A Girl...

Simon Says - "Yee-HAW!"

It is official--we are a REAL BAND now! I feel like Pinocchio the day after his tryst with the Blue Fairy. Today I have the mix of our songs that we recorded in a REAL LIVE RECORDING STUDIO last weekend.

So here's how this went...

There is a recording studio in Berkeley that is also a school where people learn how to become recording engineers. They will record bands for free so that the students can practice their future careers as market saturators. My band went in on Sunday, and we recorded four songs in eight hours. “Only four songs in eight hours?” I hear you ask…Yes, four in eight. It sounds like we should have gotten more done, but there is a lot involved. First we set up the drums. Then we tune the drums. Then we mic the drums. Then we test the drums for levels. Then we set up the guitars and test for levels. Then we test the bass for levels. Then we wait while they set up our headphone monitors. Then we figure out why the drums are so loud. Then we practice turning on and off the talkback mic.

Then we take lunch.

THEN, we record. We did three takes of our first song, then four takes of our second song. Two takes of the third song. Three takes of the fourth song. Then we wait while they disassemble the studio and set it up for vocals. Then we do between one and three takes of all of the lead vocals, one or two takes of the backup vocals, and one take of harmonica, and two takes of the “yee-haw” from yours truly.

That’s a lot in eight hours. The people who were doing the recording were pumped, and told us that we really have our shit together, because they usually get two songs done, maybe three on a good day. They were all excited that we got so much done that day, so I feel pretty good about it. I think that the instructor was less glad than the students, because he was shutting off the lights and turning off the equipment as the last vocal take was echoing off in the speakers. That guy was ready to bolt. I assume that this was either because he hates country music or he had been there for sixteen straight hours.

So Thursday was supposed to be the mixing. The same students were going to be mixing our songs from eight a.m. to noon. I arrived at 11:30 to pick up the CD, and as it turned out, the group had spent that time doing a different project--they were learning to cut tape (in other words, arrange music by physically cutting the tape and splicing it together). So I got there and there was no mix to take home.

One of the students, Nick, is a pretty dedicated guy, and he whipped out two songs for me in about an hour. Good old Nick said “It’s no problem mixing this for you--I’d live in this studio if they’d let me.” Thanks, Nick.

The next class of five came in for their lab on MIXING, of all things, so they did the remaining two songs. Whereas Nick did two in an hour and a half, these well-intentioned amateurs did the other two in about four hours.

So I left the studio with CD in hand. I am so excited about it. By Thursday night I’d already listened to it about 15 times.

Now I won’t go so far as to say that we sound like a real professional band with a professionally produced CD, but we sound pretty darn good overall. There are a few problems here and there-- the pedal steel is too low here, the background vocals are too loud there, etc. But overall, I’m pleased as punch.

Presenting "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke."