Kassiopeia Weekly – 08·17·2025

Back from a break

Banger Alert ⚡

We tracked vocals for Apex last week and it sounds amazing.

I had back-to-back family and work trips, so we missed a couple weeks of updates, then I didn’t get around to posting last week. But we’re back, and we’ve got two big updates to share.

Apex Vocals Locked In

We finally tracked the final vocals for Apex — and I’m beyond stoked with how it turned out. The old demo vocals and mix were really lacking, but with the new takes and tweaks the song has been pushed right to the front of our setlist.

We already knew this one had “single material” written all over it — it’s got dancy grooves woven into punk and hardcore sections. Zane’s vocal work really locks in with the rhythm, and we’ve managed to add a new layer of catchiness without losing the raw edge of our style. It clocks in at about 4:30, but nothing feels overdone — which is always something we strive for.

Guitar Tone Hunt 🔊

I also did a fresh round of reamping to lock in my tone before I commit to doing the whole record in one session. Pretty sure I’ve finally nailed the chain — and it matches exactly what I’ll be using live.

Main rig (for ~95% of the album):

Guitar: MIJ Fender Telecaster, bridge pickup. Planning on grabbing another Tele for backup live.
Chain:
- Polytune Tuner (mostly backup to my clip-on StroboclipHD at home)
- Ibanez Tubescreamer TS-808 (boost pedal, always on, tone maxed, drive low — doubles as a crunchy “clean”)
- Boss Heavy Metal HM-2 (’86 model off reverb, ~50% distortion — Got it as a meme pedal for heavier parallel tracks but surprisingly clear and works beautifully with single coils)
- Keeley Caverns (for clean sections — not the exact sound from Guitar Rig, but honestly better)
- MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe (lead melodies, 3rd octave+, dirty tape-style repeats with light modulation)
Amp: Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170
Cab: Homemade birch 2×12 (Celestion V30 + Creamback). Built like a tank and oversized — might get another box or at least add corner protectors before shows.
Mic: Shure SM57, perpendicular to the box, just off center between dustcap and cone.

I feel like with my current settings, I was able to use pretty minimal EQ to get something that fit in well with the rest of the mix while still sounding very present.

Bonus: Cover Song 🎤🎸

Yesterday we wrapped vocals on our cover of “Begin Again” by Purity Ring.

Its not your typical cover. The nature of this song actually having 0 guitar in it was the best part. Since we dont have melodic singing vocals I transcribed most of the vocal melodies into guiar riffs. Then we get to alter the knobs of how much we follow that melody as we go, Sometime Zane goes right with it and other times we both do our own things and get to blur in and out of it as a metalcore/punk song all of our own almost.

It actually worked out really nicely with the style we developed. So, im very pleased. We wrapped up the final vocal takes for that and Zane will be arranging/editing them soon so we will have a nearly done version of that to check off the list as well.

What’s Next

Two songs left until all tracking is complete, then it’s on to full-on mixing.

Next up: Immure Me Not!
We’ve been saving this one for last on purpose — it’s shaping up to be a Kassiopeia classic.