inside//outside

The old way of recording records has completely ceased to be relevant in today’s new, independent music landscape. And although it seems like a freeing and wonderful new paradigm to be able to have complete control over one’s own music from recording to distribution to promotion, it can be daunting without any clear path through the wilderness.

Our band, Inside//Outside, found ourselves in the tricky position of having one of our band members leaving for Belgium after only a few months making music together as a band (we’d all played together in the past in other various bands). We wanted to get record as much as we could to make sure that the music we had written could get out there, and, being fresh out of school, our budget was extremely small. We needed somebody to record it who was sensitive to what we were doing musically (not quite jazz, not quite electronic), and had the know-how to engineer and mix a quality album.



Fortunately, we lucked out in getting hooked up with Jonathan Stein, Candid Music Group co-founder who at the had at the time a small basement recording setup (this was before Candid moved into their new studio). Our aspirations were huge, and we really pushed his setup at the time to the limits of what it could realistically do, but we were able to track 7 songs within the span of two days. Later on, we piano, a string quartet, guitar (Elliott Klein), trumpet (Candid’s Ivan Rosenberg) and soprano sax (Jonathan Ragonese) to do overdubs. This, on top of our “pedal tap dance” that the three of us had worked out, made for quite the intense couple of days recording a DIY record that didn’t compromise quality for price.

Here are some tips from our experience with that that we learned while doing the session. There are plenty of things we’ll do differently next time, but these were the things we felt we did right.

1. Come prepared

Even though we were only together as a band for a couple months, we rehearsed and gigged the music that we wrote extensively in the weeks prior to our two back-to-back recording sessions. We checked craigslist and booked as many hole-in-the-wall places to go out and play the music as we could. The result was music that we knew inside and out, and even accounting for mistakes, overdubs and splices, we tracked live bass, drums and keyboards for seven songs at the rate of a song per hour. Barring the occasional clam here or there, the editing of our parts during the mixing process was a breeze.

Our big mistake was not allotting enough rehearsal time for our string quartet. Although the players we found were amazing musicians, the music we wrote was fiendishly difficult, and we had a lot of problems with intonation and timing that took a lot of time to finesse in post-production.



2. Come up with a game plan

This is part of being prepared. You should be flexible with your game plan and plan for contingencies should they occur, but it’s a good idea to have an itinerary. Are you going to record everybody playing at once? Bass/Drums first? Drums first? Doing full takes and then splicing them together? In what order will you record your songs? Will you use a click? Note, I strongly recommend you do not record to click if you’ve never done so before.

3. Get the right engineer

Like I mentioned before, we got lucky with Jonathan as our recording engineer, because he had the musical and technical knowledge to immediately “get” what we were trying to do. I’ve acted as a sideman for other recording sessions where the engineer didn’t have a clue on how to approach what the artist was doing, and as a result, the final mix was not a great representation of what the artist was trying to do. We definitely put a lot of pressure on Jonathan to get the right mix and get the right sound that we were hearing in our heads, but he came through, and the result is music that we’re very proud of.

4. Keep the session moving

It’s easy to record take after take looking when you’re at home in your pajamas recording through a POD into Logic, but when you’re recording in a studio, it’s important to get into the right mindset. You will make mistakes, but the goal in these situations isn’t to be perfect, but to stay as focused and relaxed as you possibly can. If you’re well-rehearsed and know the material, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of takes in order to nail it. Otherwise, you’ll get sucked into doing take after take in order to get “the best one,” which incredibly grueling, not to mention a waste of time. Fortunately, for us, we’ve had that experience with other bands, and made it a point not to let it happen.

5. Challenge yourself (and your budget)

Our tiny budget got us extremely far, mainly because we didn’t even consider the possibility that it would hold us back. We had severe limitations with Jonathan’s setup at the time that left us having to adapt and do some fancy things in post-production, but we saved time and money by doing some of the overdubs ourselves, and really stretched musically. If you can, do your own overdubs of instruments that don’t have any acoustic signature (guitar through POD, bass guitar, synths, samples, etc), and then hook everything back up later when you’re sitting down with your engineer to mix. - Candid Music Group (US)

Bassist Adam Neely sent this awesome video of his band Inside//Outside playing his composition “Effervescent”. The Brooklyn-based 4-stringer describes the tune as odd-metered nu-jazz with a distorted trumpet solo, 8-bit drums, and (our favorite part) a bitcrushed bass solo that starts at the 2:05 mark.

