December 20, 2024
Today was our last session for the year, and caps an excellent head start on our 2025 recording project. The tally at this point is basic tracks recorded for the first four songs, and we've got a workflow and process taking shape to make headway on all of our drum tunes at a pretty good clip over the next couple months.
My personal goal for this blog is to give you a peek at one way of recording; what works for us as four veteran musicians with our own experiences and creative sense meshing together on music we've created and performed, but also framing it with our collective artistic vision. A big part of that is capturing a live feel to our music, and yet giving ourselves the flexibility to get our parts done well.
That means for this batch of songs with drums, we record them with the upright bass and guitar all at once, but on separate tracks. Since I'm playing in the main studio room with Lisa, I'm using my trusty Stratocaster directly into the console for everything, as any live mics will pick up drum sounds too. For the two songs we did today, “Guitar Man” and “Gatlinburg”, I'll have to track my acoustic guitar separately - the process we call overdubbing. Les's octave mandolin and banjo parts will all have to be overdubbed as well as the vocal parts. We don't even need to all be in the studio at the same time for that, so we're especially enjoying the “team” recording time.
Stephanie's son Dustin has long been the house engineer at Cabin Studios. We first worked with Dustin on both video and audio for our One Virginia Night CD/DVD set over a decade ago. He engineered my Treasures in My Chest solo record and led the massive “forensic engineering” project that brought to life our late-1980's Nor'easter album Calm Before the Storm. Dustin has also done a lot of work over the last couple years with fiddler and singer/songwriter Kate MacLeod as well as the Orange on the Blue Ridge project led by Furnace Mountain Band. His combination of audio sensitivity, technical skills, attention to detail and diligence make him an incredible resource. Not only do the sessions run smoothly, but we never have to worry about backing up the recording data, or maintaining the software and hardware so integral to studio function.
We get into a bit of a schedule now for the next couple months, and it's kind of amazing to imagine where we might be by the end of February. We've certainly enjoyed the process thus far, and we're hoping to do some filming soon a la the wonderful Beatles Get Back! documentary; the creative process behind the scenes as well as capturing some of the spontaneous magic that happens even with songs we've been performing for a decade. One listens with new ears in the studio, and that inevitably leads to new ideas and flourishes.
Next on the agenda? Our take on a couple traditional pieces and a bold new arrangement of one of the songs I cowrote with one of our wounded warriors as part of the Music Therapy Retreats. Stay tuned, and thanks for following along!
LUNCH - Drew's turkey chili.
Lisa getting ready for a take, and testing out a new drum fill idea.
Stephanie's always ready, especially when she's got the magic aura appearing in the booth with her!