Pages tagged “stay positive”

I love mixing. It’s really a lot of fun taking all the sonic info and putting it into the right spaces. It’s fun mixing with The Hold Steady. They all have different viewpoints of the mixing phase of a record and they all complement each other.

One of my favorite things about new technology of recording is the ability to e-mail rough mixes to people and have them contribute to your record. It’s a convenient and fun way of getting other people involved. We had some cool guest stars on the last record and it worked so well, that early on in the recording process, we were thinking towards that end.

It’s always fun watching band members disappear during the overdub phase of a record. There’s nothing like sitting and listening to the same guitar part or vocal line over and over that will send other musical types running for the local bar. With four more days at Water Music and plenty of overdubs to do, we needed to make sure we used the big room to it utmost. That means picking the overdubs more suited for the space we were in.

“I don’t think anyone could have anticipated 'Adderall' not making the record.”

Sound familiar? The first part is all too familiar with me. That’s how our administration explains levy breaches or not finding WMD’s, etc. But that’s a different blog for a different day. At least in this case, my statement is absolutely true.

On a panel a few years ago at SXSW, a producer/manager sitting to my right discussed how he developed a camaraderie with the artist during the making of the records. He described it as “making the record company the common enemy.” I found this transparent and short sighted. And those were two of the nicer things I thought about this idiotic approach.

Above [L to R]: Tad Kubler, Galen Polivka, John Agnello, Bobby Drake

As fans eagerly count down the days until The Hold Steady releases Stay Positive, the follow-up to Paste's #2 album of 2006, on July 15, we thought it would be interesting to hear a little background on the record. So we asked producer John Agnello to reminisce on the recording process of Stay Positive. This is his second post. Read his first here.

The Hold Steady tours a ton. I believe the number of shows they played last year was around 200. That’s amazing, but essential for bands these days. With CD sales lagging and tons of people putting out records, it’s a jungle out there. If you're lucky enough to be Spoon, OK Go or Of Montreal, it’s a jingle out there. Which is a good thing. Over the last few years, that’s been one of the ways bands have put food on their collective tables. Twenty-odd years ago, a band called the Del Fuegos supplied music for a Miller beer ad. And it was widely frowned up by the press, other musicians and the other music biz insiders. But I digress.