In the past, I’ve been breaking up the technical evolution and the emotional, artistic commentary, but in this case, I find it hard to separate them, so I will have a go at putting it all together.

First, some background. Some of you may remember that I resigned from a church music position in the middle of July 2007 to focus on free lance music and The Dailies full time. Without getting into the history in too much detail, although there is a song on the record about this experience, called Two Years Ago, it’s important to understand that the experience of being a leader in this church during that season was an incredibly emotionally taxing experience.

So there we are in 2007, thinking about this record. Starting to sketch out our songs, our ideas, and I have a massive case of writers block mixed with a little post-regular work hours depression. Yes, an artist who gets depressed, how original, I know. It was during this season of turmoil that The Tempest was born.

By Thanksgiving of that year, I had reached my low point. I hadn’t written much. In fact, there are 2-3 songs from that period that never made it even into the demo stage. They were just too unfocused and uninteresting. The money that we’d saved as a safety net against regular paychecks had been mostly spent. It was taking forever to see payment from a couple of high profile singing gigs I had done, as it takes a long time for residuals to filter through the corporate and SAG / AFTRA systems. It was a bad scene.

We went to Erica’s Mom and Dad’s house for Thanksgiving that year. They live in a rural area East of San Diego near Alpine. They took one look at us early in the weekend and said something like… “Hey, umm… why we keep the kids on the last night and you guys go get a hotel somewhere and get away.” This sort of statement is like catnip to the parents of young children.

I went online and discovered that The Hotel Del Coronado was practically giving rooms away. It was the end of Thanksgiving weekend, and they were just trying to keep the hotel reasonably full. For the price of a night at the local Sheraton, we got a room at one of the coolest hotels in America.

That afternoon, we made our way down there and checked in. Erica suggested a walk on the beach, and so we got a little coffee and that’s what we did.

It was a crisp, California autumn day at the beach, cold… but not unpleasantly so. The air was clear and a smattering of clouds dotted the horizon. It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon. We were walking and talking and enjoying ourselves, and I realized two things. First, I was content. I hadn’t felt content in several months, and it was a refreshing feeling.

Second, I was struck by the beauty, the vastness, the majesty of the Pacific ocean. I realized that, even though we only live 20 minutes from the beach, that I hadn’t been down to see it all summer and fall. It had been beautiful every day, but I hadn’t come to see it. I had cloistered myself in my small studio, trying and failing to write good songs, but the ocean kept doing it’s thing, day in, and day out. The Tide did not care how I felt.

I found great comfort in this. I felt small, and unimportant. I felt like all the things I was stressing about were quite comical, and not at all interesting to this great, ancient, and massive thing that was my peaceful neighbor.

We finished our coffee, and went back to the room.

We had our guitars with us, Erica with her Taylor, me with my Fender acoustic bass. We often take them with us, even though neither of us are particularly great on them, to play together and relax. Erica sat down and started playing a simple little riff, that sounded like this:

[See post to listen to audio]

It pleased me. It hit me the right way. It was simple and lovely. I started playing a simple 8th note bass line underneath it, and began singing what came to me:

The waves roll out, and crash back in…
And I am somehow comforted by their indifference…

And our little song was born. The verses wouldn’t get written until much later, and we had a “B” section to the verses that got bagged and ultimately simplified and streamlined, but the essence of the song was created right there in a little room at the Hotel Del.

I’d say it was the 4th or 5th song we’d started, and yet immediately we knew that it was something special, and that it was going to be the last song on the record. I just had a sense about it.

Since I play exactly zero guitar, I had Erica lay down that little phrase once we got home. I started building parts around it, while crafting the lyric. Sometimes when I start a song, I just write, with not much of a goal in mind, this time, however, I knew with startling clarity what we were trying to say, and how to say it. The experience was simply too vivid to attempt anything other then simple describing what we felt in the moment itself.

It’s been too long since I stood here
At the edge of something vast
It’s been calling to me softly
And I answered it at last
Too long since I stood here
And let it wash my feet
Felt the touch of something ancient, something deep…

Once it was written, I demoed it up. Erica began a tradition during this time where she’d take the kids out of the house for several hours at a time on Mondays, as I was having a hard time focusing when I could hear them playing (or fighting) and wanting to engage. This demo was created on one of those days. We knew that Erica was going to sing lead from the moment we wrote it, so this is a rare and exciting chance to hear me singing way out of my range and making a general fool of myself. It should be noted, as I am listening right now to this demo for the first time in months, to hear the differences in the phrasing the way Erica heard it and sung it when it counted.

