Friday - February 6th, 2009: 11am to 5:30pm - Let's try this again. Rich and I arrived at the studio right at 11am. Todays agenda was to record a Low F Whistle part for, 'A Working Man's Tune'. First thing...eat! We grabbed Jimmy Johns and sat and watched Peter Gabriel videos... One works better with a full stomach. Well...maybe not so good for a flute player.
We spent the first hour or so finding the right spot to record the flute. First we tried my drum room...great for close miking...but sounded very dead. Then, in my vocal booth...sounded decent but a bit on the boxy side. Third we went out into the hallway where I have cathedral ceilings...sounded great...but a bit to much reverb. Then we went to the live room...here it sounded really good. Then I sent Rich packing on up the stairs. After playing a few notes Rich's eyes lit up! Lastly, we went down the hall to the foyer...great sound, but a bit to much reverb. So, up the stairs it was.
After getting the Rich in place I put the Cad E-200 mic up on a boom stand even with Rich and about 4 to 5 feet away from him. It sounded really good! Of course...Boggie showed up and wanted to sit in on the whole recording process...how can you say, 'no' to Boogie?
Went went through each part of the song...taking anywhere from 5 to 10 takes of each part. That Low Whistle is a bit on the temperamental side. Tuning it and getting the right amount of air pressure can be a bit tricky. Especially on a full stomach! We recorded the intro...verse break...chorus breaks...and the final ending. We spent sometime writing a second theme for the factory workers section.
The song is about a Deep Sea Fisherman and a Factory Worker and how they both due their respective jobs in order to provide for their families. Rich had written a beautiful melody for the song. I wanted a different theme for the second part of the song. So, Rich started playing around with ideas...and I heard him play the first theme backwards...I loved it. With a bit of re-writing he had the Factory Workers theme. Back to recording...After we felt we had good takes of everything, we went back and recorded a factory whistle blowing in one part. I tried to get Rich to create Sea Gull sounds for one verse..but after awhile we abandon the idea.
Over 60 takes later the Low Whistle part was completed. Thank God! I think we were both tired and ready to go home and veg. Our minds were fried...at least mine was. Now, all that is left is sound effects and backing vocals.Song(s) in Production: 'Loves A Two Way' Recording Sessions
Saturday - February 7th, 2009: 11am to 1pm - This coming Monday we plan to cut the drum tracks for this song. To date there was only music...no vocals yet. Russ wanted me to get the vocal parts recorded as to give him a guide on the parts of the song. So, that was todays goal.
I spent the two hours recording...two lead vocal tracks. They sounded decent, whether I keep them is yet to be determined. I also recorded 6 back ground vocal parts, which to my surprise sounded pretty good. It took me a bit to find the harmonies I wanted. But there is enough information for Russ to know where he's going. Recording session scheduled for Monday, Feb. 9th, 2009...11am.
Until next time, Hutch
