Well, here we are about to close off the month of July. Summer is one of those seasons that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love that its summer, and its kind of like vacation all the time. I don't like the heat - especially when it stays over 100 degrees for weeks on end.

Its also one of those seasons where I do the most, and also do the least. I mean, things always have a way of crowding together, but its at its worst during summer. I'll spend two weeks working daily, pumping out mad hits, mixing, running live shows, etc. And then I'll spend a week watching all the seasons of Dexter 8 hours a day.

This can be great, because it allows time for creativity and work to be the main focus, and then time for just being a 22 year old lazy bum, but it also creates scheduling havoc and un-needed stress.

Anyways, all of that business aside - I've been working with some seriously great music this summer. The stuff I've done in the past two months is probably of the highest caliber I've done in my life. Maybe I've honed my craft enough to attract the top musicians, or maybe its just been a lucky summer. Either way - I don't really care. I've had so much fun working with everyone.

THE KEVIN REID PROJECT: (myspace.com/thekevinreidproject)
I love these guys. I have been fans of this band for over a year now, and I finally managed to convince them to come and do some work with me. We've done two songs so far, with plans for two more. I had a lot of fun working with Kevin and the gang - they take criticism well, and are very open to creative input. A lot of times, recording is about capturing good 'sounds' - but with this band, my main focus was capturing their essence. They write songs that are so good they completely shine through the recording, so I made sure that the emotion and vibe they pumped out was permanently archived, rather than stressing over minute details. Oddly enough, this approach yielded some very good sounds, and the songs came out both sounding great, and chock full of vibe! Who knew! Go listen to "I Thought" and "Those Things" and tell them how great they are.

THE BELIEVE: (myspace.com/thebelieve777)
Justin and Josh are two people I am very close with. They play guitar and sing with me in My Second Chance, and crossed the border from 'friend' to 'family' years ago. Being so familiar makes working with them easy. I've recorded with and alongside them more times than I can remember, so I have a pretty good idea of how to bring the best out of their hands and vocal chords at this point. They're both very talented, so its not like I have to coach them; I just do a few things on the technical side to keep them inspired. For instance, I know Josh likes his vocal a certain way in his headphones while he tracks. And I know Justin isn't really picky in that area - he's more concerned with capturing the performance. What this all adds up to is three people working together who understand each other, and thus can create musical magic with little resistance. Check out their latest offering, "Daylight Savings" - its a cool journey, packed with emotion.

THE THOMAS CONFESSION: (myspace.com/thethomasconfession)
We wrapped up The Thomas Confession's EP earlier in the summer, but I had to post a reminder about them. These guys are honest, fun-loving musicians. They make great music that manages to appeal to a very wide audience. If you haven't given them a listen yet, please do yourself a favor and do so! Their EP is available now at all their shows, and they should have it on iTunes soon. They also put on a very good live show - so if you're near one of their tour stops, go support them. There's a good chance you'll see me there with them!

SUBDUE: (myspace.com/sbdrocks)
Subdue has had an interesting year. I had worked with them last fall on a few mixes, and  January of this year they came up to record an EP. We spent a week in the studio, and laid down some inspired, technical, head banging metal. The day after they finished in the studio, their singer/guitarist decided to leave the band for personal reasons. This obviously had serious effects on the recording, and they spent the better part of this year auditioning new vocalists. They finally found their man and began re-working and re-recording vocals in May. I've been slowly doing mixes for them since January, and we're finally approaching a finished product now. I have become quite close with Ricardo (their guitarist/songwriter), and I can tell you honestly that its hard to find a more passionate and deserving person than him. He and the rest of the band really poured their souls into this album, and I'm happy to be the one lucky enough to put it all together. Go check them out, they manage to blend a familiar genre with a raw originality that you just don't hear much anymore. They should be debuting new songs as early as next week, so keep watching.

MY SECOND CHANCE: (myspace.com/mysecondchance)
Ah yes, we're back at it again. In all honesty we never really stop being 'at it' - but with everyone leading busy lives, it is a rare moment when we can actually get together and work on new material. We managed to get a new MSC track done when Josh came to visit Justin and I last week, so now its finally available for the world to hear. It would be weird for me to write much more here - if you're a fan of MSC, I think you'll dig the new stuff. This has been my baby and musical outlet since I was thirteen. I'm as proud of MSC now as I have ever been, and I love that we still find time to put out new music. Go listen, and enjoy!