Anywhoo.. here’s my demo

[See post to listen to audio]

This is a great example of why we demo. On a tune like this, where we’re trying to go for a bit more of an epic sound, since we’re SOOO not guitar players, it’s hard to imagine it if we were just to sit around and play it for you. I, personally, need to hear it in a larger, more arranged context to make sure it’s gonna work. Also, since we have limited time in the studio with the band, we don’t have several hours to waste learning a tune. We have to give them a running start.

Speaking of the band guys, tracking this song lead to the single most enjoyable night of the Eldorado week. We did this one late in the game, and everyone had really settled into the flow. Also, this was the demo that everyone heard and had very little commentary. No one said… “Well, I hear where you’re going, but we’re going to have to consider this instead…” Everyone just sort of nodded and said, “That’s gonna be fun.”

And it was. It was magical, actually. Now, bear in mind that when we recorded “What It Is,” in 2006, we had already tracked final vocals against the demos. We had it in our heads that it would help the process if the guys could hear really focused, tight vocals to play against. It worked, sorta. What we learned was that when listening to that record, we feel like the vocals are somehow detached in places. The band was feeling it 11, but we had only sung it at 8, if you will.

This time, we had nothing previously tracked going into the studio. Erica or I would actually sing live with the band on the first 2-3 passes, to give them that central focal point, but then once we got a decent pass, we’d back out and let them just play it down.

During The Tide, I remember clearly thinking that something special was afoot. Even though Erica was behind the soundproofed glass, singing in the control room, and the band was scattered throughout the tracking rooms of Eldorado, there was a unity. She’d belt a chorus, and the band would respond. She’d go soft at the end, and the band would respond.

As I’ve been typing this, I went back into the sessions and found her original scratch vocal, recorded against the band. For those of you who are nerdy, this band track is nearly raw. I’ve put a limiter across the 2-buss, and there’s a little reverb across everything, but other then that, this is what it sounded like going to tape. This is also a cool glimpse into an end to end vocal, warts and pitchy notes and all. No edits, no comps, no tuning… even a bit of distortion as she overdrives the mic pre.

[See post to listen to audio]

That ending, with all the alternate voicings on piano, was entirely improvised. I remember thinking it was so beautiful, holding my breath, praying for no foul notes. There were none. It was one of those songs where you could tell they wanted to play it again, not because we needed another pass, but just because it felt so good to play.

We took it home and went to work. We had made an aesthetic choice as we prepared for this record that we were going to simplify the sound of the vocals. Vocalists get a little heady about vocal tricks. Doubles, triples, stacks, licks, runs, bleh. Erica and are sorta over it. We just want to sing a phrase with good feel and good vibe. We made a decision that we were going to double at most, and only when it felt right, let it be the icing on the cake, rather then slathered throughout the recipe.

We made one exception to this rule, and it was for this song, specifically the bridge. I remember working on it, playing the bass part and thinking, “This needs to be epic. This is almost like the concluding statement of our whole record… the sum of what we’re learning right now… the sum of our artistry in this moment.”

Therefore, we decided to let it rip, vocally. Double the melody on the octaves? Yes please. Flesh out the harmonies? Yup. OOOOHHHH, how about some percussive ooohs and aahs! BRING IT!

For most of this tune, it’s 2 channels of vocals. On the bridge, it’s 26 channels. I just counted. I remember when Stick got a hold of this track for mix, he protested mightily at the taxing of his computer’s processing. Even his mighty Pro Tools HD3 rig was forced to bow to the mighty choir of Chads and Ericas. (Somewhere in the woods in Northern California, a very nice, very talented, very reasonable gentleman is shaking his head and muttering… “88.2 sucks…”)

Here’s the “Vocals Up” rough mix that came out of our machine after we had laid everything down.

[See post to listen to audio]

So we were pretty stoked on this tune. I especially dig the bridge, with all the vocals and the moving bass line and everyone just doing for it. For me, the lyric there sort of sums up the entirety of our last (almost) two years.

