Thursday, August 19, 2010

Recording questions?

If anyone has any questions about the songs, lyrics, instrumentation, recording process, equipment, etc. of any of our singles up to now, please ask in a comment!

12 comments:

V said...

Hey Jimi,

I've been curious for quite some time on how you feel about analog vs. digital signal flow, especially during lives. I know you've stated previously that you guys use Line 6 wireless sets; do you feel that it makes any difference from being plugged in directly? (Does CP try and focus on making the lives sound as close to the mixed/mastered recording as possible?) Also, do any of you guys use digital effects processors and/or have experience with them enough to have formed a solid opinion on the pros and cons?

I've also been curious how you manage levels between each member during lives and just plain rehearsal.

Thanks C:,
V~

(P.s. You are amazing!)

ame said...

Tell me about Joe's guitar setup! I'm mainly curious about his amps/cabs and effects. Little stuff like string gauge and commonly-used tunings would be good too.

Mizuha said...

I want to know who sings in the bonus tracks of the singles. :D

Anonymous said...

What happened to the "new" guitarist that apparantly became hospitalized? Are you guys looking for 2 guitarist or are you going to go with the setup you got now?

davygravy said...

Hey Jimi! What kind of amps do you guys use? (both guitars and bass) Do you guys use the same equipment on stage and studio?

Badymaru said...

I agree with Mizuha, I wanna know who sings on the bonus tracks too. xD

What I've wondered is, who makes/designs the CD covers? Do you guys hire someone? How do you find the person to hire? Or is it someone that you already work with that just happens to be a graphic designer?
Also, how involved are you guys with the design? Does one of you guys have like an image in your head and then works with the designer? or do they just get free reign and you guys just approve or reject.

Sai said...

Hey, Elec. I figured I'd ask a question/s, but I'm not exactly sure if you'd be willing to answer because it's such a mouthful. (Also it branches into like fifteen different questions near the end. I can't condense to save my life.) However, here goes!

I was wondering how CP works internally for putting out CDs. Of course, you guys make excellent music and that'll always be one of the most important components, but there's so much more involved in making and marketing a band than just their epic awesome music (I'm sorry for being such a dork--I really like learning about how bands market their stuff... it's really interesting and there are sometimes really unconventional ways that people go about doing it.) So... How many people do you guys work with on a daily basis to put together these singles? Did you guys have publicists, managers, artists (I see someone asked about the cover-art, which I found particularly fascinating.) etc. working with you guys, or is most of the work with these singles done by you guys along? I don't think you guys are signed to a label, which makes things more difficult because you don't have that form of backing (are there ways of being backed without turning to a label?) How many hours did yo spend in the studios compiling all of the songs, recording, rerecording, rerecording again and again--then scrape everything off the drawing floor and start over? I can't imagine that it's an EASY thing to put out 5 consecutive singles, especially as a debut. (I bet you guys didn't exactly have lives for a good portion of the recording. I've seen friends abandon pretty much everything to finish recording an album... not fun.) So, I guess the last bit of that would be how you coped with making that many singles in the time allotted.

Also, this may seem kind of silly, but what the heck... Memento Mori--I don't get the end of it at all. My Japanese isn't awful, but I couldn't understand a word of what was being said/sung. I was wondering if you could give a little insight on that, because my poor brain can't take it anymore.

Anyway, I'm awfully sorry if I went overboard.

-Heather

Shizuka said...

Talking about Art Design..


I`m still curious about the song titles.

I first thought that with Derringer someone misspelled an L for an R again.

But Derringer is also a weapon.


So with Peacemaker you mean the B-36 Peacemaker right?


Does it have a special reason why you've chosen a certain weapon for each single or..
Did you just randomly choose some because they seemed to sound cool?

Thennary Nak said...

Hi,

First off I want to say thank you for this blog, as without I'm not sure I would have become a Chemical Pictures fan and I love the wealth of information you are about the vk scene for overseas fans. I only have the first two singles of the five right now but the next two are on order through cdjapan and I'm hoping to have some money together for another cdjapan order soon and get the last one with that.

And speaking of cdjapan, do you guys have any say on where the singles were available? Or do you just have to hope that the label you're working with will see the merit of having a release available to an overseas friendly store? I mean with the recent singles on a site like cdjapan it makes purchasing them pretty easy for an overseas fan like myself and I would love to be able to buy a copy of Präparat as well if it was available there.


And have you thought about teaming up with a company like Japan Files or Maru Music to have your music released digitally for overseas to buy as some other vk bands have done?

Mizuha said...

I would let to ask it in another oportunity, but I fear that opportunity doesn't exist.
Anyway, I read on your twitter that you're not even a little japanese, then, must how do you get in a visual kei band? You already knew some of the members?
And how you live in Japan without being Japanese?
Y'know, I dream to participate in a visual band from Japan someday, so I'm asking to have a basis for my future. And, at the moment, you and JJ are the people that inspire me most.
And, about my dream, you have any tips for me?

ken said...

So, is this Q & A session still open? :)

As a musician (albeit an inactive one) in Japan with a lot of old VK influences, I'm always surprised to talk with guys who play Japanese rock because generally, the influences they cite are predominately American or British. A lot of musicians (and mainstream music fans) over here seem to think of Jrock as less cool/authentic than American rock. Why do you think think that is, and do you and the other CPS dudes have any all time favorite Jrock bands? :)

Joanna said...

Hey :)
I'd like to use this opprotunity to ask you this:
Do you guys all work on your songs, as a group, combine your parts, or are there songs that could be described as "this was written by him" ? Also, is TenTen, does he write all the lyrics?
Speaking of TenTen, I hope it's not wrong of me to ask, but there was an information on one of the VK related sites, saying that he's having health problems and thus goes on pause. Could you comment on that? I mean, are you guys alright? It did worry me a lot.