The Dropa Stone Official Band Website!

The Dropa Stone

NEW ALBUM UPDATE! 10-4-11

As you all know, we have been recording a brand new album over the past several months. The process of recording this album has been both inspiring and invigorating for the band. We all enjoy the process of creating the songs and watching them develop. There has been plenty of spontaneous “on the spot” playing that have taken songs to new heights. Days have started very early in the morning with a fresh pot of coffee and extend throughout the day. This builds a lot of camaraderie amongst us and our producer, Justin Beckler. Working with him has been an awesome process and we are so glad to have him on our side. He was even kind enough to jump onstage at a show and perform with us recently.

Currently, we are in the final stages of mastering the record and are working on the artwork. We have a talented graphic artist assisting us with the art and it is coming out terrific. There is a definitive concept behind the illustrations and much of the music. (Think Michealangelo meets Galileo ;) We will be revealing the title of the record and some of the art in the next few blog updates. The hope is to have the art completed soon so we can send out the discs to be printed. Overall, nine brand new original songs have been tracked and we are stoked about it! We cannot wait until the release day comes for all of you to listen to the tunes!

For now, you can check out a glimpse of new music right here at www.TheDropaStone.com . A brand new song hould be playing automatically as you check out the site. If you would like to download a high quality MP3 of the new song, it is available on iTunes and Amazon.

Thanks for all of your continued support, we appreciate it and can’t wait to get this album out soon. Look for viral video content from the recording sessions to be uploaded soon so keep checking back for sneak peaks and videos!

Peace,

TDS

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New Album Coming Soon! 5-31-11

Before jumping right into specifics on the musical approach and “gear-head” aspect with recording, we thought it would be cool to provide a little bit of background insight into the many aspects throughout the journey.

Prior to deciding where we would be recording the album, we had been discussing turning our house into a studio. Being that this is where we spend the bulk of our time jamming and rehearsing, it just made the most sense. Ultimately, it was decided that this was the path we were going to take because it would provide the right atmosphere for creativity and comfort.

These days, many modern recording techniques and sampling have taken the art out of the studio album. Three rules we all agreed on: No Auto-tune, no drum samples and no use of melodyne. The band wanted to approach this album by capturing an organic “moment in time” approach and a return to emphasizing on real performance, song-writing and instrumentation. We decided to track the drums and bass live together at the same time and then guitars and vocals will come after. Two songs even ended up being recorded with the full band live at the same time.

Will and Joe ended up tracking all the songs in two days of intense playing and coffee. There was a lot of spontaneous playing and that is the "moment in time" element we wanted to capture. Jon and Justin now had a vehicle to supply their spacey textures, riffs and some guitar shredding!

The next step was deciding who we wanted to work with as a producer and engineer. So far in the bands history, we have had the pleasure of working with some really talented individuals. For our debut E.P. release in 2008, we worked with Justin Thomas. He is an exceptional talent and well known to musicians and patrons for his high quality work.

Choosing A Producer

While going through a number of candidates, we met with Justin Beckler for some coffee and immediately knew we wanted to work with him. Music journalist Jim Abbot has named him as one of the top go to producers in the industry today and he has been an incredible guiding energy through the process thus far. We had many great moments during the pre-production sessions for the album when we were deciding which material to use. A total of 9 new songs are going to be on the LP and some of you may even recognize certain riffs that the band used during live jams and older tunes.

Using his knowledge as a producer and musician, Beckler has a knack of knowing how to elevate a musician’s game and bring the best out of all of us. As a band, we do our best at maintaining a strong work ethic towards our craft. His philosophy and dedication to music as an art definitely mirrors that of our own and we are extremely excited to have him with us during this eventful and creative journey! STAY TUNED for behind the scenes snippets from the studio.