With just 2 more songs to drum out, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves this morning. Mainly because we were still on schedule, not that there really is one, but coming over here we’d hoped to be done bass and drums in 4 days. Today was day 5, but we really only spent a few hours on Day 1, laying ‘No Money…’ plus I’d already put some rhythm down on it as well.
The last 2 songs were ‘So Be It’, an up-tempo job that has a great chorus, a bangin’ middle-8 (which we actually play twice Beatles style) and then a slowdown jam at the end. B wanted it to feel like Clapton’s ‘Layla’. The challenge today was working out the ending. Francis feels the chorus should return and immediately fade after the slowdown so that’s what we set out to do. In the end this wasn’t the challenge we’d prepared for though. Greg pretty much nailed a roll that brought it back to speed in his first take. Problem solved.
Our final job was to perfect ‘What You See On The Way’. You may remember from the earlier blogs that this one failed to impress when we debuted it earlier in the sessions, but we felt we saved it with some re-writes. I was pumped to lay this one down cause it was like we were going to create it and record it at the same time. We ran it about 5 times, tinkering with parts of it after each go, and in the end this version is far better than the one we showed up here with. Gregg certainly agreed. It charges along, running through 7 different parts before ending. I loved it before so now I don’t know how to describe it… Really love it?! I’m all but sure it will be the lead-off track on the release. It introduces us beautifully and OT’s bass line sets the mood for the rest of our material. Not to mention that everyone had something to do with its final form.
With drums and bass now behind us (well aside from some overdubs and tracking I’m sure), it is now my turn to get some guitar down. Seeing as we had a couple hours left in our session, that time began tonite. Pretty much my rhythm’s will all be laid as I described earlier when I did ‘No Money Anthem’. One track of DI and then 2 tracks (left & right) of natural acoustic, so far all on Francis’ Ibanez and mic’d with a Neumann U87.
I like to throw caution to the wind when I record. I try not to concentrate on playing flawless rhythm because flawless rhythm doesn’t always result in good tracks. Flawless feel does. If flawless time was what made people happy, everyone would love elevator music. I like getting lost in the drums and just letting it happen. To have some bass down was such a bonus. Mix a little of that in, to give the drums a seamless feel, and I’m off to the races. One or two takes max. There may be a spot or 2 I have trouble with. It’s then that the jock in me kicks in and I shift my focus to execution over style. But only then. I don’t know if I’ve ever, by my own standards, laid a flawless track but that’s what keeps it fresh for me; the constant pursuit of it. Can you tell I love to record?!
I played on ‘What You See On The Way’ – because it was still fresh, having been the last one to be done on drums and bass – ‘Another Way’ because I’ve been playing it forever, and ‘What’s My Name’ because it has such a great, natural feel and is fun as hell to play. I’m happy with all of them, but I’ll listen to them again on Monday and see how they sound. I think I want to tinker with the intro of ‘What’s My Name’ a bit. Thicken up my acoustic sound because I’m all alone and it needs to hit you in the guts. Aside from that, the weekend is gonna kill me because I just want to go, go, go. I suppose a celebration is in order though. Bass and drums are done. Hopefully tomorrow morning I’ll be happy I’m not playing… doubt it.
