We ended our recording project—the tracking part, anyway—on a high note last night with a stellar guest appearance on “Don't Look Down” by the horn section from The Metropolitans: Rocco Pacella (trumpet), Jonny Franks (tenor and soprano sax) and Mike Dely (bass trombone).
I caught a lift out to Joe's with Jason and we talked a little in the car about our strategy for recording them. I had done some reading about different ways to record horns and was thinking we should just keep it simple and use dynamic mics (SM57s) for the trumpet and trombone, and maybe one of the condenser mics for the saxes. The reason being that according to my reading, saxophones, which are woodwind instruments, generate a more harmonically complex sound than brass instruments and sound better when recorded through a mic that captures all those little details in the sound—in other words, you would want to use the kind of mic that you would use for recording vocals. Brass, on the other hand, generates a big, assertive tone that can sound harsh when recorded through condenser mics and actually sounds better through more basic mics like 57s or 58s. Or at least that's the conventional wisdom.
Rocco and Jonny arrived first. The plan was to start off by recording the soprano sax by itself, then record the other three parts together once Mike got there (he had to drive in from Newcastle). After we talked for a bit and went over the charts, it occurred to Jonny that he and Rocco should record their parts together, because those two instruments were paired up in the charts for most of the song, either playing in harmony or the same melody in some spots. Likewise the other two parts, the tenor sax and trombone, were paired up for a lot of the song so it would make sense to record them together, too.
The microphone issue was resolved by Jonny's clip-on mic, which he uses live and has used for recording with The Metropolitans. It sounded good on the track and so we didn't need to bust out one of the big condensers. Rocco played into one of the dynamic mics. They tuned up using the software tuner on Joe's Mac and then we “rolled tape.”
Horn players amaze me. Not just the physical difficulty of playing those instruments well, but the sight-reading aspect of it, also. All trained musicians who can sight-read impress me and make me a little jealous. I come from the world of rock 'n roll, the garage, where people sort of teach themselves how to play their instruments and sort of learn how to make up songs, and everything is verbal: you say “play this chord” and show the guitar player, and “play this beat” to the drummer, and off you go. Nothing is written down. Many, if not most, rock musicians have no idea how to read music. Which is fine—in rock 'n roll you don't really need to. I can read a little, out of necessity, but I can't sight-read and play something right off the page like these guys, or Jen, can. I have to stare at the sheet music and think about what each note is and eventually I get it. Wouldn't be much use onstage or in a recording session!
When I charted the horn parts for this song I was greatly aided by software, which allowed me to enter the notes one at a time and match them up correctly, make sure the transpositions were correct for the different instruments, and—most importantly—to be able to play it back as audio to make sure I was translating the notes in my head onto the page in a way that made musical sense. That playback feature had left me feeling pretty confident that I'd made usable charts that would make sense to the players, but I still didn't know for sure until the session. Luckily it worked out fine and everyone seemed to be able to read off their charts without any problems. There were maybe a couple notes a little bit outside the comfortable range of the trumpet and the trombone, which a more experienced horn arranger would have avoided, but they were able to hit them. I felt quite pleased with myself.
Rocco and Jonny knocked out their parts quickly. Since the horns only play in certain places in the song, we went through section by section and recorded each chunk, then jumped ahead to the next spot. The advantage of having guys who are used to playing together was immediately obvious. They were spot on, perfectly in time, in tune and together. There were a few places where I needed to clarify a rhythm or a cadence, and I only had to explain once and they got it. Once we got started, we were able to tear through the whole song in a matter of minutes, with me “conducting” by waving a sharpie in the air like an idiot. They played the parts perfectly and even did swells where I had indicated on the sheet music. True pros!
Once we had the soprano sax and trumpet recorded we had a few minutes to kill before Mike arrived so we played with Joe's amazing new acquisition—a theremin! I've never seen one up close before and it is just the freakiest damn thing you've ever seen. It's controlled completely by moving your hands in the air near a couple of metal parts—you never actually touch anything. The left hand controls volume and the right hand controls pitch. I have no idea how it works but it is damn cool. Joe is determined to learn to actually play it as a musical instrument, which apparently is difficult but possible.
