in the studio (3.8.2008)

It’s Saturday, our last day in the studio (sad face). We’re all excited about getting this record done, but it’s kind of bittersweet to think about not coming back to the studio.

• 10:40am After recording a few “just in case” drum samples, Luke has torn down his drums. We’re starting to go back through songs and record all remaining keyboard parts so Dustin doesn’t have to come back down. He just threw down some killer organ parts on “That Girl”.
• 11:21am Luke and Mark just left to go home with Jorge. And then there were 3 (not counting Stephen). It feels like the last day of summer camp when you see all of your friends get picked up by their parents at different times.
• 11:59am Dustin just finished up “That Girl” and is moving on to “Straight Fallin’”. Russ is editing video from our session yesterday with Jorge. Dustin’s playing an organ sound that is what I think a cigar would sound like if it was an instrument.
• 1:32pm Got some group vocals to add some party on “All I Need” and we’re grabbing lunch before taking Dustin to the airport. And then there were 2.
• 3:12pm We just got back from taking Dustin to the airport. We had our doubts but he made it there on time. Remind us to tell you that story some time…trying to retell it in a blog post would not do it justice. On to guitars.
• 5:02pm Joe’s been plugging away at guitars like a machine. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel! We just hope that we can finish up with enough time left in the day to throw some of Stephen’s famous burgers on the grill before hitting the road. The 3 guys who are gone are pretty ticked that they’re missing out on that…
• 5:28pm Joe conquers “the beast,” a.k.a “Straight Fallin’.” On to a couple more overdubs, vocals, and horns… We can almost smell the charcoal now…
• 6:58pm And then there was one…the vocalheist. I’m ready for some magic.
• 8:54pm Still here.  Sorry Kelli and Katie.  We’re finishing vocals for “Straight Fallin’.”  Then it’s “hit the road.”  Dang.

in the studio (3.7.2008)

We’re back in the studio for day 5 and we’ve brought in guest producer Jorge Casas of Miami Sound Machine fame (yup…that Miami Sound Machine). Today should be a fun day.

• 10:32am We’ve had our morning coffee and Jorge is listening to some of the tracks that we’ve already done in order to get a feel for the sounds we’re going for.
• 12:06pm We’ve been working on a lot of foundational things for the tune “All Burns Down,” getting drum loops, tempos, basic grooves, etc. in place. We’ve all been singing ridiculous percussion and melodic ideas back and forth as we bounce groove ideas off each other. Jorge is excited to be here and it’s definitely energizing the group; a good “pick-me-up” after a long, hard week. There are a billion great ideas flying around and a great energy in the room. It’s going to be a great day. We’re very excited about this track. The full band is doing one more pass for the drum takes, and then it’s off to the races…
• 12:39pm The first band tracks are down and Stephen’s editing drums again. After a brief conversation about lunch the room went completely silent for like 5 minutes. Kinda like all those times that Joe has told an awkward joke and nobody knows how to respond.
• 1:00pm Mark is working on bass parts. Yeah, that’s all that’s really happening right now.
• 1:49pm Drums and bass are done. The groove on this song is sick (what else would you expect when working with a sound machine?). Back after lunch.
• 3:00-ish Lunch break over, fresh pot of coffee on, and we’re ready to dive into some guitar parts.
• 4:18pm Joe is throwing down some guitar tracks! Luke keeps playing “Conga” by Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine to keep the energy up and to keep Jorge inspired. Geez…
• 5:26pm Guitars are down. Extra cymbal hits have been added to give the song even more cymbalness. Keys are getting started. Oh baby.
• 6:37pm Keyboard parts are progressing nicely. First, Dustin took us out to the ballgame to church with some sweet organ sounds, and now he’s throwing down some tasty clav parts. He’s so fresh…like strawberries.
• 7:00pm Dustin’s parts are down and it’s time to take a break before hitting the vocals.
• 8:38pm Pizza was ordered (after being placed on hold several times). Russ recorded his vocals while we were waiting for the pizza. Several of us have eaten while Jorge, Stephen, and Russ are listening back through the vocal takes and picking the keepers.
• 9:53pm The pizza was killer. Russ’ vocals and harmonies were killer. Stephen likes to say killer. (Speaking of killer…Mark spent the last 20 minutes reading up on the history of Crystal Pepsi)
• 10:09pm There’s snow on the ground in Nashville and the studio is filled with the sweet brassy sound of Russ’ trumpet. Feels like Christmas.
• 10:43pm Right now Jorge is sitting in the magic seat (basically that means he gets to sit in Stephen’s chair while the rough mix plays to disk). This has become one heck of a song on one heck of a day. See you in the morning.

in the studio (3.6.2008)

Day #4…Everybody Love Everybody.

