we're in the studio!!!

so our new band, varzovia is in the studio recording what will be our debut ep, it's turning out really nice and the studio guy is a great dude to work with

here are some pics of the studio


Ernesto, our drummer laying down the law in the drums


this is me, I decided to go directly into the board


a view from the deck


how many mistakes are we making? the one with the most mistakes pays the beer


bored, sleepy, tired and PLAS does not look like he'll finish anytime soon

 

more pics later

 

who is Jeff Baxter?

and yes, I've lost weight in the last couple of months

 

it's much fatser and convenient, the drummer already has his kit nailed on the module, we just ran the drums through a tube preamp and they came out warm and nice

 

this was our second live performance


at the beach in Tampico


on the way back home from Tampico


our promo pic

 

long, vigorous sessions of sex did help, so did a healthier diet, reduction of fat when cooking and no beer

 

just like I dial the sounds, effects, amp models and rooms on my processor

this way you don't have to struggle to get the right sound during the mixing stage, since you already cut with the sound that you want, then it's just a matter of level adjustments

 

these are the logos we're using for stickers and t-shirts

 

this is the first time in a long while that I feel totally satisfied with the results of the recording, the guitars are massive, the bass is very solid, the drums sound really pro (which tends to be a problem with most independent recording, poor drum quality) and the vocals are coming out very nice

there's been some studio trickery, but is mostly for sound manipulation and the like, all performances were done over and over until we got the right takes

maybe next week I'll have some premixes

 

to be honest, the drummer getting the v-drums was what actually made it possible for the band to develop so fast, we just plug drums, bass, vox and guitars into a six channel mixer, from there we outtput it to a headphone amp, then the mixer goes either to a tape deck or a laptop and that's how we reharsh and work on songs

it makes the whole creative process flow faster, besides, we can practice until 1am and nobody will even notice

like all tools, if you know what you want to use it for, it will help you a lot, and more importantly, it will give you more ideas than you thought you had

 

that was El Estado, an electronic rock/industrial band

this is Varzovia, which is more rock based, we do use electronic drums but not for electronic sounds

by the way, Varzovia is a project started by El Estado's drummer and me, we just invited a friend from a hard core band who also has a dance/house/psycho live act and my girlfriend who sings in a metal band

 

man, you tell me about it, we started recording last week, on monday, and we're almost through recording, by the end of the week we'll have it all done and have started on the final mix

and since I've been acting as the makeshift producer, it's been really nice, supervising the whole recording aspect, helping the others nail the right sounds, the right performances, etc... that was until it was time for me to cut my guitars, then the tables turned and I cried like a little girl

but that's the way it's supposed to be, right?