Mike arrived and started warming up. He plays a bass trombone, which has a nice low, rich tone. It was obvious just from listening to him warm up that he's an exceptional player so I felt bad that his part was so monotonous. It's mostly just one note played in a simple pattern, over and over. In retrospect I could have taken better advantage of having a good trombone player to work with than the way I charted it. Especially since he drove all the way from Newcastle. Still, simple as the part is, it is crucial to the arrangement and the song would have suffered without it. Huge thanks, Mike!
Jonny busted out the tenor sax, which is what he plays in The Metropolitans, and we recorded their parts together just as quickly as we had done the other two. I got to play conductor again, clarifying the rhythm of a few things by waving my sharpie. I’m sure I looked like a dork but I really found that quite a thrill. I got to conduct! Maybe I'll have to start calling myself a “composer” instead of a “songwriter”...just kidding, I’m not that pretentious. I will, however, require my bandmates to start calling me “Maestro.”
Before we knew it, we were done. Quick and easy. We listened to the playback and let me just tell you right now, these guys completely transformed the song. I can't believe how good it sounds now. It really sounds, to me at least, like a soul record from the early 70s, which is what I was going for but didn't know if we could pull it off. I'm just over the moon. Can't wait to mix it and let everyone hear it.
Really was a pleasure to work with these guys. They have that rapport where they constantly abuse each other and give each other a hard time, but it's hilarious.
Thanks again, fellas. We owe you.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Recording report: 4/8/09
The session last night – our next to last – was quick and fun. Just some final backup vocals by Ronda Zegarelli, Scott Bedillion, Lexi, and me. Once again the redoubtable Joe Stile manned the controls.
Scott had heard “Edge of Forever” for the first time just that afternoon and had been immediately struck with an idea that no one else had thought of: a layer of “la la la’s” under all the other voices who were singing the lyrics. It was a solid idea and it worked really well. So there’s now yet another layer to the big chorus on the end of the song. Scott has a very rich, pleasant voice with great pitch control, and he banged out two tracks in one take each, boom.
Ronda, to my delight, brought her “A” game and absolutely sang her ass off. She wailed full-throttle in that blues/gospel style of hers and literally shook the room. Seriously. Her voice is so powerful the whole room was actually vibrating…things were falling off tables…I think I lost a couple fillings. Just amazing and gorgeous. That was the finishing touch the song needed. All the other singers did great, and I’m very happy with what they contributed, but there was still that missing ingredient of someone really taking it home, going for broke, testifying and improvising with total abandon over top of everything else – someone who just happens to have a killer voice. Think Merry Clayton on “Gimme Shelter.” Ronda did a better job than I ever could have hoped for and now the song really feels complete.
Scott and Ronda both had places to go and left when they were finished, which left me and Joe sitting there staring at each other. I thought I would use the time to finish up my last thing, a backup vocal for “Don’t Look Down.” It’s an easy part – I just double Jen on the verse and part of the chorus, an octave lower. Got it done just as Lexi arrived.
All Lexi had to do was a portion of her backup vocal for “Don’t Look Down” that had been left dangling from one of the sessions a while back. At that session I had thrown her a curve ball by asking her to sing the melody slightly differently from how she’d been doing it, which can be a daunting thing when you’re used to singing something a certain way. Tonight I’d taken the extra step, before Lexi got there, of singing it myself as a scratch track for her to reference, but as it turned out I sang it wrong myself (!) – so that was pointless. Luckily Lexi didn’t need my help – she’d been practicing the part in her car and knew it backwards and forwards. She sounded great – the notes are down in the lower part of her range where her voice sort of purrs. Joe commented that we would have been happy to listen to her do about 20 more takes, but sadly she hit it perfectly the first time.
So there’s nothing left now to record except the horn section for “Don’t Look Down,” which is scheduled for next Wednesday. We’ll be joined by Rocco Pacella, Jonny Franks and Mike Dely from The Metropolitans. Very excited about that. I’ve never recorded a horn section before and neither has Jason or Joe, but I’ve been doing some reading and am starting to get an idea how to approach it. And Rocco said they can help advise us on how to record them, so I’m not worried. I can’t wait to hear how "Don't Look Down" sounds with the horns. Probably the most important ingredient of the song apart from Jen’s vocal.
