After years of chasing the sound they heard in their heads, the New Year’s Eve release of Crash stands as a landmark for the Florida based band Oblivious Signal. The band is finally able to hear the song they wrote played back to them through the speakers.
Having recorded with several producers, including well known studios, hard rock band Oblivious Signal just released two new singles, “Retribution” and “Again,” self-recorded and produced in the band’s own private studio. With the experience of years of producing other artists, front woman Cristina T Feliciano finally stepped onto the other side of the board for her own band.
The results have been a mix of painstaking, time consuming, perfectionism and inarguably the best sound to come from Oblivious Signal so far.
Yet sel- recording isn’t an easy task, nor is letting go and calling it a ‘take’. Below is the good and the bad of laying down your own tracks and putting to bed the guitar lines… when you know you could just run through it one more time … or a couple of hundred.
Because what’s another 60 hours of studio time between friends?
******
Guitar International: Oblivious Signal’s new single, “Crash,” is scheduled to be released on New Years Eve. After hearing it we have to ask about the inspiration for the song. How you think it will be received coming out just after The Fast and The Furious’ Paul Walker’s devastating accident?
Christina Feliciano: The song is being scheduled to release on New Years with the music video shortly after. We hope the song will be received positively as an eye opener. “Crash” is about a close friend in my past, who unfortunately was under the influence and drove off from a party and was tragically killed. It was one of those moments in my life that was just so surreal and has greatly impacted me as a human being to make a difference and touch on such a serious topic that does not get as much attention as it should.
The incident happened 10 years ago and is something that will always stay with me, because in my mind I always feel I could have done something different. Most people always feel that remorse and tend to shut down, but the way I deal with things is by trying to prevent it and making a difference.
In light of recent incidents with the Paul Walker tragedy, our hearts do go out to his family and friends. We hope that this song is seen as something positive that gives out a message of awareness, through a different story. We will be making sure that all video footage in our upcoming music video is as sensitive to the topic as can be, while still getting the message across of the story we are trying to portray within the lyrics of the song.
GI: What is the hardest part of self-producing?
Christina Feliciano: The hardest part is coordinating everyone’s schedule to come in and get everything done. Because we are doing it ourselves, self -producing gives a sense of relief in terms of what you want, but that can also work against you if you procrastinate. Self-producing can also be a little tedious because no matter how perfect the mix is…it never is as perfect as you want. I know I am my worst critic.
Nick Orisino: I agree with Cristina about getting everyone together, but when we do we make the most of it, getting as much done as possible. I feel because we want to make the song the best it can be, we change things around and add new aspects of the songs. Something we like one day, the next we could scrap, try something new until the it felt right. It is time consuming but totally worth it.
GI: How has this experience differed, both good and bad, from recording in the studio?
Christina Feliciano: Great, because we can have the sound we have always wanted. We worked with quality producers and studios in the past, but felt like no one ever listened to things, such as just how heavy we wanted the guitars, or how we wanted the drums or vocals to sound. We felt like everyone we worked with tried to make our music their own, which is fine, but not when dedicating a large amount of funds to the project.
For some reason everyone tried to make our music sound like pop rock, which just wasn’t us. Now with us recording everything, we can make it as heavy or grungy as we want.
The down side is not having all the extra equipment these studios have that make mixing a lot easier. I know my final mix is done after several runs to my sound system in the car as final references. In a state of the art studio, I wouldn’t have to do that as much.
Nick Orisino: I felt more freedom in many ways. We had as much time as we needed to track and for post-production. Didn’t have to work around a studio’s busy schedule. We have noticed that some producers had different feelings on which way the song should feel that were different from what we felt when we wrote it. So, doing it ourselves definitely was more rewarding in my opinion.
As far as tracking, I felt that it was the same as a pro studio. I felt really comfortable taking as much time as I need to get the riffs perfect. The mass array of tones and effects I had at my disposal were great and I think we made the best of it.
GI: What was your motive, and eventually what put you over the edge, to decide to record your own tracks?
