Worked on "Duet By Myself" last night. Another song that I sing the lead part and Lexi sings backup - usually it's the other way around. We're getting my stuff out of the way first before we delve into all of Lexi's songs.
We recorded both parts and were pretty happy with how it was sounding by the end of the night. We still have to do Jen's harmony on the chorus and then that's it for vocals. Once again, it took me a while to get my part to where I was happy with it. After a few takes I tend to lose all perspective and have to be told "That was good, keep it" or "That was off, do it again" and occasionally, "You suck, who ever told you you could sing was lying." I always reach a point eventually where everything sounds bad to me and that's why it's critical to have a producer/engineer who knows how to work with singers. Which is why Jason is so invaluable. He's very patient and has a good ear for vocals. And doesn't seem to mind the tedium of listening to me record take after take.
We double-tracked Lexi's backup vocal part to get that cool 70s effect and it sounds really good. She has a knack for singing something exactly the same way twice, which is not as easy as it sounds.
No recording next week as it's Christmas and everyone has plans of various kinds but we'll be back at it after the holiday.
We have a couple gig announcements coming soon - one definite, one probable. Stay tuned...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
interview
I did an interview tonight with Rege Behe from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review as part of an article he's doing about local songwriters. Rege seems to be focusing on songwriting itself and tracing how songs are written from start to finish, which is a cool approach and allows for some substantive discussion of the creative process. Some of the people he's interviewing are real luminaries on the local music scene - I won't name names before the article is published - and some are songwriters who maybe aren't as well known but are distinguished by their talent, so it's a good mix and a real honor to be asked to participate. (I fall into a third category, "Hacks who were interviewed for no apparent reason.") The interview itself was fun - Rege started off with some questions about influences and songwriting philosophy, then had me talk about how a specific song came about, the whys and wherefores, and then at the end I played the song I'd been talking about. The song I picked was "Don't Look Down," one of our newer songs that Jen sings. It'll be on the CD. I can't wait for everyone to hear the finished version of this song. Jen sings it beautifully.
The article comes out sometime early in January I believe, with a multmedia component on the Trib website with video of all the interviews and songs. Again, I won't say who else is in the article, but let's just say it's good company and I really feel honored to be part of it. Thanks, Rege.
The article comes out sometime early in January I believe, with a multmedia component on the Trib website with video of all the interviews and songs. Again, I won't say who else is in the article, but let's just say it's good company and I really feel honored to be part of it. Thanks, Rege.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Recording Report: 12/10/08
So we had our first recording session at Joe’s last night. I thought it went really well. We only worked on one song (“Team Doubtful”) because there was some setup time necessary to get the song ready. That was my fault for mistakenly picking a song from the 2nd batch that I thought was from the 1st. The 1st batch songs are already set up, tracks named, etc. – those were the ones that Daryl, Jen and I have already done guitar/keyboard overdubs for. We could have saved time last night if I had picked one of those to work on but I’m a little slow sometimes, as you know.
It actually didn’t take Jason very long to get the song set up and me working on my vocal. Over about 90 minutes I managed to stitch together what will hopefully be the final lead vocal on the song. We eventually settled on a system where instead of singing the entire song all the way through and going back in search of things to fix, we took it section by section, doing a little bit at a time, playing it back and deciding if it’s OK or needs another go, then moving on to the next section. That’s probably how I’ll record most of my vocal parts. It always takes me many takes to get my vocals right. Jason was great about making sure we didn’t move on until it sounded good in every way - pitch, energy, feel, etc. I asked him to be strict when we record vocals but it was obvious I didn't have to ask - he has good engineer's instincts about that and has a great "bedside manner" when it comes to pushing a singer to do better without bumming them out. We picked a good producer.
So of course after the grueling hour and a half it took me to record my part, Lexi sauntered up to the mic and nailed her part in two takes flat. Didn’t even set down her wine glass – didn’t need to. Great job. I never really heard her harmonies on this song clearly before and they’re very cool.