I may yet survive the tempest
But I won’t outlive the tide
It will breathe when I lay breathless
It cares nothing for my pride
For I am but a vapor
Drifting towards that other shore
Like every generation, every pilgrim gone before

I know that some people get wierded out by the fact that we, our lives, are really a blink in the eye of time. I find great comfort in it, personally. The self is not the center of the universe. We are all a part of something bigger and grander, and this realization is one of the keys to a life of significance, ironically. It’s nice to know, when you’re in the valley, that there’s a bigger, more beautiful world out there. The question remains, will you ascend the slopes around you long enough to take it in.

Now, the problem was that when it came to mix, the bridge section wasn’t about to ascend a blessed thing. It was collapsing into itself. Stick built, and rebuilt it, and still it wasn’t happening. He finally threw up his hands and said something like:

“Well.. the bass is playing up the octave and the low end disappears half the time. You can’t bring the thunder if the bass player is in the wrong octave!”

I sheepishly announced that since I love the sound of the bass high on the neck, that I had encouraged (read: directed) Dana to play it as such. Score one more for Chad, superproducer.

We went over to a friend of Stick’s and borrowed a Fender J-Bass, similar to the one Dana used on the record. One of the problems we had faced was that a typical four string’s low note is an E. This song is in the key of D, so that low root note is unavailable, unless you have a five string, or a drop-D tuner on your bass.

So, we just detuned the bottom string. This presented an issue, in that as I attempted to recut the part, the intervals were all out of whack if I tried to move to another string, and I’m just not a good enough bass player to make the mental transitions on the fly.

So, what you’ll hear on the final mix / master is this: Dana works his magic on everything except the bridge section, from the downbeat at 2:49 to where the band goes back into a straight groove at 3:43. In that bridge section, you hear me, playing that line on one string, like I’m in a Jr. High garage band. Rawk, baby.

Here’s the final mix, with the new bass part in place:

[See post to listen to audio]

As always, the mastering job did wonders to bring it to life. Keep in mind, as always, that the mastering is just the manipulation of the two channel mix. They do nothing other then apply final compression, limiting, and EQ. But man… what a difference it makes.

[See post to listen to audio]

In many ways, this song is the counter balance to the song we talked about previously, “The Tempest.” In fact, for about 10 minutes, we seriously considered calling the record “Tempest and Tide,” but then we went back to “Mixing Metaphors,” as we felt like it more accurately and interestingly described the record.

If you’ve actually read and listened all the way through this 2553 word epic, I salute and thank you. The record is actually done, and we get to pick up the copies this week. We’re looking forward to sharing it with you all.

So, I play just enough bass guitar to get myself in trouble. I picked up the instrument a few years back because I wanted to try something new and I thought, “Hey… I only have to worry about one note at a time… how hard can it be?” I took one lesson, and off I went. It was Rosy, actually, who sorta taught me how to play bass. About three years ago, Mike, Corey, Rosy, and I were hired to back up some friends of ours on a weekend gig at Hume Lake. This weekend was actually the first time The Dailies band played together, and lead to the making of the first record later that year.

Rosy at one point actually said to me something like… “Watch my kick drum. Don’t play a note unless you see me hitting the kick.” Some of you might be thinking… man… for him to say that… you must have been really bad. You’d be right. However, even though I’m a pretty noob-i-licious bass player, I’m a pretty good musician, and it all worked out. I do U2 style 8th notes quite well, thanks,

Anyways. I actually played bass on the 1st record, which is one of the many reasons why it has a for more garage band feel than this new one. After attempting to play a few gigs, singing and playing and fumbling and mumbling, we decided to hire a pro, our friend Dana Decker.

Playing bass, even though I’ll never be Sting, has lead me to make better choices as a musician, as a songwriter… well… most of the time. More on that in a moment. Even a rudimentary understanding of the instrument helps out. I’ve actually had a couple of bass players comment that it’s more fun to play with me when I’m on keys, because I stay out of their way these days. But I digress…

So we’re working on this song, “The Tempest,” and it all starts with a bass line and a hook idea. It was actually one of the first songs written for the project, which, I think, contributed to the issues we were having later on. It took a little while for the songwriting engine to get cranked up and firing on all cylinders.

So, we write the tune, and I demo it up. The bass line in question happens right at the 0:13 mark, and then loops… endlessly. I want you all to know that this is an exercise in humility for me to share this with you, but it’s a brave new interactive world out there, and here goes nothin’

[See post to listen to audio]

Man… that was rough. Glad we made it through there. So, if you’re like me, I hope you heard a lot of potential, but you most likely heard a fair amount of mush and dissonance. We did, too. At this point, as creative people, you start to rationalize with yourself.