Only one session left! But then there’s all the mixdown work to do, which will also be chronicled here, so don’t worry – this blog isn’t going away anytime soon. Even if some of you were hoping it would!
luv,
SM
Scott had heard “Edge of Forever” for the first time just that afternoon and had been immediately struck with an idea that no one else had thought of: a layer of “la la la’s” under all the other voices who were singing the lyrics. It was a solid idea and it worked really well. So there’s now yet another layer to the big chorus on the end of the song. Scott has a very rich, pleasant voice with great pitch control, and he banged out two tracks in one take each, boom.
Ronda, to my delight, brought her “A” game and absolutely sang her ass off. She wailed full-throttle in that blues/gospel style of hers and literally shook the room. Seriously. Her voice is so powerful the whole room was actually vibrating…things were falling off tables…I think I lost a couple fillings. Just amazing and gorgeous. That was the finishing touch the song needed. All the other singers did great, and I’m very happy with what they contributed, but there was still that missing ingredient of someone really taking it home, going for broke, testifying and improvising with total abandon over top of everything else – someone who just happens to have a killer voice. Think Merry Clayton on “Gimme Shelter.” Ronda did a better job than I ever could have hoped for and now the song really feels complete.
Scott and Ronda both had places to go and left when they were finished, which left me and Joe sitting there staring at each other. I thought I would use the time to finish up my last thing, a backup vocal for “Don’t Look Down.” It’s an easy part – I just double Jen on the verse and part of the chorus, an octave lower. Got it done just as Lexi arrived.
All Lexi had to do was a portion of her backup vocal for “Don’t Look Down” that had been left dangling from one of the sessions a while back. At that session I had thrown her a curve ball by asking her to sing the melody slightly differently from how she’d been doing it, which can be a daunting thing when you’re used to singing something a certain way. Tonight I’d taken the extra step, before Lexi got there, of singing it myself as a scratch track for her to reference, but as it turned out I sang it wrong myself (!) – so that was pointless. Luckily Lexi didn’t need my help – she’d been practicing the part in her car and knew it backwards and forwards. She sounded great – the notes are down in the lower part of her range where her voice sort of purrs. Joe commented that we would have been happy to listen to her do about 20 more takes, but sadly she hit it perfectly the first time.
So there’s nothing left now to record except the horn section for “Don’t Look Down,” which is scheduled for next Wednesday. We’ll be joined by Rocco Pacella, Jonny Franks and Mike Dely from The Metropolitans. Very excited about that. I’ve never recorded a horn section before and neither has Jason or Joe, but I’ve been doing some reading and am starting to get an idea how to approach it. And Rocco said they can help advise us on how to record them, so I’m not worried. I can’t wait to hear how "Don't Look Down" sounds with the horns. Probably the most important ingredient of the song apart from Jen’s vocal.
Only one session left! But then there’s all the mixdown work to do, which will also be chronicled here, so don’t worry – this blog isn’t going away anytime soon. Even if some of you were hoping it would!
luv,
SM
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Recording report: 4/5/09 “The Edge of Forever” group vocals
We had a good time on Sunday recording a whole slew of backup vocals for “The Edge of Forever” – me, Daryl, and a cast of thousands. OK, well, six, but it sounds like thousands. In addition to Lexi and Jen’s existing tracks, we added Daryl’s part and mine to complete the core band vocals, then added guest performances by John Young, Mike Moran, Seth Andrew, Tim Pollock, Steve Seel, and Marc Turina. So that’s ten voices on the song so far, with as many as nine more we still might add (though more likely just a few – more on that below). It’s already starting to sound like the cast of a musical…it just has that slightly theatrical “large number of men and women singing!” kind of vibe. Which is want I wanted – I don’t mean that as a negative. It sounds great.
