Recording Session 4/30/16 StarTrack Studios (formerly HesDeadJim Studios) - Queens, New York

We finished the recording of our sophomore CD tentatively titled "A Little Traveling Music Please" this afternoon finalizing Backing Vocals for the tracks "She's Pretty" and "She Made This House A Home" and mix down of both tracks. 

On a positive note Joe, our dynamic lead singer has joined the ranks of the roadways of America and is seen here after our arrival. I am happy to say that we got home safely and without incident (O.K. maybe a few A-hole drivers in the other cars of course) as well.

Notice that Thomas is using the "finger in the ear" method which is known to Professional Musicians collectively as the finger in the ear method.

The Digital track sheet.

Chicharrones were a big hit with Thomas' son Lennon as was the White Fudge Oreo's (see photo below) and both culinary firsts for him.

No Drums were harmed or played at todays session but how could I resist not putting an Objet D'art on top of them.

This man is very tired, practically falling asleep during mix down & quite unkempt (I am being nice here). He has since gotten a one hour nap in but remains unkempt.

Joe with his newest acquisition, an Alvarez Acoustic Guitar.

A Deer.

I am particularly proud of the backing vocals we performed on this album as I am not a singer by any stretch of the imagination so this video clip is mainly my rant on this collective Blog.

- Spike

Recording Session 6/5/15 - HesDeadJim Studios - Queens, New York

The Yegg Array.

As this is being posted four months in deference the memory becomes blurry but it is the Admins (Spike) fault and we do have a gig tonight so I had better get into a Curry Hurry.

We laid down basic Rhythm tracks for "She's Pretty", "We Made This House A Home" and our old warhorse from The Sub-Basement Blues Band Days, a new recording of "Open Skies".

A jerk to work with but a Heckuva guy.

The Great Poska Riffing to "Open Skies" or about to Riff.

About to lay it down.

Gibson Give Us Money.

Is the 347 much better than the revered 338 ?

I shall ask Thomas.

In the Sound Chamber.

Whilst editing this entry I pondered the fact of "Where the heck is Joe ?" well I found a pic and as he is a third of us and a Chief Songwriter in the band he must be represented.

He's the dude to the right in the SUN records t-shirt.

A Gratuitous pic of "Easy Cheese" which was my edible fuel during this Recording Session, Mother's Milk right from the Nozzle, almost finished the whole canister.

Recording Session 10/4/14 HesDeadJim Studios - Queens, New York

How HAL 9000 sees The Good Yeggs

This is about as artistic as one can get with an iPhone camera, or was that autistic.

We reconvened at Thomas' recording studio as we slowly build up our repertoire of tracks for the next CD. This is a photo of the boys re-recording the Guitar and Bass for "Going On Without You" as I was happy with my Drum track.

Two Songs were finished today and all involved were quite happy, Thomas' boy Sonny also gave his seal of approval and they only await mix down and mastering which is Thomas' forte' and then we bitch back and forth about smaller details via email.

Aside from "Going On Without You" we also finished Joe's song "Good Enough Is Good" replete with double tracked 3 part harmony on the chorus backing vocals making us like this crazy six headed Yegg and I also added a 2 bar Drum intro off the cuff, we were all quite chuffed I have to tell you.

A photo from the mid-80s of three quarters of The Sub Basement Blues Band (thats me, Thomas and Franklin, Joe is not in the pic but was probably in the other room playing snooker) that was propped up on the mixing console taken at a RESIDUE gig (Pete Lomenzo, David Stumacher, Ernie Brescia, Bobby Poska & Mike Roberto), thats Thomas' dad in the background talking to very possibly Jamie. 

What is important about this photo is the early implications and usage of the "photo bombing" technique if you look in the background there. I will have to ask Thomas who that forward thinking individual is.

Joe and his buddy Bud getting mic levels before laying down lead vocal tracks.

Tambourine in hand. I wouldnt wear a t-shirt on purpose to a recording session knowing there were photos being taken and then pose in said t-shirt making sure the headphone cable and tambourine was not obscuring the t-shirt graphic now would I ?.

Thomas showing off his Big Board with 24 track capability. He has a nice mixing console too.

You really had to be there but I did get to utilize The Bose Headphones.

We were all in our headphones during the initial warm up and run through and as we are using modern recording techniques the guitars are running direct through the board and there being no acoustic amplification involved we need to hear each other, I spied a little red light on Thomas' headphones and asked peering under my right crash cymbal at Joe, I commented "Joe, Thomas has a little red light on his headphones" (we were sporting the twenty dollar jobbies) to which Tom replied "Well, these are the good BOSE headphones".