“Well… that arrangement doesn’t quite work, but I really like the lyrics and the melody, and it’ll be fine once the band plays it.”

We moved on to other tunes, and other demos, and there you go. By the time we got to Eldorado a few months later, I was moderately dreading this tune. So many of the others, like Signal Chain, had seemed to pour so easily from the pen. Rationalize, rationalize, rationalize, and off we go.

Now, once the band played it, it did sorta come into focus. A bit. On a rock tune, nothing will help it feel better like a real guitar player and a real drummer. However, we were still a bit troubled by it. It just didn’t… feel right, and so many of the others felt great.

Rationalize, rationalize, rationalize… “Well… once the final vocals are in place, it’ll come into focus.”

We finish tracking week, and head home. Again… this tune is at the bottom of our list of favorite tunes, which is really bumming me out, because I had such high hopes for it when we started out. I mean… what a great bass line, right? Can I get a what what? Anyone? Moving on.

One of the big struggles when tracking this one was finding the right keyboard part. Mike is not exactly shy about coming up with great parts, but nothing really settled down. He took a few cracks at it in the studio, then I sat down and did one, and nothing felt right. The Rhodes part that you’ll hear below is actually me, spending WAAAY too much time at home trying to make it fit.

This is a rough mix, coming from our computer, after we had finished tracking the leads. Ok… we can make it through, ok? This story has a happy ending. You really don’t have to listen to the whole thing, unless you’re a HUGE Dailies fan. Or a masochist. For some reason, this particular bounce hit the 2-bus too hard, and all the distortion somehow adds to the fact that the arrangement sucks.

[See post to listen to audio]

Rationalize, rationalize, rationalize. “Well… the problems with this song will be resolved once it’s all mixed and pretty.” This actually turned out to be true, but not in the way we thought.

When we finished all the vocal tracking, and were prepping for mix, I wrote up a whole mess of notes and ideas for Stick, our mixer. Keep in mind that Stick is a songwriter, player, producer, and arranger, as well as a mixer. He, like so many of us, wears any musical hat that will keep his kids eating food and the house out of foreclosure. Most of my notes were things like this, “So, on the 1st verse of this tune, I really like the guitar lick at bar 14, so make sure it’s up enough in the mix to hear it.”

On The Tempest, this was my note:

“This is our problem child song. Save this one for a day when you’re feeling like a challenge. Any and all ideas you have will be welcomed. Feel free to employ anything you can think of to give the song more arc.”

So, we clone our drive. FedEx the copy to him, and he goes to work. Now, June (Stick’s wife) told me a story after the mix was completed that went something like this. “Well, Chad, it’s funny… For about three days he was at work in the studio, and he’d come back happy and energized. Then, one night, he came in all downcast. I asked him what was wrong, and he said, ‘Hmmm…. I just don’t know what I’m gonna do with this song.’”

Stick called me the next morning and said…. “How much leeway do I have with tune.” Considering I was on the verge of cutting it from the album, I answered, “How much leeway do you want?”

“Well,” he said, “I think we can keep the Drums, the B3 (organ) and the vocals.” I remember thinking to myself… at least he said we could keep the vocals.

The problem lay in the bass. With all that movement, all that schmutz, there was just nowhere for everyone else to go. Also, the nature of the line I wrote lead everyone else to play like it was some sort of southern fried rock tune, instead of a modern rock anthem. He put together a demo for his idea and sent it to me.

[See post to listen to audio]

Aaaaah yes. Everything gets simplified. Everything falls into place. Gone is the bass part that dominates and muddies everything. In it’s place, big guitars and a signature keyboard part. I love this guy! The other major change comes in the chorus. The original version went like this:

G//// G7//// C//// Cm7////

Stickman changed one chord, and the entire character of the thing changes.

G//// Em7//// C//// Cm7////

All of a sudden our little red headed stepchild is getting straight A’s and dating the prom queen. Now the fun begins. All the guitars you heard were Stick hammering away his studio and the bass is a sample, from Spectrasonic’s Trilogy plug-in. Turns out that Corey was going to be in studio the following day, for an unrelated session. Also turns out that they had the whole day booked and only about four hours of work scheduled. Corey, Stick, and I got on the phone and talked through the new parts, and off he went. Dana, excited to get to play a proper bass part, stopped by our place the next day and laid down some stank.

