Recording: Day 4 (this time, with MUSIC CLIPS!)

Tired, tired, tired after the end of another full day of recording. I’m thinking my little “fondue experiment” last night didn’t go over so well for my voice; from now on I’m going to have to stay away from milk products (they tend to make my throat phlegmy)...at least until my vocal stuff clears up. I’ll be spending the evening drinking hot tea, as well as sipping a special concoction that my acupuncturist suggests is good for someone with allergies…it’s chicken stock, mixed with fresh garlic and ginger. And if that doesn’t work, I may elect to try some of the more, shall we say, esoteric sore throat remedies – like the “GuggleMuggle” that my Israeli friends David and Judy suggested. I’m guessing I won’t be trying my high school friend Bill’s recipe…in his words: “Mix Lemon Juice, Tequila, and Honey, and drink as warm as you can. Either your throat will feel better, or you won't care!”

Probably true. ;) As Homer Simpson says… “To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.”

In yesterday’s installment, I told you that I’d be posting a video clip of Ben’s rework of the song Wherever You Are. Well, due to some very strange malfunctions with my video camera, I will not be able to follow through on that promise…the best part of the session appears to have been lost. To make sure this doesn’t happen again, I’ve gone to Best Buy and gotten a bunch of 8GB memory cards…one or two cards per day should do it, and should ensure that I don’t mysteriously “lose” any video again.

Since I couldn’t give you what I promised, though, I figured I’d do one better. Remember how I told you that we made some pretty substantive structural changes to Wherever You Are? Well, I’ve included a link to a video clip of me performing the original version of the song – just click on the video box to watch it.

Then, once you’ve watched that, click HERE and click on the "Wherever You Are: New Version" clip to take a listen a rough mix of the song, as revised. Ben and I threw this together this evening, so that you all could listen to what we’ve been working on. Remember, it’s just basic guitar and vocals for now – there are no other instruments or voices, so there’s lots of empty space…and no real production work has gone into the tune, so it’ll sound very raw and unfinished (including the vocal, which is quite rough in places). This is the baseline that we’ll be working from to create the finished product. If we’re lucky, I’ll be able to share the various incarnations of this song with you as we go through adding other instruments, vocals, and production qualities. Let me know your thoughts! Which version do you like best, and why?

Today we worked on two more songs – Close Your Eyes, which we’ve changed to be titled Lullabye for Zoe, and a song called Boats. Both seemed to go fairly well, although Ben and I had some disagreements initially over the treatment of the Zoe piece. We’ll see what happens with those issues as we move further down the road with production. Tomorrow we’ll be working on a cover of a punk song (Anything, Anything), and one other song to be determined by how strong my voice feels.

That’s all for now. I LOVE to see your thoughts, comments, and questions – whether on Facebook, or directly in the Blog – so please do let me hear from you! It’s great to feel connected, especially with the 3,000 miles distance separating me from so many people that I love. Thanks for being there, and THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Steve