Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Loss and Curse of Hexcellence

Videos from Hexlust's studio work, laying down drum tracks. All three took place on the first session, Wednesday, July 6, 2011.

Studio tour


Recording drum tracks (and everything else) for Hexlust's as-yet-untitled debut full-length took place in a sort of loft office over an old auto garage. Every day we recorded we get to the garage in the afternoon, with temperatures inside peaking at 110 F. The studio room itself was the only place in the joint that had precious air conditioning and a ceiling fan, both of which had to be turned off so as not to have the noise bleeding into the mics. The irony was not lost on us.

Competence


Of the nine songs to be included on this album, eight of them were recorded with Tony laying down a "scratch" guitar track along with my "official" drum tracks. What he would do was plug directly into the computer through an effects processor and have the sound sent out to us through our headphones, so as not to have amp noise bleed into my drum mics. The only tune I recorded with Tarzan playing along was "Meganecropolis," which was written, and therefore easier to follow, on bass. This was a pretty solid run of "Fucked By Fire," interrupted by a pesky stick flying right out of my hand.

Mercyful Banjo


As usual, we in Hexlust offset our devotion to efficiency and diligence with a horrifying penchant for buffoonery. Here, Tony attempts to play the beginning lead part from Mercyful Fate's "Into the Coven" (not "Duelling Banjos") on a four-string banjo (with one string broken) that was among the wall of guitars in the studio room. Fun fact: Tarzan cut the video right after Tony demonstrates the "typical" black metal riff. What you folks miss out on is Tony following that up with Averse Sefira-style dissonant chords, which sound oddly awesome on that instrument.