Wednesday - January 28th, 2009: 5:30pm to 10pm - I prefer sessions that start early evening and go until whenever they get done. Usually the whole process leaves me in a kind of fog, to where it's dangerous for me to operate any heavy machinery. After evening sessions I can just go home and crash...just not literally.
Anyway...I began this session by laying down a click track in 6/8. Once that was finished I began recording acoustic guitars. I laid down two different takes...because the song is in 'F' I was capo-ing the guitars on the third fret and playing it in 'D'. But, the guitar part sounded to thin so I had another idea. The first guitar I tuned down a whole step and played the song is 'G' to give it a nice low end and full chordal sound. The second guitar part I played the way I originally intended it to be.
I spent some time chasing down an annoying buzz that I was getting from my guitar...after a slight neck adjustment...it seemed to be very, very slight. I also think it was the light gauge strings I was using, instead of the medium gauge which I usually use.
After both guitar parts were finished I began work on recording the lead vocal track. I went through the song line by line...in order to get the exact phrasing that I wanted. I ended up doubling my vocal part...which took me the longest time...I suppose I need to spend more time singing in 6/8.
By 10pmish...I had made it through about half the song and had to run to catch my buddies band, BPM, playing at Durty Nellies... A productive evening.Song(s) in Production: 'A Working Man's Tune' Recording Sessions
Friday - January 30th, 2009: 10am to 1pm - Went back to the studio in order to finish up the lead vocal tracks that hadn't been completed on Wednesday evening. You know those studio gremlins that I had mentioned in my previous notes? Well, they were at it again! I turned everything on just as I had it from Wednesday and the mic level to tape was a quarter of what it was. I ended up changing mics and pre amps in order to get the right level again.
Three hours latter the tracks were complete. I burned a demo of it to send to Rich so he could begin work on a low whistle part for the song. Another productive day.Song(s) in Production: 'Loves A Two Way Street' Recording Sessions
Saturday - January 31st, 2009: 12pm to 2:30pm - I should have stayed home! I spent a couple of hours trying to pitch shift the bass and four guitar parts from Ab to A. The pitch shift worked fine but it completely screwed the timing up with the drum track. For two frustrating hours I had come to the conclusion that I have to just re-recorded all the parts again! A good ten hours of work down the drain! Oh, well...at least I learned something on what not to do next time!
