Draft:Weezer Recording Chronology: 1993: Difference between revisions
Draft:Weezer Recording Chronology: 1993 (view source)
Revision as of 14:56, 24 August 2024
, 24 August 2024→The Blue Album recording sessions, August-November 1993
No edit summary |
|||
| Line 291: | Line 291: | ||
Cropper was asked to leave the band during recording, and was replaced by [[Brian Bell]], who the band had made acquaintance with during his time with [[Carnival Art]]. Cuomo re-recorded all of Cropper's guitars, with Bell re-recording some of Cropper's backing vocals, although in the cases where he was too unfamiliar with the material, Cuomo would sing backing vocals instead. The only track that wasn't changed was "Mykel and Carli", which was abandoned due to time constraints. | Cropper was asked to leave the band during recording, and was replaced by [[Brian Bell]], who the band had made acquaintance with during his time with [[Carnival Art]]. Cuomo re-recorded all of Cropper's guitars, with Bell re-recording some of Cropper's backing vocals, although in the cases where he was too unfamiliar with the material, Cuomo would sing backing vocals instead. The only track that wasn't changed was "Mykel and Carli", which was abandoned due to time constraints. | ||
[[Karl Koch]] filmed a lot of the recording process, as well as the band's time in New York. Some of this footage can be seen on ''[[Video Capture Device]]''. | |||
{{Karlification box|The guys recorded and mixed 11 songs. The 10 songs that appear on the album , plus "Mykel and Carli", which was never quite finished. It still exists on the master tapes at Electric Lady Studios, along with the 10 main tracks. | |||
There were several "takes" (recorded tries) of each song. I dont have documentation of this. I do recall there being about 4-5 takes per song that appeared on the album. The guys would then listen to the raw first takes, especially the drums, and pick out the best one. The best one was then used to over-dub all the other insturments and singing on, which effectively "wiped over" the original bass, guitars and vocals. In some cases it was determined that the drums were best in two different parts on two different takes. In this case the two master reels were actually cut and spliced together, creating a new "take" which consisted of pieces of the originals. (hey, the Beatles did this too, dont knock it!) Again, if I were at Electric Lady, I'd ask to see the reels and write down all the details. But im not there, so we can only guess at the number of original takes. | |||
Jason Cropper was asked to leave the band during the recording sessions, and was replaced by Brian Bell, who had to send in an "audition" tape (see below), so the guys could see if he could sing. Jason's guitar tracks were re-recorded by Rivers, and his backing vocals were re-recorded by Brian, except when Brian was too unfamiliar with the material to get it just right, in which case Rivers stepped in. The only track that wasnt changed was "Mykel and Carli", which was abandoned due to a lack of time to finish it. The version of "Mykel and Carli" that you are familiar with was recorded later in 1994 (see below).|[https://web.archive.org/web/20140519065020if_/http://daveandnikolai.com/wzr/classic/03_Recording_History/WeezRecHist5.html Weezer Recording History, Page 5]}} | |||
==== Tracking rough tapes ==== | ==== Tracking rough tapes ==== | ||
| Line 327: | Line 335: | ||
{{Known recordings entry|ffaaaa|[[Weezer]]|[[Buddy Holly]]||August [[1993]]|Electric Lady Studios, New York City, NY|||}} | {{Known recordings entry|ffaaaa|[[Weezer]]|[[Buddy Holly]]||August [[1993]]|Electric Lady Studios, New York City, NY|||}} | ||
{{Known recordings footer}} | {{Known recordings footer}} | ||
{{Karlification box|During the course of recording, "tracking roughs" were made on cassettes, for the guys to take back to the hotel at the end of the day, and listen to, with the intention of deciding what needed fixing, etc. The following is a list of the "roughs" that I personally ended up with, and may be just a sampling of the total amount. Again, these are not different "takes" from what you hear on the album, they are earlier mixes, often with different guitar parts, or rough "scratch" vocals. | |||
