Luke Esterkyn
San Francisco Bay Area pop-rock band Stroke 9 just released their fifth album “The Last of the International Playboys” and are touring this Summer. Stroke 9 has had success with their hit “Little Black Backpack” from their third album “Nasty Little Thoughts” (Produced by Jerry Harrison and Rupert Hine) that propelled it to Gold status in 2000. We caught up with John McDermott, guitarist and one of the band’s songwriters, via email while on an 11-day East Coast tour (with 11 concerts!) to talk about how he used Spectrasonics software in the process of recording the new album.
Spectrasonics: We read that you composed the new album by sending files around between the band members and having each person write and record their parts. How did Spectrasonics software play a part in this? Were there temp tracks that the other members of the band recorded to as guide tracks?
John McDermott: “Since two of us live in SF and two in LA we did the whole album by working on songs in our home studios and then sending the files around to each other to add parts. When you record this way It’s very important to start with a firm rhythm foundation. On most of the songs Jens and I would pick a beat from Stylus RMX and begin building the guitar tracks on top of it. This would then serve as a guide track for Luke to sing to and make any song writing adjustments if needed. The great thing about Stylus is that it’s so fast to create a beat and so easy to make changes to it–which is crucial when you’re making an album this way. The last thing you want when you’re writing and recording at the same time is feeling like you can’t change things around as you go. Then, when we felt confident with the song structure and basic parts we would send it down to Eric where he would record drums in his studio in LA.”
John McDermott
Spectrasonics: When you start writing a song, when does the computer come into the process? You mentioned that you use Stylus RMX for drum tracks on the demos, how do you choose the drum part and how do you use those loops in the host software?
JM: “I will often start writing a song one of two ways: if I have a specific idea in mind I will search for a drum feel that i want or program it if I can’t find what i’m looking for, but many times I will go thru the Stylus RMX libraries and search around ’til I find something that inspires me. Stylus RMX is great for this because it’s so quick easy to audition loops, and when you find something you like you just drag the MIDI file onto a track, and cut and paste it however you like. I know there is so much i have yet to learn about Stylus, but when I’m writing I like to move as fast as possible to get ideas out and Stylus RMX is perfect for this.”
Spectrasonics: Your music is very rock-based, is there a place that Atmosphere fits in when you compose songs? If you do use it, are there any patches that you find that you regularly gravitate to?
JM: “Atmosphere was used a lot on this record. Since we are a rock band and we want guitars out front we used Atmosphere to fill out and fatten the sound with pads and strings….I especially like the Hollywood Strings , the Lush Green Strings and Cathedral Orchestra patches.”
Jens Funke
Spectrasonics: Tell us a little about your computer setup, what sequencer or host do you use to write with? Is it the same host that you record the parts for the album?
JM: “I mainly use Pro Tools LE 002 with a Macintosh G5. I also use Logic and Live for composing but I feel most comfortable with Pro Tools. Luke has the identical Pro Tools setup as me and then Jens and Eric both use Cubase.”
Spectrasonics:When composing, what drum loops (suites, and elements) do you use in Stylus RMX, is there a SAGE Xpander package that you use?
JM: “Because I do a lot of scoring for commercials and music libraries, I am always looking for different styles of loops. I have used loops from each the various SAGE Xpanders at some point in time, but I find myself going to Backbeat and the Urban suites the most.”
Eric Stock
Spectrasonics: Did the drummer listen to the temp rhythm track when they recorded the live drum parts? How did that work if there were any special settings you used?
JM: “Since Eric works in Cubase we would give him two mixed mp3 versions of a song to add the drums: one mix with the Stylus RMX loops to give him an idea of what we were envisioning, and then another version with just a measure of the loop at the top of the mp3 so that he can line everything up on his system…He would then send us back an mp3 of just his drums with the same marker at the beginning so that we could line them up in our session. It wasn’t ’til mixdown that we brought all the AIFF’s from each guy into the same session. Using Mp3’s during recording made it much easier to email tracks to one another.”
McDermott rounded out our interview with a last thought, “I like to work fast and have synths and drums ready to go. I use Spectrasonics for both band stuff and scoring, but it’s more prominent in the composing work….since we’re more straight ahead rock I tend to begin writing songs with Stylus RMX and Atmosphere. Spectrasonics are the best products for my workflow because they allow me to create quickly without sacrificing sound quality.”
