How it went today at the recording studio

Six hours of work and we got two of my compositions recorded from scratch. Pretty good work.

Here’s how it went: The first hour was spent tuning, then recording rhythm guitar tracks for the two songsI’m always quick on these, and today I got the rhythm tracks on the first take both times. Then about three hours doing vocals. I did eight takes of each vocal. People always say that vocals are hardest to get done and take a lot of work. I’m not a great singer, so I am no exception to this rule. I actually felt a bit rusty today, so I wasn’t sure if the vocals were going to work out. But in the end I think we got it pretty good. At least the final vocal tracks sound like me. The last two hours were spent recording mandolin parts, including half an hour tuning the stubborn instrument, and then a little editing. That’s it.

Both songs were arranged with guitar, mando, and vocals. One song, “Sweet By And By,” had been recorded live in the studio with a couple friends last year, but the vocal bled so much into my guitar mike that the track was unusable. The other song, “Steel Guitar,” was recorded last year as a waltz, but I came up with a better, up-tempo swingy feel since then. So that’s why I re-recorded these two.

I’m very glad to have engineer Les working with me. He is always calm, supportive, and efficient. He edits and fixes problems quickly, and he gives me lots of room to do my work. So there ya go, a terribly productive day recording stuff for the CD. Just a little more mixing etc. and we’ll be on our way.