Recording progress
Well it’s been an incredibly busy week. Toby my producer arrived last Wednesday and we set up the studio, I know it’s a bit ‘rock n rol’l calling Toby “MY producer” but he did produce my EP and did such an awesome job that I wanted him to do this album and he actually came down for 10 days and set up home here, so I hope that qualifies ;o). On Thursday we got straight into putting down all the guide tracks. So that means me playing each new song so that Toby can record them and use them as a guide. But the tricky thing is that I have to play to a click track which is like having a metronome stuck in your ear as you play, so you have to stay on the beat. Well you can only imagine how many takes that took! We were both feeling quite tired and even a bit overwhelmed at the end of that, there were so many new songs and so much to do. Then Tony King arrived and helped us do a table to map out what needed doing on each song which was very helpful. Sometimes it’s just a case of getting it all out of your head and onto paper to lighten the load.
We worked from 10am to 10pm each day to get as much done as possible. Tony is an incredible musician and fantastic mentor and he has had a huge input into my musical journey. He did a lot of the instrumentation on my EP four years ago and I love working with him because he really knows how I work as a songwriter and musician so it’s wonderful to have his input again.
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Recording in the studio from left to right, Me and Toby, Tony and Toby, then Tony on drums, then Peter on electric guitar
Tony and Toby got all the guitar, drum and bass tracks down Friday and Saturday and Sunday morning I put down most of the vocal tracks and then Sunday afternoon Peter Caron (my duo partner) came in and put down some 2nd guitar tracks and a couple of solo’s. I love his work! Then Tony arrived at 3.30pm on Sunday to put down some slide guitar and some great harmonies over my vocals. We finished at 10pm Sunday and it was such an incredibly productive weekend that we decided to have a break Monday morning. Then Monday evening we got some more vocals done and today we have been working on a very special song. Toby and I will be doing all the work for that because it is a thank you song to Tony that I wrote 4 years ago now and I never intended to record it but I think it’s an important one to document. Recording my songs is one of the most exciting things that I have ever done, it’s an incredible feeling to be with such creative and passionate people and then come out with the end product.
We have a few more days to go yet and tonight a local young man Luke Tulloch will be putting down some violin tracks and my favourite man of blues Jeremy Moondog will be coming to put down some harp. It just so happens that he is in town this weekend so when he offered to do some harp I almost died….with joy of course!!! Myles Mitchell will be coming to put down some vocals as well which I’m very excited because Myles and I often share gigs and he’s a great local musician and an all round great guy.
From left to right top: Peter and Toby, then me doing vocals. Bottom left: Tony and Toby and Me and Toby