Post by Greg adkins on Aug 11, 2007 13:14:41 GMT -5
Days 7 and 8 - Asheville to Nashville
Day seven started with an early morning drive to Asheville. My drives have been taking longer lately because I got a speeding ticket last week which totally sucks... I was only going 72 in a 60 but it was through the mountains and they're pretty hardcore about it through there. I've been careful since then... walking the straight and narrow. A $140 ticket will do that to you I guess.
Anyway, Day 7 in Asheville was a great day. The big thing we did was add fiddle to the record. Joe Ebel came and played and he was just fantastic. His business card says "rebel without an R" which I think is awesome. He played on "Old Radio", "By Way of Sorrow", "The End of You and Me", and then basically did a string quartet part for "My Jesus Won't Give up On me" all by himself. He plays a 5 string violin and he can make it sound like a violin and a viola and we had already recorded a bowed upright for that song so now it sounds like it has a string quartet on it (although technically, it's missing the cello). It's going to sound fantastic when it's all said and done.
After that, we recorded accordion on 2 tracks and then spent the final hour of the day saving files to my hard drive so I could take them to Nashville which leads us now to Day #8.
Day 8 started out with a Krispy Kreme run.... my son Connor was a little sick so instead of going to school, he went to spend the day with his nana. Nothing is better when you're sick than some hot doughnuts and chocolate milk. From there I picked up my friend Bill Wolf who agreed to come along for the day to hang out. My wife doesn't understand why people would want to come hang out at the studio with me all day. I tried to explain it to her like this... "Honey, if you had the chance to go to the factory where they designed and made shoes, wouldn't that be sort of interesting to you? To see how shoes are made from dream to reality? To be there as the designers tried out different ideas? I mean, you like shoes a lot, so wouldn't this be of some interest to you? For my musician friends, hanging out in the studio is the same type thing... it's just fun to watch ideas become reality. In a way, it's like watching magic happen. Maybe not when I make records, but for some people it is." Anyway, I digress.
We spent the day at Sputnik studios in Nashville. Sputnik is a studio that is run by producer Mitch Dane who has produced TONS of good records (Bebo Norman, Randall Goodgame, Dividing the Plunder/Ellery, and Jars of Clay). Sputnik studios is where Jars of Clay records all of their albums so the walls of the place were covered with gold and platinum records and we even found a grammy on a shelf in there. Bill and I both took our pictures with it. Now if I can just get my picture made with a Tony, an Emmy, and an Oscar, I'll be a giant nerd.
Andrew Osenga who produced by first album (Lower than the Angels) is using one of their tracking rooms in the daytime because it's usually open and it's easier for him to record there than at home where he has 2 precious little girls. I was thrilled that Andy agreed to be a part of the record even though he wasn't producing. I'm sure you've heard me say this before, but Andy is pretty amazing in the studio. He's fast, creative, talented, and he knows how to get great sounds out of his guitars. The way he hits buttons on his 2 giant pedal boards is mind blowing... it looks like a big mess to me, but he always knows the right combination to get just the right tone for the song.
We recorded electric guitars for "My Own Worst Enemy", "Someday", "Further up and Further in", and "Old Shoes". These were all songs I was a little concerned about how they were going to come out but Andy just knocked them out of the park... I'm excited about all 4 of them. I know I've told you guys that this record is going to be a lot different than my first record, and it is, but the work we did today I think will bridge the gap between them so it won't be too drastic. Even though this record is more "americana", there's still a couple of really nice rock and roll moments.
After guitars and a great lunch at Judge Bean's (an elvis impersonator in full costume came in to eat while we were leaving... only in Nashville) it was back to the studio for some vocals. Andy sang harmonies for "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Further up and Further in". That last one was WAY high but we worked it out. Andy earned his check on that one though... Seriously... it was crazy high.
After vocals came the highlight of my day... the chance to play a real live hammond B3. On my first record, all of the hammond B3 sounds are samples. They sound great and they're pretty close to the real thing, but they're NOT the real thing. That becomes evident after you actually have a chance to play the real thing. Oh. My. Goodness. This thing was just flat out sweet. Too bad they cost like $15000 because I REALLY want one. I don't know what I'd do with it, but man... I'd figure something out. It was a real thrill.
I'd hoped to play it on 3 songs but we only had time for one. Mainly because, having never played one before, I didn't know what I was doing and it took awhile to get the hang of it. Oh well.. at least the real thing is on one track. I'm not going to tell you which one.
It's been a lot of fun recording this record so far, especially the way we've been doing different things in different places. Electric guitars in Nashville, Pedal steel and banjo were recorded by Bill Pratt in Connecticut, dobro will be recorded here in Knoxville, and the rest in Asheville.
I've been saying this a lot, but I'm really excited for you guys to hear some of this. I hope to have a short sample or two for you to listen to within the next 2 or 3 weeks. We go in for days 9 and 10 next week and we'll mostly be working on vocals and harmonies. My friend Dave Potts is coming in to sing some harmonies so that should be a lot of fun... Dave is a great guy and is always hilarious.
