Thursday Nov 29th – 2 more songs.
It’s raining in LA and everyone is running late… I’m actually ahead of schedule – i take the Big Blue Bus to 14th and walk (with umbrella) the remainder of the way. Tacos Por Favour smells fantastic, as does the Bad Robot kitchen but I’ve already had my Travelodge breakfast…
Arriving first I start work on making a spreadsheet for the album – songs on the vertical axis and instruments/parts on the horizontal. It’s important to keep track of what is recorded and what is still outstanding. Also it’s a good idea to say (if you’re sure) “This song doesn’t need keyboards.”.
When Charles arrives we check last night’s song which I’ve re-named I Can’t Stay. There is a drum fill which could be better. We take the same fill from another take and fly it in. Then I re-record the guitar. I then map out the song to check how the bass is. After several listens it is apparent that it is perfect. This doesn’t stop me telling M that it all needs to be done again as he sounds tired. He completely buys it and then I show him my sheet – no comments… Smiles all around.
Next song – Women’s Studies – this is the most out and out R’n’R song i’ve done for a really long time and it’s right up Fred’s street. It doesn’t take us long to get the drum track done. I then record two guitar tracks – a straight rhythm and a Keith/Johnny Thunders semi-lead/semi-rhythm track. Neither are prefect and it’s clear that this will take more time and thought but it will have to be close enough for now. Drums and bass are the priority… But I’m not sure what to do with the bass, and I probably waste a fair amount of time with me indecision as I eventually decide on something very similar to what M played without direction… We go through the song recording, re-recoding, stopping and starting until we have what we want. M then asks to play a couple of passes without the stop/start. I then listen to everything and make notes, and 90% of the track comes from the stop/start recording but there are a few moments which are replaced, so the long winded method was worth it, I guess. I’m tired.
Next I tell Charles we need to re-record the guide vocal because I got some of the lyrics wrong… This takes a little while longer than I’d hoped because the attitude I get singing and playing the guitar for a song like this seems natural and ideal and just standing there doesn’t. Thankfully Charles spots this and points out that much of the guide vocal is great (even some accidents) and so I listen and it’s clear that this might actually be THE vocal, so we keep as much of it as possible and only patch up the bits where the lyrics are wrong of the singing is weak (just the last chorus).
I’m now tired but excited. This may actually be the first vocal of the album recorded. We make a rough mix and move on. Note – Jeff Garlin from Curb Your Enthusiasm drops by to say Hi while we were recording this. I admit it – I’m excited. i email my wife. He tells me he has a vinyl copy of Broken Record… Recording at Bad Robot is fun…
How this is the case, i don’t know, but it’s after 6 when we start work on the next song – Kids Today – and I know it’s going to be a tough one…
I’ve had this song idea for a couple of years. It’s a Pay For It (but not quite) type chord progression and rhythm, but the melody and attitude are very different. It’s not easy to describe our quandry here, but in short – because of the way the chords work, there are many different alternatives for the bass guitar. And the song itself does not demand any particular drum beat… So I play and sing the song many, many, many times while F and M figure out ideas, and I try to evaluate them… Fred, very sensibly has Charles record all of this in case we end up needing to put a track together from bits we’ve played. It’s only 3 minutes long but by the time we have a plan, Ok not really a plan but an avenue which may or may not lead us to an arrangement I’m really worn out and getting close to melting down from exhaustion. We finally get what F thinks may be a good take and decide we should record one more then go home, but it takes 3 or 4 aborted tries before we get through the song one final time.
We will listen in the morning…
We are now regulars at Upper West. F and I share a grilled cheese and a salad and, M has a burger. Yes, we drink the Stone Pale Ale rather quickly. I think we have earned this.