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Recording "Self-Evident Truths"
I briefly considered trying to save money be completing the album at my home studio but it seemed a dangerously large undertaking for something I wanted to accomplish with the highest quality possible, and in the minimum amount of time. This was a good call as, lacking any real professional studio experience; I seriously underestimated what would be required. Not only was I going to have to record three different instruments, including a large acoustic drum kit, and vocal tracks, but I was bringing in other musicians, and importing numerous digital tracks for eight lengthy and complicated songs. This was a big undertaking even for most studios and not something that gets done over the weekend.
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My quest for the right facility began where just about every quest does in the modern age – a Google search. After identifying some places in my price range I called each and then set up an appointment to meet with Patrick McGuire at his place in Arlington. I liked his understated and straightforward manner and the relaxed and simple environment of the studio itself. All his technology was clearly up-to-date and his costs held no hidden or additional fees, so I decided this was the place to get it done and booked time. Since that time cost money I went to great efforts to make sure I was ready getting both equipment and my playing up to par so that everything would be done as efficiently as possible. I even created a graphic that laid out a visual timeline of the song identifying the song parts (chorus, verse, bridge), tempo changes, fades, and where various instruments would be playing. This proved invaluable as he programmed the click track (the metronome you play along to) with the many changes these songs had. Trying to talk through it all would have been a nightmare.
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I opted to begin by laying down the bass guitar tracks since I was most familiar with them and they generally ran the length of most songs, which would provide a good guide for the other instruments. That went very smoothly taking only a day. All seemed well until I began to add the keyboards next and it was clear some of the bass parts were terribly out of tune. Ah, a painful learning experience that will never be forgotten! In a desire to get a richer and warmer tone I had just changed to a thicker set of strings on one of my basses, something I had never tried before. What I didn’t realize is that the increased tension from those string requires that the instrument’s neck be adjusted to compensate or it won’t hold tune properly. Six bass tracks would have to be redone. Did I mention this is all during studio time I’m paying for? Fortunately Patrick knew a local luthier (guitar technician) who could do an emergency set-up for the instrument and basically keep us on schedule. Couldn’t have gotten that done working at home. So after I rerecorded those parts we moved on. Keyboards followed relatively easily although it’s never fun dragging those heavy things up and down the stairs at the apartment.
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I arranged for two back-to-back days for the drum tracks as the set up involved was going to be extensive…and that was an understatement. It required almost every microphone he had in the studio to properly cover all nine drums and ten cymbals, along with a jungle of cable running all over the place. Here is one of many places where the participation of a professional recording engineer was invaluable. Acoustic drums are notoriously hard to mic properly but with over 25 years of doing it under his belt Patrick made quick work of matching the correct type of mic to the drum and the critical task of positioning those mics to capture the best sound possible. It would have been nothing but trial and (mostly) error had I been doing it, not to mention my mics weren’t nearly as good as his. Although I would have liked to have played each track straight through beginning to end I had to accept a more pragmatic approach and divide each song down into about three or four more manageable pieces. Here the limitations of my practice time showed as I knew what I wanted to do in the various sections, but trying to string them all together resulted in too many miscues. However, I was able to complete the sections with minimal retakes and only one overdub which, you can probably tell, I’m proud of…but hey, I hadn’t played in 15 years! And remember how I hosed myself writing difficult parts someone else was supposed to play:-) I also managed do all this within the two days I had allotted for it so the schedule was intact.
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That abruptly ended when the local guitarist who had agreed to play for each song suddenly became unavailable, so a long wait ensued while I first tried other local players I knew, then eventually worked through Studio Traxx and began to collect the guitar parts. Once I had those I discovered the studio was already booked for nearly another month so I again cooled my heels and considered all the fine points that would become crucial for crafting the final sound during post-production.
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