In the Studio: The North Decade

If you’re a member of The North Decade you had better be willing to sing. Our evening with the band at Dark Egg Studio is dedicated to tracking backing vocals, one of the last tasks left before producer Jonathan James goes into a month’s worth of mixing and mastering on What You’d Give Up Tomorrow You’ll Pay For Today.* All four members of the band–guitarist Brad Cantrell, bassist Jessica Gray, drummer Josh Jenkins and singer Ryan Spilken–arrive to contribute, with Cantrell coming in last later in the evening to try and lay down his parts. There is even a cameo appearance by local spoken-word artist Bill Shultz, who added some brief snippets of poetry to “Sometimes,” the last track on the new album.

After Shultz’s seemingly effortless contribution–he never needed more than four takes on any piece to get a keeper–it’s back to Jenkins and backing vocals, which is rather more work. Jenkins is struggling with one of the transitions in notes, trying over and over again and getting close… but not quite there.
“That’s such an awkward transition,” James says between tries. “What is that, a major seventh [note] to a minor third?”

“You’re welcome,” Spilken, the songwriter, says with a grin.

Between takes Jenkins sucks down bottled water, as does everyone else inside the sweltering Dark Egg. Turns out James was picking up the sound of the air conditioning unit kicking on during recording. The result: No AC except during rest periods. Luckily, Jenkins is no stranger to toughing things out in this process. “[Jenkins] was sick the two days we did drums,” Spilken says. “Just snot coming out, sweating everywhere. And his drums sound amazing. It’s probably my favorite part of the record.”

If Spilken is to be believed, What You’d Give Up will be worth these little sacrifices and hurdles when it arrives in the fall. The album’s 11 songs have been evolved from rough demos to full, layered indie-pop morsels. Well, maybe 10 songs. Spilken says one may be left off the final version of the album–ironically, the one most people are likely to know: “Middle Man,” the first song recorded and released using The North Decade’s current lineup. Spilken says the recording process has left the song feeling out of place when put up against the others, which was not the case when the songs were in the demo phase. Spilken says the new version of “Middle Man” (different from the first recording, which the band used to have on its MySpace page) won’t disappear altogether, but it may have to wait for a later release to make it to the public.

Once Jenkins gets a take everyone is happy with, Spilken wants to try an idea. Earlier in recording sessions bassist Jessica Gray would play around between takes by singing in an operatic falsetto. It’s good for a laugh, but Spilken wants to put it into a song and craft it into something else altogether. Gray agrees to get in the vocal booth and give it a shot, but her initial tries are still more comical than on-key. Determined to make it work, Spilken decide to give Gray some, um, coaching from the control room:

It’s still off. Not to worry, though, Spilken says; the plan all along was to use AutoTune, a program that has become a common part of most recording studios’ repertoire, to get the notes in place so the vocal fits with the song, as well as make it sound sort of robotic. “Kanye Jess” he calls it, referring to Kanye West‘s AutoTune-abusing album 808s & Heartbreak. You may have to sing to be in this band, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect.

* A quote from The North Decade singer Ryan Spilken regarding the incredibly long mix time given to Jonathan James, which didn’t fit the story but is too good to let slip away: “When you give someone like him that much time… I mean, did you ever play [the videogame] Final Fantasy VII? Well, do you remember that point where you get to be a real badass? You can, like, summon the gods to kill your enemies. When you can summon the Greek gods to do your bidding… well, that’s what we’re doing with Jonathan. We’re letting him summon the gods.” For the SGF gamers reading this piece who got what he’s talking about, you’re welcome.

–For more about albums coming your way this summer and fall, click and read here and here.