The Official Blog Of THE ELMS.

TGAM SESSIONS - DAY 4

No, those aren't suspected terrorists.  That's Nate and myself.  I cracked a little wry smile for you.  And I'm sure it goes without saying, but Nate is a good-lookin' young man.

We cut more guitars yesterday.  And we even ended up cutting some vocals!  Owen's sense of pitch and control amazes me.  I can't sing to save my life, so I don't get it.  I can't imagine a scenario where I would ever need to sing to save my life, but if there is, I really hope it never comes down to that.

If you follow my twitter, you're probably aware that "Long Gone" is a personal favorite of mine.  I can't explain it, but there's something about that one that really makes me feel somethin'.  Given this, it was really important to me that I get this one right.  We tackled it last night after dinner at the Mellow Mushroom, and I really like what we got. 

Earlier in the day, we did the guitars for "The Little Ways", which is a tune so heavy that I nearly slit my wrist the first time Owen played it for all of us.  Thankfully, I'm still here, and though the song is simple and didn't require much, we got somethin' good there, too. 

Here's the guitar/amp rundown for yesterday:

The Little Ways

1. LP Deluxe through Tonemaster through Marshall 4x12
2. Martin 000-18

Long Gone

1. LP Deluxe through Marshall SL100
2. LP Deluxe through Matchless Thunderman (bass amp)
3. LP Deluxe through Tonemaster through Marshall 4x12 +slapback (SOLO - 1st half)
4. LP Deluxe through AC30 (solo - 2nd half)

If you weren't in the chat room last night after I finished guitars, you missed a magical moment.  In warming up for the lead vocal on "Long Gone," Owen started getting all Prince on us, and we were howling in the control room.  Then later, the idea didn't seem as crazy (sung less tongue-in-cheek, of course), and we layered it with the lower octave vocal and ended up with solid gold.  Still, if you weren't there for his initial Prince / Aaron Neville channeling, your life is not as rich as the rest of us. 

More guitars, vocals, and aux perc to be cut today, I'm sure.  And Owen and Nate are conspiring to get a B3 player in here soon.  Can't wait for that!

Alright.  That'll do it for this one.  Thanks for reading, everybody.

-- Thom

This is Andrew, our second engineer.  Smart guy, hard-working guy, good guy, and makes a fantastic cup of coffee guy.  Sorta resembles Layne Staley, no?

Me tracking from afar.

Me tracking a bit closer.

As close as you can get to me tracking without your eyes getting wet.

PROGRESS.

TGAM SESSIONS - DAY 3

Nacial Hair.

This might itch a girl's face.

Day #3 is in the books. 

This one was particularly more involved for me, because we started playing some guitars today.  Nate is super efficient, and it really takes him no time at all to finish his tracks.  Nate... we still had another couple of days budgeted for you, buddy.  Stop showing-up the rest of us. 

I think Nathan really loves the tones he's getting.  He's using his fingers mostly, which seems to warm things up - provide a little more low-end.

Not only is Brent Milligan super-talented, but, I remarked to Owen and Nathan on the drive home last night that I think he's gotten even better about capturing good guitar sounds.  He brought along a couple of mic pre's from his own studio to help out, and I really like 'em.  API "Channelers" or "Lunch Boxes" or whatever you want to call them.  Also, two single-space rack preamps, but I can't remember what they are.  Anyhow, these guitars sound good!

I'm having fun interacting with people in the stream channel chatroom whenever possible.  There are two main questions that seem to arise the most frequently.  The first is, "What guitars and amps are you using?"  So, for all of you guitar geeks out there (and I count myself one), I'm going to do my best to document each guitar/amp combo of each track and report everyday.  So far, here's what we got:

Dog Days

-Tele through Fender Tonemaster
-Tele through Princeton
-LP Deluxe through AC30
-LP Deluxe through Marshall Super Lead 100 +bossdd5slapback delay (SOLO)

County Fair

-Les Paul Goldtop through SL100
-Tele through AC30
-Goldtop through AC30 (SOLO)
-Goldtop through Fender Deluxe (SOLO - DOUBLED)
-Strat through Super Reverb +tremolo(amp)+springreverb(amp)+keelycompressor (INTROS, TURNAROUNDS)

Have I mentioned before that I really love "County Fair"? 

Both songs sound fantastic.  We left the studio yesterday really satisfied with the work.

The next question we get a lot in the chatroom is something along the lines of, "We really appreciate you guys letting us into your world a bit.  Is there anything we can do for you guys in return?"  And to that I say, first off, that it really is no problem to let you guys be a part of this process.  We thought it'd be interesting.  We wanted to do it.  So... we're doin' it.  And you merely popping in periodically and showing interest is thanks enough. 

But if you still really want to do something, I'd say just help us spread the word a little about the streaming and the upcoming record.  Tell your circle and beyond about it virally via blogs, bulletins, twitter, posting on forums, what have you, etc.  The way we take in information now is so different, and the fact that we trust the people that we get it from now is such a huge part of it.  Agree?  Disagree?

