Recording Diary – Part the Second

If I had to describe today in one word, it would be long. Oh yes, it was long. We worked for about eight or nine hours. And it was solid work. The good news? It was productive work. We weren’t sure if we would make it, but we managed to lay out the basic tracks for all eleven songs that we needed them for (one song is going to end up being acoutic). Fuck yeah.

Recording the songs that we had guide vocals and guitar for actually took the majority of our time. They are also the most complicated of the songs. Coincidence? I think not.

The bassist, Kevin Quinn, and drummer, Jeff Berlin, were totally pros. Also, total troopers (see: recording session, length of). They gamely added their bits to our prerecorded tracks and then helped to lay out the final six songs as a “band,” with me singing and playing guitar. There were several songs that we recorded in one take. This had nothing to do with my skill level as a guitarist and everything to do with them kicking ass. Note to self: you suck at guitar. Next time, hire a guitarist.

Honestly, the day is a bit of a blur. But, it’s the good kind of blur. The kind where you’re falling asleep in the back of your parents car and you can’t totally remember everything that you did that day, but you do recall there being ice cream. Of course, in my case, there was no ice cream. Ice cream produced too much phlegm, which is not usually considered a good quality to have on your vocal tracks.

As a thank you to the musicians, I gave them each a six-pack and a mini pie from Petsi Pies. It seemed appropriate. I knew that I made the right call when Jeff said (after finishing up the song Beer and Pie), “man, that song makes me want to drink beer and eat pie.”

I am so happy with how things are headed. My album has a skeleton. Now we just need to add in some fleshy bits. We took songs that I liked and turned them into songs that I loved. And we took songs that I loved and took them to a whole new level of transcendence. “Beer and Pie” is going to be danceable. “If I Could” turned into a rocker. They are all so much richer and fuller already.

As Pete said, “we changed things up a bit, but we didn’t make it sounds like a bunch of guys from Berkeley say down and got crazy.”

The best part? One of my guide tracks from yesterday was so good that we can probably use the vocals as is. One song sung, eleven to go. Fuck yeah.

The guys have left, Kristian left to go pick up a pizza for us to eat for dinner and I am sitting with my legs up in front of a wood stove. I will probably inhale my pizza and then pass out.

It’s been a good day.