In this episode Bronson and Greg take a break and start a new song.

In episode #17, we continue working on our new song; The theme song for our podcast and our band, Electric Lecture. We first experiment singing through some guitar pedals before abandoning the idea and moving onto recording what becomes our chorus vocal. After a minute finding the right notes and harmonies, the chorus line starts taking on its shape. Next we start thinking about lyrics for our second verse. Beginning with the idea to flip perspective from teacher to student. “Constant learner, seeker of knowledge” Greg suggests. “Guys like Tim Pierce, until he can’t play, he’ll be psyched by some pedal or some new thing”

This is what we’re striving to capture in the song, the constant pursuit of music and that spark of inspiration we feel when we learn and when we get it right. Once we zone in on our topic and start feeling connected to it, the lyrics for this verse seem to come very quickly.

“I’m on a tone quest, always searching. The perfect lyric, and a tambourine.”

As the song starts sounding more full, we try to be even more intentional and cautious when adding any more tracks. Bronson hears a vocal response and we decide it adds to the song instead of cluttering it. We double it.

Finally, we take a listen through the demo of our song before the next part of the process, bringing the tracks to the remarkable, Anthony Resta and Karyadi Sutedja, to be further produced and mixed.

Thank you for listening to episode #17 of our podcast, Electric Lecture: Story of a Song. Please reach out to us if you have any comments, suggestions, and/or questions. We would love to hear from you!

Below are links to products mentioned in the episode:

Boss VO-1

Box of Metal by ZVEX Effect

In this episode we get started on a new song. The Electric Lecture Theme Song! We set out to make this track different from others we’ve done. Starting with a very fast and rough acoustic guitar track (something to play to), Greg takes that home and adds some electric guitar (a distinct sounding Silvertone). Already the song is taking on a quality that we love.

After adding drums we start talking about vocals and whether or not to even add any. This being the theme song for our podcast and our band in general, we held onto the possibility of it being an instrumental. We discuss adding some background vocals or maybe singing a melody with no lyrics. We quickly come up with an idea for the background vocals and once we start recording them, some other melodies develop and we find ourselves writing lyrics.

“Maybe we could convince people that... guitar is cool again” Bronson jokes. We talk a lot during this part of the process about our topic. We think of metaphors and share stories that are somewhat related. This helps us develop some groundwork for what our song will be about.

Greg mentions hanging out with Jeff Gray (previous collaborator and part of the Electric Lecture team) and asked him what he thinks we should name the song. Jeff suggested using the word “architecture” when talking about the song. Like “architecture of a song”, and almost immediately the lyrics for our chorus come, “Architecture of an Electric Lecture.” We come up with our melody and how to fit the lyrics in and move right onto our verse. “I’ll be your teacher, a sonic architect, put it together moving brick by brick.”

In talking a little more about lyrics and how sometimes changing “me” to “us”, or “you” to “they” can make a line feel more appropriate for the song. “Us” and can be more unified and empowering while “me” or “you” can be more personal and impactful in that way. Before finishing this episode, we record the vocals for the second verse we just finished writing and move through them pretty quickly.

This ends episode #16 of The Electric Lecture Podcast. Thank you for listening and remember to reach out to us if you have any comments, suggestions, and/or questions. We would love to hear from you!

In this episode Bronson and Greg listen to stems of the final mix.

In this episode Anthony and Karyadi finished the mix.

In this episode Anthony and Karyadi continue to mix

In episode 12 of the Electric Lecture podcast, Anthony Resta and Karyadi Sutedja continue to mix our song “Beam Me Up.” Starting with some guitars. Anthony explains his decision to cut a 12 string guitar part during the verse, “It was confusing something for me. When I hear that (12 string guitar), the banjo, and the vocal, it’s not helping me focus on the message.” Greg agrees, “Without a doubt.”

In finishing this episode, Karyadi explains explains their analog summing process with the Dangerous Music summing mixer. “Some people say theory don’t hear the difference but I hear the difference and I like it and I use it because we have it.” Karyadi says referring to an ongoing debate on analog summing. Everybody laughs. “You don’t need to defend yourself” Greg reassures Karyadi.

Auto-Tune by Antares - https://www.antarestech.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8ICOBhDmARIsAEGI6o30JBI8SyhpiusbotHS8QIwjzBz7auU_V3lxONftnBRcKeV9_M7v_UaAg-3EALw_wcB

The Solina - https://www.vintagesynth.com/arp/string.php

Sunset Sound - https://realitone.com/products/sunset-strings

For episode 11 of our podcast, we’re at Bopnique Studios in Laurel Canyon with the massively talented producer, Anthony J. Resta, and masterful engineer, Karyadi Sutedja. We start by asking Karyadi what he’s listening for when he first sits down to mix the song. He says he’s mostly listening to the vocals and what they’re doing. “Also making quick assessments like ‘I might need to tune this’ or ‘the timing pocket isn't quite there but I get what it’s trying to do’ kind of thing” Karyadi says. Greg mentions that the most important element of the song is the vocals and Anthony agrees. Pronunciation and syllables are important and people have to understand your message. “They should just get it. If they have to try hard or think about it then you’ve failed at something.”

Before finishing this episode, we hear Anthony and Karyadi go through more guitars and make some simple but very effective arrangement edits. Karyadi gives a great tip on recording with effects pedals like reverb and delay. “You almost want to make it ten percent softer than you think it should be. Because when you mix it’s almost inevitable that you’re going to compress that signal to make it pop. If you have a loud echo or reverb, that’s gonna take over before the actual signal which is why you want to compress it in the first place.”

LinnDrum - https://www.vintagesynth.com/linn/linn2.php

Slate Trigger - https://stevenslatedrums.com/trigger-2-platinum/

In this episode Bronson and Greg finalize the new song before sending it off to Anthony and Karyadi to mix.

In this episode Bronson and Greg continue work on the new song. They tackle writing the words for the first verse.