• 9:33am We’ve had our morning coffee and it’s back to making music sweet music. Thanks for everyone who stopped by yesterday. It was our most visited blog day ever.
• 9:55am We’re working on another brand new tune, “Straight Fallin.” Joe and Russ have been tweaking the vocal parts for the bridge and final chorus of the tune and now Russ is getting ready to drop the video from Day 3 on the computer to prep it for posting. Dustin is listening to “Love Me Sexy,” Mark is “IM-ing” with Mark Oates, and Luke and Stephen are finishing up some sweet drum loops. So the circle is complete, we’ve been able to interact with all the former FE members during the making of this record. Glad we’re not a band of drama queens or that would be awkward. We’re all still friends, but that means our VH1 Behind the Music will be lame and boring. Maybe we should start doing LSD or something…
• 11:40am The full band has been throwing down just over an hour, getting Luke’s drums tracks rockin’. Stephen just announced that he’s very excited to take us to a new place for lunch. In addition to being a great producer, Stephen knows all the best spots in Nashville to get some great grub. He never disappoints.
• 12:21pm We’re back to the fabulous task of comping drums. Still not exciting. Russ is editing video from yesterday. You should get to see the process of putting together a song in the video. It should be up soon.
• 12:43pm Lunch break. Time to call the ladies.
• 2:04pm Back from lunch. We ate at Hot Diggity Dogs, and incredible Chicago-style hot dog joint downtown. Now for some video coverage from yesterday. Today FE shows you start-to-finish (well, almost finish) the process of tracking a song in the studio. Enjoy…

• 4:45pm All of us are trying to wake up from our “hot dog comas” as Stephen calls it. We are still working on the song “Straight Fallin”. Its a really soulful 6/8 tune and its coming together nicely. Bass parts are done and now Joe has changed roles from web-designer to guitar player. Mad props to our producer Stephen, its been a long week for all of us but he’s the guy that doesn’t get a break. I think his brains are slowly melting from staring at the computer screen for so long.
• 6:25pm Speed bump! We’re taking a break after some failed attempts at getting guitar tracks down. Ah, well.
• 6:49pm Super speed-bump. We thought it was going to be a good idea to switch from guitar to vocals of the song from yesterday, but now we’re re-writing the lyrics to the first verse. Look for the new album to come out in October
• 8:27pm Lyrics: written. Vocals: sung. Food: eaten. Vocal comps: in progress (mmm…progress…what a nice word).
• 8:59pm While we’ve been working on the record, Dustin’s wife has been at home dealing with sewer problems (yuck). Thinking about the mess at their house made Mark remember this classic movie clip.
• 10:23pm The first rough mix of “Comfortable” (the song we were working on yesterday) is thumping in the room. Heads are bobbing. Faces are smiling. Everybody love everybody.

in the studio (3.5.2008)

Today is our third day in the studio this week. Enjoy the boredom hilarity.

• 7:00am We wake up to find that our blog has been hacked by our wives (and girlfriend). Luke thinks that this will severely hinder our sales to the single female population. We will have our revenge (after we find some thunderstorms to rock out to). NOTE: The band wives (and girlfriend) formed a “club” of sorts back in the day. They call themselves the “Fundies Undies.” And yes, after the blog hack-job, they are very happy with themselves. Nice, ladies…
• 8:59am Luke, Mark, and Joe are back in the studio. Russ and Dustin went on a grocery run so we don’t end up spending more in food this week than we do on the record. We’re about to start a new song today, so the DeJaynes brothers can stop whining about not playing.
• 9:37am D-Base and Russ are back from the store and scored some great deals. They are now best friends.
• 9:58am Luke and Stephen have drum sounds set, the rest of the band is getting set up, and we’re getting ready to start tracking as a band (finally).
• 11:44am Things are finally rockin’ in Yackland studios. Band tracks are laid down and Stephen is editing drums to make sure that everything is wicked tight before we start re-tracking other instrument parts. [P.S. Luke was so rusty from all the time off that he busted his hand on one of his cymbals...let's hope it doesn't affect his performance this week.]
• 12:41pm Still editing drums. Apparently Luke isn’t as good as he thought he was. Dustin is rehearsing keyboard parts for other songs in his area of the room (aka north of the Mason/Dustin line). Russ is working on some design projects. Mark is iChatting away. Joe just learned that Slipknot is from Des Moines, IA.
• 1:25pm I’m gonna go grab some lunch…I’m tired of listening to drums. In the mean time, here is a cartoon of what Luke’s (and Mark’s) day was like the last two days (via garfield minus garfield):
• 2:17pm Back to work. We were doing bass tracks, but that got derailed by keyboard editing, which got derailed by more drum editing. Luke’s such an attention whore.
• 2:56pm Dustin just finished tracking some keyboard parts and we’re back to Mark playing bass. That’s right…6 hours in to day 3 and Mark’s finally doing something that will actually show up on the record. Luke is trying to barter from his collection of guitar picks for one of Stephen’s custom string shattering picks.
• 3:52pm Bass for the track is done, and it seems that Joe’s scratch guitar tracks were magical. He’s a funk machine on the “wah” pedal, apparently. The new tune is coming together nicely. BTW, the tune we’re working on is “Comfortable.” We’ve only played it live once… 2 weeks ago in Memphis.
• 5:09pm “Taking 5″ to rest our ears. Joe’s tuning up another guitar for another round of laying down guitar parts. This song is taking shape and looks to be the most “rockin’” tune on the album.
• 5:59pm Finally posting yesterday’s video footage. More confessions and an appearance from Simon Gugala. (And yes, we’re aware that it says “Monday, March 4″instead of “Tuesday.” We’ve got more important stuff to do than fix that, so deal…)