I got there before everybody else so I could spend a little time and get my part right. Apparently I was having a good singing day (which is kind of like a good hair day, only with less hair and more, um…singing…) because I did my whole part in one pass and then added a little extra thing I wanted to retain from the demo, plus a harmony of it on top. So I did three tracks all within about 30 minutes, which is fast for me.
John and Mike arrived and were both commendably well prepared. We had two mics set up so everyone could have the option of recording in pairs—helpful for making people feel less pressure and getting twice the work done in the same amount of time. There was enough separation between the two mics that bleed was minimal, though there is some, of course; but for the most part each voice will have its own track. Not that it matters all that much – these tracks are all part of a big chorus sound so it’s not crucial that any one part be perfect on its own…we’re going for a net effect. It does make a difference when everyone sings well, though, and everyone did. Anyway, John and Mike chose to sing simultaneously and they had both obviously thought about and rehearsed their parts. They both went low – Mike singing the bass, sticking close to the low B, the root; and John starting a third above that. So they created a nice, low, manly harmony to complement the higher, warmer female harmony of Lexi and Jen. Immediately the end choruses took on a much fuller, more satisfying sound.
Daryl and Seth arrived just as John and Mike were finishing up, and Tim walked in a few minutes later. We decided to do Daryl’s part first. Even though he’d never sung on this song before, he knows it well enough that his part came easily. His role in the band’s vocal arrangements is often to double Lexi down an octave, and in this case his voice just went there instinctively. Someone remembered that he needed to be on the middle chorus too (unlike all the guest vocals, which are only on the end choruses), so we got that done and now the middle chorus sounds just right. Daryl got his part done fast, too, so we were establishing a good pace. I had been wondering how quickly we’d be able to work with all these guest singers, but everything ran smoothly and everybody knocked out their parts like pros.
By now most of the obvious harmony slots were spoken for, so we weren’t sure if there were any unique notes left for anyone to sing. I suggested (and Seth, listening closely, confirmed) that the only place left to go was the fifth, with the middle F# as the starting note. We sat with an acoustic guitar and mapped it out. In the end Tim and Seth decided to start on the same note but diverge on the 3rd chord, then come back together at the end. It sounded a little odd as they sang because when they diverged (warning: geeky music theory ahead) they were briefly singing a major 7th interval (Tim on low A, Seth on middle G#), which totally works when it’s blended in with all the other voices, but by itself sounds kind of strange. Seth was wondering if he was hitting the note wrong, and I assured him that he was hitting it perfectly – it was just that that interval, when sung correctly, should sound strange in exactly that way. In addition, what Tim was doing was kind of impressive: he had to let go of the main harmony note and drop an octave very suddenly to hit the bass note, then pop back up just as suddenly to hit the last few notes with Seth. That low A was the only thing missing harmonically and eagle-ear Tim spotted it and filled it. Like audio spackling! Tim is pretty amazing. Seth is no slouch either – they’re two very musically smart people who can sing, and they both did a great job.
So with Tim and Seth’s parts recorded, the group vocals were now really sounding nice and full. From this point forward, since there were no more unique harmony notes to sing, it would be a question of the rest of the singers either mirroring an existing part or “thinking outside the box” and coming up with something unique. Marc and Steve both went the more creative route, making up their own parts that will help sort of glue everything together and make all the voices sound more unified. It’s hard to explain what I mean by that without sitting with you with a guitar and listening to the song and actually showing you – but the crux of it is that to create a satisfying group vocal sound, you don’t want everybody singing the exact same parts in exactly the same way. You want some variety. You don’t want them all taking a breath in exactly the same spot. And so on. You want different, but complementary, patterns and rhythms. All hopefully on key, of course, but with lots of natural, human variations that taken together create a satisfying whole.
So what Steve did was start on the middle harmony (my part) but keep climbing at the halfway point instead of dropping as I had, and then in the second half double the lead vocal (Lexi’s part). So in other words he began by singing along with me but ended singing along with Lexi. It worked really nicely. Steve was in good voice and sang quite sweetly, and when we listened to the playback his voice nestled in among the others in a very organic way.