So, after a few more tweaks, and a little more love, here’s a final mix:

[See post to listen to audio]

Since this is a big, loud, four chord rock tune, it really benefited from the mastering process.

[See post to listen to audio]

So, what’s the moral of this story? Well, it’s simple! Write bad arrangements and then hire a great mixer to fix everything for you! Rationalize those structure issues away! Next song!

So, the actual moral of this songwriting near-miss-almost-disaster is this: I will not be fixed in the mix. A big studio won’t fix it. A great vocal won’t fix it. If your song isn’t working, it isn’t working. Strip it bare and find what’s wrong. Do not get attached. If I’m being perfectly honest, I think this track could have been even stronger still if we had done the extreme makeover earlier in the process.

As it is, we’re pretty grateful that we were able to not only keep it in the mix, but that it turned out to be one of our favorites. We were affirmed in that feeling a few weeks ago, when Crucial Music selected it as one of six of our tunes that will be added to their library.

If this tune goes platinum, I’ll have to do something really nice for Stick, like get him a monogrammed pen or a gift card to Starbucks or something. We know how to take care of our people, ya’ll.

I have always a huge fan of the liner notes. One of the great losses of the post iPod era is the artwork, in my opinion. I remember getting excited when I’d buy a CD and it felt heavy. That meant that there were pages and pages of pictures, lyrics, credits, and if I was lucky, something more.

I remember getting John Mayer’s “Heavier Things,” which has some VERY clever charts and graphs mapping out the location of where each song was written, in which key, which tempo, and even an amusing chart describing how you were supposed to feel while listening to it, complete with emoticons and whatnot. Very funny.

These days, the best we can hope for is an album cover that looks good on our iPhone. (What’s that? Chad got an iPhone for Christmas? What a lucky boy!) I heard someone say that the internet and one’s webpage is the new artwork, and in reality, it’s better, because it’s not static. I’m not totally certain that I agree. Artwork is great because it is static. It’s a portrait of a moment. It gets dated and then it looks silly and then if you’re lucky, it looks like a classic.

However, Pandora’s box is open and there’s no going back. In that spirit, one of these days we’ll drop a bunch of coin on making this website look fantastic, and you can all ooh and aah. In the meantime, I thought I’d satiate you with some digital liner notes, with a little added bonus.

Signal Chain was a song that was written in the middle of the process. It’s one of those songs that just sorta spilled out of me, with not a lot of effort. Erica, who plays the often unappreciated but totally necessary role of editor had really nothing to say about this one, which was another good sign.

When we first write a song, at least for this and the previous record, we do a demo. We do this for our own benefit as well as the band’s. For us, it allows us to listen a few times through and decide if it’s worth recording. It’s one thing to sit at the piano, in the thrill of creation, and sing and feel great. It’s another thing to hear it in the car, and clinically think… is this thing any good?

If the demo passes our ears, it gets put on the playlist of tunes for the record, and goes to the band. We don’t have the luxury of hours and hours to sit and figure out the arrangement of each song in the studio or in a rehearsal space, so the demo helps them get an idea of what we are hearing, and then they add their own special sauce.

Here’s the demo:

[See post to listen to audio]

So, from the get-go, the bass line defined the tune. There was just something about that phrase that did it for me. I remember the band guys all jumping at it, as the arrangement on this one was pretty solid. There are other tunes, as you will hear, that are very evolved in their final form compared to where they started.

The one exception to this was with Rosy, who got a little nervous about the drum part on the verses. I am not a drummer, so all the stuff you heard on that demo was programmed drums. A computer has no problem whatsoever playing intricate, two handed 16th note hi-hat patterns while doing cross stick at the same time.

Humans, however… not so much. This is not an issue of Rosy’s ability, mind you, it’s more a reflection on the fact that he, in fact, only possess two hands.

Another major change was simplifying the keyboard part and changing the verse from the a piano to a rhodes. I had to be convinced on that one, as I felt like the verse didn’t have enough movement in it. However, the first time I sat down at the big Genelecs at Eldorado and listened after Mike laid down a pass, and that first Rhodes chord hits and just swallowed me up, I was hooked.

