[Recording Updates, Dirty C, Latchkey Kids, Bain, Justin, Etc]
So! Last weekend was quite productive. Matthew Lovelace of the Latchkey Kids came up from Athens, GA to listen to what Yon and I have done. He said he really liked what we'd done with the first few LK songs over the last month. So we know we're moving in the right direction there, which is good. While in Knoxville, Matt laid down vocals and his guitar on "Monkey & T-Rex", as well as a scratch vocal and real acoustic part on "Specters", the third Latchkey song started in these 2008 sessions. It was pretty much just Yon producing Matthew on this session (I engineered and grabbed everyone some food and other wise just hung around---there's not really enough room for all three of us in our tiny studio). In the meantime, Yon and I will begin playing with "Specters", as well as substituting real parts on the first two songs ("Pushing Me to Lose" and "Monkey") for their original scratch parts, getting them even closer to finished.
Sunday evening Aaron Sayers of the Dirty C (and of Knoxville's May Gray) came in to 'dub some killer blues guitar on one of his tunes, "Girl You Should Know (By Now)". The title of that song might change, but the tune will stay the same. It's sounding really good. I can't wait until it's considered "done" so we can start on a from-scratch, final mix.
Last Thursday night we got a grocery sack full of Jeremy Bain's demo cassettes, and we quickly found out that the four track recordings *would* play properly on our Tascam 488 eight track. I found seven or eight songs over the course of several tapes...all of which are really good! I made a CD of the quick 'n' dirty mix downs for us all to listen to. We'll see what Jeremy wants to do with it all. The song he intended for the Sampler wasn't on the tapes...but that just means there are more songs where these came from...!
Memphis' own Justin Jordan of Original Cyndi (as well as of the great but lamentably late Unclaimed Recordings, with partners J.D. Reager and Makeshift Music) will be coming up today or tomorrow for a long overdue visit. Whether or not he's coming up to work is still uncertain. Either way, it'll be really good to see him. He's getting ready to begin compiling the final mixes on his debut CD, which has been several years in the making. It will be very, very good. I desperately hope that it gets the attention it deserves. I'm really proud of the work we did on it, but mostly just proud of Justin.
On the Zombies! front, I'm scheduled to meet with Jessica Ray this afternoon to see some art she's been working on for the project. She claims to have a rendition of Peter Chimpanzee. This would be a fun boost to the project, as Peter Chimpanzee is pretty much the star of it...or at least the Jesus of it. To see his furry face and head poking up through the top of his miniaturized spacesuit would be a treat indeed. This meeting has been postponed several times due to sickness and scheduling conflicts, so I'm pretty stoked about getting back on the art bandwagon. She does such good work. She might end up working on the CD art for the Migrant Music Sampler, if the stars all align correctly.
Also Zombies!-related (as well as sickness-related), our friend Jamie Cunningham was scheduled to dub a little oboe line I arranged for "Jacob Don't Cry" yesterday...but the flu/cold/aches/pains/crud prevented it. I can't wait to reschedule it, as she'll do a really good job and it will really augment the song. More fun for another day!
Let's see, what else? What am I forgetting? Christina Horn of Knoxville's Hudson K posted a really sweet comment on the Rockwells' MySpace page:
"HOLY JEEBUS! Your CD is mind-blowingly good. Everything from the packaging to the song-writing to the playing to the production. I would totally hire you guys to do a recording if I ever needed one...besides that FREAKING CONGRADULATIONS on a job well done!"
Which was really cool to hear, as she performed on a few songs on Place & Time as well as let us record on her beautiful grand piano at her house. I was unforgivably tardy in getting her a few copies of the finished CD (with the final three songs and gorgeous Samantha Farmer art), but I finally mailed them to her last week. She got them and was kind enough to comment on the album. It really made our day yesterday.
Huston Wheeler has gotten most of the parts for our soon-to-be Studio Custom Drum Kit. He could start on it as soon as this weekend, next week at the latest. It's going to look like a dream, but more importantly, it's going to sound like a zillion dollars. We can't wait.
