Drum Tracking

30-31 July 2010

Drums were tracked over a 5hr period on the 30th with minor reworking of parts the following day. All went surprisingly well without any issues. There will be no quantisation or fabricating of parts, no compromise on this. Sound replacement only for kick drums.

Kit details:
PDP LXE kit
14" snare
2x 22" kicks
10", 12", 14", 16" toms
Cymbal details:
Sabian 12" HH hats
Sabian 13" HHX Groove hats
Sabian 20" HH Duo ride
Sabian 16" HH Thin Crash
Sabian 18" HH Dark Crash
Sabian 18" HH China
Sabian 10" HH Duo Splash
Sabian 10" HH China Kang
Zildjian 6" and 9.5" Zil-bels
Istanbul Alchemy 21" Raw Ride
Mic details:
Toms: 3x Shure Beta 98 D/S, 1x Shure Beta 52
Overheads: Shure 2x KSM-32
Kick: Shure Beta 91
Snare: Shure SM57 top, Beta 57 bottom

All tracked straight into an RME Fireface 800 + M-Audio Octane pre

Guitar / Bass Tracking

1-7 August 2010

Bass lines were tracked on the 1st of August. Due to the amount of pre-production work throughout the last 6 months, everything was easy enough to hammer out in one day with minimal effort. We tracked down a vintage Mesa Bass 400+ valve head which gave us the characteristic fuck-off tone we were after. Pedal-wise, we ran TC Electronics Vintage Bass Distortion and Hot Cake distortion for as much noise as possible. Sounds great! Everything running into an Ampeg cab, mic'd with a single SM57.

Rhythm guitars were completed over a 2-day period with extra counterpoint parts and clean sections tracked the following day. Running 2 unison tracks per channel, with 2 sets of modified tone (full gain and slightly cleaner). All distortion courtesy of an Engl E-570 pre with VHT 2902 power. Where applicable we're also utilising 5th and 6th tracks for overlay melodies. Extra noise and underlaying texture material will also serve throughout a lot of the album, which we're tracking in small segments over the last couple of weeks of August.

Lyrics + Vocal Tracking

15 August 2010

Paul completed the bulk of the lyrics over the past few months, with everything coming to a point of finalisation in early August.

Vocals were tracked in a single session, running through a Shure KSM-32, directly into a RME Fireface 800.
Rip away the flesh we scarred with god
And scour our bones for deceit
Beneath the black shroud of abandon lay fields of us
Our bodies still; our minds hollow and sightless

Here we lay, nothing without deceit

- Dead Oceans

Mix, master and artwork development

June 2010 - September 2010

The mixing and mastering process took place over a 2-3 week period, followed up by album art and subsequent merch designs in Aug/Sep.
Thumbnails to switch out imagery. Hover for annotations.