Next up was Marc. Marc is a bass player and came up with a cool sort of up-and-down melody, bouncing contrapuntally between two notes much as a bass guitar would. As with Steve’s part, they’re all notes that were already being sung by others, but not in that specific rhythm, so it added a new textural layer that gives the harmonies more “movement,” as Joe approvingly put it. So it’s a part that stands out, yet blends. Perfect!
Speaking of Joe Stile—a/k/a The Man To Whom We Are Increasingly In Debt, or if you prefer, the unpronounceable acronym “TMTWWAIID”—Joe did a great job at the helm and offered lots of good advice that helped us make smart choices about the vocal arrangement. Not to mention giving up his whole Sunday afternoon to hang out with a bunch of nerdy guys and a notable absence of hot women, which Joe is ordinarily surrounded by. So thank you, TMTWWAIID!
There were a number of people we invited who weren’t able to make it on Sunday and at least a couple of them will be recording with us this Wednesday. Scott Bedillion, the distinctive voice of Seven Color Sky, will be further sweetening the mix, which we’re very excited about. We’re also excited that the one and only Ronda Zegarelli will be bringing her magic to the song as well. Ronda sings like no one else and I can’t overstate how happy I am that she’s going to contribute to our CD. Our producer/engineers Jason Fisher and Joe Stile, too, of The Borderless Puzzle fame, have been invited to sing on this song and hopefully will be adding their tracks any time now. Hint. :P
There are a few others who have been invited to sing on “Edge of Forever” as well, who we’re still holding out hopes for, but who I won’t pressure by naming here. You know who you are! There is still time to make arrangments, but not much. We are shutting this operation down very soon and relocating for the mixdown to Fisher House, the Swissvale estate of Jen, Jason, and Lucy Fisher. It is there, in an underground cave, that strange alchemical phenomena takes place that results in psychedelic audio bliss so intense that the military has approached the Fishers with lucrative DoD contracts – Radio Halliburton, if you will.
And if I’m writing sentences like that, it means I’m delirious from hunger and need to go eat.
Till next time.
xo,
-Steve
I got there before everybody else so I could spend a little time and get my part right. Apparently I was having a good singing day (which is kind of like a good hair day, only with less hair and more, um…singing…) because I did my whole part in one pass and then added a little extra thing I wanted to retain from the demo, plus a harmony of it on top. So I did three tracks all within about 30 minutes, which is fast for me.
John and Mike arrived and were both commendably well prepared. We had two mics set up so everyone could have the option of recording in pairs—helpful for making people feel less pressure and getting twice the work done in the same amount of time. There was enough separation between the two mics that bleed was minimal, though there is some, of course; but for the most part each voice will have its own track. Not that it matters all that much – these tracks are all part of a big chorus sound so it’s not crucial that any one part be perfect on its own…we’re going for a net effect. It does make a difference when everyone sings well, though, and everyone did. Anyway, John and Mike chose to sing simultaneously and they had both obviously thought about and rehearsed their parts. They both went low – Mike singing the bass, sticking close to the low B, the root; and John starting a third above that. So they created a nice, low, manly harmony to complement the higher, warmer female harmony of Lexi and Jen. Immediately the end choruses took on a much fuller, more satisfying sound.
Daryl and Seth arrived just as John and Mike were finishing up, and Tim walked in a few minutes later. We decided to do Daryl’s part first. Even though he’d never sung on this song before, he knows it well enough that his part came easily. His role in the band’s vocal arrangements is often to double Lexi down an octave, and in this case his voice just went there instinctively. Someone remembered that he needed to be on the middle chorus too (unlike all the guest vocals, which are only on the end choruses), so we got that done and now the middle chorus sounds just right. Daryl got his part done fast, too, so we were establishing a good pace. I had been wondering how quickly we’d be able to work with all these guest singers, but everything ran smoothly and everybody knocked out their parts like pros.
