Mike’s Science Project

So, we’re working on a song called Kiss Us Goodbye.

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.

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