Session Log: 11.29.06

Wednesday, 11.29.06: 3:00p - 1:00a
'Take It As It Comes' / 'Last Trip' / 'You Won't Be Long' (Rehearsal takes only)
Studio: Miriam Audio - Philadelphia, PA
Producer: Jim
Engineer: Pete Donnelly

A bunch of time in the studio with Mike Frank (keys), Pete Donnelly (bass), and Roger Cox (drums) learning tunes and working out arrangements in anticipation of recording backing tracks.

I went to the studio at 3p, vacuum in tow and spent a few hours cleaning the studio. This is not a typical scenario in the world of recording, but I feel more creative when I'm not worried about mold spores invading my body (sorry Jesse, I love you but you're messy).

Lee Schusterman arrived around 6p to tune one of the pianos. You can see Lee explain the differences between the varying types of upright pianos - not once, but twice - in a video here that I SWEAR to you is much more entertaining than what it sounds like it would be (by the way Lee - it was a whole step). While you're over at YouTube, you may want to watch my Lee-ona impression here, which is almost exactly as entertaining as you think it would be, which is to say, not very (but it's short).

The boys arrived around 7p and we spent the next 6 hours getting the tunes in shape. This process usually starts with me showing everyone the basic structure and chord progression of the tune and then running the song down several times after that, each time giving a little bit more attention to individual details about the arrangement. I generally have a fair amount of things that I know that I'm looking for - a certain drum beat in a particular section of the song, a specific part on piano or bass at this point or that, but there's a lot of input from the guys as well. I've been playing with Mike for probably about 15 years and Roger for nearly 10, so they always have an instinct for the things I'm hearing anyway and Pete is one of my favorite bass players in terms of style and note choice, so there's a lot of great ideas to sift through.

You can (I think) kind of get an idea of what that process looks like (in highly edited form) in a video here that follows us through learning 'Take It As It Comes' (don't get to attached to the title, it's probably just a working one).

Two days of work in the studio and we haven't yet committed a proper take of anything. That will change tomorrow.