By now most of the obvious harmony slots were spoken for, so we weren’t sure if there were any unique notes left for anyone to sing. I suggested (and Seth, listening closely, confirmed) that the only place left to go was the fifth, with the middle F# as the starting note. We sat with an acoustic guitar and mapped it out. In the end Tim and Seth decided to start on the same note but diverge on the 3rd chord, then come back together at the end. It sounded a little odd as they sang because when they diverged (warning: geeky music theory ahead) they were briefly singing a major 7th interval (Tim on low A, Seth on middle G#), which totally works when it’s blended in with all the other voices, but by itself sounds kind of strange. Seth was wondering if he was hitting the note wrong, and I assured him that he was hitting it perfectly – it was just that that interval, when sung correctly, should sound strange in exactly that way. In addition, what Tim was doing was kind of impressive: he had to let go of the main harmony note and drop an octave very suddenly to hit the bass note, then pop back up just as suddenly to hit the last few notes with Seth. That low A was the only thing missing harmonically and eagle-ear Tim spotted it and filled it. Like audio spackling! Tim is pretty amazing. Seth is no slouch either – they’re two very musically smart people who can sing, and they both did a great job.
So with Tim and Seth’s parts recorded, the group vocals were now really sounding nice and full. From this point forward, since there were no more unique harmony notes to sing, it would be a question of the rest of the singers either mirroring an existing part or “thinking outside the box” and coming up with something unique. Marc and Steve both went the more creative route, making up their own parts that will help sort of glue everything together and make all the voices sound more unified. It’s hard to explain what I mean by that without sitting with you with a guitar and listening to the song and actually showing you – but the crux of it is that to create a satisfying group vocal sound, you don’t want everybody singing the exact same parts in exactly the same way. You want some variety. You don’t want them all taking a breath in exactly the same spot. And so on. You want different, but complementary, patterns and rhythms. All hopefully on key, of course, but with lots of natural, human variations that taken together create a satisfying whole.
So what Steve did was start on the middle harmony (my part) but keep climbing at the halfway point instead of dropping as I had, and then in the second half double the lead vocal (Lexi’s part). So in other words he began by singing along with me but ended singing along with Lexi. It worked really nicely. Steve was in good voice and sang quite sweetly, and when we listened to the playback his voice nestled in among the others in a very organic way.
Next up was Marc. Marc is a bass player and came up with a cool sort of up-and-down melody, bouncing contrapuntally between two notes much as a bass guitar would. As with Steve’s part, they’re all notes that were already being sung by others, but not in that specific rhythm, so it added a new textural layer that gives the harmonies more “movement,” as Joe approvingly put it. So it’s a part that stands out, yet blends. Perfect!
Speaking of Joe Stile—a/k/a The Man To Whom We Are Increasingly In Debt, or if you prefer, the unpronounceable acronym “TMTWWAIID”—Joe did a great job at the helm and offered lots of good advice that helped us make smart choices about the vocal arrangement. Not to mention giving up his whole Sunday afternoon to hang out with a bunch of nerdy guys and a notable absence of hot women, which Joe is ordinarily surrounded by. So thank you, TMTWWAIID!
There were a number of people we invited who weren’t able to make it on Sunday and at least a couple of them will be recording with us this Wednesday. Scott Bedillion, the distinctive voice of Seven Color Sky, will be further sweetening the mix, which we’re very excited about. We’re also excited that the one and only Ronda Zegarelli will be bringing her magic to the song as well. Ronda sings like no one else and I can’t overstate how happy I am that she’s going to contribute to our CD. Our producer/engineers Jason Fisher and Joe Stile, too, of The Borderless Puzzle fame, have been invited to sing on this song and hopefully will be adding their tracks any time now. Hint. :P
There are a few others who have been invited to sing on “Edge of Forever” as well, who we’re still holding out hopes for, but who I won’t pressure by naming here. You know who you are! There is still time to make arrangments, but not much. We are shutting this operation down very soon and relocating for the mixdown to Fisher House, the Swissvale estate of Jen, Jason, and Lucy Fisher. It is there, in an underground cave, that strange alchemical phenomena takes place that results in psychedelic audio bliss so intense that the military has approached the Fishers with lucrative DoD contracts – Radio Halliburton, if you will.
And if I’m writing sentences like that, it means I’m delirious from hunger and need to go eat.
Till next time.
xo,
-Steve
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