One "rough" (listed below) was very nearly the final album mix. Again I was asked to supply samples for the intro to "Undone". The samples were added to the master reel, and the matter was assumed to be done with. But then, once we were back in LA in November, we got word thet my samples were too difficult to gain legal clearence for, and so something else had to be done. This is when the familiar "party dialogue" was added. This was done on Rivers's 8 track in "the" garage, with Mykel, Matt, a "crowd noise" sound effect CD and me. (see below)|[https://web.archive.org/web/20140519065020if_/http://daveandnikolai.com/wzr/classic/03_Recording_History/WeezRecHist5.html Weezer Recording History, Page 5]}} | |||
==== "weezer master mixes" ==== | ==== "weezer master mixes" ==== | ||
| Line 338: | Line 350: | ||
==== Brian Bell audition tape, September 14, 1993 ==== | ==== Brian Bell audition tape, September 14, 1993 ==== | ||
After Cropper was asked to leave the band, Bell was asked to make an audition tape, so the band could know if he could sing. The tape featured hastily learned, made-up versions of several Weezer songs. | After Cropper was asked to leave the band, Bell was asked to make an audition tape, so the band could know if he could sing. The tape featured hastily learned, partially made-up versions of several Weezer songs. | ||
{{Known recordings header}} | {{Known recordings header}} | ||
{{Known recordings entry|ffaaaa|[[Brian Bell]]|[[No One Else]]||[[September 14]], [[1993]]||||}} | {{Known recordings entry|ffaaaa|[[Brian Bell]]|[[No One Else]]||[[September 14]], [[1993]]||||}} | ||
| Line 350: | Line 362: | ||
A mix of the song was made to DAT tape at Electric Lady, which was then sent to Los Angeles, since they had already finished recording, where Cuomo copied it to two stereo tracks on his 8-track recorder. Crowd noise taken from a sound effect CD, as well as conversations between Koch and Sharp, and Koch and [[Mykel Allan]], were put on other tracks, which were mixed down by themselves to DAT tape and sent back to Electric Lady, to ensure that they weren't talking later than they needed to be. | A mix of the song was made to DAT tape at Electric Lady, which was then sent to Los Angeles, since they had already finished recording, where Cuomo copied it to two stereo tracks on his 8-track recorder. Crowd noise taken from a sound effect CD, as well as conversations between Koch and Sharp, and Koch and [[Mykel Allan]], were put on other tracks, which were mixed down by themselves to DAT tape and sent back to Electric Lady, to ensure that they weren't talking later than they needed to be. | ||
{{Karlification box|Undone "final mix" w/ karl's samples, which got as far as a "final, unmastered" cassette of the album | |||
(samples included Humphery Bogart , the Peanuts gang, and Dialogue from "The Black Hole", mixed in a way so that the left side was all enthusiastic happy stuff, and the right was all bummed , depressed things) | |||
Undone "replace the samples" voice over 8 track master | |||
To do this, a mix was made to a DAT tape at Electric Lady , with the samples turned down. this was sent to LA, where rivers copied it to two stereo tracks of his 8 track cassette recorder. Then on other tracks, the party noise was put on, as well as conversations between Matt and I, and Mykel and I. Then the newly recorded vocals and party noise was mixed down (with no guitars, drums, etc) to another DAT tape, which was sent back to New York, to be "flown in" to the final mix. This was done in this manner to make sure the timing was exact, so that we werent still talking during the chorus part or any other errors. The only other option was to fly back to New york and book studio time to re-do it "professionally", which would have been rediculously expensive for such a minor thing. | |||
(And yes, karl was bummed that my samples werent used)|[https://web.archive.org/web/20140519065020if_/http://daveandnikolai.com/wzr/classic/03_Recording_History/WeezRecHist5.html Weezer Recording History, Page 5]}} | |||
==== Track listing ==== | ==== Track listing ==== | ||