The 411 From DDP: Darin's Life Like Luster Thoughts

[Yogi]

This "diary" is compiled from engineer/co-producer Darin Di Pietro's "thoughts" pages (it's a blog, but don't tell him that). These are just excerpts that pertain directly to our work on the Life Like Luster album. You can read the full, unexpurgated genius-in-his-own-mind RIGHT OVER HERE.

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7/17/06

half zaftig sessions this weekend went well. as usual, incredibly great tones and excellent performances. it’ll be a sonic masterpiece when we finally get it finished. at the current rate that might be about the time we’re all applying for medicare benefits but that’s how it goes when you work on independent projects. it’s a rare occasion when people who create out of sheer passion have the financial means to create it quickly.

[Yogi]

8/29/06

half zaftig session last night.....
yogi came in tonight to work on some vocals for the new disc. appears we are heading into “crunch time” to get all the tracking done for the latest half zaftig cd. this disc is going to be a “tone-utopia” of sorts. yogi is one for lots of layers in his songs and we’re filling up the tracks faster then i can buy the upgrades to add more tracks. though i know never to count on anything for sure, i’m thinking it’s actually possible to get this thing finished before the end of the year. that would be a great way to close out a very interesting year.

[Yogi]

9/4/06

tone stuff.......
so i was reading an article and the guy was spouting off about the sound of vinyl records and yadda, yadda, yadda when he mentioned something that struck a cord with me. he had remembered hearing a “safety copy” master tape of one of the beatles last records and how much better it sounded then the record (i’ll leave my usual “slam the beatles” comments out) his point was no one got to hear what they were really putting down in the studio. the commercial release, though not bad, was just a mass-produced representation of what they were recording and some of the finer details were lost. not enough to change the success of the recordings, just enough that if you’re a serious audiophile you can hear the differences if you listen close enough. well that got me to thinking about the projects i’ve worked on. a good example would be the latest half zaftig disc we’re tracking. seems like every time we pull up a new song to add tracks to, i am amazed by the sounds coming out of the speakers. now the band has worked hard at getting great performances, and that’s a big key to any recording. the performance of the musicians is only secondary to the song itself as far as the “scale of importance” goes. but to a guy like myself, the tones of the instruments are “mesmerizingly” interesting. the tones mean more to me then the average person i believe so i guess that’s why i engineer the projects. as i listen back to the instruments over the studio speakers, i realize that a lot of the details i find interesting will never stand out on the final production versions. there’s many reasons for this, a major one being the fact that since it’s it’s a “commercial” release, it will have to go through processes that make it compatible for the mass markets. the end result of a record is an accumulation, a balance, of give-and-take during the creative process- “yes we love the fact that you’ve got a new red marker, but that doesn’t mean the entire painting needs to have a red glow to it....”. sometimes the hardest part of mixing a project is getting over the fact that the “real neat sound” or the “real great part” is not the song itself, only a part of it and needs to be balanced as such. add in the fact that everyone involved in the project has their own version of “balance” and mixing ends up being pandora's box....
now all those details i love so much do add to the overall audio experience of a record, in the end they just aren’t as obvious as when you sit in front of the studio monitors and hear them in “raw” form. i guess that’s what makes working in the studio so addicting after all these years. it’s the little details that keeps it interesting for me, maybe if you heard what i’m hearing you’d own a studio too......

[Yogi]

9/12/06

music shit......
half zaftig made some music last weekend and after a bit of a battle, got a lot of crap done. sometimes you can spend hours trying to get something done with no results then all of a sudden everything starts to fall together and before you know it you’re farther up the ladder then you thought. damn near all success is the result of persistence.