Christina Feliciano: Spending way too much money and not being happy with the end product. This happened so many times that I finally decided to step up and learn how to do this stuff myself. And out came out great mixes like “Retribution” our first self-produced single. After listening to the quality and how well everything came out, we decided this was the route we were going and had been missing for so long.
Nick Orisino: Every time we write a new song we always tracked it on our own first then took it to the studio to use as a reference when we would track for the album. We asked ourselves “Why are we spending so much money when we could do it on our own?”
That was a big motive for us. By saving that money we could use those funds for other needs, like merch and promos.
GI: Nick, How would you describe your guitar sound on the album, and to both of you, how did you go about getting the particular sound for each of the songs?
Christina Feliciano: Guitar Rig, believe it or not, and lots of EQ, compression, and reverb, all DI’d in. This guitar sound matches Nick’s live guitar sound like no other.
Nick Orisino: Yep, we spent many hours getting that tone to where we wanted it. But once we had it we knew it was perfect for the feel we were going for.
I use lots of highs and bottom and just a pinch of mids. Once we stacked the tracks a few times the tone really became what we were looking for. The beefy tone does match my live sound perfectly, and I use all the same modulations live as I do on the mixes.
I really enjoyed using Guitar Rig, it is probably the best software I’ve ever used in regards to getting my recording tone to where I feel it should be.
GI: How would you describe the “Again” and “Retribution,” from both artist and production standpoints?
Christina Feliciano: “Retribution” is a guitar driven, heavy, modern-rock song with a catchy hook. The song is about going back to the mindset where the artistic visions and inspirations that lead to great music are born, in this case pain and experiences.
Again is another heavy song, but more melodic. It showcases Jason’s drums like no other song. That song is about doing something and not regretting it, no matter how bad it is because it was a choice that you decided to make to begin with. It’s about taking ownership of actions.
From a production standpoint…as the producer I would describe them as a pain in the ass! Nah, in all reality they were very tedious songs to produce. Making sure every little aspect was on time and that all the instruments came out at just the right moments was something that took a lot of patience, especially for someone as new to the recording aspect as myself. They were a blast to record, because none of us really knew what to expect when I was done. We were very pleased with both tracks after the long days of mixing and nit picking every part of it.
GI: What equipment was used in the production and post-production of the music? What guitars? I understand that post production gets interesting in Oblivious Signal’s world?
Christina Feliciano: Most instruments were Direct Input. I used a few MXL condenser microphones and the Blue Woodpecker Ribbon Mic to record vocals. The rest was courtesy of Mercury Waves Plugins and Logic alongside Guitar Rig, and Steven Slate’s Drum Software.
The major component of a great mix for those two songs was my Hyundai Sonata’s Definitive Badass Sound system. I think my neighbors weren’t too appreciative of it, but hey, the fans are! Many times when my PR girl called me to find out how the songs were doing, I was in the middle of running back and forth from the car listening to different bounces.
Nick Orisino: I used 2 different guitars on these tracks. One was my ESP EC 400, which I used for the lower tuned songs, which had EMG 81s Active pickups. I love the darker tone I get from this guitar for my rhythm sections. The other was my ESP H 1001 Deluxe, which have EMG 81s and 85s. I used this guitar for the brighter rhythm sections and for all my leads. I also used my Dunlop 535Q Multi Wah Crybaby. I never leave home without it.
GI: What are the two best pieces of advice you would each give to other artists who are considering self-production of their music?
Christina Feliciano: Jump right in and watch as many YouTube videos as you can to learn about what EQ’ing and Compression do. I watched Pensado’s Place on YouTube and subscribed to recording magazines to learn and soak up as much as I could. Don’t be afraid of trial and error, and if you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask others more experienced than you. Also use reference tracks from your favorite artists to make sure you are on the right track to the sound you want to get. And set a timeline. If not you will sit around and procrastinate. It happens.
Nick Orisino: Make a goal and challenge yourself to reach it. Learn by doing it and from your mistakes. I think you will feel more free and able to express yourself more by doing it on your own and being able to truly call it your own. Spend those late nights trying out new ideas and seeing what clicks. Take advantage of doing it on your schedule and not having to be rushed.
