Aaron Harris
ISIS
WRITING
Wow, where do I start!? It's been about a two and a half year process from the beginning to the final recorded record. It does and it doesn't seem like it's been that long. Our songs average around seven minutes so I guess naturally we take a little longer than most. A big advantage this time was having everyone here in Los Angeles full time. When working on our last record "In The Absence Of Truth", there was a couple of us living in NY, while the other three of us were living in Los Angeles. That made writing pretty tough. I never felt like we really hit our stride that time. A lot of our songs are the result of jamming on a few initial ideas and it was great to have everyone living here in town (Los Angeles) this time to do that. Rather than feeling like we had limited time to capture something, I felt like we could take our time with the songs, and come back the next day to work on things rather than in a few weeks.
A really big advantage that we've started doing over the last few years is recording our rehearsals. I'm a "part time" recording engineer and have enough portable gear that we're able to stay set up and multi track record everything. With all the different sounds and the volume of which we play, it's really hard to hear what everyone is doing. I remember recording the first few records like "Celestial" and "Oceanic" and it was like hearing the songs for the first time in the studio. I wasn't able to make out what everyone was playing and it was really frustrating sometimes not knowing what was really happening within the songs. "Oh if I had known you were doing that, I would have accented there" etc. Recording and demoing the songs during writing has really helped with that. In the few weeks leading up to the recording, when we felt like everything was written, rather than continue to demo the songs individually, we played every song through in order and recorded the entire rehearsal so that we could take it home and listen. Like playing the entire record live and multi-track recording it. There were times where I'd say "Oh today I played that a little differently and I like it" or "Today I tried this different thing and it doesn't sound as good". I think we've probably come to rely on the recordings a bit, but I really don't think it's a bad thing. It's allowed us to be much stronger writers and given us the freedom to jam a bit without the worry of forgetting something or not fully understanding what we're doing.
Another thing we focused on this time that we never really considered much is tempo. At the advice of "Evil" Joe Barresi (the engineer for the record) we made note of the different tempos we were playing the songs and tried to lock in what felt best. Joe came down to a few of the last rehearsals before tracking with his metronome and we tried a few varied tempos for each track until we found the best one. It's amazing how much even 2BMP can change a song.
TRACKING
We started tracking this time the way we always have in that I start and the other guys build on top of me. I always look at it like building a house. The drums are the foundation and the rest is added from there. We tracked the drums at Sound City in Van Nuys, Ca. Joe has worked there a lot and is familiar with the room and board. The console was a beautiful Neve 8028. I was really excited to track on that console and in the same studio Nivana's "Nevermind" was done. Also the scene in Boogie Nights where Dirk Diggler tracked his vocals. "You got the touch..... You got the power!" I can see why they picked Sound City for that scene. The studio has a very "70's" vibe to it. Lot's of wood, tapestries, candles etc. Some great records were recorded there by artists like Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac, QOTSA, Neil Young, Melvins, Cheap Trick, even Warren G to list a few.
This was the first record that I had a drum tech. I've never had one for anything. Tours, studio, never. I was a bit nervous only because I had never had the opportunity or met anyone I trusted enough to handle my drums, but I trusted that Evil Joe wouldn't do me wrong. The techs name was Jerry Johnson. He usually works with Linkin Park, Def Leopard and Dave Mathews. I have to say now looking back I really am glad Jerry was on board. He has an amazing ear, great work ethic, and just all around killer dude. He brought in a few different snares that I wanted to try as well as an old "Vintage 70's Gretch" kit. I had always stuck to my kit and my snare for all our other records, but this time I used a few different snares as well as Jerry's Gretch kit for some tom overdubs that we did in the studios real "echo chamber". I could have played drums for hours in there. If you ever have a chance to play in an echo chamber, I highly recommend it! One of the snares I really loved, which surprised me, was a "Pearl Brass 6.5X14 Free Floating Snare" I think I also used a "Ludwig 70's Vintage Black Beauty 6.5X14" and my "Tama Hammered Bronze 5.5X14"
We spent most of the first day getting sounds, tweaking things and tracked one song. The studio had a great selection of microphones! Lot's of old Sennheisers and a few of Joe's "secret weapons". The laid back, but focused and creative vibe of Joe and the studio really made for a great environment. I don't think I've ever been more comfortable doing a record. I think it was a combo of being really prepared, trusting in Joe's capabilities, Jerry looking after my kit, and the welcoming and hospitable nature of the studio. I tracked all the drums in 3 1/2 days. We even had enough time before moving on to Joe's studio in Pasadena, Ca (where we did the rest of the record) for Cliff, our keyboard player, to track some of his stuff on the studios real Hammond B3. What an amazing sounding organ! Even though we were only there for a few days, I really felt comfortable at Sound City. It's not as "stale" as other studios I've worked in, and I really do better in a laid back sort of environment rather than other situations where I really felt like a guest. Even though I'm very focused on the inside, i like to have my environment "relaxed but focused" when recording.
All in all it was a really great experience and one that I feel produced our best record to date. I know everyone says and wants to believe that, but I feel that this time it's true. I'm really comfortable with this record and the work I put in to it. I know deep down that I put my all into it, and that allows me to be at ease with it. I've grown a lot as a drummer and I hope that my experience was enjoyable and interesting to read.
Thanks for reading and thanks to Vater for being a very helpful part of it all!
