Day 2 - Pain & Profanity

Fingers. We all have them. (Well, most of us.)

This evening, mine hurt. They hurt so good. The kind of hurt that means you've done something virtuous, like trained hard at the gym, or run a marathon, or... pressed down really really hard on some guitar strings for a sustained period of time. Ok, so perhaps I'm being a wimp, but my dainty digits have softened somewhat since I stopped gigging regularly. We worked for a number of hours today on the guitar track for 'Carry Me (Part I)', which is particularly fiddly, and by 4pm the once cushioned pads on the fingers of my left hand were like crocodile skin once again. Sexy!
 


I was also reminded today of an unfortunate habit of mine. I had forgotten that the recording process has always, for some reason, caused me to spout expletives like there's no tomorrow. With every mistake or slip-up, a four-letter word must follow, it seems. The last time I recorded an album, I was a carefree student and definitely not a well-behaved grown-up teacher, and as Barnaby spliced together the numerous takes of my cursing and played them back to me in one go, I thought of the little cherubs in my class and felt a tad guilty...

Still, after today, we have the guitar tracks for three more songs nailed - 'Bones', 'Beethoven', and 'Carry Me (Part I)'. No pasty this afternoon though, sadly. Need to be able to fit through the studio door on Monday.

Day 1 - Precise Click Tracks & Unforgiving Microphones

Returning to Black & White for the first time in 5 years, I was hit by a comforting wave of nostalgia. The familiar smell of the sound-proofing foam, the cables and the dusty old Hammond organ in the corner - it was like I'd never been away.

Barnaby arrived early (you read it right - Barnaby Ray, early) to re-acclimatise to his old haunt and set up all the important bits and bobs that I (thankfully) don't need to understand. By the time I arrived, we were almost ready to go. Realising I'd left my Boss TU2 tuner in Horsham was a pain in the bum, though no problem - unlike last time I was here, there's now 'an app for that'. Lovely.


So, the aim today was to lay down some scratch tracks, but we actually ended up with a few decent takes which will most likely end up on the final cut.

The first day of recording is always a bit painstaking; making sure levels are correct and sniffing out dodgy channels on the desk etc. But I must confess had forgotten about the unforgiving nature of professional microphones. With no margin for error whatsoever, it took me a little while to adjust. Next, a further hurdle to jump, as I was reacquainted with my old foe, the click track. (This is essentially a metronome in the headphones that the musician must keep in time with. OR ELSE... The tempo fairies come and steal their instruments while they sleep.) It sounds easy, but it isn't always. Especially when you're trying to concentrate on whereabouts in the song you are whilst maintaining absolute silence - no singing allowed, not yet! Anyway, we got there in the end.

All in all, it was a productive day, and we now have 3 good guitar takes of 'Nicotine', 'Shoes' and 'Money'. More importantly, though, the pasty diet has begun.

We'll pick up again tomorrow at 9am. Barnaby's suggestion. He's a 9-5 guy now.