Ron-Rhoades
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 958
Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii
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Posted on Jan 13 2010 12:29 AM
Aloha,
We've tried several times before to get something on "tape" that is a professional recording that we can be proud of and for various reasons it just didn't happen. That was ok with us....you can't really force a thing like a record to just happen so we've been patient waiting for the right oportunity to present itself and it has, so i wanted to share the process if anyone's interested....much like Danny's excelent account of the T'Men record.
So i've produced a few records in my day and have always thought that i would produce The TO's recording's but found it really dificult to produce and perform at the same time in the TakeOffs....just wasn't comfortable....so we asked our friend Dennis Dragon if he would record us and he was going to be on Kauai for five weeks anyway so he said yes. Dennis and our bass player John Hunt used to be in the Surf Punks and he has recorded us before and sits in on bongos while he's here too! He's a great guy with a good sense of humor that we all like and respect and have known for years so he was an obvious choice for us...if the oportunity presented itself and it did so...
We recorded nine original songs on Saturday, January 2nd and five covers on Sunday, January 3rd before playing our regular weekly gig at The Sheraton....we did several takes of most of them and at different tempo's etc. Dennis was outstanding as the producer and wasn't shy about stopping us in the middle of a take and letting us know we were "slowing down" or, "you guitar players...don't stop playing if you f'up...keep going cause it's the drums we're after and you guys can punch in stuff later"
and, "Ron...tune your guitar"...ha! as if i could ever be out of tune!! Anyway, it was really fun working with Dennis and getting our original songs recorded FINALY!! The next step are the overdubs and some complete lead re-do's and all that...which i'll be engineering along with John here on Kauai and when we're done the trax will be sent to Dennis on the mainland so he can "orchestrate" a few of them and add some keyboard stuff, bongos, and maybe some horns...Dennis comes from a very musical family, his father had an orchestra....his brother Daryl Dragon is a pretty famous keyboard player too....including the Captain and Tennile and The Beach Boys so Dennis knows what he's doing WE HOPE!!! If any of you know about the Surf Punks....just imagine being in the studio with two of them!! It was a lot of wacky fun...just like it should be except when we were in record...red lights!! Yikes...serious time....i love the adrenalin when doing lead on a song...if you can keep control of it....it's really exciting!! Everyone's focused....nobody wants to make a mistake even tho it's ok if you do....
.....more later
— The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587
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Rob_J
Joined: Sep 29, 2007
Posts: 500
Sacto, CA
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Posted on Jan 13 2010 02:32 AM
Hey Ron,
Congratulations on the recording project. Keep us posted as it progresses. Sounds like you've got some good people working with you. Recording is a whole world unto itself. Best wishes for a GREAT final product!
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morphball
Joined: Dec 23, 2008
Posts: 3324
Pittsboro, NC
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Posted on Jan 13 2010 10:27 AM
I had a chance to see the TO's last year, and these guys are top-notch; Ron was playing the Tele and even seemed to be in tune, to my tone-deaf ears at least. Looking forward to this- I'll be listening to it while looking at vacation pics... might I add I FREAKING LOVE YOUR ISLAND, I would move there in a heartbeat if I could.
— Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio
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Ron-Rhoades
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 958
Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii
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Posted on Jan 13 2010 06:08 PM
Rob and Morph...thanks!!....Morph thanks for coming to Kauai...now you too know why we all live here even in these tough economic times!!
Here's some more ramblings from our project....
The TakeOffs are:
Ron Rhoades-guitar
Bill Mello-guitar
John Hunt-bass
Conrad Mathews-drums
When Conrad, Bill and i arrived on Saturday to begin...John and Dennis had set up a drum booth that was nothing short of incredible!! They had queen mattreses on both sides and behind and a maybe 6X6' piece of plywood covered with thick acoustic foam hanging from the ceiling over the kit!! Conrad had set his drums up the day before so they could get started dialing it in. Conrad bought a monster set of concert DW drums from Chicago's drummer who lives here on Kauai and Dennis being a drummer and producer padded them up and made 'em sound way better than our previous attempts at recording and gave us a great place to start.
