best summer ever pt.IV

8/12
Stayed home. Watched Star Wars VI on my family's brand new huge flat screen TV.

8/11
Went to bed in the morning, woke up around noon at Lachlan's house. Austin was still over and Brian and Luke had come over too. Us four had a sweet jam before we all, including Dave and Lachlan but excluding Austin who left for work, went to Happy Bamboo for lunch. The rest of the day consisted of more jamming, playing Halo, and a bit of mixing. Evan and Danny came over in the evening for practice as well, as Brian and I exchanged guitar playing knowledge.

8/10
While I was mixing in the afternoon, Dave called me to jam, so I headed over to Lachlan's house in the evening. Luke left to work on a video, and Austin came over to jam with us. Austin drums for the Ego Trippers, a local band, but plays guitar too. More people came over in time and we had a get-together for Sarah's 18th birthday. We BBQ'd shish kabobs, and there were more cool jams with different people through out the night and some, including me, slept over.

8/9
Stayed home to edit and comp (piecing together different parts from different takes to create one "best" take) my vocal takes for Fade Out. I literally spent like 12 hours on it, but I don't think I'm happy with it. I guess I just need to get better at singing.

8/8
Stayed home and mixed.

8/7
I was mixing the newly recorded tracks when Ryan calls me in the evening to inquire me to bring some live sound gear to a Hot Topic acoustic show at Oakridge Mall that he and Nik were scheduled to play. When Nik arrives, an employee informs him that the show is canceled due to reasons blaming the band. We deemed these reasons to be bullshit, but take the high road anyway. As we walk out of the store, I spot a few girls that were eying us, as I suspect that they were there to see Picture Atlantic. Nice going, Hot Topic. We then meet up at Cardinal's Coffee Lounge to hang out, and Grant, Derek, and Ross join us in time. Amongst the banter was a story I shared of a recent incident at a jam party involving a prank caller from a private number and myself.

"Vincent Do, you Nik Bartunek wanna-be."
"What? I'm in a really noisy environment. Let me go to a quieter place."
"You heard me. You know how I know you're gay? You listen to Coldplay."
"Hmmmm I love Coldplay. You know how I know you're gay?"
"How?"
"You just told me." *I hang up*

I must apologize for my impulsive derogatory usage of 'gay'. It was literally the first time in my life I've ever done so. Anyway while the rest of the guys decided to carry out a most mischievous scheme, I decided to call it a night.

8/6
Luke calls me in the afternoon to come over to Lachlan's to jam and have a Star Wars marathon. I get there around 7 and we start Star Wars, and Justin, who plays bass for local band Beta State, returns from the store, so we end up jamming instead. Two bass jam - strange, I know. April Chase comes over later on and we play a little Halo at some point. After April Chase leaves, Jake and Brez comes over and we all watch half of Colors and all of Burn After Reading. We track vocals to Fade Out, You Are Free, and Retreat before I go home.

8/5
The events of this day are unclear, but at some point and Lachlan and I track Luke playing on You Are Free, and us three go out for pizza at a place called Super Pizza. $4 for a large pizza. I don't remember what happened the rest of the day, but I do finally go home.

8/4
I wake up at Lachlan's house around noon. We find the right tone for a slightly overdriven rhythm track for Fade Out with Grant's US telecaster and Vox AC30. We record it. In the evening, while I'm practicing guitar with Grant's gear, April Chase come over again to track vocals. Nik, Grant, Derek, and Ross come by to hang out a bit and pick up Grant's gear. I sleep over at Lachlan's again.

8/3
I start the day by heading over to Nik's house to pick up the keys to the van located at Brian Grave's house. After a short conversation with his dad about epidemics and poison oak, I head over to Lachlan's house to pick him up before we make our way to Brian Grave's house. Once there, we get all of Grant's equipment out of the trailer and stop by Starbucks for a passion tea lemonade for Lachlan before heading back to his house.

We record and experiment a bit with Grant's gear before most of local band April Chase come over to track vocals. Lachlan has the house to himself for two weeks since his family has gone camping, so we turn the living room into a control room and the office into a recording booth, and plug the laptop/interface into the living room's surround sound system. It's quite a sight - monitoring vocal tracks in the living room as people play Halo on the TV. After April Chase leaves, we track vocals to Fade Out. I sleep over in the morning.

8/2
I delivered an old guitar and new strings to Andy for him to borrow and maintain for me. I stayed home the rest of the day.

8/1
Sara left early in the morning and Luke came over soon after I awoke at 11am. We went to eat at Fresh Choice and grabbed recording gear from Jake's house before heading backing to Lachlan's. I took a nap while Luke and Lachlan played Halo and then picked up Thanh from her house.

After some time, we finally got around to recording. We recorded acoustic guitar for Retreat out in the hallway with the wooden floor. The floor reflections made a huge difference and definitely sounds a lot better than recording guitar over carpet. For those interested, we mic'd the guitar in stereo with Rode NT-1's with one mic next to the guitar nut pointing at the soundhole and the other mic about a foot away from the neck joint pointing at the 12th fret.

Evan came over later and we set off in two cars to a jam party on the east side. Thanh and I left early and went to her house. We always have long discussions. I got home at 3:30am and it was first time I'd been home in 2 1/2 days.

7/31
Ryan and I stayed up all night and got some McDonald's coffee in the morning. I recommend hazelnut syrup. We then consecutively watched A Haunting in Connecticut, Let the Right One In, and Fanboys. In the afternoon I filmed footage of Nick, Ryan, and Mikey "working." Very professional matters. We all even wore ties.

In the evening I headed over to a house show that Lachlan and I played. It was pretty much a practice session for us and I am happy to say that we were very solid and well received. Afterward we went to his house and a bunch of people soon came over too. At one point I rested my head on the back of Sarah's knees and she said "you fit so well between my legs." Unaware of the innuendo involved, I replied "wouldn't anyone?" and hilarity ensued. After most people left, Lachlan, Sara, and I put on a movie, whose name escapes me, but fell asleep before it finished.

7/30
Around noon Khanh and I drove around Milpitas to deliver letters to potential sponsors for a benefit show we're putting on on August 28. We got fish and chips from Foster's Freeze before calling it a day. In the afternoon I headed to David Sosa's house where he and Lachlan were jamming. Luke arrived soon after and we all went to chill at a park, where I also changed my acoustic's strings. When we got back, we had a cool jam and played Left 4 Dead. I briefly joined them at an open house before departing for Ryan's house in Redwood City.

For half a week, Picture Atlantic & crew worked on business and promotion stuff at Ryan's house since his parents were gone and Nick and Mikey stayed over as well. I got there at 2am and chilled for the rest of the night, as well as getting in a few hours of guitar practice.

7/29
Went to the gym. Stayed at home researching gear for the rest of the day.

7/28
Watched the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Around midnight I went to Nick's house to drop off a bass. We hadn't hung out in a while and ended up talking about music and promotion stuff till 4am.

7/27
I mixed Jake's song for a bit before going to the gym with Ryan Ha. Afterward we went to his house to jam. I showed him my new songs. Good times. After midnight I went to Lachlan's house, where we tracked vocals for You Are Free.

7/26
Checked out the new Blush Organic Yogurt store. Looks like Milpitas has a new venue. Andy snuck me into his set and we covered Karma Police together. Lots of familiar faces. Kelly came over later. I showed her my mixing techniques and she left at 3am.

7/25
Stayed home.