[Yogi]

10/7/06

yogi/half zaftig is in the midst of a session-blitz at the studio and we’re making a lot of progress in getting this cd wrapped up. yogi snuck out of work friday and we had a rare afternoon weekday session. i mentioned to him how having a afternoon session on a rainy friday was cool and he said “yeah it’s like you’re getting away with something”- no matter how old you are, the idea of skipping school to play is totally bitchin.
i’m looking forward to mixing this cd, i think a lot of people are really going to like it. the song writing is strong, the playing is strong and the tones are incredible. there’s a lot of “orchestration” going on and a lot of interesting sounds making up each musical painting. this is turning out to be an example of creating in the studio compared to using the studio to just “document” the songs already written. this is exactly why they used to sign bands for “long run” returns and not “instant hits”. they used to guide artists “development” over several albums, by the third or fourth album the artists were in full-on creative mode. a few albums in to their deal they were comfortable in the studio and knew how to use the studio to create their art. at the same time they had amassed their “support” group that they were comfortable with and they trusted- in the studio the “support” group can be an incredibly important part of the creative process. this is, i think, his fourth cd with me and it’s pretty obvious to hear the changes over the cd timeline. add in the fact he’s been playing with pete and lizzy for years now (this is their 2nd cd together) and it all adds up to a monster album number 4. if yogi and half zaftig were on a major label, this record would probably never had been made. and that my friends is exactly why the major labels are falling like turds from a horses ass.

if the major labels in the 60’s had today's label mentality “physical graffiti”, “dark side of the moon” or “back in black” would never had been recorded.

[Yogi]

10/10/06

session blitz-o-rama
just finished up day 7 of a week straight of half zaftig sessions. we got a huge chunk of stuff done but we’re still many “blitzes” away from being finished. we hopped around to several tunes with yogi adding vocals and guitar and lizzy finished up the last of the bass tracks. pete polished off the drum tracks sessions ago so he’s in the comfortable position of sitting back and waiting for yogi and lizzy to do their thing(s).
everything about this project so far has been topnotch. the songs are great, the playing is great and the tones are great- it’s like a musical “perfect storm”. now don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying that it’s going to sell a million copies (though that would be nice). i’m not even saying that it won’t get messed up between now and mix time. what i am saying is that up to this point it’s been pretty kick-ass.
we’re again on a brief hiatus. end of the season travel plans are giving us a few weeks off but come november, it’ll be session time again and hopefully a few more “blitzes” before the end of the year.

[Yogi]

11/12/06

...... music continues to flow. half zaftig is book more solid the next few weeks then a constipated hog with a full troff. as the tracks build up, more tracks appear to be needed to be build up. track after track after track. we are making progress but the carrot keeps moving. but just like a happy pig, one day when we’re feeling particularly backed up, we will suddenly realize we just had a tracking enema and it will be time for mixing....... which will most likely cause more constipation once we get in to making all those tracks sound like they all actually belong........

[Yogi]

11/19/06

cool stuff in the studio man. yogi rented a vibraphone and had it delivered to the studio on saturday- just like the real studios do..... anyway, yogi and i might have different views on several subjects but one view we both share is the fact that nothing beats the real mccoy when it comes to instruments. sure samples are convenient and all but actually having a real “thing” to hit, bang or strum has a certain magic to it that no “sample in a box” can duplicate. plus having the real thing inspires creativity.
now you don’t need to be a season played in order to enjoy the benefits of a instrument you’ve never played before. you just sit down and work on it until something musical pops out- viola’ you’re a “bassoonist”, a “guitarist” or a “vibraphonist”. of course it helps have some kind of musical knowledge to start off with, though it’s not a requirement and shouldn’t stop anyone from at least “trying” something different. of course yogi is rooted in music theory so it was just down to figuring out how the damn thing worked then getting the “coordination” part down. a few hours later we had embellished a few tunes and had a kick-ass time doing it. the quickest way to break up the monotony of a common vocal or guitar session, which we are in the middle of another “session blitz” worth, is throw in an instrument that no one in the room knows how to play and say “ok, rollin’”.
we’re off for the next week then more session blitzes to finish off the year. it will be a surreal moment when all the tracking is done. it’s a day i’m sure no one working on this project thought we would see. not sure what a vibraphone is? click here to check out yogi rockin’ on it saturday.

