~
My phone alarm rings, telling me it's 10:30 and that I See Stars should be showing up pretty soon. I sit up from my chair, throwing the wrapper for my panini into the trash and taking one more sip of the mimosa. l
I do my usual set up routine, flicking on the various switches and plugging in the different cables.
Recording setup usually takes longer because I have to set up instruments- which the band already said they were fine using mine and would bring a specific pedal that Jeff, the bassist, prefers to use. a
I test the volume levels of each instrument and make sure all the headphones are turned up. Once I take off the headphones I grab the usual microphone I use and plug it in before attaching it to the stand.
I tighten the stand so the mic doesn't fall out and adjust the height to be taller.
I hear a knock on the door and rush to into the studio to open it.
The second I pull the heavy door open I see the four guys I've been working with through screens for the past few weeks.
"Hey!" I smile, my heart racing from nerves. "You guys made it!"
"Of course." Brent chuckles and holds out his hand. "Nice to finally meet you."
I shake each of their hands as they greet me and introduce themselves.
I lead them to the recording room and explain how the process typically works with me and how I do certain things that may not be typical.
"All in all, shouldn't be too bad! We'll just record you individually and level things out- get the sound we want, and add the vocals over it all." I turn to Brent. "And if you want to fiddle around with some riffs in the studio while we get the drums and bass recorded it shouldn't be an issue."
"That sounds great." Devin smiles as I lead them back to the studio. "Guess I get to relax for a bit until these idiots are done with the hard work."
"I'll play the sample track for you guys to record over but obviously it won't be a part of the final product." I laugh. "I'd suggest you start, Andrew, you're drumming for this track, right?"
"Yeah, Dakota is gonna be busy for a week and it's just easier to get it done now instead of waiting for him."
"Cool- go ahead and set things up the way you like, if you need me to turn your headphones up or down give me a thumbs up or down." I say and he nods before going back into the recording room, taking a seat at the drum set.
The rest of them plop onto the couch as I sit down in my chair and grab the various pairs of headphones for them.
I turn around and Devin looks up at me, a sweet smile on his lips.
"Who wants to hear?" I ask and they all look at me.
I pass them each a pair of headphones and then put my own on, turning back to my setup.
I look up and see Andrew pointing his thumb up as he hits the snare drum repeatedly, so I turn his volume up until he motions me to stop.
"Good to go?" I ask into my shitty little mic I keep connected to the headphones, so I can communicate ideas with the bands between recording.
"Should be." He nods as he speaks into the mic next to his kit. "Start the track when you're ready."
"I'll let you get a good idea first and once you're comfortable let me know and I can record."
After about 45 minutes of recording Andrew and Jeff's instruments over the sample recording, Devin plays me his vocal recording and lyric sheet that he and the others had written up over the past week.