We started getting the guitar amps placed, mine was in a closet!! Bill's was in the garage and John i believe, was going direct. I wanted a "close" mic and one at maybe 4 or 5 ft away to mix in if needed...Bill had one close mic....Conrad had mics everywhere!! I didn't count!!....we played a few covers to get warmed up and dialed into the headphones and give Dennis some time to get good levels at our volume....sounded great "let's go!!"
So we started recording my song "Goofy Foot" at about 2pm...we did one take and Dennis said "perfect, come in the control room and listen" to make sure our sound was what we envisioned and then..."let's move on!!"
Next, we did one of Bill's tunes called "Colin's Wave" named after Conrad's first son who tragicaly passed away in his sleep from an overdose of pain meds a year and a half before....this tune is quite a bit more complicated than my little surf tunes so we took a while to get it down. Dennis had problems with the "frantic" tempo and had us slow it down a bit which was awkward since we were so used to the other tempo but we trusted him to guide us and we wound up using the 9th take of that one.
Next was my song "Avila" that i tried colaborating on with several guys but wound up writing it myself...ha!...i love writng songs with people long distance and i think it's one of the best things about todays technology which otherwise i hate!!...just kidding....but i'm "old School" to the core!! I really like "Avila" and am proud of writing it...i used that name as the melody reminded me of Avila Beach a place on the Central California coast that we hung out at as kids when the waves were blown out at our favorite surf spots...it's where all the girls were!! and it's where i first met Johnny Barbata who was drumming with The Sentinals at the time and we all loved them....they were our Chantays i guess...them and The Impacts from down the road in Pismo Beach...anyway, we used take 4 on that one. Next up was my song "Blue Avalanche" which has become somewhat of an anthem for us...we did 2 takes and we're gonna use the first one!! Not bad...we're just rolling along at this point...keep in mind that Dennis is barking stuff like "Ron, too much reverb for this one" or "Hey Bill, you're slowing down in the bridge" and stuff like that to guide us and keep us on our toes!! Conrad would mess up once in a while and we would start over but he played fantastic as far as i'm concerned...being a drummer myself most of the time, he's the only one over here besides me that could pull it off....everyone here at SG101 knows the importance of a good "surf drummer"!! John was on it...no scoldings from the producer and he had his parts down...of all of us, i thought he was the best "player" that day...he rocked and we're lucky to have him...never mind that he offered his place to record and bought the 24 track tape recorder for this project!!!
Next up was Bill's tune "Gone Surfing" and after the first take Dennis asked us to slow it down too! "It's too frantic and it's not interesting at that tempo" so we did 3 more takes at his tempo but i'm partial to the first one...frantic or not...it just sounds and rock's better than the slower ones!!
You know, Dennis would say it's too frantic but he also said it was up to us...if tha't the way we wanted it, then...!!
Conrad's contribution as a song writer..."Scrubbed At Middles" was always at break neck speed so that's where we started but Dennis had us slow it down just a bit and it made my picking part easier for me to do...it's one of those guitar parts that just kill your wrist about half way thru!! I love the song and it has a "spy" kinda sound to it....cool. We're using the first take!!
Next was "No Can Tell's" and after the first run thru Dennis comes on the talk back and says "i smell copywrite infringement" hahaha!! So i don't know what to do about that one....to be fair i guess i should credit whomever wrote "Comin' Home Baby" even tho i didn't "steal" this song...i was trying to recall "Scratchy" by Travis Wammack and i just recorded the demo for fun in between reggae projects....but some of you guys here let me know your feelings when i submitted it to the SG101 2006 comp which was the first time i had ever heard the song "Comin' Home Baby" anyway, we recorded that one in one take too.
Another of my tunes "Rifle Range" was up next and we did it in one take also...not bad!!....once you get going it gets easier...or seems that way!!
Bill plays lead on this one. Riflerange is a surf spot on the Navy base/missle range near where i live and has some of the best waves you could imagine....with no one out!! why? it's really fricken hard to get on the base since 9-11 and nobody goes there much anymore....you can get a pass for $20 a year but no one does....there's many more world class breaks on the base...with no one out!! Wow!!
Bills' "Mosquito Bay" was next and after many takes it just wasn't working. It's another frantic tune that Bill just couldn't keep up with even after we slowed it down a bit and it was decided that we would re-do it on Sunday. After listening to the ruf mix i think it sounds really good!! I see we had at least 6 takes tho!! I love this song....i get to make mosquito kind of noises on the intro with my pick on the strings way up high!! Cool intro!!
more about Sunday next....
