Earth Divided By Zero at the pressing plant

Earth Divided By Zero is being pressed so should be available soon.

Flak planet is making good progress, Martin and company have completed all their parts: lots of horns on this one and once again, its got its own sound so should have that out later in the year.

Despite the modern 'extreme metal' attack of the rhythm section theres quite an uplifting 70's feel.

I hate waiting 3 years between albums.

I'm also writing songs with much more prominent guitar while still having the bass way up front.

Mix wise this has challenges but I've solved some of the basic compositional/arrangement issues I've generally had - this involved a type of counterpoint rather than closely following each other (which is pretty much the approach in nearly all metal - or the bass just does a pedal).

Devin Townsend, Cloudkicker, Slate Drums

Ziltoid and Ki are brilliant albums I should have investigated his solo stuff years ago!

I've also been listening to Cloud Kicker a lot as well --- excellent stuff - this guy deserves much more recognition.

I upgraded my drum library to Steven Slate drums which are killer - I researched several libraries and Slates won hands down - very rich and warm (and the EX version is cheap). The kicks in particular are excellent. The anti machine gun feature is a godsend as well. Many library developers seem to forget that its having convincing alternating hits at the same velocity level that is the key to realism, rather than 20 hits of different velocities.

Subwoofer

My current studio monitors are Tannoy System 800's (passive). I drive them with the power section of a Kenwood Ka-8100 (top flight amp from the early 80's I got for free years ago - they don't make them like that anymore).

The Tannoys are extremely clean and accurate speakers. The manual warns its easy to turn them up loud without noticing it (due to their very low distortion figures) and indeed this is true. My mixes often sound better on other systems than these units because they are brutally honest and quite 'unexciting' or reserved - however, vocals and sweet detailed sounds when well recorded blossom in front of you.

So guess I'm a Tannoy fan!

However, they do tend to barf with large amounts of low frequency material so I set about sorting out a sub for them. I got a 10 inch Dayton Audio reference series sub driver from parts express and set it up in a bass guitar cab I had lying around, hooked up to a Yorkville 2000watt audio pro power amp and a dbx crossover. The dayton sadly did not fill expectations - though it handled the formidable output of the yorkville it was not capable of clean bass even a moderate levels - there was very audible distortion. I'd estimate one would need 3 or 4 of these 10inch speakers to achieve clean output at say 100db.

So I sent that back and just hooked up an 18inch carvin PA sub I use in my bass rig - a world of difference. Clean deep effortless lowend. I was expecting the opposite situation. One might think that PA gear is 'lowfi' or not appropriate for a hifi reproduction situation but this is just not the case. Big speakers (at least with direct radiator designs) and powerful amps are the key to good low end even at 'normal' listening levels - I'd noticed even at quiet settings my bass rig always sounded much more authoritative than any hifi at the same volume level. I'll get an RTA mic at some point at calibrate the whole setup properly. Standing waves are always a problem but it should be possible to EQ out the dips in the lower octaves at the mix position.

Flak Planet

Earth Divided By Zero is off to the pressing plant soon!

Before christmas I wrote a new album currently called 'Flak Planet' over about a week in one of my obbsessive creative spurts - at least, all the bass and drum parts. Martin has written and tracked material for these songs, and will be having a session at some point with a larger horn ensemble.

I've employed a more stripped down approach arrangment wise - though this has meant the bass riffage is probably now rivalling Meshuggah in terms of time signature complexity as it is carrying much more of the melodic aspects of the song form: as well as the thundering rhythmic underpinnings. There will some really rich horn work - this will be a very distinctive album and I hope to get it turned around quickly.

'Symmetry though Collapse' is still in the conceptual stage. I have some songs in the wings for that one but the overall 'sense' of that album has not arrived yet. I hope to get Elaine working on material for that one as well as Martin. I'm considering a vinyl release maybe with free downloads.

Bass signal chain

I'm staunchly 'no modellers' when it comes to signal chain for primary instruments - I've never used one that sounds as good as high quality analogue chain for drive/grit/presence/balls or whatever you want to call it. Better to have one very good tone than twenty 80% ones.

Current signal change for the bass is Spector Euro LX fretless 5 string with EMGs and Tone Pump preamp into EH English Muff'n (now with 12AT7 tubes...see last post), into a sansamp Bass Driver DI, all controls flat except blend at 50, into preamp of Carvin B1500 bass amp, EQ and drive depending on context, then into DAW where a voxengo voxformer channel strip plugin has a low pass starting at around 5k. Surgical EQ/limiting/saturation during mixing with other plugs.

Tubes

I have a couple of Electro Harmonix English Muffn pedals which are the core of the bass overdrive sound. This is a fantastic sounding pedal and is really a 'proper' tube preamp in disguise - has enough level to drive a power amp, proper 18v supply to the tube. Compared to most if not all solid state pedals I've tried its much more 3 dimensional, ballsy and flat (no bass rolloff).

Its possible to easily pull the 2 tubes out (it comes with 12AY7) and put others in. So, essentially out of curiosity and to get higher gain for guitar work, I order a pair of EX gold 12AT7 and Tung Sol 12AX7s.

Quite a difference. The AT7 has more gain and a sharper more forward presentation. The AX7 has (as one would expect) the most gain, and even more cut in the upper mids. By comparison the AY7 is much flatter or duller sounding - and even with eq, a different presentation/sound. The AT7s are enough gain for the spector I use (that has very hot EMGs) and the mid structure is an improvement in a mix situation so these are keepers.

Cranked, both AX7's with medium output guitar humbuckers give classic super saturated sounds for metal with plenty of 'chug'. Noise is a bit of an issue. Not that I really use that tone on CA albums but its fun for funs sake.

General Update

The next album 'Earth Divided By Zero' will be out in the new year (the best time of year to sell anything, right?). The music is all finished. There are some previews on the myspace page. I think its the most focused CA album yet. Pretty intense with a sort of psychedelic feel - there are quite a few 'dub' like approaches (delays etc) which I've normally avoided. Elaines parts are pretty abstract this time round.

I've written all the bass/drum parts for a new-new album (no working title yet) and have sent the files off to Martin who will be assembling a larger team to do some larger scale hornwork. This should be interesting! The songs are quite fast and its really pushing the Meshuggah like aspects this time round... lots of heavy grooves, cross rhythms and thundering riffs which cycle such that extra beats or two get added at certain points: this completely messes with the time sigs but actually is logical and elegant structurally - you can 'feel' it. Its works below the neck.
Elaine will not likely be one this one - I'll be assembling tunes for a longer term project with her again.

Oh and I reworked the homepage!