with John and recording the guitars starting in a week or so.

NIKO

Drum recording begins for 3rd album

Word to the upward direction people and peoplettes,

We’ve been hitting the grindstone pretty hard the last few days, as drum recording is finally commencing.

We have scheduled working through wednesday or thursday of next week, depending on how things go.

So far, things have gone very well, and poor Eric’s legs are half dead. We will break tomorrow to let his legs heal a bit and hit the books again on sunday (weather permitting).

We already have two of the longest and most complicated songs out of the way, but there is plenty of crazy double kick and odd time signatures to come in the next batch of songs. I’m just glad its him instead of me.

Once we finish, I will be taking some time to do some editing and EQing, and will soon start up again with guitars.

It’s nice to finally get this beast going I can tell you.

NIKO