Research – Pity Sex

Pity sex is an alternative rock band from Michigan that were active from 2008 to 2016 similar to Superheaven. Because they have disbanded we will also be looking into works from other bands that are very similar  like Tigers Jaw who Will Yip has also Produced and Adventures which has members of Code Orange. Our main reference example for comparative research is their song Wind up. For this song we got Sam Pickering and Sarah Hughes to do vocals and Sam to do drums also. Sam is in a local band called GUTS that produce similar music and Sarah is well known among the local open mic scene.

We will be focusing on the lyrical style in this song and paying attention to effects and styles used on different instruments throughout.

Research – Code Orange

Code orange is a hardcore punk band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that formed in 2008. Will Yip worked alongside Kurt ballou to produce their newest record Forever. For this we chose to reference examples as we struggled to find a female vocalist that we could work with but they do have other songs with the male member of the band.

This song contains harsh screams from male members of the band which made it a better reference for vocals.

We used this song as our main reference example when writing the song and listening for specific effects, transitions and melodies.

As Will Yip worked with Kurt Ballou to produce this record we can look into works that Kurt has produced before including previous Code Orange albums and Kurt’s own band Converge to see if we can identify any specific reoccurring sounds or styles that we could replicate.

Research – Superheaven (Daylight)

Superheaven (formerly known as daylight) are an alternative rock band from Pennsylvania that formed in 2008 and we active until 2016. Unlike Title fight we struggled It find information about the recording techniques for Superheaven that Will Yip would have employed so most of our research ill be comparative. We looked specifically into the song i’ve been bored and focused on song structure and individual sounds and effects that we can detect through listening. As this is a grunge song we can look into the works of producers such as Steve Albini for inspiration.

Research – Angel Dust

Angel dust are a hardcore punk rock band from Maryland, Baltimore. We chose ‘Toxic Boombox’ as our example as we found it one of the more interesting songs. For this song we plan to get our friend Paul Chave from Grassic a local Lincoln band to do vocals and guitar as we feel that we will be able to replicate this sound better with him.

 

Here is a review of the album and specifically Will Yip’s production that we sourced from Pitchfork

“Will Yip’s production tends to be divisive in punk circles, but there’s no denying his ability to make bands in this realm sound like they could’ve snuck into a 1995 alt-rock station if things broke right; the stuttering vocals from  “Ready 2 Receive U” and “Upside Down” imagine if Cloud Nothings followed their pop-punk muse and worked with Rob Cavallo rather than Steve Albini. In other words, they’re about halfway between *Pinkerton *and Smash.”

Rob Cavallo worked on albums like ‘Dookie’ by greenday and ‘Dear you’ by Jawbreaker. These two albums are good reference points for production and highlights elements of 1990s productions styles that would be relevant in our work.

Research – Title Fight

One of the artists that Will Yip has worked with that we have chosen as one of our reference examples is Title Fight.

Title Fight are a Post-Hardcore band originating from Pennsylvania that formed in 2003 and have three albums so far and two were produced by Will Yip. We found a short documentary that is on Title Fight’s YouTube channel about recording their album Floral Green with Will. In this video they talk about the process of recording and why they decided to do things such as record a song a day instead of all of the drum tracks at once and layer guitar sounds. This video does focus more on the band itself than in depth information about Will Yip’s production but does contain useful tips as to how to work well with clients and different methods of recording for different sounds.  Because they mention tracking everything individually and layering guitars this is how we plan to record this song.