— The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587
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PolloGuitar
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 5080
San Francisco
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Posted on Jan 13 2010 06:19 PM
Love the studio diary Ron! Do you have any pics of the band set up in the studio? Mic placement pics would be cool to see too.
Does Dennis understand the nature of surf music? Surf fans love the fast songs- it's true you will get more subtleties out of a song by slowing it down, but the kids love the high speed stuff.
Can't wait to hear the recordings!
Ferenc
— Buy Speed of Dark @ Bandcamp
Buy Spin the Bottle @ Bandcamp
My Blog- Euro Tour Blog
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DJ Frankie Pool Boy on North Sea Surf Radio
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Ron-Rhoades
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 958
Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii
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Posted on Jan 13 2010 06:30 PM
Hey Ferenc....Yes, he does and more importantly he let us know that it was up to us....all our stuff is rather "frantiic" and it was good to slow a few down a little...i'm agreeing with him so far! Dennis took a ton of photos so i'll be getting those too and i'll share them here.
Most of the songs are still at break neck speed even after slowing them down!!!!! haha! and we only did one slower tune which is a cover of The Ventures' "Only The Young" which sounds REALLY slow compared with the rest but i'm glad we did a ballad...i'm a sucker for a ballad!! I'm gonna talk about the covers next.....
Mahalo for reading!
— The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587
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Ruhar
Joined: Jun 21, 2007
Posts: 3909
San Diego, CA
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Posted on Jan 13 2010 07:40 PM
Good stuff Ron! Good luck on the rest of the project.
— Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
The Secret Samurai on Facebook
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goober
Joined: Jan 12, 2007
Posts: 317
California
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Posted on Jan 13 2010 08:27 PM
Aloha Ron:
Let us know when the CD comes out--I'll be first in line. I still have your CD "TakeOffs In Concert" which I presumed was recorded live, and a CD of your personal stuff. Great CD's. Was that Dennis on the bongo's in the "In Concert" CD?
"Pressure" is my favorite cover by the TakeOff's. Your first run at "Blue Avalanche" on your personal CD was a favorite as well.
Hope to get to Kauai this summer to see the TakeOff's again.
Goober:
PS: Surf is running up to 10 ft at local beaches today. Not quite First Break at Poipu on a South Swell, but pretty challenging stuff.
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crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
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Posted on Jan 14 2010 06:27 AM
I agree with Ferenc, some photos would be good especially if they make me feel warm. I'm freezing my nads off over here!
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Surfgitar
Joined: Mar 16, 2007
Posts: 1342
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
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Posted on Jan 14 2010 09:05 AM
Ron -
Ferenc already said it but I love reading the studio diary. And yes, pictures would also be nice. This is also giving a kick in the ASSpiration for our band to get our butts in gear and start recording again. Looking forward to the final CD!
Frank
— CUTBACK
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Ron-Rhoades
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 958
Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii
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Posted on Jan 14 2010 07:28 PM
Hey you guys THANKS!! So i guess i'll continue then....! but first...Goober thank you for the props and yes, the TO's 'in concert' was recorded 'live' at the Sheraton....long before we had tanks...and yes, that's Dennis playing bongos on a few of those tunes as well....we had intended to sell those to unsuspecting tourists and lawyers but decided not to rip off the original artists as all but one of those songs were covers. We couldn't afford the $50 for the rights to each one and it's not the best recordings and we sound SO much better now....we give those CD's away to anyone who sends us an e-mail....we've printed and given away several hundred of them so far and guess who had to buy a printer that prints on CD's??? and ink??? and who's the guy that...oh, never mind...i don't mind doing what needs to be done to someday get over to California and play at the Museum with the rest of you guys....i feel confident that we're a pretty good little band. Anyway, i'm gonna write more tonight (a rare night off!!) but i wanted to post a photo for Crumb first so here ya go:
evening shot with another Island (Niihau the forbidden Island) in the background.
and a view of the Na Pali coast just around the corner from us!!
On my way home from my gig in Hanalei last night it was 57 degrees....that's about as cold as i've ever been in the 20 years we've lived here!!! Hey, stop laughing!! I still don't know why everyone doesn't live here but i'm glad they don't!!!
More tonight surf dogs....