• 6:50pm We’ve spent the last hour working on some extra programming and drum loops… that’s what we call “sweetening,” which, as Mitch Hedberg would say, is “a music industry term for ‘add sugar to.’”
• 7:17pm Stephen has to pack it up early tonight (weak) so we’re callin’ it quits. Quite a productive day which is just what the doctor ordered.

in the studio (3.4.2008)

Thanks for everyone who stopped by to check out what we were up to yesterday. We’ll be back at it again today.

• 9:39am It’s morning. We don’t hit the studio today until noon, so we’re all sitting around listening back to the rough mix of the song we finished yesterday. It’s still good.
• 12:43pm We’ve had some Chick-Fil-A, drank some coffee, and we’re back in the studio. But before we can start tracking Luke and Stephen are comparing yo-yo skills.
• 1:23pm We just watched the video footage from yesterday. We laughed a lot and hope you will too. Mark is learning how to update this blog so he can do something productive while everyone else records.
• 2:10pm We are working on some piano tracks for what will become the last track on the album. Joe is working on our sweet new website. Mark learned how to use this site. Stephen quit and Dustin is now editing. Joe and Mark are having light saber wars with their laptops using macsaber. FE alumni Simon Gugala has joined us in the studio since the last update. Its good to hang out with old friends.
• 3:12pm We decided to add some guitar to this track (which was originally going to be piano & vocals only), so Joe is throwing down on the nylon strings.
• 4:07pm Russ is laying vocals down on the bonus track, singing the wrong lyrics. Luke has successfully migrated from stephen’s right side to the back in a span of 4 hours, that’s about as exciting as it gets for me. The yo-yo is calling my name again I think.
• 5:36pm We’re back in vocal comping mode (aka “nap mode”). Russ is getting ready to throw some quick (we hope) background vocals down. I think Luke has just fallen into a comma.
• 6:18pm Song’s done. Luke’s awake. We’re hungry. Dinner. Now.
• 7:37pm Mmm…Greek food. It’s back to work for us. More vocals, but this time on the song “That Girl”. After two days of ballads, hearing something with a faster tempo is a welcomed change.
• 8:06pm Classic in-studio interaction just happened. It started with Stephen laughing about the way that Dustin used a cost/value analysis of Sonic’s dessert menu to decide on ordering a large shake. It ended with Stephen doing a “large shake” of his butt in Dustin’s face. You can imagine the rest.
• 9:03pm Remember when I mentioned a confession cam yesterday? Enjoy.

• 10:07pm Russ is done with that girl, Joe wakes up from his daze and heads in for some backing vocals. Russ passes out in a lounge chair.
• 10:29pm Joe nailed the BGV’s and Stephen is finalizing the vocal editing. Sounds great. Mark is complaining that he hasn’t done anything all day. Well, he hasn’t.
• 11:11pm We laid down some additional vocal tracks to “That Girl,” and are officially calling it quits for the night.  We are exhausted, our ears and brains hurt, and we have another long day tomorrow.  As we listen to a rough mix of “That Girl,” Mark is leading the discussion on what the lyrics will be changed to when Weird Al gets his hands on it and performs it as “Fat Girl.”  Brilliant.  See you tomorrow…