Later in the day came time for Tambourine overdubs and I Chose The Bose.

BOSE laboratories can contact me via this Blog for future sponsorship deals.

Upon seeing this photo my friend Kristine commented "You all look like your in the Apollo space ship floating at Zero Gs"

Hello Mission Control from the Yegg 3.

Joe and Thomas had Ham & Cheese Sammiches for our lunch but I went for a Roast Beef & Cheese with Lettuce, Tomato, Mayo and Salt & Pepper on a Roll. I also got rather ill towards the end of our session, I don't blame the Sammich but you never know do you.

On the way to the store I mentioned how I needed to take photos for this here BLOG and Joe said "yeah more pictures, we are just a little older and a little fatter". In the corner Deli as I was seeking my Lipton Citrus Green Tea which I did actually find I came up with "Beers, Bitches & Pork Rinds" as a possible future CD title so we added them together.

"Beers, Bitches & Pork Rinds, A Little Older & A Little Fatter" 

You had to be there but I for one don't want to lose the LP title to the winds of time so I jotted it down here.

- Spike

Recording Session 3/16/14 - HesDeadJimStudios - Queens, New York

In Honor of this Blog's forty-seventh posting we have decided to run a contest. 

Simply leave your comment below in the "comments" section on who you believe this is that Thomas took a candid photo of literally through the keyhole from the control booth and you might win a personal email from one of The Good Yeggs (providing that we do in fact have your email address). 

To be fair we will give a few clues. This is Spike Yegg composing the text so I will clue you in with  some personal remembrances of our mystery guest from my very personal memory.

1.) - This person taught me all about "schmaltz" back in the heady days of the 1980s

2.) - In a great act of compassion and selflessness he/she once brought to my home Ricola "All Natural" cough drops, Robittusin and Cloraseptic when I had a bad cold, they were thrown at me but brought to me unannounced, this is a big clue as obviously this person was/is a drug dealer

3.) - We knew each other in high school and after school one day my bell rang, the person in question forced himself in demanding to be fed. I proceeded to make Fried Chicken Soup (thats Lipton instant chicken soup mix made in a pan).

Good Luck Folks.

Here I am tracking behind Thomas' Drum Kit, Joe caught me in mid blink so No I am not sleeping. It's all about the MAGMA t-shirt anyway.

The only screwing around here will be when Thomas had to unscrew the mic stand for his condenser microphone used in the Guitar ISO booth (closet) after his Fender tube amp was emanating a weird buzz. No time to start troubleshooting during a session but fortunately like any studio worth its own salt HesDeadJimStudios has about a dozen amps to offer, I think Thomas switched to a Music Man.

We have all heard of A Boy and his Dog. Well, This is a Man and his Bass. Joe proudly wielding his 1959 Danelectro Shorthorn. The Danelectro Longhorn was used for tracking, Joe brought the Shorthorn over so Thomas could set it up.

Words cannot say how much I Love This Man so i will put it into numbers instead. 67392876201

Mr. Franklin Poska popped by the night before our recording session to add some always tasty guitar stylings to two of the tracks we are working on "Come Up And See Me Sometime" and "Tuna Fish". Its not like he didn't want to see me and Joe he just didn't want to see me and Joe.

OK, so not to bore anyone who may happen to be reading this with all the serious tech talk above lets make this a bit more lighthearted. On this sunday the third of our almost consecutive sessions The Good Yeggs (individually and as a whole) got a bunch of work done, Firstly we recorded pretty much "Live" recordings (only 36 overdubs this time) of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Tell Me" and Johnny Cash' "Folsom Prison Blues" for our website so we can sell our wares to the unsuspecting public and grateful pub, club and biergarten owners, mended a glitch in the backing vocals on the bridge of "Little Brown Valise" and finalized a master of said song, also recorded was a Full Blown version of Thomas' song "Unfaithful Lady". 

We also learned that as a band collectively that we are much more "Boozers" than Beer drinkers. The Beer's quickly lost their luster and even though we only had one Manhattan apiece they hit the spot with much greater satisfaction. also the conclusion was made that we could drink many bands under the table, well one at a time of course.

- Spike

Recording Session 2/16/14 HesDeadJimStudios - Queens, New York

You put your right foot in

You put your right foot out

You put your right foot in

And you shake it all about

From The Hokey Pokey written by The Good Yeggs

(Cacciola, Genalo, Roberto)

We know it's a stupid song so we decided never to record it, would have been a complete failure. 

It fit the picture though.

Our follow up session was scheduled to capture Lead Vocals, Background Vocals and Percussion overdubs. Pictured above is a small portion of some of my toys, Cabasa, Mountable Tambourine, Triangle, Shaker and Stuffed Peppers (with Prosciutto and Romano).

