Is That A Light We See?

Last night we me with Joe at a Starbucks in Milford to discuss the record and plan out the rest or tracking.
First we went over what parts we have left to track, followed by what we need to do in order to be ready to track those parts, and then when we would actually track said parts.
I am happy to report that we have a schedule now that, if we keep to it, will allow us to finish tracking by the end of this month. Mixing will start the 2nd week of March and hopefully, we will get this bad boy mastered and pressed in April!
We start this schedule this coming weekend with back to back days of recording Saturday and Sunday. We are forgoing our normal Wednesday schedule while Luke spends the evening wrapping up writing a couple of parts for different songs. The plan is to have guitar all finished Saturday and move on to organ, synth, bells, chimes, cello, etc on Sunday.
We can't wait to hear these songs finished and then share them with you!

RAT

Luke got a new toy. We welcome the '88 RAT to the Canoes family.

Studio Trip 6: The Recording Workshop

And so it has  passed. We are very excited to say that all the piano for the record is tracked! This is big thing.
Sunday morning we headed out from The Bongo Tree around 8 to The Recording Workshop in Chillicothe. This, as I am sure you know by now, is where we tracked all the piano. You might ask, why go all the way to Chillicothe to track some dumb piano? Well, let me answer that with a picture. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I am already bored of typing.

My baby for the day.

So now that we've cleared that up....Upon arrival, we walked into the studio and I just stood there taking it all in. Brian (Muth), the studio engineer made a comment to the effect of "well, aren't you going to play it? It is what you're here for". It was the perfect introduction to Brian who has a very dry, sarcastic sense of  humor. I loved it. I played around for awhile, during which Brian set up all the mic's and Joe and him uploaded all our sessions to the computer in the control room.

Control room, looking into the tracking room.

Tracking went pretty well. I don't think I could have been more prepared. There is only so much you can practice for a session like we did. The analogy I used (gosh, I love analogies) was that of a baseball player going to the batting cages and hitting every single ball on a line. It helps you lock in mechanics etc, but in a game setting, its a whole other story.
We tracked seven songs for the record and then a b-side single that we are going to release on the side.
It went by real quick. We were wrapped and heading out of there by 3:30. I feel very good about the parts and how I played them. I think they are really going to set this record off.

In front of the sign. Luke really wanted this picture.

We are going to try and finish all the tracking in February. This is exciting. Cleary.

Studio Trip 5

Another trip to the studio in the books.

We headed out straight from our work downtown and arrived just before 7. We tracked guitar for a non ep tracked called Alive (working title, probably will change). Luke laid down just about all the parts, minus a lead line on the bridge. From there we entered prep mode for Sunday. It really didn't end up taking that long. Sunday is going to be great. I think I will be able to really crank out these piano parts. Tonight I am spending a good hour or two running through all the songs.

Studio Trip 4

I picked up Luke at his place at 3:45 and we headed  out to The Bongo Tree. With a fresh pot of coffee just made, we drank from mugs while conversing outside in what was one of the most beautiful days of the year so far. 

Luke tracked an additional guitar part on the first track before turning his attention to the guitar parts for the last track of the EP. The end of the guitar work is in sight, and that is crazy to think. All that is left are parts for the two transition tracks, which are relatively minimal. That was all we really did, as we had to leave by ten to get home since we both worked early this morning. We are planning to go out Wednesday and maybe Saturday in preparation for the tracking of the piano on Sunday. Anticipation is building to an all time high. This is such a big step for us. 

For those few people that support us, it means more than we could ever say or type. For the rest of you, thank you for your lack of support. It drives us and motivates us in ways we cannot explain. 

Patience

Eventually I will import all the posts from our tumblr. I have not been able to access tumblr for whatever reason so I decided to re vamp this old blog and start updated here! If you are reading this, thanks for checking it out. We are really excited about things that are going on in the Canoes camp. We have been in the studio 3 days, and head back this coming Monday for an evening session. On Sunday February 5th, we are heading out to The Recording Workshop to track all the piano for the record. I must admit, I am really excited about this.
Through the recording so far, the only thing I have done (besides a few scratch tracks) is produce. While I love doing that, the thought of tracking is making me giddy. I have been practicing these parts like crazy, and they are really coming together.
We decided to call the EP "No More Waiting Around". This was the name we had for the full length, and even even though this is technically only seven of those songs, we decided it was very appropriate. The second EP will be the rest of the material from the aforementioned defunct full length. We haven't come up with a name for it yet.
Patience is the key. I hate that. I want this to be done now. I want everyone to hear it. I want to play shows.
But right now, this is where we are, and I am learning to be content with that.

In Between

Things have been kinda slow of late. I think this is more perception than actuality. Over the past couple weeks, Luke and I have been working on these songs on our own. A lot of times we work better this way. Sometimes when someone is sitting right there, it is more difficult to come up with parts for songs. Luke sent me some guitar parts for the last song on the EP and it is sounding really great. I am getting close to having solid parts on the piano for these songs. Sunday I was able to sit down at my parents piano (my favorite piano ever) and bang out the ideas I have been working on. February 5th gets closer and closer and anticipation is through the roof. Tonight Luke and I are getting together and I think I am going to try and play through what I've got so far…Also we both recently watched the documentary Dear Jack and would highly recommend to anyone and everyone.