I saw some people in the chatroom brainstorming, organizing, kicking around ideas and refining them yesterday.  If you've got any ideas you want to share with other like-minded people, feel free to leave them here in the comments section. 

Alright.  Gonna go clean up now and prepare to start Day #4.  Thanks for reading.  I leave you with Owen's favorite recurring phrase this week:

"It ain't a hobby."

-- Thom

We had exquisite Mediterranean for dinner - a place called Greek Islands, not far from the "Statues of Naked People" on Demonbreun.  (Dih-MON-bree-uhn, not "Demon Brown.")

Progress Report Day #3.

TGAM SESSIONS - DAY 2

Nate got the idea a few weeks ago that we should not shave while we're in the studio (shaving the neck is allowed).  I told him I was in on it.  But what'll actually happen is, his will grow out nicely, and I'll probably grow just enough to have a beard similar to your grandma's.  Regardless, I'm committed.  Every day, we'll start these blogs with a photographic progress report.  Here's the first:

Nate's visage on Day 2.

My face on Day 2.

Our second day of recording has come and gone.  Here's a recap:

-Nate cycled ahead of Owen, Chris, and I.  15 mile ride.

-Clark (studio manager) and Caleb (intern) set us up with a much better audio source.  Several in the chatroom commented that it sounds quite a bit better.  How about you?

-We started the day tracking "Unless God Appears First", a band favorite.  I think we've all been thinking for the longest time that this one would end up as a slower but tougher rump-shaker.  Brent wanted to explore the idea of speeding it up, making it a bit more of a snotty, youth rebellion song - and we could see his point - but ultimately, the song's destiny was to slow way down and make people shake their hips, so we reverted back to the initial idea.  However, never a bad idea to indulge your producer. 

-Tackled "The Faithful" next.  We've had that song for a few years, but it found new life in our pre-production rehearsals by speeding it WAY up.  Less of a midtempo blue-collar anthem now; more of a blue-collar fight song.

-Chris had to split and go back to Louisville for a few days, and we wanted to knock out one more, so we chose "County Fair."  Sure enough.  Got our pass on the second take.  I think it's safe to say that the band members unanimously adore this one. 

-Broke for dinner.  Calypso Cafe in Berry Hill.  No Keith Urban sighting this time.

-Nate cut bass tracks for "UGAF" and "The Faithful" after dinner, we called it a night, loaded up, and got out of Dodge. 

-The people hanging out in the chatroom are interesting characters.  They're already developing their own stock of inside jokes, new blendwords, subplots, schemes, conspiracies, etc.  One of them is a little Elvis paper cutout hanging out on the ProTools Waveform Monitor.  His name was Fader Elvis, but everybody in the chatroom decided his name should be "Flat Steve" instead.  So, Flat Steve it is.

If you haven't yet, you gotta stop in and meet some of those people.

Link HERE.

I'm all shook up, baby.

And that's a wrap. 

-- Thom

TGAM SESSIONS - DAY 1

After 2 years spent writing well over 100+ songs for a new album, we're finally ready to record it.  "The Great American Midrange" is being built brick-by-brick.

We loaded into Warner Bros. Studios on Music Row in Nashville, TN on Sunday night.  Owen and Chris left from Seymour a little earlier to pick up some things from our producer's house (Brent Milligan), and then Nate and I followed in the van a few hours later to meet them at the rendezvous point.  We did not head them off at the pass, however.

Got set up, split the studio by 10PM (like we'd hoped), made a stop at Walgreen's (for the essentials - water, cereal, and granola bars), and got to bed.

Do you often set your alarm for a certain time, but your body's internal clock insists that you wake up earlier than you were expecting?  Probably not.  Well, mine does.  And it woke me up about 45 minutes before I'd planned, which was alright.  Got the first shower of the morning, everybody else got up and around, and then we loaded into Owen's jeep to head back to Warner.  Playlist on the way there included Arctic Monkeys, Carrie Underwood, Dwight Yoakam, and Against Me. 

Upon arriving, we immediately started tackling the webstream, got a few issues sussed-out, and then started broacasting.  Thanks to everyone who stopped-in to check it out.  Some of you hung out in the chat room there damn near the entire day.  We're going to try and dialogue with you in there when we can.  ChrisDThomas, Nathan-B, and ThomDaugherty are our registered names.  I'll find out if Owen's registered his name yet or not on ustream.com. 

UPDATE:  Owen is OwenMThomas.

If you don't know what I'm talking about yet, go to TheElms.net today sometime after 11AM Central, click the embedded player on the home page, and you'll be able to "stalk" us online as we record the album.

We're going to work something out with the audio, too.  It's currently up, but we think it could sound a little better.  The webcam/microphones we've been using don't seem to be very big fans of low-end frequencies.  There's talk of setting up a better mic, running it through an EQ and compressor, and using that as the audio source.  We'll see.  Bear with us and we'll get 'er figured out.

