Studio Diary Part 14

Out of the studio, into the sun

This is not the album cover, but it would make a good album cover.

Wednesday, December 20

Astute Machine Shop subscribers might remember that I promised a few months ago to continue documenting the recording process outside of the studio. I have not really done this. This is mainly because the day to day process of making a record once you’ve emerged from the soul-stirring, knuckle-skinning process of recording is relatively pretty boring. But because I promised, I’ll give you a little recap of all that’s been done since last we spoke.

Dropbox, Dropbox, and more Dropbox

My last words to Tucker, as I scooped the last of my piles of gear into my car and bid adieu to Flora Recording and Playback, were “see you on Dropbox, motherfucker.” I didn’t actually say that, but that’s really the gist. My next four weeks would be a constant return to that cloud-based behemoth, refreshing the page until “Burial Ground V3.2_1” or some such computer nonsense appeared — song-mixes for me to approve. I would listen to that file and call Tucker (assuming I could get through — Flora’s walls seem to made of whatever kryptonite stops cell signals in their tracks) and say something super boring like, “There’s a slight sonic difference between the guitar line at :05 and when it reappears at :15 — could you investigate that?” or “The horns at 2:40 are still a little quiet to my ears, compared to the ones before it” or “Sorry to be a party pooper on the money box shenanigans, but I also don’t love that wooden clopping thing, whatever it is.” The last two are actual texts I sent him.