So the song evolves, from the demo to the studio. From samples to real players. From an idea to a real song. After tracking, we took our raw audio home and started working on the final vocals. The next track is an unmixed bounce of the final vocals after they were recorded against the band. This is our rough mix for listening purposes.

[See post to listen to audio]

So, then, after about 10,000 listens, we decided that it was fully baked and ready to go to mix. When the mixer gets a hold of a tune, all bets are off. It’s his or her job to hear through everything and help the artist decide what’s important and what should be brought forward or back. At this point, we’ve lost all perspective on this thing. We’ve been through it so many times that we vacillate between thinking it’s the greatest song ever written one minute and then we hate it the next.

Stick got a hold of this one, and took right to it. He opened up the drums, using a lot of the room sounds to give it a more natural sound, especially in the bridge. Listen for how the snare just opens up and fills the whole sound field.

[See post to listen to audio]

Now, bear in mind that this is merely the final track and mix. All along this journey, there are variations on this song, with minor tweaks. For example, I had to rerecord my entire vocal. I did the whole thing, doubles, edits and all, listened to it for a few days, and then Erica and I decided that it wasn’t right, and back into the booth I went. This version of the band track that you’re hearing is one of about six we laid down. This pass was the one we felt was the best. The mix that you’re hearing is revision 5 or 6. I can’t remember. Push Erica’s vocal up, Stick! Now pull it back! More guitar! Less guitar!

Etc. One can almost understand how it took 14 years for Axl to make Chinese Democracy. Almost.

If you’re still reading and listening, you might have found yourself reaching for your volume knob on the final mix. It’s left quiet on purpose. The job of bringing up the levels and applying a final eq and compression to the whole mix is the job of the mastering engineer.

Speaking of which, here’s the final master!

[See post to listen to audio]

I think the cool thing on this tune is how close the demo feels to the final. The vibe, instrumentation, arrangement, vocal feel, and even the mix is similar. For example, when I first did the demo, I felt like it wanted big, long, epic delays on the vocals on the bridge. I was gratified to hear Stick’s first mix, as when we hit the bridge, what appeared but big, long delays. I hadn’t asked for them. The song did.

This is one of my very favorite tunes on the record, and in part two, I’ll give some thoughts on what the song means to us and maybe unpack some of the lyrical choices.

Happy new year to you all. We look forward to sharing our music with you in 2009.

Peace!

The first is the opening piano riff for one of our favorite tunes from the last record, Wake Us.

wake-us-ringtone

The next two are from our upcoming record, which is still in process.

signal-chain-ringtone

all-in-ringtone

Happy Calling!

I love this song. I think I mentioned that before. There’s something that just does it for me on this one. Perhaps it was because it was written in one sitting with no revisions, perhaps because I think it’s a muscular, densely packed lyric, who knows.

I love so much about this tune. I love the arpeggiated guitar part. I love the interaction between the bass and the drums. I love how it’s totally understated and reserved and then just explodes in the bridge. I love how the rhodes just seems to swallow everything up.

Again… rough mix. Listening to the bounce, I think I was perhaps a little buckwild with delays and reverbs. Good thing I’m not mixing…

[See post to listen to audio]

Pausing periodically to cough, Erica channeled her inner Gwen and put some pretty stanky rock vocals down on a song called Now What this hot afternoon. It’s a tune that was written first in the process where I was trying to write a new song every three days. The lyric and tone reflect the manic energy that I was feeling during that mad but fruitful season. This tune is unlike anything else on the record. Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows. It’s a thing. The whole tune is about just saying… the hell with it, what’s next?

It’s a total throwback, like some sort of early 80s power pop tune. When Ash heard the demo, the first thing he said was, “It’s like a grittier Tainted Love!”

I might indulge my inner child and slap some phattie analogue synth parts on it later on in the process.

Wanna hear it? Oh, ok. For a change, there’s no Chad on this one to mess it up. Ooops… I cut off the very end of the MP3… sorry.

Enjoy anyways.

[See post to listen to audio]

All the same caveats apply as last time. Yes, you’ll hear some FX – reverb and such. I cannot stress enough as to how much more this piece will come into focus when the mix is done.

This might be interesting to some of you. Here is a link to the old demo of this song, I think it was one of the first ones I put up. Now remember, the demo is what the band heard, and then they created this. The demo is what we listened to as we came up with parts and whatnot.

The demo has become… this…

[See post to listen to audio]

It’s been going well today. It’s hot here in SoCal, and the air conditioning units are right outside our studio walls, so no air when we’re tracking vocals. I’d put on the webcam, but this is a family show.

