Frisbee is perhaps my band's greatest achievement to date, and I'm very proud of it.
Frisbee was written in 2020 by the legendary Jon "Twittles" Jinouves It was recorded over the excessive span of two years, and was finally finished in February of 2022.
For additional background on the song, check out my original article about Frisbee.
Acoustic guitar
Although we had some great guitar tracks recorded, they were still lacking something. Since the song is so rhythmically driven, the guitars ended up sounding "mushy" or a bit boring compared to the drums and bass. I felt fairly frustrated by the mix and the results I was getting. Once again putting the project aside for several months while I focused on other songs. Then one day I was listening to 2112 by Rush, when I had an epiphany. I was listening to Lessons when I remembered another old mixing technique I learned about during my hours of YouTube consumption in high school.
Mixing an acoustic guitar with an electric guitar can often lead to a much clearer sound. I theorized that recording an accompanying acoustic guitar track for the song would solve the "mushy" guitar problem.
At first Jon was a bit hesitant, but after I sent him some examples of what I was thinking of, he hopped right on board.
We recorded a few live takes of the song in stereo, and ended up with a practically perfect take. When paired with some Equalizer magic, the acoustic guitar fit perfectly into the mix and the mushy problem was solved!
Synth Frosting
After recording drums, Guitar, and Bass, I believed the song was practically finished. However Jon had been listening to a lot of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and felt inspired by their synth use.
Jon encouraged me to add some of what he likes to call "Synth Frosting". This refers to additional sound textures and maybe slight melodic content to add what we in the business like to call "a spot o' pizzazz" to a track.
For a good while I was completely stumped on where this 'Synth Frosting' needed to sit within the song.
By this point in time, it was December of 2021, and we had decided to attempt to release Frisbee in the next few months.
Still stumped on synths, I felt rather uninspired. That is, until I found just the thing necessary for inspiration.
As is the case for many people, my music consumption tends to change a bit during the month of December. This year was no exception. I began listening to all my Christmas favorites. One of which was, of course, Mannheim Steamroller.
I realized that the way Mannheim Steamroller approaches the 'Synth Frosting' concept was perfect for Frisbee. Synthesizers can operate as simple sound effect fills and still add a ton to a song.
The perfect opportunity to finish Frisbee was the silver lining to what would have been a rather boring time. I had been living in Salt Lake for a month during Christmas. Two days before I was planning on traveling back to Cedar City, I tested positive for COVID 19.
Luckily I had both of my analog synthesizers, a spring reverb, and everything I needed to record all of the 'Synth frosting'. Which I did.
Organ
While I've actually owned a second-hand Hammond Organ for over a year now, it was not in Salt Lake during my quarantine.
How then was I to record an organ solo for Frisbee?
Well, by some amazing timing and chance, by Great Aunt Betty decided to give me her vintage Thomas 1975 organ right after Christmas! (She was moving and didn't have room for it anymore)
This organ has several interesting capabilities, including a basic ribbon controller/manual arpeggiator that I used several times to make interesting sound effects and textures for Frisbee!
Mixing/mastering
After hours and hours, I finally polished the mix to near-perfection. With help from Reggie Van Hecke, our drummer, I was able to get an exceptionally clean master as well!
You can check out Frisbee by Harding Avenue on all your favorite streaming platforms starting March 22, 2022!
You can pre-save the single here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/hardingavenue/frisbee-2
Or buy it now on Band camp!: https://hardingavenue.bandcamp.com/releases
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