— The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587
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goober
Joined: Jan 12, 2007
Posts: 317
California
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Posted on Jan 14 2010 08:12 PM
"unsuspecting tourists and lawyers" ????
Hey, I resemble that remark.
Love those pictures from Paradise--aka Kauai. 57 degrees!--first time in Hawaii that the the air is colder than the water ? Except of course, going to the top of the volcanos on Maui and Hawaii where people are probably skiing right now.
Goob
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crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
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Posted on Jan 15 2010 06:41 AM
Thanks for inviting me Ron.. I'm just packing my bags now! 
Heaven knows how you managed to get your surf band together over there, i can only imagine you're a bit of a charmer in real life! 
I read with much interest.
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DannySnyder
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 11010
Berkeley, CA
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Posted on Jan 15 2010 10:13 AM
Thanks for the diary Ron, I look forward to hearing the finished album.
— Danny Snyder
Latest project - Now That's What I Call SURF
_
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo
I'm back playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta
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Ron-Rhoades
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 958
Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii
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Posted on Jan 16 2010 02:08 AM
So...where was i....oh yeah, on Sunday we did 5 cover tunes after re-doing one of the originals from Saturday....and i could tell right away that Bill wasn't really into it....how can that be??? we're recording our record that we've waited all these years to do and what could be wrong?? So the re-do was one of his tunes and he kept slipping behind the beat to the point where Dennis is coming on the talk back saying .."hey Bill, you're slowing down a little bit" then he would rewind the tape and we'd start again only to end up with the same result and that's when Bill started getting upset with himself and stumbling thru takes and we took a break for a few minutes. I could see he was really upset so i asked him what was up and he said he was really tired from all the recording the day before....i didn't know what to say....we were ALL there the day before and we were ALL tired but we were ALL there on Sunday and giving it the best we had....that was kinda the wrong thing to say...i would have prefered that he say he was sick or something like that because this was the time to man up and get to work!! So we did his song a few more times and got good drum tracks so it was decided he would record his lead part again during the overdub process but believe me it wasn't easy doing that song under those conditions while he stumbled thru it. He got mad at himself and even embarassed at one point. He was just out of sync and we had the cover songs to do in a short time before going to work at The Sheraton!! We all got to John's at 1pm and we had to leave for the Sheraton at 5pm with six tunes to do!! and one of the guys is out of it!!
So we moved on....the first cover we did was "Diamonds"...the Jet Harris tune that i have claimed in these hollowed grounds as my favorite surf tune....and it is....there's just something about that melody and chord progression. I play lead on it so it gave Bill some time to chill out while playing rhythm...which he did!!...we did it in two takes...i was soooo stoked and i'm thinking "not bad for a drummer!!" By two takes i mean we ran the song a few times getting the tempo, reverb and parts organized and then boom, start recording!! We actualy did The Ventures' version because that's the one i grew up with before i even knew there was a Jet Harris!! But i'm pretty sure his was the first and it was a "hit" in England and i'm looking for a song that they might play on the radio here in Hawaii which would mean work for us.
Next we did another Ventures tune that i play lead on called "Only The Young" which my demo version can be found here in the vaults of SG101. I suggested it after realizing we didn't have a slow or mellow song and i love to play it and it's fairly obscure so we did it....after listening to the ruf mix a few times i've come to the conclusion that there's too much reverb on my lead track so i'll probably redo it during the overdub sessions...this song requires a dryer, cleaner, kind of Strat sound to me....i'll keep the "wet" one too just in case BTD get's all over me and i can send that mix to him!!
We did "Hawaii Five-O" next....i know, i know, it's a tired song that a lot of bands do but....we're FROM Hawaii and we felt we HAD to do it and probably it's the one that will get "local" airplay....we do a great version of it so it's on the record and i know Dennis and Tay Uhler are gonna "orchestrate" it for us so that should be something!! Bill does the lead and stumbled thru it so we'll redo his lead later. He kept doing another "no,no" in the studio which is (i know you more professional guys know this but for the youngsters...) while doing a take if anyone but the drummer makes a little...glitch!...KEEP ON PLAYING!! because the bottom line is the drum track...if the drummer makes it and it's deemed a good take for him then any glitches can be repaired by punching in or completly redoing a lead, rhythm, or bass part....i did a few punches with Dennis while everyone was taking a break....Bill was pretty upset with himself at this point but we kept trying to encourage him to trod on..."we're almost done" we'd tell him. I felt sorry for him because i work with him twice a week and he's a way better guitar player than the one that showed up on Sunday. We were all kind of mad or upset with him because we were ALL tired and hungry!!
