Jon wrote:

Mayfair wrote:and sometimes cassettes...thanks a lot Evergreen!

what evergreen cassettes?! are they for sale?

Yes. $5 each. Box of 30 for $100. PM me.

What Evergreen record is it? Is it "Evergreen"?

Mayfair,
I think your advice/take on this subject is great.

Might I also add another perspective?

I've been a rock band for almost 8 years. We're not in the same town now, but for a good 6 years we all lived in Grand Forks, ND. No Vic or Metro to play there, so you just do what you can.

On school breaks (The bass player's a grad student, I teach college, the guit player's got a steady job), we practice, work on songs, and play shows. While we had years and years of playing to 5-20 people weekend after weekend, when we play now there's always a lot of interest. Usually over 100-200 folks show up, and we get asked to play the fancy "theatre" venue in town, which is very flattering.

Oh, we toured a lot also. No "big break" ever came, and truthfully, we weren't really looking!

At any rate, we plan to record at Electrical in the year of 2007. This will be our 10 year anniversary. With this album, I'll be pressing 200 copies of that nice thick vinyl, and we'll all come up with some fancy/special way to package it. And then that's it! We'll pull a "1000hurts" and provide everyone with a cd-r copy as well--people like to take cd's in their cars with them, I know.

So, what does this personal stuff mean in the larger context?

I think it means "know your limits". It's been nearly decade now, and we're still creative. We're still making music--albeit infrequently--and MOST IMORTANTLY, we're still friends. Two of my best friends in the whole world, actually. Know your limits and know your pace.

I could not have dreamt of a better way to "conduct" a band--and it all came very naturally. Don't be an dick, don't lust for anything material (except that Vox AC-30 you've always wanted--that's worth lusting after), and know your own abilities, and you can do this until you're 50.

I know that 200 people in my hometown will be very happy to get an album by us, and we'll be very happy to record/release it for them. No one else besides the three of us needs to have anything more to say about it than that.

This could be age talking (I ain't even close to 50, though...), but being comfortable and creative at the same time is priceless.

Thanks!
Ike from Straphanger

Justin from Queens wrote:What Evergreen record is it? Is it "Evergreen"?

Yes, it is the Evergreen record on Hi-Ball by the Louisville band (featuring the talented Mr. Walford) recorded by James Murphy in NY with the red-ish jelly and chrome thing cover. The cassettes came out the same moment as the records and CDs. It was a 'for the kids' decision. Just so 'the kids' know, I have about twelve 30-count boxes left over. The CDs are now all gone and I have a few more boxes of the LPs, all first (and only) pressing. Temporary Residence has reissued the CD this past year which includes the two tracks from the 'Pant's Off" 7" (also was a Hi-Ball release) as well.

PM me if you want to buy any of the cassettes. $5 each, box of 30 for $100.

Ike wrote:Might I also add another perspective? ...

Yes, good points Ike. That is a certain perspective I did not take into account in my other post. I was more speaking to what the original post asked regarding what recording with Steve meant in the eyes of labels, etc. It seemed more of a discussion about making music and recording a record and then selling it or at least paying for it.

That said, I agree with your points. When you are doing something because it is your passion and it is one of those things that you love to do, spending all your hard earned money on it is not foolish at all in my mind. You cannot make art with the idea of what you are getting out of it but rather what you are putting into it. If you do the other way around, you are probably making 'product', not 'art'.

I just think you have to be honest with yourself about it all and not pretend to be making art when you really are trying to make product. I do not have anything against 'product'. Making 'product' is fine. I don't have anything against selling 'art' as well. I just think you should not fool yourself about which you are doing. That was my point.

hello
so do you have just the tape, or the tape and the lp available? were you interested in wholesaleing a bunch, as i do a small distro over here in the uk?
let me know prices etc (including seamail shipping to the uk), and we'll sort something out!
cheers...
jon

i thought i'd clicked the pm button. spazztard.

to 'ike' and anyone else that cares:

instead of 200 cd-r's you can actually have as few as 100 real cd's made at www.europadisk.com. 100 1 color on front cds run around $250. 200 around $300.

maybe help make your 10 year project a bit fancier.

bob.

I can tell you right now that a label will not be impressed by who is behind the board, but instead how your music sounds and if they can sell it!

I will say that Steve Albini, although I've never worked with him, is a world class engineer. If your band has good gear, can play well, and have good tunes any ass with recording equipment can record a decent CD for you, but only the performance will be the main focus. The difference between that and recording with Steve would be that Steve knows how to achieve what you want or what you don't know exists in your tunes. Your CD will be focused on sound quality, the mix, and your perfomance rather than just the performance if you record with Joe Schmoe who just bought some SM57's and a 4 track cassette recorder from guitar center. Overall, recording at Electrical will yield the best result.

I have a home studio and I've only been in the recording world for about a year. I can tell you that although I put out respectable work...it is nowhere near the capability of Electrical Audio because of their experienced staff and high end gear! I've read so many articles about Steve and interviews that he is done.....and it has honestly made my work sound better just getting ideas from his experience! For example, just how he describes how he mics up a kick drum have made my kick recordings sound like a kick as opposed to a thump.

Anyway..enough rambling. I've recorded a few bands that are getting label attention, and one that is on a pretty big label....my honest advice is to save as much money as you can, record a pre-production demo somewhere cheap in the meantime while you save, and make sure that your songs represent your band before taking the plunge. You'll love what Electrical can do for you. One day I hope to be engineering next to a talented person like Steve. Maybe I'll call the Oprah show and have her hook it up! hahaha

Art Garceau
www.therecordingart.com

Mayfair wrote:I think another thing to think about is this.

You know - this was acctually a part of my collage degree believe it or not... B:

button8706 wrote:

Mayfair wrote:I think another thing to think about is this.

You know - this was acctually a part of my collage degree believe it or not... B:

Art school too, eh?