Mixing “The Invention Of Everything Else”
Jon Locker, bless his heart, seems to be remaining calm.
The Nadas' bassist (and bonafide producer) is mixing my new record, "The Invention Of Everything Else" (due June 18th from Authentic Records!) at his Sonic Factory Studios in Des Moines.
As you might guess, it's a not an assignment to be taken lightly, as my OCD manifest pretty significantly when my face is on the thing. Which it will be, when I get around to that part.
For now, though, the process involves notes, and lots of them. Jon uploads a few mixes at a time to his ...
Ten Reasons I Should Have Taken Up Needlepoint Instead
The last few weeks in the studio have been sort of painful. It all came to a bit of a head last night when I found myself preparing dinner between takes and swearing under my breath -- well, maybe not so much "under."
Abbi said, "I've never seen you so moody!" Which was a really sweet way of telling me to pull my shit together.
So I was tracking vocals just now thinking about why the recording of "The Invention Of Everything Else" has been so difficult, my obvious and tiresomely over-documented over-commitment notwithstanding. Here ...
Studio Chicanery (Or, My Weekend In The Closet With Chris)
Just how long does it take to nail a guitar solo?
Even if you're only a casual Rolling Stone or Spin reader, you've probably read the same B.S. I have about first takes. Yunno, Slash is talking about the "Sweet Child Of Mine" solo on "Appetite For Destruction" and he's all like, "Yeah we just rolled tape and nailed it on the first pass."
It happens... sometimes. Over the course of fifteen records, I can count such occurrences on exactly one finger.
I wrote a simple little song called "Glider" during the (drug addled) recording of ...
The Rock & Roll Husband
I distinctly recall standing next to Abbi in Brooklyn, staring way down Flatbush Avenue towards downtown Manhattan. We were testing the waters together, trying to find a neighborhood in which to move. The process, though, was pushing some other buttons.
"But it's so far away!" I whined.
Later, on the subway, I articulated what I was going through only slightly better.
"This is about who I am, what I’m worth, and what it all means," I said.
For some reason, I just couldn't imagine how I was going to do it all: hold down a ...
The Astronaut’s Lament
It's Friday night at 6:43 and I'm still at the office when it dawns on me.
'Shit, I still have to pick up the master tapes.'
Master files, really, but what's a little nomenclature between friends?
All I want to do is go home, grab a beer and hang with the wife. But Travis Harrison and "The Invention of Everything Else" is waiting for me at Serious Business Studios. I make haste for the N train.
Trouble is, I'm a wee bit crippled on account of sprinting down a small mountain. So I'm taking the stairs down to the subway like an ...
Killing The Blues – Video
We're twenty minutes into the "Invention of Everything Else" recording session when we start hearing a loud, arrhythmic clicking sound in our headphones.
Travis stops rolling.
"Ok," he says. "Who's got the bum cable?"
Chris and I aren't plugged in. Tony protests.
"I checked everything before we started," he says.
"Battery?"
Chris and I are mic'd.
"Um..."
There are four microscopic screws between a bass and its nine volt. This was gonna' take a sec. Given that I was gunning to record at least eight tunes in as many ...
Inventing Everything Else
Nine songs in eight hours. Not bad.
Whether it was nerves, or a lack of sleep (probably both), I was sick to my stomach all day. I dashed out of the office around five o'clock, and hopped the NR.
Stepping out of the subway at Prince & Broadway is a little like stepping into a Middle Eastern bazaar. The streets are narrow, the sidewalks are crowded with tourists and vendors. It's not a good place to be when you're in a hurry. I took a deep breath, and endeavored to take my own advise.
Serious Business Studios is on Spring & ...
Breathe In (Live) – Video
Like I said to Tony before the everyone showed up for rehearsal, "If you're gonna' be ambitious in a big way, you gotta' be prepared to fail in a big way."
I'll be honest. It wasn't our best rehearsal ever. Which is only slightly alarming given that we're recording a new album tomorrow.
I don't relish sneaking out of the office to get to rehearsal any more than I relish lugging my guitar to the office in the first place. But there it is. Or, rather, there I was walking briskly down the shoulder of Seventh Avenue. The other ...
Giving Up The Ghost (Live) – Video
There's a lot of hope in the Music Building.
The place is semi-legendary, at least to those of us who grew up watching Behind The Music.
The 42,000-square-foot building located on Eighth Avenue between 38th and 39th -- catty-corner from The Port Authority Bus Terminal -- is eleven stories of rehearsal space: 70, 350 square foot studios in all.
Imagine, then, just how many bands have trolled the graffiti-strewn halls since its inception in 1979. Like Madonna Louisa Ciccone, for one. And Chris Abad, for another. Chris rents a room ...
New Benjamin Wagner Album Due June 24 18
You knew it was coming, right?
Authentic Records will release my seventh, full-length studio LP on Tuesday, June 24.
The working title for the album is "The Invention of Everything Else."
Pre-production for the all-acoustic release has already begun. Tony Maceli, Chris Abad, Ryan Vaughn and I started arranging the tunes Thursday night at Ultrasound Studios, and again on Saturday afternoon at The Music Building.
Timing for the release was motivated by recent events. It occurred to me at rehearsal a few weeks ago that the four of ...