Then came "Pressure"...The Pyramids classic that i play lead on. We ran it to get levels and then did it in one take at which point Dennis comes on the talk back and claims that it will be a hit! "That's the best song you guys have written"....?!@#?%$!%!! "We didn't write it"...doh...."who did?" he asks..."The Pyramids" we all say in unison..."you mean those bald guys?" hahaha! "yep, those guys"..."that's a great song" he says. He was really excited about that one so we hope others will be too and of course we have a 'live' version of it on the '09 SG101 comp so most of you have heard it but....i was listening to a mix CD on my way to work the other night and "Pressure" by the Pyramids was on it and i realized i've been playing a different melody on the verse AND the chorus!! I know why....when we started at The Sheraton we had to learn 3 hours of instrumentals...in two rehearsals!! an impossible task it seemed...so we learned the "quick version" of a lot of the covers we do...you know, the version you can start making $ on right away!! Just kidding!! but we did learn a lot of songs in a short period of time and John, Bill and i got together a bunch of times without Conrad (he was on vacation in California when we got the "call" for the gig) and learned as many as we could...so some of the melodys in our versions aren't exactly the same as the originals but i'm going to learn the original melody for "Pressure" since it's way better than mine!! Duh!! Bill and i both have revisited a lot of those covers and learned the original melodys when and where we felt it apropriate....jeez, i've learned how to play the lead on "Pacifica" in three different positions on the neck!! i didn't do it the right way until my brother Rick sent us the Los Straitjackets' 'live' DVD!! I was like "oh, that's where he plays it...down there!!"
The last song we did was a cover of Teisco Del Rey's "Pier Pressure" from the 'Surf Guitar Greats' CD and Bill nailed this one....this was the song he could take it out on!! and he did with a vengence....he wailed on it and i'm very proud of him and happy that he felt good about ONE of the songs from this day!! We do a pretty uptempo version of it and i do a ska rhythm on it after the break...Teisco himself said we do a good version of his tune and he called us "kindred spirits". That is such a good song that it too could get some airplay.
So we made this record to get gigs on the North Shore of Oahu during the winter surf season....that, and the Huntington Beach Surf Museum Sunday Series....we've wanted to do that gig since day one, or was it day two? Whenever it was that Jeff Hansons parents came to see us and told us about a website called Surf Guitar 101. We would have to get a "high profile" gig to get over there...maybe a wedding or a corporate banquet or something of that nature to get us all over there...then we could do a couple weeks of little or NO paying gigs with some of you guys or just hang out and talk surf....! I think we sound the way we do because we've never seen another surf band...since we were kids anyway! and we haven't been influenced by anybody....except the recordings we have. I've learned pretty much everything i know about reverb and "mods" and guitar tech stuff right here at SG101 and i thank you all.
I'll post some more stories as we get into the overdubs....next week! Thanks for reading this stuff...i wish i was a better writer and speller but...!
Crumb...we play surf music because we are four surfers that grew up on it in California back in the 60's as kids so when the opportunity presented itself, we were all over it....it hasn't been easy....we've had to buy equipment just for surf gigs...and we had to learn 3 hours of music...some of which even had to be good!!! But we also know we are one of the luckiest bands...considering where we get to play and live and surf!
Danny thank you....you'll be amongst the first to get a TO's CD and t'shirt just like you gave me....it's called "aloha" over here...and you know we want to hear your record with Pete Curry. It was your diary that inspired me to write this.
() we did get to hear The Blue Moodys when thay came over but it was our gear and.....? They were great and really nice guys too. We've had guitarist Dick Moritz a few times on vacation...he kills "Miserlou" with his Jazzmaster....we had Paul Johnson sit in with us for a few tunes!! and a great "talk story" session after the gig....we've had Ted Thompson from The Detonators on bass....