I was also relieved to discover that the guitars on Team Doubtful are only the scratch guitars from the original session at Rick’s – since I thought at first it was a “1st batch” song, I thought it was one of the ones we had already done final guitars for. Freaked me out until I realized they were only the scratch guitars. I can confirm that the scratch guitars do NOT sound good. At all. God almighty, they sound horrible. Looking forward to putting the real guitars on there.
Joe was also a huge help last night too, sticking around and helping Jason get accustomed to the setup, listening and offering a lot of good suggestions and opinions. Joe, please feel free to sit in on these sessions anytime you want (the fact that it’s your house notwithstanding) – your input is highly valued. And huge thanks once again for letting us do this at your place and on your gear. You are the coolest.
So I’m going to map out a little bit of a recording schedule so we know who’s on deck and what songs we’re doing. We’ll put Team Doubtful aside for now and go back to the first batch of 7 songs that already have most of the basic tracks completed. They are: Crash and Burn, The Stranger in You, Lovers Hell, Ain’t It Better Now, Mechanical Heart, Haight St., and Duet By Myself. We'll keep the focus on vocals for now, although there is plenty of guitar and keyboard yet to do. The vocals are always the hardest work and I would like to start making some headway. Then we can go back and do the other overdubs.
So even though we only got one song done, I felt like it was a good night’s work and I’m optimistic that now that we're rolling, we’ll be able to knock out at least two, or maybe more, songs per session. It’s going to be exciting to hear some of these songs start taking shape! I know I’m excited, at least. The rest of you, just rattle your jewelry.
Next session: Wednesday, Dec. 17, 7:00 PM.
It actually didn’t take Jason very long to get the song set up and me working on my vocal. Over about 90 minutes I managed to stitch together what will hopefully be the final lead vocal on the song. We eventually settled on a system where instead of singing the entire song all the way through and going back in search of things to fix, we took it section by section, doing a little bit at a time, playing it back and deciding if it’s OK or needs another go, then moving on to the next section. That’s probably how I’ll record most of my vocal parts. It always takes me many takes to get my vocals right. Jason was great about making sure we didn’t move on until it sounded good in every way - pitch, energy, feel, etc. I asked him to be strict when we record vocals but it was obvious I didn't have to ask - he has good engineer's instincts about that and has a great "bedside manner" when it comes to pushing a singer to do better without bumming them out. We picked a good producer.
So of course after the grueling hour and a half it took me to record my part, Lexi sauntered up to the mic and nailed her part in two takes flat. Didn’t even set down her wine glass – didn’t need to. Great job. I never really heard her harmonies on this song clearly before and they’re very cool.
I was also relieved to discover that the guitars on Team Doubtful are only the scratch guitars from the original session at Rick’s – since I thought at first it was a “1st batch” song, I thought it was one of the ones we had already done final guitars for. Freaked me out until I realized they were only the scratch guitars. I can confirm that the scratch guitars do NOT sound good. At all. God almighty, they sound horrible. Looking forward to putting the real guitars on there.
Joe was also a huge help last night too, sticking around and helping Jason get accustomed to the setup, listening and offering a lot of good suggestions and opinions. Joe, please feel free to sit in on these sessions anytime you want (the fact that it’s your house notwithstanding) – your input is highly valued. And huge thanks once again for letting us do this at your place and on your gear. You are the coolest.
So I’m going to map out a little bit of a recording schedule so we know who’s on deck and what songs we’re doing. We’ll put Team Doubtful aside for now and go back to the first batch of 7 songs that already have most of the basic tracks completed. They are: Crash and Burn, The Stranger in You, Lovers Hell, Ain’t It Better Now, Mechanical Heart, Haight St., and Duet By Myself. We'll keep the focus on vocals for now, although there is plenty of guitar and keyboard yet to do. The vocals are always the hardest work and I would like to start making some headway. Then we can go back and do the other overdubs.
So even though we only got one song done, I felt like it was a good night’s work and I’m optimistic that now that we're rolling, we’ll be able to knock out at least two, or maybe more, songs per session. It’s going to be exciting to hear some of these songs start taking shape! I know I’m excited, at least. The rest of you, just rattle your jewelry.
Next session: Wednesday, Dec. 17, 7:00 PM.
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