I Am Empire Studio Blog

Studio Journal #8

2008-10-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

NEW SONGS. FINALLY.

Sneak Peak

Studio Journal #7

2008-10-16T11:20:00.000-07:00

It has been far too long, so sorry! Lots has gotten done in the last month though. All 6 songs are in various stages of completion now. We have everything but lead guitar done on "Liars, Tigers, and Bears", "Carry On", "Driver", and "The Elevator". We go in tonight to get some of the leads done on those. "Breathe" and "Encompass Me" still need vocals done along with the leads, but the whole thing is finally starting to come together and we couldn't be more excited about it. We have sealed the deal and are going to be mixing the first 2 weeks of December with Jeff Schneeweis of Number One Gun. He also just finished mixing the newest Hawthorne Heights album. We hate that we have to wait so long to show you all the new songs, but we promise it will be worth it!!!

Studio Journal #6

2008-08-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

SO. It's been a few weeks and a lot's happened. We've been in the studio a lot and gotten a ton done. Austin finally began vocals last week and it's sounding incredible! Andrew's been in doing a lot of guitar work and has the basis of all the songs finished. We've had to try a lot of unique things to get the right tones for the guitars, you'll see a couple in the pictures below, but things like turning heads sideways to get rid of excess noise, etc. Next is just Austin finishing up his main vox and then Josh on the backups before Andrew goes in and finishes up the lead guitars and then we send it off to Jeff Schneeweis of Number One Gun for mixing! It's exciting to finally be in the later stages of recording and hearing what the songs will actually sound like.

I'll be posting more in the next week or so, but for now here's some pictures!

Studio Journal #5

2008-08-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

Andrew began work on guitars last night, it was supposed to start on Monday but the amp he was supposed to be using had a blown speaker so they spent the majority of the night working on that. Last night it was all fixed up though and him and Jerry got the tones and recorded most of the guitars for the song tentatively titled "Liars, Tigers, and Bears". Tonight that song will probably get finished and then on to the rest!

Studio Journal #4

2008-07-24T14:16:00.001-07:00

Bass is finished! Now on to guitars and vocals. Success!

Studio Journal #3

2008-07-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

More and more is happening! Last night Josh finished all the bass for "Breathe In" and fixed up a few parts on "Driver" then got started on a new one called "Encompass Me". Everything is sounding so great, especially when Andrew started some of his lead parts on "Breathe"...you guys are gonna love this record, I promise.

We're going back in tonight to finish up "Encompass Me" and we'll probably move on to at least one more. Things are going along very smoothly now that we have more time in the studio and whatnot. We'll be posting more tonight, keeping our fingers crossed for a video!

-IAE

Studio Journal #2

2008-07-22T02:26:00.001-07:00

So we got back into the studio today, Josh was able to get his tones setup and lay down all of "Driver" (which I have to say, is coming out very nicely) and is going back in tomorrow to get "Breathe In" and maybe one more under the proverbial belt.

(Josh recording)

We have been getting less consistent time in the studio than we had planned on (hence the lack of updates) but it looks like we're going to be getting in pretty often from now until the record is completed, so keep checking because it's gonna be good times.

Long hours in the studio can lead to exhaustion, hunger, and all around insanity which can only lead to good things like late trips to La Vic, falling asleep while playing guitar, or trying to fit the entire large end of a plastic cup under our lips...

(Andrew chowing on some La Vic)

(Josh love sauce)

(Dan...exhibiting the latter of the 3)

So as you can see, lots of things to talk about, more to come tomorrow night. Until then, rest well dears.

-IAE

Studio Journal #1

2008-07-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

So we're gonna try this out, see how it goes, make a few jokes, good times.

We've been in the studio a few days now (I know, it feels like years). So far we've tracked all the drums and they came out way beyond what we expected. Last night we began tracking guitars on a song tentatively titled "Breathe In, Breathe Out" (you may have heard it at a couple of the recent shows) and got most of Austin's tracks down. It's hard to tell exactly what it's going to sound like at the end, but as of right now I can say that it sounds better than anything we've ever put out. I know you're thinking, "Ya, ya, ya, every band says that, it's just a bunch of crap to pump up the fans" and you're right....but it's true too, so believe it (or die.) Next week we're going back in to finish up guitars on Breathe then move on to "Driver".

That's pretty much up to date in the studio for now. We're playing The Exit in Fresno again on the 17th of this month, so if you're from around there (or willing to drive down to check it out!) we'll see you soon!

-more to come soon

IAE