Album 4: Day 5
Technically, it's the morning after, but Steve and I joined Will Leathem of Prospero's fame for some late night beer last night (after he got a sneak peek at the new sounds!), so I didn't have a chance to nerd it out. :)
We are done with basics. For the uninitiated, basics (at least as we define them) are more or less the band playing as it does live - bass, guitar, drums and keyboards. We tracked as an ensemble until we got the right take, with a great performance and just the right feel throughout. Then we made minor corrections and moved on to the next song! In all, we did this for fourteen tunes in five days and we are thrilled with the feel of the performances and sounds. Truly compelling stuff.
In terms of new trackage, we only worked on one number yesterday, an acoustic rendition of You're Not Alone featuring trumpets (from Mark Hamblin), acoustic guitar, mellotron and assorted light percussion. This isn't just a new mix - it's an entirely different performance of the song. It's even in a different key! It came out sounding lovely and I can't wait to show it to you. :)
The rest of the day was spent bouncing rough mixes of all the songs, backing up files and getting the structure right on a new, Optigan-based version of I'm Just Trying To Help (Me Like You) from Mantoloking.
In all this was a wonderfully productive and enjoyable experience. And Kansas City band peeps, I strongly suggest checking out Westend if you haven't already. It's a great studio in top shape and nothing compares to tracking to tape! And to top it off, at Westend you don't have to buy the reels! Mike's setup allows re-use of a stock of tape via really high-end dolby noise reduction (Dolby SR) from the waning days of analog recording. This saves you oodles of money.
And with that, it's time to get back to focusing on the kids and the day job. Happy monday! :)
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We are done with basics. For the uninitiated, basics (at least as we define them) are more or less the band playing as it does live - bass, guitar, drums and keyboards. We tracked as an ensemble until we got the right take, with a great performance and just the right feel throughout. Then we made minor corrections and moved on to the next song! In all, we did this for fourteen tunes in five days and we are thrilled with the feel of the performances and sounds. Truly compelling stuff.
In terms of new trackage, we only worked on one number yesterday, an acoustic rendition of You're Not Alone featuring trumpets (from Mark Hamblin), acoustic guitar, mellotron and assorted light percussion. This isn't just a new mix - it's an entirely different performance of the song. It's even in a different key! It came out sounding lovely and I can't wait to show it to you. :)
The rest of the day was spent bouncing rough mixes of all the songs, backing up files and getting the structure right on a new, Optigan-based version of I'm Just Trying To Help (Me Like You) from Mantoloking.
In all this was a wonderfully productive and enjoyable experience. And Kansas City band peeps, I strongly suggest checking out Westend if you haven't already. It's a great studio in top shape and nothing compares to tracking to tape! And to top it off, at Westend you don't have to buy the reels! Mike's setup allows re-use of a stock of tape via really high-end dolby noise reduction (Dolby SR) from the waning days of analog recording. This saves you oodles of money.
And with that, it's time to get back to focusing on the kids and the day job. Happy monday! :)
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