Thomas had a fantastic idea to overdub some "Ricky-Ticky" percussion onto "Gets In My Head" to act as a supporting bed to fill out the sound even more. Here I am utilizing a pair of Pro-Mark Hot Rods (thanks for the gift Scott) on Thomas $3000 recording console, well hey it sounded the best. 

I also learned at this juncture that as a Drummer I should practice my rudiments a lot more, I had to be "punched in" several times playing a simple Double Stroke Roll, mind you quite a fast one.

Thats a Whole Lotta' Gummy Candy Goin' On.

He may be handsome now but he was somebody's baby once.

- Spike

Recording Session 2/8/14 HesDeadJimStudios - Queens, New York

Here we have a lovely photograph of the Cherry Pepper filled with Goat Cheese which is regional to Pastosa Ravioli company on 65th street and New Utrecht avenue in Brooklyn, New York. It is a well guarded secret on how the goats mate with the cherry peppers but they are certainly a steal ($12.99/lb) and were mostly enjoyed by myself but Joe did have a few, Thomas declined as he is anti-cheese. This is a half pound portion, it was the weekend and I wanted to leave some for the visiting Benedictines in town for the Corn Dog festival.

Joe and Thomas pondering the fact that maybe these tracks we were about to record might sound better without any Drums at all, I won out, I threw my shoes at them.

It is hard to believe that is has been a year since we first convened to finish our first CD (Get Yer Yeggs Out) but here we are Reconvening to start work on number two. Lots got done today as we laid down basic rhythm tracks for seven tunes. for the record Gets In My Head, Little Brown Valise, Second Hand Coat, Come Up And See Me Some Time, I Dont Have To Win, You Are The One and Tuna Fish were captured to our satisfaction within only a few takes at most.

Ibanez Roadstar ll

What is wrong with this picture ?

A Bagel in the mouth is worth two in the bush.

This happens to be Scallion Cream Cheese on a Garlic Bagel as I wait at the bus stop.

As a note to readers : The Garlic clashes with Flavored Cream Cheese's, next time go for a Plain or Egg Bagel to bring out the nuances in a Flavored Spread, Then Again.

There are No Rules.

- Spike

CD Post-Production, Pacing/Sequencing and Overdubs - 2/2/13 HesDeadJimStudios - Queens, New York

We had a feeling of accomplishment as the long gestating project of our first album was finalized today concerning artwork, track selection and sequencing and are already looking towards our sophomore project.

As these tracks were recorded months and years apart there is a great variety of mood, execution and ambience about. It feels like a field recording but these were all recorded under the same eaves, Not to compare or liken to anyone else I get an "Odds & Sods" by the WHO feel from this collection but that is from my vantage point inside the monster.

Joe brought in a new technique to the Yeggs recording process that he read about in David Byrne's book "How Music Works" and which The "BONO" also utilizes which is that of "Control Room Tracking" wherein no headphones are used but the singer is listening to the track he/she is singing/dubbing onto live via monitor speaker(s).

Negligible microphone leakage (helped along by placement and polar pattern) discrepancies reported to limit the use of this technique.

Lets hear it for Thomas' job at producing, mixing and engineering the record, every track sounds very different from the one right next to it and is crystal clear in clarity and instrument separation. Thomas also has a humble bedside manner during recording by getting a better take without making you feel an inferior musician or imbecilic toadstool.

The highlight of my weekend is Guiro Overdubs,... that and Midget Pierogie Tossing.

Upon arrival at Thomas' house we honored the British with a little "tea party" since Tom likes the Beatles and I like ELO. 

Joe likes "some" Anglophile tunes but for the most part can be heard muttering "screw those Limeys, America created Rock and Roll!!!" to the man on the street and of course visiting British tourists whenever he can.

Thomas' son Lennon helped us with production duties over the course of the day and he and I discussed "Slenderman" and "Minecraft" in some detail. This photograph is a dedication to the Slenderman but can you spot Lennon or has Lennon learnt the first lesson of not being seen?

kindly leave your replies in the comments section below.

Sonically we knew Exactly what this song was going to look like in graphical representation then we opened it and there it was.

Noticeably Superior Chinese Food from "Fortune Kitchen" of Richmond Hill, Queens.

Ironically instead of having my dinner off the snare drum today I am having it off of Thomas' Roland Piano (well, he did offer).

But what really fed the day once we started finalizing track selection order was that Nutritious and Wonderful Elixir, Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey.

FORTUNE KITCHEN ON MENUNY

- Spike