Fall-
Fall...the time when days grow short, the smell of burning leaves are in the air as yards get cleaned and prep...
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Fall-
Fall...the time when days grow short, the smell of burning leaves are in the air as yards get cleaned and prepared for the oncoming weather.
The fall of a recording project deals with overdubs, adding tracks and additional performances to the basic tracks, vocals, edits, programming..etc. There is often much more solitude and individual work being done at this time. The excitement of writing and recording the basic tracks are over and usually it is no more than one or two guys working on the project at a time. This type of work lends it to those of us who are meticulous by nature. As lonely as this can be, I thrive in this environment. That's right it's me in the studio with some kind of yummy smelling candle (Christmas Cookie) low lights and electric guitars. It makes me feel like some crazed country music vampire...Count Telecaster. Come on that's cool...I love it!
As long as I can remember I have been doing stuff like this. I can still remember as a kid stealing away to my bedroom with crayons, markers and paper drawing cartoons and inventing wild stories. This comes as much by nature as by birthright.
My Dad had a wild imagination and would tell my brother and I crazy bedtime stories. His bedtime stories revolved around a common character "Irving Cup-Shoe ‘the Boy With The Firm Foundation.'" He was no stranger to trouble and seemed to always be needed to rescue "Priscilla Pink Panties" from the evil "Rubber Hose-Nose Joe." Irving Cup-Shoe had suction cups on the bottoms of his feet and could scale walls and even walk upside down on ceilings. Of coarse "Rubber Hose-Nose Joe" had a rubber hose for a nose and did him little good other than ability to smell around corners...bitter...he was mostly just bitter. Who wants to smell around corners anyway? Maybe a shy chef? Off track...I am officially off track.
Traditionally, the timetable we are in for the fall and winter of a record is almost as time consuming as the writing period in shear calendar days. As far as hours of work goes it takes the cake hands down.
Many trails and experimenting with new sounds and textures take place. To me this can be a very pleasantly surprising time. Often songs/tracks develop flavors that you could never have predicted. Things really start taking a life of their own.
When all this stuff is done we move on to the mix stage. I will give my thoughts on that in the next installment if anyone is still reading. Hello...echo, echo, echo...hello...
A lesson I learned early on is "Music is better listened to than talked about." I guess I have had a lapse in memory because this is the third episode in my seasons of recording essay...oops...Jimmy Tupid!
As always...blah, blah, blah...
Cheers,
Jimmy O
