My younger son Frank is 14 today. I get up early to make English pancakes (thinner, more like crepes) and sit a while as he opens presents. But I’m exhausted. When he goes to school I go back to bed for an hour. This schedule is tough on an older dude.
We have another day in the big room booked for Will, but first thing I check the work I did with M Schwaber last night. Sure enough, my stuff was better than I would believe at the time. Instead of alternating my part with MS’s for the 2nd half, i keep mine for the 2nd half part one, then alternate with MS for the 2nd half part two… My part is more transparent… The song sounds pretty great. I make rough mix in Logic and then have Mark Miller get Diminished Ex up ready for William to play.
The following 6 hours, including a dinner break (I pick up the burgers, etc from the Apollo Grill and deliver them to our dining table and then eat and return to the studio) is much like the Opposite’s Day process, but somewhat compressed, and we’re only looking for one guitar here… We get close, we record multiple takes and we make a comp, but I’m still not convinced it’s good enough to change to entire ethos of the track, which we’d need to do to make it work…
I like the part M Schwaber has played for the playout a few days ago but this was on a chimey and much less aggressive sound. I think maybe that part could take over this track… I call MS and he is around. I arrange to pick him up later.
He finds his part on the Nashville tunes Gretsch and has it recorded in a less than 1/2 hour. The original track sits nicely behind the new one making a pretty huge sounding double track (I normally hate double tracking but this just sounds good…).
Will listens the comp, and Mark’s part and then suggests, when we’re all already tired, that he now understands what I’m after and I should let him record again ‘Quine Style’ – ala Like Lovers Do. Frankly I’m skeptical, but we’ve put so much time and energy into this idea for a part that I feel another hour is OK. More, maybe not… He records four passes, each seemingly better than the last. It’s 9.15. I suggest we review them in the morning, which turns out to be about the best executive call I’ve made thus far…
Day 26 – Frank’s Birthday