Going Strong

Hey all, I know I’ve been very quiet on this blog, but I want to assure everyone that things are moving steadily along!  I did start a new job this year, so that has been pretty hectic, but Adam and I have still found time every week to work on material.

We’ve finished 99% of the recording, and have moved onto mixing. It’s a long process, and we’re being extremely thorough to make sure everything is done well.  We only get one final product, and it’s going to represent the very best of our ability.

Sometime in the next month or two we’ll be releasing a single from the album. It will most likely be track 4, which I’ve renamed “Draw Down the Moonshine.” (Look up drawing down the moon for the reference!)

So far it’s sounding pretty awesome, can’t wait to share it with you!

Brooklyn, Day 3

We started day 3 a bit earlier than the first two, with intentions of leaving the evening free for celebrating.  We couldn’t get ahead of ourselves though, there was much work to do, and only 10 hours left of studio time.

Luckily for us, our mandolinist showed up on time, and was ready to record.  We had never met the mandolinist, so that was a bit nerve-wracking.  I had mentally prepared myself to let this guy go if he wasn’t going to cut it.  Fortunately, Adam was great!  He got into the recording booth, and didn’t leave until all his parts were done.  It’s intense and exhausting when the pressure is on like that, and you’re alone in the booth trying to perform.  We were all impressed that he stuck it out for that long.

The best part was that Adam improvised some new mandolin parts that I hadn’t foreseen.  Especially for the metal parts of the music.  I’m not sure if we’ll be using them in the final cut, but having options is always ideal.  Adam is definitely an experienced musician, and I can’t express enough just how great it is to work with such talented folks.  I’ve said it before, but I’m truly the least talented musician on this project.  I’ve been so lucky to have such awesome collaborators!

talent!

Patrick was then able to jump in and pound out a good portion of clean vocals for the remainder of the day.  I got into the booth with him, and coached him through the songs.  For two hours straight we tweaked lyrics, discussed rhythms, and fine-tuned how Abram should be singing his story.  I absolutely loved working with my old bandmate in the studio, and was really impressed with his performance.  Being in there encouraging, criticizing, and polling the guys in the studio was probably my favorite part of the sessions.

coaching in the booth

Towards the end, my wife Kara, Patrick’s wife Meggie, their daughter Violet, our friends Joe and Sam, my sister Mo and brother-in-law Mike were all in the studio. Productivity had nearly come to a halt, but we were ready to call it a day.  The last couple of hours would be used to comp tracks, export, and transfer files over to our computers.  While Bella and Adam worked that out, the rest of us had a good time visiting and playing with Violet.

picture taken by Mo!

All in all, I think we sufficiently accomplished what we came for.  We didn’t finish all the parts, but I had already booked a contingency day for January, months earlier.  The idea was to give us a few weeks to listen to our recordings, and determine if anything needed to be redone.  One more day should be plenty to finish it all off.  I hope!

Brooklyn, Day 2

The second day started out much the same as the last, though Patrick was with us from the beginning, albeit still sick… No matter, we had plenty of banjo parts to tackle, and Dan still had to record his vocals as the Town Mayor.  Despite our productive first day, there was no room for relaxing.

Bella, our expert engineer, got us started smooth as ever.  Having Adam, who is our producer, in the studio was also a huge asset. This project could easily become a logistical nightmare for someone who isn’t experienced with tracking/mixing (like me) but Adam always knew what we needed in terms of technical specifications, file types, and processing.  He also helped us keep on a steady course, and as always, had substantial creative input on the music.

Adam and Bella at the console

Later in the day, Joe (our marketing director and good friend) joined us in the studio to hang out and help.  He also brought his video camera to get some footage of the session. Unfortunately I think he missed Dan behind the microphone making everyone in the studio cry with laughter. I think we might have some sound clips to share though.

Dan on the 5-string

Before the day was done, we were able to knock out about 90% of the banjo parts, and completely finished the harmonica. It was nice to be able to check those items off the list! We still had a ton of Abram Stone vocals left to do though, and we hadn’t even started to record mandolin.  Day 3 was going to be a critical one.