Finally the day arrived for me to set foot into Kevin’s studio for work on my music. The impetus is for a kids album, but establishing a beachhead for general studio work was the primary goal. So Kevin got me comfortable, set up mikes, did some sound checks and started in.
The beauty with the new Tech is that we can save settings, sessions for near instant use from the computer. Hopefully, it can make it easy to come in and get to work efficiently in the studio…. plow more fields, get creative quicker…..
Interestingly, I picked out a Michael Cooney tune, Figure It Out to start with, and that’s exactly what we did, figured it out. It’s a simple tune that crosses over between a kids song and adult philosophies. I’m still working on it, so it was the perfect song to practice as we practiced.
I felt a little under practiced with the new kids stuff, and wanted to put down some more polished stuff, so I dug into my recent folk bag and pulled out tunes like: Shoo That Fly, Don’t Call Me Early, Santa Assassin, Giants, Smoking Babies (yes, that one) and maybe more. Scratch vocals, guitar miked and direct, and Kevin adds a click track and a wonderful new tech device of a simulated drum track. He listens to my rhythm on a hand held device, finds the beat, adds a particular feel (that he feels) and massages the computer to pump out a drum track for me to play with. It’s very, very nice to encourage me to play on the beat.
Notes: I tend to let the adrenaline push me too fast when I begin the take, and I remember this from the past. Kevin said that he had to ‘interpret’ my take on ‘Green Green, Rocky Road’ when I worked without a click track. And when I listen to that cut, as nice as it turned out, I hear the grappling going on with the early groove.
Note: These are only templates for my future vocals, guitar takes, etc. they are giving Kevin templates to add live percussion later on (and on his own). Again, the wonders of computerology.
I look forward to sharing my wrestling with this other side of my creativity – life in the studio – which I have always enjoyed, though a long time ago when I worked with Clark Ferguson in Bear Swamp Studios. It’s a very different creative head, especially in trying to perform for the tape. The other aspects of creating a song follows down the line.