Day One at the Studio...

R&R Diary...

Day One - Yesterday. A really mild morning. A good omen. Most of the morning was taken up with schlepping, logistics, & motoring across the city to the studio. Once we got to Electrical Audio, it was a long (4.5 hrs) set-up. A custom-built studio, raised floor, unique adobe bricks, high ceiling, incredible natural, room-sound. Lots of special, expertly-placed microphones. Long cables snaking across the floor back to the star-ship sized control room. Classic Noetek Elite (custom-built), recording console. A pretty famous, well-known, well-regarded studio. Some of our favorite records have been recorded here. The band: 8 musicians: 2 double-basses, 1 violin, 1 drum kit, 1 percussionist, 1 electric bass, 1 electric guitar, 1 acoustic guitar, 1 vocalist/percussionist. By late afternoon we started tracking. The goal was to track 3 songs the first day. We did it. We started with two of the most complex and difficult songs, thinking that would be a good way to start, do the hard ones first. Pretty sure we nailed the first song on the second take, we did a third take just for posterity. It was the second song where we kind of sputtered. A very delicate beginning, and then a wild-ass ending. We had a few scatter-shot takes. False starts, wrong moves. We moved to the third song, nailed it on take two, and then rallied the troops to once again tackle the second song. It was blazing, really good. 3 tracks, 8 hours in studio. We called it a day, feeling a bit tired but pretty good. A decent start. Still on schedule. Today we will be able to start fresh, and start recording right off the bat. Hoping to get in a bit of a groove. Shooting to record 5 songs today. We shall see.