Clear Blue - Titles

Technical Jargon [for those who are interested]

Back in 2000, while we were recording the self-titled album, I realized that while we were learning how to operate in the studio [Clear Cut Recording], it was costing me a lot of money, and all of us a lot of time which we did not all have to spend together. We recorded that album on 24 channel board, and mixed to DAT before going to PC using Wavelab to burn it to CD.

I remember thinking that if we recorded it ourselves at our own studio, we wouldn’t have to be confined to an hourly fee. I decided a few months after the release, that I would experiment using my computer in my room to alter some of our recorded material. The result was catastrophic [Queer Blue Vol. 1], but it gave me a chance to feel out which program was best for us. Thus, V World Studios was born. Bent Razor was the first track I attempted at creating on my PC. I used Cool Edit 1 which soon showed itself limited compared to Sonic Foundry’s Acid 3 which we used for titles.

Since I didn’t have the money for Pro Tools or even quality recording equipment, I went directly into my SoundBlaster sound card. I had no quality mics, so the first mic I recorded my voice with was one of those cheap desktop microphones you can pick up at Radioshack. Although it seems impossible, I recorded the vocal tracks to “All This Time”, “Once In My Life”, “Watch Me”, and “Cover Me” using only that little, junk microphone. Lack of resources forces me to become resourceful. Later on, we borrowed a Behringer Eurorack Mixer and an SM58 from my Church, City of Hope. They also let us use their drum mics when we laid down the drum tracks. I recorded my guitars and e-bow through my effects units, and sometimes through micing the amp. I was able to emulate my tone decently through the use of filters which is not a practice I enjoy doing, but micing my amp wasn’t picking up my tone the way I liked it either. Playing live is more fun for this reason among others. JP’s guitar was recorded out of the digital out on the back of his Line 6 amp. Chris went direct. The keyboard went direct.

The whole CD was born and lived on my computer from January [when I got my SoundBlaster Card for Christmas] until the release. I only used Sonic Foundry’s Acid 3 and Sound Forge 6. Since I didn’t really know what I was doing, I learned as I went. For me, it was another computer program I had to teach myself. While I was in school during the Spring semester, I would stay up at night fixing what I recorded, and then I’d spend a few hours on the weekend. The rest of the band would come over and I’d record their parts, and that would give me more work to do when I could free myself up. After the Spring and Summer sessions at school were done, I spent a lot of time at my computer working on recording, not just ‘titles’, but other recording projects like the concept album I’m working on now. Sometimes, I would go three or more days without leaving my room except to eat and shower, and use the bathroom. If I wasn’t recording, I was composing, or notating something I had recorded, or just practicing. It’s a wonder that I got as much non-V World stuff done this summer as I did. Overall, I was still sure that I could only do a good job on this recording with the technology and experience I had. Unfortunately, there was no money for a professional mastering, so maybe years down the line, we can re-master and mix it in a quality studio. I’ve backed up my work for such a reason. Besides, low-budget projects are good too—it’s what’s on the disc that counts. Remember “The Blair Witch Project”? We needed to get our music released. It wasn’t helping anyone when it was just in our heads and on paper. In fact, one of the titles for this album is just that: out of our system.

The CD

Originally, the CD was going to be a short 5-song EP, but since we would have had to pay the same price to release a twenty-minute album as would a 74 minute album, and since we don’t have the money to waste on an EP, I asked the guys if they would mind letting me put some tracks on the album that I had been working on by myself, as did JP with the track ‘Cover Me’. They agreed. We weren’t entirely decided on what to title the CD, so I figured that if we called it titles, then we could list some of the possible titles we would have liked to have called this album. We had written a handful of songs that we were currently playing as of Summer 2001, but not enough for a full length album. Since I didn’t want to spend the CD duplication money on an EP, I talked with the guys and they said it wouldn’t bother them if I put some tracks on the CD in which I recorded all of the instruments and did the looping—things I had begun on my computer in January. JP also contributed a song he recorded at V World in which he plays all of the instruments and loops with an additional guitar part by me.

The original release date we aimed for was in July, but since we were still playing out at “The After Glow Show” and other places, and since it was summer and people go on vacation, and since I had other things to direct and be involved in, and since I went to South Africa, and since everyone in this band wears so many hats, the CD’s release was delayed. Not the worst thing in the world because there’s not much money to pay for duplication anyway [low-budget rock stars I guess].

The CD has 13 pieces which should satisfy those people who hoped that the first album was longer. That’s all for now,

~VJ Manzo

9/5/02

Note: tracks 14 & 15 were created and added to the master CD just two hours after I burned what I thought would be the ‘final’ copy. A few days after our last CD release, I wrote an alternate intro for “Calm”, and I had been looking for a way to premier it, so when I began remixing “Before Heaven” for track 15, I found that I was able to use my “Calm” intro to segue into the remix version. These tracks were added as hidden tracks, not advertised on the front of the disc. They were not to be added to an extended track [like most bands do when they put a ‘hidden track’ on an album], but rather, they would exist as separate tracks so that anyone who wanted to listen to them a few times wouldn’t have to go through the aggravation of having to press the fast forward button for six minutes in order to get to the track. That always annoyed me.

taken from www.vjmanzo.com