Brent showed up shortly thereafter, I picked up lunch from Jimmy John's (unbeknownst to me before it was too late, they deliver), and we started rolling tape on what is possibly my favorite song of the new batch - "Long Gone."  Chris knocked that one out in no time, and most of Nate's bass part was pretty spot-on (plus, Nate was really happy with the particular bass tone we had dialed-in), so we invested a little more time into the bass track. 

Also finished drums and bass for a fast, freight-train gospel-y number called "Dog Days."

Dinner break at Qdoba, back to the studio to watch Extras (Ricky Gervais) on DVD while Brent finished up dinner with his family, and then it was on to "The Little Ways."  Last one fought us a bit, but we ended up with something cool in the end. 

That one is kinda mellow, so before somber could turn into somnambulant, we packed-up personal effects and drove home.  I went to bed immediately, so I can't really tell you what else happened after that.  I'm guessing nobody else stayed up too late after putting in a 14+ hour day.

Alright... you want pics, you got 'em.  Tons of them below w/ captions.  Need to find an iPhone app to help with low-lighting photos.  My buddy Luke told me about one a few weeks ago, but couldn't remember the name.  Any suggestions?  Some of the pics (the better-looking ones) came from Nate's Blackberry which has a flash.

Thanks again for watching the webcast.  We're all starting to get up and around here, so we'll be back at the studio soon and resume work. 

See you soon!

-- Thom


Chris's Drum World.

Chris setting up the webstream.

Mo' drums.

Nate's "Tower of Power."

What Nate refers to as "Thom's Lair."  That Tele belongs to The Southpaw, obviously.

New environment-friendly policy at Warner Bros. Studios.  And that's alright.  We're happy to do our part.

Here is The Infamous Whiteboard that some of us were talking about in the chatroom yesterday.  Chris has given Owen no shortage of hell about buying it.  But as you can see, Owen had big plans for this thing, and he subcontracted Nathan to help him see his vision realized:

Nathan rules.

And here it is - a way for us to visualize our progress.  Nathan put a nice black border around the edges of the board, so the photo-team here at http://theelms.typepad.com/thom approves.

I'M WALKING ON SUNSHINE

Greetings... from The Midrange.

---

At the moment, Subway has most of their sandwich line (?) on special - $5 footlongs.  I stopped in today for one, with the intention of eating one half right then, and saving the other half for later.

But two to three bites in, I put my sandwich down and think, "This smells like somebody's armpit."  No joke.

Threw the whole thing away.

---

All things considered, I probably wouldn't file this one under Greatest Week Of My Life.  That's alright.  They don't all have to be.

---

All over Columbus, Seymour, and other ancillary southern Indiana towns, there are huge yellow & black banners hanging up all over the place that say "STORE CLOSING!" -- "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE!"  At the plants, the story is similar.  Several friends who've either lost their job, have a spouse who lost their job, or have seen their weekly hours cut from 40 to 28.  These are heavy, heavy times here in our neck of the woods.

There are stories of loved ones succumbing to illness. 

Tales of marital infidelity. 

Automobile trouble. 

After several seasons, loyal viewers of LOST still have no idea just what the hell is going on.

---

Boy... this one is front-loaded with downers, isn't it? 

---

If you're still with me here, here's something I hope you'll find to be good news:  we're loading into Warner Bros. Studios in less than a week to start recording the 16-18 tunes that will become collectively known as "The Great American Midrange."  Had rehearsal in New Castle, IN this past Saturday, and worked on a few of them:

-Thunderhead
-The Little Ways
-Strut
-The Faithful
-Dog Days
-Kickin' Like A Mule

So far, I think my favorite might be a song called "Long Gone."  Not sure yet.  We started playing it in soundcheck this past week while we were out with Shirock (by-the-way... thanks to everyone who came out), and something about it just felt right.  I'm ready to record.

As has been mentioned several times, we'll be streaming the whole thing.  If you go to the front page of TheElms.net, you'll see a player embedded there that currently says "Off Air."  As soon as we're up and going in the studio, it'll change to something like "Broadcasting Now," you'll be able to click play, and then you'll be able to see/hear everything we're doing.  The next best thing to being there.  Stay tuned!

We've prepped and prepped and prepped, and now it's time to finish the work.  This is good news to me.  Putting hand-to-the-plow and/or focusing my mind on learning something new have always been strategies that get my mind back in the right place. 

---

For our friends in the Lonestar State who've been curious as to where and when we're playing at SxSW, we finally got the details - March 18 at Emo's in Austin, TX.  Who's comin'?

---

Anybody watch UNC absolutely trounce Duke this past week?  Do we have any North Carolina Tarheel fans in the house?!

---

And last, Nate and I both signed-up for personal Twitter accounts, so if you want to follow:

Nate - http://www.twitter.com/BennettNate
Thom - http://www.twitter.com/ThomDaugherty

But most importantly, there is still the band's account at http://www.twitter.com/TheElmsOfficial.  Follow that one to get the latest official updates as we finish the album and nail down exactly how we're going to deliver it to the people that we care most about:  you and you and you and you.

Thank you kindly.  Brighter days are on the horizon.  Keep your double-chin up.

-- Thom