|
Below is a detailed, day-by-day account of what went into the making of "Minority of One".
This all happened at Inner Ear Studios, located in Arlington, VA., on January 5-16 and
February 11-14 of 2002.
Players: Brian Baker, Dave Smalley, Roger Marbury, and Colin Sears
Production: Brian Baker and Steve Hansgen
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
| Day 4 | Day 5 |
Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8
| Day 9 | Day 10
| Day
1: Load In |
|
 |
Short day in the studio; load in is at 6pm. The evening is taken
up with equipment set-up and repair, mic placement, string
changing, gossip, eating, sound checking and staring in
astonishment at how much a Les Paul's neck can bow in a couple
of hours.
By 7:00 the Can I Say line-up of DN are
together for the first time in two years to record their first
album in ten. From about 9:30 until 12:30 Brian, Colin and Roger
run through rehearsal takes of three of the new songs; nothing
is committed to tape yet but Steve is recording everything to CD
from the monitor section of the mixing board. After some
listening of playbacks of the evening's rehearsals we decide to
call it a night and agree to meet back up at Inner Ear the next
day at noon.
Read details & see
pix |
| Day
2: First Full Day |
|
 |
Today's 12-hour session begins a bit late; Colin had to go pick
stuff up from Darren at Chuck Levin's. Despite the late start,
the 4 hardest songs were laid down today...following the order
of the demo rather than choosing them in any order of
preference.
Instead of trying to toss up audio
clips after getting home each night, Steve is going to take
advantage of the 2 day break and put together a Pet Sounds-y
'montage' of songs, outtakes and talking...so look for that next
weekend. Regular audio should be coming in by then, too.
Click on read details (below) to read
Dave's take on the Studio Diary.
Read details & see
pix
|
| Day
3: Tracking |
|
 |
Plan for today was to get down 3 more songs, which was readily
accomplished. All the songs Brian and Steve demo'ed are now
tracked, so the bones of the record are halfway done. Things
have gone remarkably smoothly, considering the songs were not
played as a group until 2 days ago—and everyone is too spun to
sleep once they get home.
Dave covered Studio Diary duties again
for today...read details by clicking below.
Read details & see
pix |
| Day
4: WWED? |
|
 |
This is Dave's day—work on the two songs Dave wrote and the
as-yet-undecided cover song is today's business. Unfortunately,
Dave was sick most of the day, so he stayed home and supervised
the goings-on from bed until later in the evening...almost all
the tracking got done today, tho, so that means it is just the
guitars and vocals and, well, a lot more to do.
With Dave out, Brian and Colin handled
the diary...Details on the click-thru. Things were pretty busy
today, so the pictures are not as full of Men Rocking as the
days before (and the captions are lacking, too)...it will be
better tomorrow.
Read details & see
pix
|
| Day
5 |
|
 |
Mics came off the drums today, which can mean only one thing:
Overdubs! Here come guitars and vocals...Since things are a bit
ahead of schedule, Brian, Steve and Don spent 5 hours or so
getting guitar sounds. Dave came in and nailed a couple of
vocals
Steve and Roger did their part for the
Studio Diary today...guitar nerds will be happy, Steve gives a
short overview of the amp setup...
Editor's note: Earlier errant code has
been fixed...you can now get the close-ups of Darren and the
Band and Colin's undies. Sorry you had to wait.
Read details & see
pix
|
| Day
6 |
|
 |
Today is more guitars and vocals, after a brief trip to get a
couple of the guitars babied. Conveniently, the place to get
guitars taken care of is also the place you buy new ones...who
can resist? Now there are new things to look at, too.
(Almost) Everyone worked on today's
Diary. Roger has been voted Official Photographer; now all the
lighting will be good. Check it all out below.
Read details & see
pix |
| Day
7 |
|
 |
Today is a short day; everything has to be broken down and out
of the way by six. Guitars and maybe some bass fixes today-- no
vocals until next week.
Read details & see
pix |
| Days
off |
|
 |
Telling you ahead of time: Jan 12 and 13 are days out of the
studio. This weekend, J Robbins is in doing some stuff...Dag
Nasty won't get back in until noon Monday.
Stay Calm! See you Tuesday (with
Monday's update, okay?)
|
| Day
8 |
|
 |
Colin and Roger have headed home, leaving Brian, Dave and Steve
to finish things up unsupervised. All the guitars are done
except for one song, and Dave got the main vox for Song #6 and
Power Ballad.
Studio diary fell to Brian and Dave
today; read it below...
Read details & see
pix |
| Day
9 |
|
 |
Today is for doing the final guitars and getting more vocals.
It's down to today and tomorrow, with a possible extension into
Thursday if it's needed. All mixing will be done in February
over the 12-15 (Happy Valentine's Day! See how much Dag Nasty
loves you?!)
Dave did the Diary today...
Read details & see
pix |
| Day
10 |
|
 |
That's it! Outta time. Most everything was done, with the
exception of some lead and the backing vocals. The unfinished
songs were loaded up to be finished at Steve's studio over the
next few weeks...in time for mix down in mid-February.
Thanks for being with us for the daily
updates. Check back end of next week or so for audio updates (no
time promised, but soon!) and look for the record in a couple of
months.
Read details & see
pix |
| Mixing
& Post Production |
|
 |
Read details & see
pix |
|
|
|
|