Here’s a rough mix of some of the work we did today. Everything you hear except parts of Erica’s lead we tracked today. Keep in mind this is a rough mix. There’s no FX / Processing / EQ on the drums or instruments. A real mix would take about a full day to accomplish, perhaps longer on a tune like this. You’ll hear things jump out, things out of whack. There’s a lot of competition right now in the midrange of the tune, the mixer will have some work there.

This is what we’re listening to right now, and we want to share it with you, warts and all. Those of you interested in the mixing and mastering process will have something to compare when you get the final product.

Cheers!

[See post to listen to audio]

It’s a sad and sweet little ditty. It’s a song about wanting to be let go, but not wanting to hurt the other person, or in this case… people. There are plenty of harsh and angry goodbye songs. This one is something different. It’s a song about giving love and asking to be set free with a blessing. You can hear a snippet of it on the video we uploaded last week.

So, anyways.. we’re in the studio working on this tune, and Mike goes, “Can I have 15 minutes to do a little science project?” Sure… what’s 15 minutes?

So, Mike tell Chris, the engineer… “I’m gonna need like 16 passes on the piano for this, but only for… oh I dunno, 12 bars.” Now, for our record, there’s a 3 mic setup on the piano. Two vintage AKG C12s on the hammers and our 251 mic as a mono “Indie-LoFi” option. 16 x 3 is… well, I’m not a math guy. It’s several channels.

So, Chris goes about creating enough tracks so Mike can exercise whatever muse is tickling his creative nerve. A few moments pass, and Chris says he’s ready.

So… Mike goes in, and creates… this. I have no idea how he did what he did. Some of it is plucked, some straight playing. I think some of it was him scraping his fingernails on certain strings. Some of it sounds like he just banged his fist on an eighty year old Steinway. All we knew was that Chris would hit record, Mike would play one of the elements you’ll soon hear, and then he’d stop, and say… “Ok… next pass.” Nothing was redone. Everything you’ll hear below was created with a piano, believe it or not.

Suddenly, our record had grown by an additional track. See, I want to let this thing just unspool for about 2 minutes before we even start the tune. We have a rough idea of the song order, and I can tell you that, at least as of now, this is going to be a bridge from a couple tunes in a row about emotional and relational conflict into the song Kiss Us Goodbye, which is a song about resolution. There’s something about this improvised piece that completely captures the sense of sadness and longing that I felt when I wrote the song.

Today, I got around to opening this file, and began the preparation for vocal tracking. I began to take the science project apart and rebuild it. He intended it to be pieces of a puzzle, to be refit together at a later date. This will not be the final mix, or even the final edit. This is what I created today from the pieces he gave me. Today, you’ll hear the Science project, interpreted by yours truly, and then you’ll hear it transition into the real song, and then it ends… rather abruptly… sorry. I created this little MP3 to share with Mike, and then I decided to share it with you. By the time the record is complete, it may become something totally different. Who knows? It’s art, baby!

This is the art that was created today. I’m thinking about naming this science project Prelude to a Kiss, in honor of the song into which it leads.

I feel like this record is going to be something special. I really hope you’re enjoying what you’re hearing thus far.

[See post to listen to audio]

Well, tracking week approaches quickly, and we’re feeling our collective pulse rising. I liken the studio experience to like being in the womb. It’s a place where nothing from the outside world is allowed. Our kids will be gone, other work will be suspended. Emails will go unanswered. Bliss.

At the end, something is born. It has its own personality, its own soul. It moves from something intimately connected to you, and you alone, and takes it place in the world, taking on a life of it’s own. You’re still connected to it, but not in the same way.

This past week, we completed writing what is to be the 13th track on this new record. Erica was listening through our playlist of demos over and over, and she came to me and said… “We need one more fun song. Something loud, and big. Something that makes your heart race. Something that people can throw up their hands to and sing along. We need a monster chorus.”

She sat down with her guitar and started playing through some changes and singing some ideas. The tone of what she was singing rang in my ears, and I got an idea.

We love this tune. It makes us feel really, really good.

Stay tuned as next week unfolds. We’ll be blogging and uploading media as it becomes available. It’s going to be really fun to hear these demos become their real selves.

Here’s lucky #13, “All In.”

[See post to listen to audio]