Huevos Rancheros from a corner diner maybe wasn’t the smartest way to start the day, and they weren’t actually that good, but I’m still here, and it’s lunch break now so I’m in the ante room.
Start of the day – Mandolin overdubs on K Street Blues and ‘Rod The Mod’. Effortless, one part needed fine tuning, now it’s fine. Geoff got a great sound mixing the surprisingly nice sounding DI (encouraging for live shpws) with my Neumann pencil mic.
On to Song #6 (Waltz 1) – Man Overboard. We recorded a tambourine loop while listening to the drum machine and then we used that for tempo.
Mark is playing Will’s guitar again and we’re going for a Nico Chelsea Girls sound. This guitar is a godsend. I want one, but I think I can borrow this one when I need it. About time HE lent ME something. Strangely, Pro Tools had some issue with looping the tambourine in 6/8 time but we practiced while Geoff figured it out. About an hour of run throughs and deciding what should happen where and then about 30 minutes of takes, some great, some not so great, and Geoff is putting the best 5 into Pro Tools as I type and we’re ordering Indian food. Maybe not the smartest choice…
More later.
Update 8.30PM
Well… there was a bass guitar intonation problem (possibly caused by air conditioning) on Man Overboard and we lost several hours trying to fix it. My ears aren’t good enough at that sort of thing but it seems fine now. Once it was done I did my guitar which took a while because it is a difficult part – two parts really – the intro riff and the body of the song – so we split it into two ‘tracks’ and then got both right then merged them. I may double track the intro with NAshville tuning later. Added a guide vocal and moved on.
This is me listening back to the guitar trying to decide what is OK and what is not.
Thanks to Doug Seymour for the photo. He was with us for two days, so hopefully many more shots will surface here and on the album artwork.
Started work on song #7 – ‘The Flipside..’ around 7PM. Fred thought we might not have enough time but here I am typing – they are fixing a few bass bits and pieces and we will maybe start a third song soon.
The Flipside was tough, or so he thought, for Fred because his part was so nebulous and impressionistic, but after some discussion and just a few run throughs it was sounding just right. I simplified my guitar part to keep out of his way but it ended up being a good move for the arrangement too. I think my old part is history. We recorded 4 takes. The final one was great. We may tweak a few things here and there but there is a good chance that the guide vocal is a keeper, like No Blue Skies. My old mic is fixed, I’m reminded why I bought it – it sounds lovely, and I feel like I can sing a little. Makes a change. Good times. We made a rough mix of the basic track which I will probably include on the bonus CD.
Had first beer in the studio. Earned it, I think.
More later.
Change of plan. I thought we were going to start Blair’s tune. The final take was indeed really fine so the few small details which could be improved were improved from previous takes via Pro Tools. Dave decided that the vocal was very good and we should stay with it so I recorded 3 or 4 more takes, playing guitar while singing and the producer says we have it in the bag. Great to get a vocal at last and nice that it is this track, as it seems to have a special thing going, for me anyhow..
Vocals done by 9.30. Then to Jacques’ restaurant for drinks and supper.
5 songs to go, two days left. Tight, but we’re getting better, I think.