[Yogi]

12/3/06

so the half zaftig disc truly is coming down to the final days of tracking. it’s a distinct possibility to actually finish up all the tracking this month. this is a major milestone in music history...... or at least in the half zaftig/ddp history. this disc is gonna be a plethora of musical stew. there’s a little bit of just about everything on it.
this disc truly is going to be deserving of the “3 to 4 cd’s to get in to the swing of things” theory ddp has. this is our third disc together, fourth if you include the “live half zaftig” cd that had tons of overdubs..... i can honestly say i’ve never worked on a project of this proportions. now i’ve done big projects, but never one that has been this open creativity-wise. i wish i would have video taped this weekends “solo” sessions. nothing was sacred and we ended up with some very “un-yogi” type tracks that had ideas flying faster then speed-metal fingers. it’s interesting that once you get past that “rock star guitar player” way of thinking you end up with stuff that the “rock star guitar players” all go “how the hell did you do that”. it becomes something that’s more “creative” then “show off”. if you’re a guitar player from the 80’s you’ll know what i mean.
the only way to make moments like those possible is by coming in without preconceived notions on how things “have to be”. not that i’m comparing in anyway to st pepper and dark side of the moon, but after this project i get a feel for what it must have been like when they were creating those masterpieces, they too were using the studio as a tool to create just like yogi, pete and lizzy. the thing is when they were recording those epics they didn’t know at the time they would be masterpieces. they were just being “creative” and it took off- in no small part due to “marketing”.
the chances of the masses appreciating this upcoming cd they way the people who are working on it do is little to none. lets face it, they’re being force-fed computer generated musical turds wrapped in a tight sweater with big guns or “studio gangsta” commercials for the latest “in-the-hood” sports wear and sneakers.
to-each-their-own, that doesn’t mean the project doesn’t have merit. some people think a cd has to go platinum to be “respected”, those people probably bought flock of seagulls and vanilla ice cd’s back in the day.....

[Yogi]

12/11/06

speaking of half zaftig sessions, lizzy the bass player brought in her good friend lizzy the singer to add some bitchin’ chick tracks to the audio painting.
liz aday did some great harmonies and some screeching “bitch” tracks. the dynamics of the cd is you’ve got odd time signatures with multipart perfect harmonies on some tracks with pristinely played parts followed up by songs with track lists that includes “vocal vomit”, “tinkly” fart noises and a cheesy “cheap opera” singer.
yogi was able to check off a few songs as “finished” and the to-do list actually has an ending. i think pete and lizzy are in for one more day of vocals and a few sessions with yogi doing some singing and guitars and the tracking phase is finished, a good chance by the end of the year.
truly monumental....

[Yogi]

12/21/06

as predicted, and making ddp right yet once again, half zaftig wasn’t able to finish all their tracking in ‘06 for the nex cd. granted they got close, but finish they did not. that means the start of ‘07 finds them in finishing up the tracking. the goal is to start mixing in late january. that’s doable.

[Yogi]

1/4/07

the art of “good enough”...
so i spent the last two days doing ruff mixes of the new half zaftig cd. the band will use these to make sure they’ve got everything they need recorded, mess with running orders for the disc and for a prerelease magazine review or two.
these need to be a step up from “board” mixes since the band needs to be able to hear a good representation of the all the tracks sitting in the mixes yet to spend too much time on perfecting anything and the small details is a waste of resources. since these mixes have huge track counts, and there’s 14 tunes, this is no quick task.
i spent two days basically learning, frustratingly at times, to say “good enough”. it really ended up being two marathon days since even “good enough” takes an hour a song. i also learned that spending two days on one song isn’t as racking as spending 2 days on 14 songs. what is hard to deal with is the fact that you’re so close to actually doing it right and finishing it off yet it’s just not that time. it’s like you got her shirt off but she stops you while you’re working on the last clasp on the keeper of the heavens. showing restraint in both situations is tuff.
anyway, as i was finishing up yesterday yogi showed up to listen to each song and give the final “that’s good enough” stamp of a approval. and i sat there as he went through the pain of having his hand on the clasp of heaven.......
now there’s still a few tracks to put down and knowing yogi for as long as i have, there will be some “fixes” of previous tracks that will have to happen. toss in an idea or two from pete and lizzy and it’s the real mix time. that only makes 2007 a monumental year....