Recording report: 2/4/09

Great session last night starring Jen and Lexi, both of whom got a lot of good work done.

Have I mentioned what a joy it is to be in a band with these two women? Apart from being not hard to look at, they are both talented musicians and have great instincts for what to bring to a song. As I think I’ve mentioned before, the two of them have a strong connection when they sing that comes from having played in bands together for years, and their voices blend in a way that’s very distinctive and cool. Just a great sound.

Engineering/production duties were ably handled by Joe Stile while Jason was at home hanging out with Lucy Fisher. Joe recorded The Borderless Puzzle’s new CD (which is excellent, by the way) on this equipment so he was able to step in without a hitch. Like Jason, Joe has a knack for working with singers in a way that coaxes out the best performance without exhausting them. He got great work out of both of them last night.

Jen warmed up by laying down her backup vocal part for “Catch and Release.” It came quickly and she was able to match the phrasing of the lead vocal exactly. The only trouble spot came with the bridge – Jen was hitting the long trailing notes at the end of each line just fine, but something sounded off. We listened back to her track by itself, and her pitch was right on. We finally figured out that while both Lexi’s lead vocal and Jen’s backup part were on key, Lexi had used vibrato on the trailing notes and Jen was singing them straight-on. Normally that would be potentially a big problem – but Jen said, “OK, I’ll just vibrato it,” and she sang it again, exactly the same way but with just a little wiggle of vibrato at the end of each line. Now it matched Lexi’s vocal exactly and that slight oddness vanished – now it sounded great. Not many singers could do that so easily. Jen just shrugged and said, “I know how to channel Lexi.”

Her voice warmed up, Jen moved on to the lead vocal of “Don’t Look Down.” This song will be her biggest vocal showcase on the CD but that fact didn’t seem to rattle her at all – in fact she sang it in a very relaxed, easygoing manner that is perfect for the mood of the song. We talked about “groovy” soul records from the early 70s such as The Fifth Dimension, which is the general ballpark I was aiming for with this song. (I was thinking more Stylistics actually, but everybody keeps saying Fifth Dimension. Close enough.) Jen definitely “gets” this song and knocked the whole thing out in just a couple of takes. I think we worked on it for about 30 minutes start to finish, which is really quick for an entire lead vocal track. It sounds great and now we can start layering on the production. This is the one that I’m charting a horn section out for. I need to get on the ball and finish the charts because the time to schedule the horn players will be coming up soon and they’ll want some time to get familiar with the song before they come in.

Jen was on a roll now so we surged ahead to her co-lead vocal for “Pretend.” Completely different song than “Don’t Look Down” – this is a fast, clanging punk-pop song that sounds kind of like the early Jam. Just a fun blast of rock ’n roll. I’m really happy with the way the basic tracks have turned out. The guitars, bass and drums really have a raw, punky late-70s feel, which pleases me no end. (Kudos to Rod for writing this one.) By way of contrast with the backing tracks, the vocals have a sweet, girl-group quality. Lexi and Jen share the lead on this one, singing most of it in unison à la Bananarama, if Bananarama were better singers. Or maybe it sounds a little like Blondie…or a more rocking Pipettes. I don’t know. I just like it, whatever it sounds like. Jen banged this one out in about ½ hour as well, finishing it up just as Lexi arrived, so the timing was perfect.

At the session a couple weeks ago Lexi had requested that she not record her part for “Pretend” until she and Jen were there together. As she started working on her part I could see why – it was much easier to get the two performances in sync if they were both physically present in the room. With Jen’s track already laid down and in good shape, Lexi was able to match the phrasing exactly and we once again had a finished track very quickly.

“Pretend” got Lexi’s voice warmed up for “Edge of Forever,” which we had to start over on the lead vocal because we all forgot we changed the key after we did basic tracks. (I should say all of us forgot except Rod, but Rod hasn’t been to any of the recent sessions because he’s been busy at work.) At a vocal rehearsal at Jen’s house in November we raised the key up to B and all agreed that it sounded much stronger. The basic tracks were recorded at Rick’s in October in the key of A. We’d forgotten about that two weeks ago, and so we lost about an hour of Lexi’s work on the song from Jan. 21st. Not the end of the world, but I feel bad about wasting anybody’s time – we have to do so much schedule juggling to get together that every minute counts. At any rate, Lexi took the news like a soldier and got to work on singing it in the new key.

I could hear right away that the new key lends itself to a stronger vocal. Lexi had hit all the notes just fine when we had been recording in the lower key, but the lowest point of the melody went all the way down to the very bottom of her range and she wasn’t able to put much oomph into those notes. In the higher key, the whole melody is shifted more to the center of her range and just sounds better all-around. We stuck with the plan of recording the verses and choruses separately, and once again Lexi sang the verses very sweetly, with a lot of feeling. I can’t remember if she did just one take or two, but it wasn’t more than two. She did a really lovely job, as evidenced by how you could hear a pin drop in a room full of wisecracking smartasses. Everyone was moved.

Jen felt inspired to record her harmony on the verses while the right mood was still hanging in the air, so she jumped up and got behind the mic as soon as Lexi was finished. It was a good idea – Jen sang like an angel and hit her harmonies perfectly, not just in terms of pitch but emotionally in the way she matched the essence of Lexi’s performance and sang in total sympathy with it. They’re her harmonies, too, of her own invention, and they’re very creative and spot on. This is a song I was already proud of as a songwriter but Lexi and Jen have both added to it immeasurably. I know I gush over them too much, but I just can’t explain how happy it makes me to hear my songs being brought to greater life than I could ever give them myself – and it’s not just Jen and Lexi, of course, it’s the whole band. Even with many overdubs still to record, I already like the band version of this song way more than my demo. And I really worked on that demo, too! But I couldn’t be happier to hear it being rendered obsolete.

On a band unity note, we got a surprise guest appearance by none other than Rod Schwartz! Haven't seen Rod since December so that was a great surprise. He's back in the fold now after a hectic winter and plans to be at most, if not all, of the sessions from this point on - all to the good.

I think because we were jazzed from getting so much work done in one night, we were still raring to go at 10:00 PM and probably overplayed our hand (and maybe overstayed our welcome!) by trying to squeeze in still more work, this time on “Don’t Look Down.” So we spent another hour on work that was doomed. Lexi recorded her chorus harmony and sounded fine, but I let her get all the way through the song before suggesting she change the melody to something subtly different. I got up and tried to sing it myself, but my voice wasn’t warmed up and I sounded like a frog. It was late and I wasn’t communicating well, and everyone was all sung out and had had a couple glasses of wine. So the evening kind of ended with a whimper with everyone slightly frustrated and cranky because of the “Don’t Look Down” downer. We agreed to leave it alone for now and come back to it later. Should have quit while we were ahead. I take the blame!

Even though the hour had gotten really late, Joe was still nice enough to do a mixdown of a few of the songs so Rod can work on “Edge” at home and Lexi can play “Pretend” for her dad. Quite a guy, that Joe Stile. I hope he lets us back in his house after that long night! Joe, if you’re reading this – you are the best. Thanks for being such a good friend to the Aviation Blondes.