SWORDS Demos
Added 2021-10-25 16:41:52 +0000 UTCHappy 2nd birthday to SWORDS!
To celebrate, I'll be sharing behind-the-scenes stuff all week. First up is this collection of demos: Swords Demos
They're a far cry from my SotC voice memo demos. They're essentially my rough mixes. I would fully compose the songs and use MIDI instruments for anything that I couldn't play (though I do play some rough xylophone on Sideshow and Streets). Most of the guitars, bass and vocals are final. We took these versions into a studio at the Chatt Library and added real xylophone, sax, drums, horns and strings. Then Adam Brown (drummer of The Gimmix / 100K Band) mixed the final versions.
Listening to these versions, you can hear a lot of subtle ingenuity that Adam brought to the finished product.
The dates don't always reflect the order in which the songs were recorded. For example, I started working on Stairwell in 2015 but didn't have the mix featured here until 2018. I think my mixing and production work improved quite a bit since working on these songs. I definitely developed my craft churning songs out for Super Deluxe, College Humor and Netflix.
I would love to do more of a breakdown on these songs and write something more extensive, but I am on baby duty today. Feel free to leave any questions below and I'll gladly respond!
PS - The image here was the original SWORDS artwork by Phanat Nen.
Justin Cipriani, the director of the Sideshow music video, took the snapshot of me in the clown mask and I knew that needed to be the album cover.
Comments
I would love to. It’s a little tricky because it’s too long to fit on a single record but not long enough to merit a double album. I’ve thought about releasing a deluxe edition that has Spineless, Carnival and maybe some other rarities on the 4th side. I think I’ll definitely try to do some sort of pressing after Songs on the Computer 2.
Nicholas Lutsko
2021-10-27 01:33:53 +0000 UTCWhat are the chances of us getting a Swords vinyl?
Ryan Firth
2021-10-26 17:39:59 +0000 UTCAdam is also my drummer so in addition to retracking drums he also adds in other percussive elements throughout. Lots of really great, subtle moments like the reverb clap at the end of Sideshow that I adore.
Nicholas Lutsko
2021-10-26 16:53:49 +0000 UTCAlso because of how you hyphenated it in the post, this is the first time it ever occurred to me that it's Swords but also "S Words," and I'm stupid. Which is another S word.
Matt Groth
2021-10-26 16:47:49 +0000 UTCCool to hear these rougher mixes. I definitely notice some subtle touches that aren't there yet like you said. Is that only in the mixing or did Adam also add more instrumentation or anything? Obviously I know there's some difference just due to live instrumentation vs midi. As always, thanks for putting a lot of effort into Patreon, it's fantastic.
Matt Groth
2021-10-26 16:44:14 +0000 UTCSuch a satisfying result.
Devin Ruffner
2021-10-26 02:47:59 +0000 UTCThanks Jamie! Not sure if this is what you’re referring to, but I double almost all of my vocal tracks and pan them symmetrically on each side
Nicholas Lutsko
2021-10-25 19:44:29 +0000 UTCYou have such a textured/full voice, how do you retain the clarity and quality of vocals against such fully constructed instrumentals? Also…this is like Hallo-Christmas. This is an absolute gem of a share.
2021-10-25 18:22:44 +0000 UTCAgreed!
Nicholas Lutsko
2021-10-25 17:45:38 +0000 UTCGreat question! I can ask Adam if he has a specific breakdown as to how he achieved that tone. For the original demo, I played that part on the rim of snare drum. Can’t remember if I tracked it with a SM57 or the Bluebird Condenser. His version is way more precise and articulate. From Adam: I think it ended up being 4 different snare rim tracks, each mic’d by a condenser a few feet above the drum. Heavily edited of course, but I think each snare is looping at a different bar-length; they crossover at different points (kinda like vocals in a round) so each phrase is unique. Then the last verse only has one rim playing at a time but jumps between all 4 snares really quickly.
Nicholas Lutsko
2021-10-25 17:40:42 +0000 UTCThanks for sharing this! I love this artwork too, although the picture that ended up making it is perfect for the feel of the album.
Em Zora
2021-10-25 17:28:17 +0000 UTCThis is great, thanks! I love listening to demos and such to hear the evolution of a song. I have a very specific nerd question :). The kind of stick clicky percussion on Software (that's the technical term I believe) - how did you get that sound?
Fergal Colreavy
2021-10-25 16:57:39 +0000 UTC
![NovelAI_FUN[AI]](https://nokimo.com/istorage/56472.jpg)
