More on Agile

Hello, Kurt here. I know Evan promised a new recording today, but there appear to be some technical difficulties going on, so I'm going to take up the reins.

Agile Recording had a couple different inspirations--Evan already mentioned his and my background as software developers, but there are other factors. Notably, we tried to record one of our shows, intending to make a "live" album available while we finished up our first project. That didn't work out so well--it wasn't awful (the audience seemed to enjoy it), but when we got the raw tracks, we simply weren't happy with them. This is not to imply that they weren't useful; they were excellent learning tools. One really obvious problem we noticed was that we were playing too damned fast, but we also saw some arrangement issues and identified a few potential pitfalls to look out for in future gigs.

This led to discussions about recording our rehearsals so we could get a better idea about how the songs were coming together.

At the same time, I was invited to play an acoustic solo show, and I thought it might be fun to dust off some of my back catalog and put together some quick-and-dirty Kurt-with-a-guitar recordings of songs that weren't really on the band's radar anymore. This evolved into a discussion of doing Kurt-with-a-guitar versions of some some of the songs we're actively trying to record. Then Evan suggested we start with that and build from there, and then at the next practice we set up the drum kit and started tracking.

There were a few hard decisions along the way--particularly whether to record against a click or against a live drummer. Since we opted for the latter, we had to nix the Kurt-plus-guitar-only starting point, but we're confident it was the right choice. This way you get to see how songs come together. I wonder if it might be worth putting up some of my early demoes as part of this process.

We're still sort of figuring this all out.

-]{p

If I Say So v0.1 - The Skeleton

To kick off our series on Agile Recording, we're going to take a look at the skeleton of If I Say So. Last Thursday, Kurt (guitars, vocals and primary songwriter), Robert (drummer and publicity) and I, (engineering and bass, when they make me play it) got together to break ground on the next project, Any Port in a Storm. We wanted to jump right into things, so we set out to record the skeletons of as many songs as we could, starting with If I Say So.

Since Any Port is a very organic and emotional set of songs, we feel it quite important that the recordings of those songs feel the same way. For starters, we've previously been recording songs to a click track or synthetic drum track, ensuring a consistent tempo. That isn't going to work for these; they need to be more fluid. As such, we decided that the skeleton would consist of drums, guitar and vocals played together in one take and without a click. While it's likely that none of the tracks will wind up on the final mix, it should give us an outline so that we can later dub individual parts while retaining that fluid feel.

Here's the track, warts and all, in a very, very rough form. There are a few missed cymbal crashes, a missed chord in the second verse, and some weird fluttering with the drums (particularly the kick), but the essence of the song's entirety is in place, so this is a suitable starting point.

If I Say So v0.1

By the time we got this take, we'd already been at it for a good forty-five minutes. A lot of the early takes were spent figuring out process, getting Kurt and Robert used to playing together in this setting and putting the final touches on drum rolls. They were finally getting it when I turned and said, "you know, that's good - now slow it down." Kurt was reluctant, but finally relented when Robert pointed out that it would make the song much "dirtier."

I hit record and the two of them immediately began fighting to set the tempo, but Robert held firm and finally got Kurt to slow down. On the next take, they locked from the start, and I'm very happy with the result. It's passionate, it's sultry, it's slutty - exactly what I want for this song.

Take a listen. The next installment will be up Thursday morning, when we'll discuss See You On the Other Side. I'll be going in depth about how we record drums, where that kick flutter came from, and why a missed crash hit isn't anything to worry about.

- E

Agile Recording

If you haven't noticed yet, we've been a bit slow at getting recordings out. The good news is that we're getting close on our first group of five songs. As we were wrapping those up, we began reflecting on what keeps going wrong.

Since we can only record in our spare time, we'll get into a recording and forget where we were from week to week and session to session. Things change with the band or with arrangements or with recording techniques. We'll come up with new ideas or new songs that we decide to tackle first. And sometimes that process is really, really long--we've been recording some of these songs through eight years and four different lineups!

Then it occurred to us: these are some of the same problems we frequently encounter in our day jobs as software engineers. And maybe, just maybe, we can apply some of the same solutions.

The software development world has been increasingly turning to a set of techniques known as Agile Development. In a nutshell, the process involves working iteratively, getting small, self-contained chunks done at once. This should limit the chance of losing our place or being thrown off course by inevitable changes. Agile projects try to release often, so that they can get continuous feedback - along with a constant sense of accomplishment. Along the way, we can take a teamwork approach involving our whole band, our close friends and our loyal fans, getting more feedback and producing a superior end product.

We highly recommend heading over to read the Agile Manifesto and reflect on those ideals, regardless of your discipline.

So here's the deal: as we record our next five-song project, Any Port in a Storm, we're going to take an agile approach. We'll update this blog after each recording session with session stories, engineering insights and, of course, sound files -- in high-quality, DRM-free format. For you, this is a chance to see the process unfold, get insight into how our songs grow and hear the different stages of recording unreleased songs. Read and listen along with us and let us know what you think in the comments.

The first installment in this series debuts tomorrow. See you then!

- E