The Good Yeggs - Recording Session 8/4/12 HesDeadJimStudios Queens, New York

Besides for Thomas and myself, Thomas' cat Annie also graduated from Center for the Media Arts. In this photo she is troubleshooting a Line Buzz & Tender Vittles.

The Yeggs convened for a Saturday recording session (for Joe and Thomas it was a 12 hour marathon) in which lots of lead vocals from our previous session(s) were finalized (Me & My Monster, Build Me Up Buttercup) and new material captured like the elusive Pork Rind Of Yore (P.R.Y.). Today we picked three totally new unfamiliar original tunes and just went for a take.

Rhythm tracks and Percussion overdubs were laid down for the songs "Coming Loose", "Passing By" and "If You Want" with vocals on "Passing By" finalized.

Joe overdubbing a Rhythm Guitar part on "Passing By" with a Nylon 6 string Guitar between Pork Rind breaks.

 

Fattening up the track with some low cholesterol Shaker (Eggs).


                               
You cant see it in the photo but Thomas is wearing his Guinea Chain.



To make it 'Official' there were two bags of Pork Rinds at the session.

Annie is trying her best "Not To Be Seen"



HesDeadJimStudios Rocks and in this case "All I Got Was A Rock"

Playback - Take 1 - Coming Loose

I am particularly proud of this drum part as it came together without effort while remaining tasty in a pop sense. This instrumental bed reminds me of early 70s British Glam Rock.

The Good Yeggs - Recording Session 3/30/12 HesDeadJimStudios Queens, New York

The Good Yeggs had a great day recording some tracks for fun, demo purposes, posterity and our forthcoming CD. As opposed to going the Phil Spector route of 300 takes before rolling (Hard Drive) tape we make it pretty easy to please and so long as we are all happy with our performances technically with a hint of "producing" from Thomas then its on to the next step. Recorded this afternoon was "Me & My Monster" which only needs some guitar, keyboard and vocal overdubs to completion and Basic Tracks for "I'm Coming Back"(including Bongoes), The Foundations Classic "Build Me Up Buttercup" and "Heartache By The Numbers" the Ray Price standard, Thunder Tube was also overdubbed onto "Bad Things".



Taken from behind the Drums by, you guessed it, The Drummer.



Thomas with Les Paul (the guitar) and his valet the handsome and charming Lennon.



Is that a Longhorn that you have there or are you just happy to see me.



Prior to making some noise on Sound Percussion Drums and Zildjian ZBT Cymbals (and the $600 Snare Drum).



The Best of Both Worlds, PC Laptop Home Recording Studio, Mackie 24X8 outboard mixing console and Alesis multi-track recorder.



Joe with his recording Bass the Ibanez Artcore Semi-Hollow Body.



The Incredible, Edible egg.



I had mentioned to Joe on the way over that I hadn't eaten yet and wanted to stop for a snack so while Thomas was getting Drum mic levels Joe decided to make the first Beer run and asked if I wanted a sandwich I replied "Sure, Surprise me" and Surprise me he did with Ham & Swiss on a Roll with Lettuce, Tomato and Mayo. Nina agreed with me after the session that a sandwich never tastes so good as when someone else makes it for you.



Take 1 / Guitar Overdub / Punch - in "I'm Coming Back"



Take 1 / Lead Vocals / "Me & My Monster"

These vocals were not used as Joe felt they were a tad nasally. Take 2 nailed it.

The Good Yeggs - Recording Session 7/10/11 HesDeadJimStudios Queens, New York

The band reconvened to HesDeadJimStudios and recorded six tracks for upcoming release and we are very pleased with the results. Thomas has yet to record finalized Guitar/Keyboard tracks so there is more to come.

Stand - Out track of the day had to be "Bad Things" since the tune is only three days old to us keeping the arrangement super loose and down to instinct and feel, committed to hard drive by take two and I had a chance to overdub an "atmospheric" cymbal/mallets track for "spooky" mood.
Thomas and myself had never even heard Joe's song for his father-in-law "Gentle Bill" and next thing we knew the rhythm track was recorded and we were in the isolation booth double tracking the "barroom singalong" chorus (as seen in the photo above).

"Let The Sun Go On" has been in the repertoire of late but Thomas had envisioned a "Double Drummer" sound for the recording
requiring me to record myself over the existing Drum Track and mimic "ME" the best I can, off I went into my headphone world and had a Blast that I really only could share with myself as it happened. On Playback the sound of two Drum Kits & sets of Hi-Hats just out of sync by a millisecond (well, in my case probably a Hundrasecond) sounds very Classic Spector/Visconti/George Martin to my ears and I cannot wait to hear final mix on this one.
Tom had sent us an MP3 track via email that we were also three days new to and that was "Arent You Glad" which is indeed a Bouncy Song, we used the Ukulele Track (take 15) as our guide/root track.
"I'll Never Lie To You" has been a favorite to play for me the last two months or so and it was great to finally commit to a definitive recording.

We did record Loretta Lynn's "Have Mercy On Me Baby" and ironically this was the song that took us the most takes to capture but wound up being a "Live" number which did not adapt as well to the "studio version" as the other tunes did, I do look forward to playing this live though.

Joe and Thomas sound Musically astute and assured as ever on these recordings as we continue to grow as bandmates and musicians.



Joe's Snack Of Choice under the microscope.
Pork Rinds Of Course.



What Do You Mean The Triangle Is NOT A Real Instrument ?



Please Disregard the Sheet Music on that stand, No Sheet Music was used on these recordings.



Listening to Playback.



I used the Liberty Devitto Damping Method (L.D.D.M.) with great results and remembered to retrieve my wallet at session's end as well. and thanks Joe for reminding me too.

- Spike G.