I am interested in recording at EA some time this year. The catch is the recording would be of me, playing all the instruments (best described as angular off-kilter repetitive pop/rock with some tinges of ambience and found sounds in there i suppose). I play drums, guitars, bass, keyboards and there could be some samples in there too from my Mac. It is possible that other people could be involved- however it is safe to say it would mostly be just me.

Just curious if there are others out there who have done the “solo” project thing at EA?

Or if any of the EA engineers could elaborate on some recordings/sessions that were of this nature and how it went? I’d love to check out some of the recordings if they are out there.

I’m mainly curious to know if this type of session generally takes a long, long time and tends to be less focused than band efforts? I want to know if I feel like I am ready to play all the instruments and don’t get ill or forget my parts (and can play them OK) that it’ll all work out.. Now, i’ve done this before about 8 years ago with a friend engineering at Sound of Music in Richmond, Va.- he was learning how to engineer and I was a drummist newbie. It went well since we were both a bit green at what we were doing, so there was tons of patience and support going on. Not to mention, the playing was simpler and easier then than what I am capable of orchestrating now..


It also would be helpful to know the working methods employed when recording someone who is playing all the instruments. As an example- are metronomes used or recommended? What gets tracked first? Is there a general ratio of how much longer a 4 minute rock-based tune with drums, bass, guitar and other sounds would take vs. doing the same song with a band? What might be some pitfalls to expect?

Obviously, I know this is all this is subjective to how well I would be able to play, focus, remember the parts and of course, keep from going mental.

Any comments or observations would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Just curious if there are others out there who have done the “solo” project thing at EA?

yup.

as far as your questions, i really don't know what to say other than it's entirely up to you. if you can record all the stuff on your own in a couple of days, you could acheive the same at EA. actually, it could be even faster at EA because they are efficient at solving problems (plus they have at least 2 of almost everything). i did a 16 minute record in 2 days and a 34 minute record in 4; full "band" arrangements. but like i said, it's up to you.

the only 'special' thing i can think of is if you do a lot of the stuff on computer, bring your own computer (or rent one) to play it back. i'm pretty sure they have basic samplers/click track makers, but as far as any complex drum software/MIDI/timecode, you may want to call them in advance just to make sure it's possible.

154 wrote:

Just curious if there are others out there who have done the “solo” project thing at EA?

yup.

as far as your questions, i really don't know what to say other than it's entirely up to you. if you can record all the stuff on your own in a couple of days, you could acheive the same at EA. actually, it could be even faster at EA because they are efficient at solving problems (plus they have at least 2 of almost everything). i did a 16 minute record in 2 days and a 34 minute record in 4; full "band" arrangements. but like i said, it's up to you.

the only 'special' thing i can think of is if you do a lot of the stuff on computer, bring your own computer (or rent one) to play it back. i'm pretty sure they have basic samplers/click track makers, but as far as any complex drum software/MIDI/timecode, you may want to call them in advance just to make sure it's possible.

Thanks 154! Did you bring all of your own gear or borrow EA gear?

a little of both. i only bring stuff if it has something very specific that can't be "dialed in", which for me is my guitar, cymbals, snare, weird effects boxes, etc. no sense in bringing my Bassman when they have a Bassman (not to mention Bandmaster, Twin Reverb, etc.), ya know?

i did bring my own Sonar drumkit once, but i think i like the sound i got out of their Gretch kit better. fwiw.

I've never done this at EA, but I do record myself this way so I'll tell you one thing that totally makes my life 100 times easier. maybe it will help you.

I usually try and record demo versions of everything so i can hear how stuff fits together, tempo changes, fills, etc. For most of the recording you will be imagining music in your head.

Doing this will also give you an idea of how difficult it will be for you to track different songs, find places that you general need to focus more, etc.

Everything else you mentioned is entirely up to you. Which sounds like a cop out. For example, I never play to a click track for my own music. Tempo consistency is not that important to me and a variable of +-5 bpm is usually ok with me so as long as I'm within that margin, I don't care.

Jeremy

p.s. you'll have to let me hear your record when it's done.

154 wrote:a little of both. i only bring stuff if it has something very specific that can't be "dialed in", which for me is my guitar, cymbals, snare, weird effects boxes, etc. no sense in bringing my Bassman when they have a Bassman (not to mention Bandmaster, Twin Reverb, etc.), ya know?

i did bring my own Sonar drumkit once, but i think i like the sound i got out of their Gretch kit better. fwiw.

makes sense. I love to hear the recording you did if you are willing to share it.

the second song listed is the only one done entirely at EA (B) with greg.

Todd played all the insturments on Brick Layer Cake's Whatchamacallit

154 wrote:the second song listed is the only one done entirely at EA (B) with greg.

just: great!

bassdriver wrote:

154 wrote:the second song listed is the only one done entirely at EA (B) with greg.

just: great!

thanks!

Todd played all the insturments on Brick Layer Cake's Whatchamacallit

yeah. i read the whole thing was done in 2 days.

the vocal sound on that record is eerily intimate, like todd is standing right behind you in a cape or something. very cool.