The Set-Up, Or Make Music Any Way You Can.
Hold on to your pants, because here comes the deals in regards to recording stuff.
I utilize Pro-Tools SE (as in "Streamlined Edition") on a Windows-based laptop. It's pretty Spartan in it's design and features, which I like. Why not analog, you say? Because Pro-Tools happens to be cheap and readily available to me at 10 AM on a Sunday morning when I do most of my recording, unlike a real analog studio. Unless you mean using a cassette 4-Track recorder, which yes, I do own one but it's not necessarily the most efficient or easiest option.
I record drum parts using an Alesis something-or-other electronic drumset (I forget the model). It's not high end, though not the bottom of the barrel, either. It's a mid-line model. Would I prefer an acoustic kit? Absolutely. But the neighbors in my apartment complex wouldn't. Also, I like the flexibility of being able to record at 11 PM at night if the muse and energy are there. An electric kit makes that possible, as well as letting me hit shit in the musical manner I deem fit (instead of using a drum machine, which would have much better timing than I inherently do. C'est La Vie).
I have plenty of guitars that I employ, but for the most part on the Terminal Sunburn stuff I have been sticking to a Fender Silverburst Telecaster (affectionately known as "Excalibur", because all great swords/guitars need a name). The glaring exception being the self-titled single, which was recorded with a tobacco-burst Gibson Les Paul Junior (named "The Junior" because it is). I sometimes use a small Vox practice amp to record, though mostly as of late I have been using a Line 6 direct unit. Why? What I sacrifice in amplified fury I make up for with the fact that I can record at any time, day or night, in my apartment. Necessity is the mother of acceptance.
As for bass, if I'm recording the parts its with a black Fender Geddy Lee model Jazz Bass. I prefer thin necks, if you must know. If it's my brother Justin playing bass on a track (usually denoted by how awesome the bass parts are, as opposed to the run of the mill shit I do) he will usually use any number of Fender Precision Basses he has at his disposal. The bass goes direct, too.
I mix using some brand of external speakers whose make and model I do not recall, though I can guarantee you they are not professional grade in any way, shape, or form. My ears are shot, so it's always a case of hope for the best, expect the worst when it comes to mixing anyways.
I master the stuff with some sort of program I picked up like 15 years ago or something (I'm guessing). It's hopelessly outdated. But I use it nonetheless. Upgrading is expensive, and art shouldn't be dependent on modern and/or professional means. Make music any way you can, even if you are banging two cans together while recording it on a handheld mono cassette recorder. Some hipster will end up loving it and next year you'll headline the Pitchfork fest. It could happen to you. I have no illusions of that, though. I'll be happy if someone gets through an entire guitar solo without going "Oh for fuck's sake, stop wanking already..."
As for the order of how I lay down parts, it goes like this:
1) Drums (sans any guide. I just play the tune by memory. Hence the shaky time and compensation that ends up happening).
2) All guitars (layer upon beautiful layer until it feels "done").
3) Bass (more often than not last. Unless it's a guitar solo. For whatever reason the bass will proceed the wanking more often than not).
Then mix, master, and post it up online while following it with dreams of a band playing this shit in front of an audience that not only tolerates it, but sort of politely enjoys it, too. I am a dreamer, you know.
blakekathryn
jacobvanloon
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