The Rockwells play an In-Store at Disc Exchange next Friday, March 7th. It's part of their new First Friday celebration. Should be fun.
We got word from Benny Smith at WUTK The Rock that the compilation we contributed a track to is well on its way to replication. Maybe there will be a March release? Spring's always good. I think it's going to make a lot of noise. Woo hoo!
I'm sure I've missed something, but that's all I got for now. More soon!
---Fred
Sunday evening Aaron Sayers of the Dirty C (and of Knoxville's May Gray) came in to 'dub some killer blues guitar on one of his tunes, "Girl You Should Know (By Now)". The title of that song might change, but the tune will stay the same. It's sounding really good. I can't wait until it's considered "done" so we can start on a from-scratch, final mix.
Last Thursday night we got a grocery sack full of Jeremy Bain's demo cassettes, and we quickly found out that the four track recordings *would* play properly on our Tascam 488 eight track. I found seven or eight songs over the course of several tapes...all of which are really good! I made a CD of the quick 'n' dirty mix downs for us all to listen to. We'll see what Jeremy wants to do with it all. The song he intended for the Sampler wasn't on the tapes...but that just means there are more songs where these came from...!
Memphis' own Justin Jordan of Original Cyndi (as well as of the great but lamentably late Unclaimed Recordings, with partners J.D. Reager and Makeshift Music) will be coming up today or tomorrow for a long overdue visit. Whether or not he's coming up to work is still uncertain. Either way, it'll be really good to see him. He's getting ready to begin compiling the final mixes on his debut CD, which has been several years in the making. It will be very, very good. I desperately hope that it gets the attention it deserves. I'm really proud of the work we did on it, but mostly just proud of Justin.
On the Zombies! front, I'm scheduled to meet with Jessica Ray this afternoon to see some art she's been working on for the project. She claims to have a rendition of Peter Chimpanzee. This would be a fun boost to the project, as Peter Chimpanzee is pretty much the star of it...or at least the Jesus of it. To see his furry face and head poking up through the top of his miniaturized spacesuit would be a treat indeed. This meeting has been postponed several times due to sickness and scheduling conflicts, so I'm pretty stoked about getting back on the art bandwagon. She does such good work. She might end up working on the CD art for the Migrant Music Sampler, if the stars all align correctly.
Also Zombies!-related (as well as sickness-related), our friend Jamie Cunningham was scheduled to dub a little oboe line I arranged for "Jacob Don't Cry" yesterday...but the flu/cold/aches/pains/crud prevented it. I can't wait to reschedule it, as she'll do a really good job and it will really augment the song. More fun for another day!
Let's see, what else? What am I forgetting? Christina Horn of Knoxville's Hudson K posted a really sweet comment on the Rockwells' MySpace page:
"HOLY JEEBUS! Your CD is mind-blowingly good. Everything from the packaging to the song-writing to the playing to the production. I would totally hire you guys to do a recording if I ever needed one...besides that FREAKING CONGRADULATIONS on a job well done!"
Which was really cool to hear, as she performed on a few songs on Place & Time as well as let us record on her beautiful grand piano at her house. I was unforgivably tardy in getting her a few copies of the finished CD (with the final three songs and gorgeous Samantha Farmer art), but I finally mailed them to her last week. She got them and was kind enough to comment on the album. It really made our day yesterday.
Huston Wheeler has gotten most of the parts for our soon-to-be Studio Custom Drum Kit. He could start on it as soon as this weekend, next week at the latest. It's going to look like a dream, but more importantly, it's going to sound like a zillion dollars. We can't wait.
The Rockwells play an In-Store at Disc Exchange next Friday, March 7th. It's part of their new First Friday celebration. Should be fun.
We got word from Benny Smith at WUTK The Rock that the compilation we contributed a track to is well on its way to replication. Maybe there will be a March release? Spring's always good. I think it's going to make a lot of noise. Woo hoo!
I'm sure I've missed something, but that's all I got for now. More soon!
---Fred