I think that about wraps up this update. I'm currently finishing one of the lazy weeks I talked about earlier, and am heading into a couple weeks of non-stop craziness. I'll update again when I reemerge!

Here's a run-down of common things you should do BEFORE recording.

1) Practice
    - This may seem obvious, but recording tasks each musician much more strenuously than playing live or practicing. Each person should be extremely comfortable with the material. You should know each song structurally (piece by piece), because it's very likely that we'll move stuff around during recording (i.e. intro will be removed, verse will be cut in half, another chorus will be added after the bridge, etc.) - ask yourself honestly, do you know your own song? And please, PRACTICE TO CLICK - especially you drummers.

2) Change Your Strings
    - This isn't a deal breaker, but on the quest for perfect tone, every bit helps. Personally, I prefer to get one practice in on a new set of strings before I record with them (helps stretch them out fully, and thus save good takes being ruined by tuning problems). If you are a bass player, get at least two full practices in on a new set of strings before recording. New bass strings tend to be very squeaky, and it is an extreme pain-in-my-butt to edit that out of a track.

3) Change Your Heads
    - Drummers, this is a deal breaker. Nothing sounds worse than old, dead drum heads. If you want to have decent sounding drums on your record, get some new heads before you come into the studio. Top heads are really the only ones that matter, don't worry about the bottoms. I can help you tune them in the studio, so don't stress if you can't get them perfect.

4) Make Sure Your Gear is Working
    - The studio is a very bad place to have a tube go out in your amp, or to have a squeaky kick drum pedal. Make sure your gear is in good, working order before crossing through the studio doors. I recommend taking your guitars to a tech before hand, and making sure your action and intonation is perfect.

5) Make Sure Your Body is Working
    - It always seems like vocalists get sick right before studio time. If you don't have a voice, it's hard to make a good record. Part of it is just a nervous reaction, so calm down - all of you. But more than that, take care of your body, drink plenty of water, try to avoid fast-food, and do a bit of exercise. Your voice is a by-product of your body, so while a guitarist can still rip a solo while disease-ridden, a singer can't. I promise you will find your job much easier if you are in good health physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This applies mainly to vocalists, but it goes for everyone.

Here's a run-down of common things you should do DURING recording.

1) Be Positive
    - For goodness sake, your recording an album! You should be stoked about that. Leave negativity outside, because it is very damaging to the creative process. Sometimes you just have a hard time nailing a part, be it guitar, bass, drums, vocals, tambourine, or whatever - that's normal. Don't be too hard on yourself, and don't be too hard on others. This, above all, will make your entire experience much more rewarding. Trust me, I understand band bickering and fighting - I know it's easy to get frustrated. But remember, creative expression is an emotional outlet, everyone deserves full support from the band and anyone else involved. I have seen promising sessions completely ruined over some very stupid things - don't let that happen to you.

2) Be Open-Minded
    - When recording, you should be as creative as possible. Along with that, you should be open to suggestions from members and from me (or whoever you're working with). The coolest things I've ever recorded have ALWAYS been spur of the moment ideas or mistakes (yes, mistakes) that took place during the session. It's very rare to see a session not benefit from a slight change in direction during the recording process. Everyone will be making suggestions (especially me), and you should be open to them (especially to suggestions from your band mates, going back to being positive). It never hurts to try things, and you aren't paying by the hour, so what's to lose? Remember, we're trying to make the best product possible, and let's be honest, that's almost never what you walk in the door with.

3) Have a Sense of Humor
    - This is a personal one. If you can't have a bit of fun while recording, don't bother coming to me. I don't care if you're a Black Metal band or a Japanese Choir, music is supposed to be fun. It should make you move, it should make you smile or tear-up. I like to laugh and tell dumb jokes, so you better have the capability of smiling, and maybe a few dumb jokes of your own if you want to survive on my turf.

4) No Excess People
    - This is another personal one. I actually have no problem with girlfriends, wives, moms, dads, brothers, uncles, etc. - if they want to stop in occasionally to hear what's going on, it's fine by me. However, the control room has limited space, comfortably fitting about 5 people. It gets real muggy and hot, real quick when it gets overcrowded - and more people always means more noise. It's no fun to track parts while there's a party going on - it's distracting and disruptive to the artists and to me. This is a flexible rule, but try to respect it.

5) Be POSITIVE
    - Oh, how clever, he said it twice for emphasis... Ya, well - it's that important. I cannot express enough how much a good attitude will help you out. And believe it or not, this actually applies to all walks of life, not just recording.