We describe it as awesome. - NoTreble.com

If you read this musicblog closely you will find out that I’m a sucker for weirdy instrumental music, music played by nerds for nerds (and I mean that as a compliment !). And I found another one on Bandcamp: Inside//Outside is the apt name for this NY-based trio. After listening to their self titled debut album I’m indeed turned inside out by their sparkling mix of jazz, progressive rock, electronic music. They sometimes even throw in some mathcore elements as well.

According to their bio the threesome see themselves as “a power trio for the 21st century” and I can only agree with that. Formed in the spring of 2012 the band grew out of a collaboration between Belgian keyboardist Wim Leysen, and the American rhythm section of Adam Neely & Shawn Crowder. All three already have earned their musical experiences, performing and recording in numerous collaborations. Wim studied at the Manhattan School of Music (funded by the Belgian American Educational Foundation), Shawn holds a regular teaching position at the Berklee Percussion Festival and Adam finally has a broad live experience.

Aided by guest musicians they create a overwhelming musical journey with very fresh ideas, mainly with the use of electronics. Or in their own words: “….like to play with gadgets and loud amplifiers, experimental, exciting, effervescent, elemental and fun !”

The 8 well crafted compositions throw you in a rollercoaster ride of changing moods and styles, not only between the tracks but in them as well. - Spotlight on Music (The Netherlands)

Playing almost like a soundtrack to the DC Animated Movie, Batman Year One based on the comic book series by Frank Miller, this New York trio sets the scenery of Rock In Opposition, Jazz, and Krautrock combined into one as if Radiohead, Magma, Miles Davis, and Tangerine Dream had teamed up to create this mind-blowing electronic experimental album like you’ve never experienced before from start to finish. Inside // Outside is one of the most remarkable up-and-coming bands to carry the spirits of the three genres and it’s a knockout with their first sole self-titled debut

The band consists of Adam Neely on Bass, Wim Leysen on keyboards, and Shawn Crowder on Drums and percussion. And their music cast a magic spell with electronic passages filled with Avant-Garde noises and Fender Rhodes with Moog Synths carrying the reminiscent of the early ‘70s and ‘80s 8-bit video game music and Bass guitar lines creating some thumping and touching workout like a jet engine flying over you 600 miles per hour. Wim Leysen is creating some beautiful layered sound on his keyboard to capture the sounds of Herbie Hancock, Dave Stewart of Egg, Mike Ratledge, and Thelonious Monk as well.


Thunderous Bass work along with some Fuzz tone structures to create a heavy metallic razor sharp noise that comes out of nowhere, Neely soars into the skies as he goes along for the ride and drummer Shawn Crowder percussion work is a wowing experience that goes from fusion into electronic beats that sets the dystopian nightmare. And adding the sounds of the string quartet, soprano saxophone, trumpet, and guitar, you have embarked on a strange, surreal, nightmarish and amazing journey that will take you into the distant cosmic voyages of time and space.


With alarming loud noises, gadgets, and experiments to go along with Inside // Outside’s inspirational influence in their music, it is quite clear that this group are hopefully going to receive word of mouth from the underground scene and the Jazz Rock community, which is quite understandable into ambient beauty, moving and soothe compositions into a wildly enjoying pleasure. I have listened to this three times already, and I have to say I’m completely impressed of what I’m hearing and they make the music an amusing yet exciting experience that I can’t wait to see what will they will have next up their sleeves for the near future. - Music from the Other Side of the Room (US)

Acoustic and electric music from three young people who develop their subjects with total mastery, great musical sense and feeling in their execution. It shows that they enjoy playing and experimenting which leads to an optimistic proposal of high quality. A great synchronization between the three musicians of inside / / outside gives rise to musical moments of peak freshness that seems to sprout spontaneously in every second of their music. Despite their youth, they are a few veterans of their own. - Caja de Pandora (SPAIN)

lets take a stroll off the path for a moment.
Brooklyn Trio inside//outside just dropped their deput and I've gotta say
right out of the gates its a dazzler...Highly recommend if your into excellent jazz that is interested in pushing some boundaries. Very atmospheric. Very tasty.

ps track three is like some kind of electro djent jazz monster. throwing a violin solo in the middle? genius.

If you enjoy the process of sound entering your ears. this will make you smile so many times the outsides of your face might hurt. - Plenty of Swords (US)