As far as instrumental goes, when you can`t sing yourself, you tend to write without a vocal part in mind. If you could add vocals to it, that would be one thing, but I decided that I would like the guitar to shine through on what I was doing. So I decided to make the project instrumental.
I was never a fan of direct guitar sounds but for some reason this album ("Zone") is full of direct guitar. All of the rhythm tracks, clean and dirty, were recorded direct. I find that this gives the punchiest sound out there. The Sans-Amp rack really helped also. It is one of those `plug and play` pieces of gear which tone just oozes out of.
The only recording I do at home is for demo purposes. My engineer and I have actually built a commercial studio in San Luis Obispo, CA. The studio is a 3,000 sq..ft., 24 track, digital facility. It was a huge project, spanning two years. The great thing is I don`t have to worry about the clock anymore. There is a tremendous feeling of freedom when I can spend the time needed to record my songs, the way I feel they should be.
But even with my success in Belgium, it was impossible to get any industry support/interest generated. It was then the time of Kurt Cobain and friends, people like Tony MacAlpine and Greg Howe weren`t having any luck, what hope was there for me? Releasing my own CD seemed like the only answer.
Except for distribution, I`ve always made out better doing it myself using investor money then any contracts I`ve been offered. I have a "go in the studio and play" mentality. I don`t overdub, and I usually only do two or three takes for each piece. I make sure when I go in, I`m ready! So my costs are embarressingly low!
I like to take another artist`s song and vision and take it to another level. My experience with Fourth Estate, as well as contributing to many other projects and playing in countless cover bands, gives me a broad perspective in which to approach working with a variety of different artists. I am also very picky about sounds and tones and I think that translates in most of the projects I`ve produced.
We send about half our orders overseas (48 different countries at last check), so numerically more CDs are still purchased in the United States, but that`s really because the country is so big. I feel the demand for instrumental guitar is stronger overseas, and if the economies in the Far East and Eastern Europe were stronger, I believe we`d sell even more there.
When we were working the tunes, none of us had any idea how long they were. It`s just these were our little babies we`re producing. It seemed that they needed all the parts we had. Looking back, there`s maybe two sections on the whole record I would cut. We hacked up a couple cuts for radio play, hacked them from eight minutes to five.
Well, I`m 38 and I started when I was ten. I probably started younger, like when I was about eight, so when you think about it, I`ve been playing for 30 years. I should be a lot better then I am (laughs).
We have our own recording facility at our rehearsal studio and have been doing all recent recording there. We also rent time if necessary at a more elaborate studio. Ralph (Perucci) has his own studio in Manhattan.
As far as releasing independently - there`s really no other way. Instrumental music (other than `happy saxophone` music I suppose) doesn`t really get a lot of support from record labels, guitar magazines, radio, whatever. So, if you love doing this kind of thing, then you really have to accept that you`ve gotta do it yourself.
A studio CD is hard work, because you spend months and do all this painstaking work in the studio and nit pick everything and make it right and mix it. I think that`s a bigger labor, but I think a live CD is a scary thing because you`re getting up there and playing live. There is nothing to hide behind. There`s no overdubs, and you have to live with what you did or don`t put it out.
