BWW Blog: Dominic Kelly - First Week in Studio

So our first week in the studio was beyond incredible. It's hard to put into words exactly what I was feeling those couple of days, but I can honestly say I've never ever felt that way making a record before. Not only is it inspiring for us to be making the record we want to make for a label that we love so dearly, but it's equally inspiring to be working in a studio that we put months and months of effort into building from literally nothing.

I love being able to engineer and produce our own record with a team of people who believes in us so much. The folks at MPress Records love what we do, believe in our vision, and want us to see it through. We used that as momentum these first couple of days in the studio, and what we came up with was exactly what we were hoping for going into it.

I asked each of the guys to tell me something about their experience this first week, short or long, and I think I'll do it like that in the weeks ahead. Sean was able to explain a little more of the technical side of what we accomplished this week.

"On a sonic level, the first two days were a real indication of the possibilities we have to explore," Sean tells me. "Conceptually it's already falling into place in the way we've intended it to from day one of preproduction. There was a moment during the first day, when we were finding drum sounds/miking drums, where it occurred to me just how unique of an opportunity we have to direct almost every musical and sonic aspect of this process.

"Any nervousness or trepidation went out the window the moment that we landed on a kick drum sound for the first song," he explains further. "We were shaping the drum on a preamp and someone said 'There! It sounds like a kick drum!' and I threw my fists in the air triumphantly. Once that moment happened, everything clicked, and musically it just all started to move at a really great pace. To top it all off, we just had a ton of fun working together."

Brendan and Shaun both seem to really be inspired by being able to have creative control during this process while taking the vision and experience of the folks at MPress in with us each and every step of the way.

"It feels amazing to be 100% in control," says Brendan. "The idea of self-producing and self-engineering this record was a bit intimidating in theory, but as soon as we started, that feeling transformed into excitement. The sense of pride that comes with doing this ourselves seems to be fueling the creative energy. It also doesn't hurt that we have the time and resources to experiment. We don't have to just turn microphones on and press record. We can take our time figuring out the best way to execute an idea. I'm unbelievably excited to keep working on this record. If this is how it's begun, I can't wait to see what's ahead of us."

"This is our first time self-producing a project, and it's exactly how we've always envisioned it," says our bass player Shaun Rhoades. "We've been together as a four-piece for over eight years now, and we still haven't lost the spark that we had that first time we played together in the Kelly family's basement in New York. Even though we were only in the studio for a couple of days to start, I can already envision where everything is headed, and it feels just as exciting and fresh as it did all those years ago."

All in all, the first couple of days in the studio were a success. We got the basic tracking done for a few songs and have already started to add layers to them. We all are hearing and seeing the same things for these songs, which is a beautiful thing, and although there will likely be challenges and possibly some creative differences as we start to explore different sounds, tones, instruments, and the like, I know that we can bring it together to incorporate each of our individual ideas.

As the next few weeks unfold, I'm excited to hopefully share with you some pictures and possibly videos of our time in the studio. For now, thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this next week unfolds.

PHOTO CREDIT: Kathy Strain

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