A Million Ways to Skin a Cat!

One good thing about living in a city like Chicago, the brutally long cold winter makes you retreat indoors to the warmth. You have to find things to do inside. We've spent the last few months, writing, rehearsing and recording new songs with our band, whitewolfsonicprincess. Not exactly sure why, but we have been in a creative frenzy. Maybe it's because we love our band, love rehearsing with them. We haven't played out much, too cold to be loading and unloading gear in the cold icy night, but the highlight of the winter has been all the good work we've done together.

So far we've laid down 14 new tracks in the studio, and today we are going to record 7 more.  I love the process of recording. I'm fascinated with the process. I love reading books about recording. There are so many ways to do a project.  

I am addicted to the 33 1/3 series of books.  Most of these books take on a great record and get into the nitty gritty details of recording. I've read about Talking Head's "Fear of Music," Patti Smith's "Horses," The Rolling Stone's "Exile on Main Street," Bob Dylan's "Highway 61," Radiohead's "Kid A," Led Zeppelin's "IV," My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," Neil Young's "Harvest," Velvet Underground's "banana record."

So many myths and cool stories surrounding the work. Turns out there are a million ways to "skin the cat." The process is amazing, and consuming, but ultimately, it really doesn't matter how the work is done, all that matters is the result. I mean the process matters to those doing the work, but ultimately it doesn't matter if it's lo-tech, hi-tech, layered and refined, or live and raw; one microphone in a kitchen session, or multiple mics strategically placed in a high-class studio.  We love these records because they capture a place and time that somehow transcends time and becomes a work that resonates across time.

It's an amazing thing. Art, a branch of magic.