OK, more later.
note: i work with Bill in another band called SurfJones that plays every Wednesday night at The Tahiti Nui in Hanalei....last Wednesday i asked about Sunday and all the problems he was having and he said he was just really tired from Saturday and he said he was going to cancel Sunday because he felt so out of it!! Bill's a great guy and a really good guitar player so i felt sorry for him but i'm sure glad he didn't cancel that day!!
— The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587
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Brian
Joined: Feb 25, 2006
Posts: 19194
Des Moines, Iowa, USA
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Posted on Jan 16 2010 10:22 AM
I really enjoy reading your "diary" Ron. Good luck and keep the story going!
— Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me
"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea
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Ron-Rhoades
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 958
Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii
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Posted on Jan 16 2010 03:20 PM
Brian....when i look back on what i've written it seems like a BOOK!! Probably more like a cartoon i'm afraid!!....thank you for reading it and i'm not done yet...just wait until we get to the overdubs!!
R.
ps: i'm not much of a writer so PLEASE let me know if i get to rambling....
— The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587
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Ron-Rhoades
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 958
Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii
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Posted on Jan 25 2010 04:52 PM
So Friday the 25th i spent 7 hours doing over dubs and fixes...not that there were THAT many f...ups...it just takes time to get comfortable...get a "tone" dialed in...and stumble a few times before getting it right and moving on. I re-did a few leads of mine....a few "drier" takes...too much reverb just becomes a wash especially when both guitarists are using it on the same song...i know, not everyone feels this way about reverb but we do so....it was all beginning to sound the same...so i made some changes in my songs. I did a more dirty/sustain lead on "No Can Tell's" dry as a bone!! I still have the reverb version too....we're NOT deleting/erasing anything so it's all there. I guess we'll decide later what to use or, maybe Dennis will TELL us what he GOING to use...he's the producer....but we still have the say in what we want to hear regardless of his observations...i haven't made a record that i DIDN'T produce for many years....so i'm trying to hard to be a player and do as i'm instructed!! to an extent mind you! Dennis is a different kind of guy....very serious about sounds, drums speeding up/slowing down, guitars in tune...arrangements...all the stuff a producer has to be in control of....and so far, we trust him. I went to his website and saw he had produced and engineered an Eliminaters record so that was comforting...when i mentioned it to him he bristled a bit and recalled having "issues" with one of the guys in the band and didn't get production credit...he's very opinianated (sp?) and could be hard to work with if you don't him that well....John was in the Surf Punks with him and i've know him for 20 years so we understand him. He got us to slow down one of the songs after recording an uptempo version that he claimed was just too fast and not interesting anymore...the band decided we want the uptempo version period!! It rocks and it's the tempo we've always done and we were as uncomfortable with the slow versions as he was with the fast!! Ferenc mentioned earlier that surf music is fast....and we agree!! We've got plenty of uptempo songs for this project..."Pier Pressure" is furious!! Most of our originals on this project are uptempo and The Ventures' "Only The Young" is the slowest of all the songs. I redid my lead on that one and added an acoustic guitar track as well. Dennis' favorite song of the project is "Pressure" so i did another lead on it too so he can decide what he wants to use....he's convinced the song could be a (gasp!) HIT!! He came up to me last Sunday and..."Ron...wait until you hear the horn section and Hammond B-3 on this"!! I didn't know what to think so we'll let him do his thing and decide what we want to use. It brings some excitement to the project that's for sure....not knowing exactly what he's gonna do with our music...already i wish we were a 3 guitar band....i think that's what we will be someday....if we can find someone to play with us...that wants to live in Hawaii....i don't think there's anyone here (Kauai) right now that could understand the parts of surf music and the other rock instrumentals that we do.
I gotta go and comfirm a gig with the guys so i'll sign off for now but i'll be right back with some pics!!
Aloha,
RR
— The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587
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Ron-Rhoades
Joined: Aug 19, 2006
Posts: 958
Kekaha, Kauai, Hawaii
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Posted on Jan 25 2010 05:51 PM
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morphball
Joined: Dec 23, 2008
Posts: 3324
Pittsboro, NC
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Posted on Jan 25 2010 06:23 PM
already i wish we were a 3 guitar band....i think that's what we will be someday....if we can find someone to play with us...that wants to live in Hawaii.
If I were able to find a reasonably-paying day job on the island, I'd be auditioning tomorrow.  Love the pics by the way, I just got an MXR CC in my chain too, lovin it with my g-spring.
— Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio
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