You guys are awesome... thanks for reading and for the words of encouragement. I can't wait to share this with you.
- Greg
Day seven started with an early morning drive to Asheville. My drives have been taking longer lately because I got a speeding ticket last week which totally sucks... I was only going 72 in a 60 but it was through the mountains and they're pretty hardcore about it through there. I've been careful since then... walking the straight and narrow. A $140 ticket will do that to you I guess.
Anyway, Day 7 in Asheville was a great day. The big thing we did was add fiddle to the record. Joe Ebel came and played and he was just fantastic. His business card says "rebel without an R" which I think is awesome. He played on "Old Radio", "By Way of Sorrow", "The End of You and Me", and then basically did a string quartet part for "My Jesus Won't Give up On me" all by himself. He plays a 5 string violin and he can make it sound like a violin and a viola and we had already recorded a bowed upright for that song so now it sounds like it has a string quartet on it (although technically, it's missing the cello). It's going to sound fantastic when it's all said and done.
After that, we recorded accordion on 2 tracks and then spent the final hour of the day saving files to my hard drive so I could take them to Nashville which leads us now to Day #8.
Day 8 started out with a Krispy Kreme run.... my son Connor was a little sick so instead of going to school, he went to spend the day with his nana. Nothing is better when you're sick than some hot doughnuts and chocolate milk. From there I picked up my friend Bill Wolf who agreed to come along for the day to hang out. My wife doesn't understand why people would want to come hang out at the studio with me all day. I tried to explain it to her like this... "Honey, if you had the chance to go to the factory where they designed and made shoes, wouldn't that be sort of interesting to you? To see how shoes are made from dream to reality? To be there as the designers tried out different ideas? I mean, you like shoes a lot, so wouldn't this be of some interest to you? For my musician friends, hanging out in the studio is the same type thing... it's just fun to watch ideas become reality. In a way, it's like watching magic happen. Maybe not when I make records, but for some people it is." Anyway, I digress.
We spent the day at Sputnik studios in Nashville. Sputnik is a studio that is run by producer Mitch Dane who has produced TONS of good records (Bebo Norman, Randall Goodgame, Dividing the Plunder/Ellery, and Jars of Clay). Sputnik studios is where Jars of Clay records all of their albums so the walls of the place were covered with gold and platinum records and we even found a grammy on a shelf in there. Bill and I both took our pictures with it. Now if I can just get my picture made with a Tony, an Emmy, and an Oscar, I'll be a giant nerd.
Andrew Osenga who produced by first album (Lower than the Angels) is using one of their tracking rooms in the daytime because it's usually open and it's easier for him to record there than at home where he has 2 precious little girls. I was thrilled that Andy agreed to be a part of the record even though he wasn't producing. I'm sure you've heard me say this before, but Andy is pretty amazing in the studio. He's fast, creative, talented, and he knows how to get great sounds out of his guitars. The way he hits buttons on his 2 giant pedal boards is mind blowing... it looks like a big mess to me, but he always knows the right combination to get just the right tone for the song.
We recorded electric guitars for "My Own Worst Enemy", "Someday", "Further up and Further in", and "Old Shoes". These were all songs I was a little concerned about how they were going to come out but Andy just knocked them out of the park... I'm excited about all 4 of them. I know I've told you guys that this record is going to be a lot different than my first record, and it is, but the work we did today I think will bridge the gap between them so it won't be too drastic. Even though this record is more "americana", there's still a couple of really nice rock and roll moments.
After guitars and a great lunch at Judge Bean's (an elvis impersonator in full costume came in to eat while we were leaving... only in Nashville) it was back to the studio for some vocals. Andy sang harmonies for "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Further up and Further in". That last one was WAY high but we worked it out. Andy earned his check on that one though... Seriously... it was crazy high.
After vocals came the highlight of my day... the chance to play a real live hammond B3. On my first record, all of the hammond B3 sounds are samples. They sound great and they're pretty close to the real thing, but they're NOT the real thing. That becomes evident after you actually have a chance to play the real thing. Oh. My. Goodness. This thing was just flat out sweet. Too bad they cost like $15000 because I REALLY want one. I don't know what I'd do with it, but man... I'd figure something out. It was a real thrill.
I'd hoped to play it on 3 songs but we only had time for one. Mainly because, having never played one before, I didn't know what I was doing and it took awhile to get the hang of it. Oh well.. at least the real thing is on one track. I'm not going to tell you which one.
It's been a lot of fun recording this record so far, especially the way we've been doing different things in different places. Electric guitars in Nashville, Pedal steel and banjo were recorded by Bill Pratt in Connecticut, dobro will be recorded here in Knoxville, and the rest in Asheville.
I've been saying this a lot, but I'm really excited for you guys to hear some of this. I hope to have a short sample or two for you to listen to within the next 2 or 3 weeks. We go in for days 9 and 10 next week and we'll mostly be working on vocals and harmonies. My friend Dave Potts is coming in to sing some harmonies so that should be a lot of fun... Dave is a great guy and is always hilarious.
You guys are awesome... thanks for reading and for the words of encouragement. I can't wait to share this with you.
- Greg
