For the Fallen Dreams - Relentless

[ArroldW]

I can't believe no one has talked about this album yet. I am in love with everything about this record. I just have a few curios production questions about it.


1. Did FTFD write everything/majority of the record in studio with you? And speaking of; are there any parts you played on the album? [Just curious because you had said that you write with a lot of your bands recently, but this was released in 2009]

2. Changes' was programmed drums and Relentless was real overheads and triggered drums [unless I am mistaken]. For the overheads, did you hi-pass at 800 and limit the snare out? Was there a room mic during drum tracking or just spot mics on all of the cymbals? And were any of the shell drums blended with the slate samples on this record?

3. And as far as the vocals [screams], for me, this record had a lot more grit/gain on the screams [kind of like OM&M's latest record {2011}]. Just wondering what the processing of the screaming were. And if there was less grit on the screams [just for that vocalist's style] would the screams sound bad? There seems to be a lot of layered takes for almost every line so I didn't know if the gain added more of a "performance enhancer"

I know its been a few years since you've working on this record Joey, but any info would be awesome. Cheers!

 

[OneDaySky]

I also love this album, been listening to it for the past month on repeat in my car.

 

[ArroldW]

I also love this album, been listening to it for the past month on repeat in my car.

+1 one of my favorites for mr sturgis

 

[OneDaySky]

Love the guitar tone, raw and chunky.

 

[gotet10]

This is by far my favorite Sturgis album ever.

 

[Seth Munson]

1. Did FTFD write everything/majority of the record in studio with you? And speaking of; are there any parts you played on the album? [Just curious because you had said that you write with a lot of your bands recently, but this was released in 2009]

2. Changes' was programmed drums and Relentless was real overheads and triggered drums [unless I am mistaken]. For the overheads, did you hi-pass at 800 and limit the snare out? Was there a room mic during drum tracking or just spot mics on all of the cymbals? And were any of the shell drums blended with the slate samples on this record?

Lets see if I can help with some of these.

1. I know Andrew (old drummer) wrote a bunch of the stuff. I'm sure Joey did the typical help with transitions and tempos bit but I dunno about actual writing. I remember seeing a picture of Andrew sitting at Joey's desk and was programming in Cubase. I'm sure he was just doing some pre pro type stuff.

2. There was a room mic, I want to say on Joey's old myspace profile he had a set of pictures from the FTFD sessions and there were several pictures of the drum setup. (I know they have a studio vlog as well, will try to find and post it) but there was definitely a room mic and it doesnt really sound like Joey HP'd all the way up that far. 800 is a bit extreme.

 

[Fandus]

I know Andrew (old drummer) wrote a bunch of the stuff.

That makes sense. Explains the sound change to the latest release.

 

[chamberlainwaits]

As far as any For The Fallen Dreams recorded material pre-dating "Back Burner" (including the "Strange Faces" single) goes, about 90% of the music was written and recorded by ex-drummer Andrew Tkaczyk (The Ghost Inside). There are bits and pieces of "Relentless" tracked or "co-written" by guitarist Jim Hocking (solo type leads) and ex-guitarist Chris Cain (see "December Everyday"). The band entered the Foundation with about 70% of the record demo'd so it's very likely roughly 2-3 tracks were composed with Joey during the tracking phase.