first pass
Posted on July 5, 2010 with 1 comment
Under a pouring sky, our first recording day passed slowly (as first days always do, getting endless sound levels, becoming acquainted with each other, finding the right groove and sound for each song) but we were productive. Three songs' bones are down; drum tracks, bass lines, core key and guitar parts have created structure for Possibility, Ready and Come Away. I absolutely love Come Away already, and the others will look real purty when we put their makeup on.
No need for nerves. Each one of the players completely owns their craft and I look forward to discovering the nuggets of gold they've deposited inside each tune over the next few months as I listen to them a million times.
A little about the guys:
Lester Estelle Jr. plays drums. A lot. The son of a master guitar player (who plays beautifully left-handed and upside down) here in KC, he came by it honestly. Playing with the likes of Pillar and his own band Stars Go Dim, he's now touring with a country artist I don't know yet but will find out. He splits his time between here and his studio in Nashville (where he tracks things via the internet for other artists), is married to Lisa and has three kids. He has black tattoos on both arms, one being a really cool symbol of his favorite verse, 2 Corinthians 5:17, the other a star. He laughs often. Great guy. By the way, did I mention that his skills are indescribable? He's so good...
Craig Cue plays bass. Almost perfectly. He's extremely humble, easy-going and will talk about the state of the union if you get him riled up, but probably not to just anyone. He is a volunteer for the Humane Society and kept talking about sending Alex two Siamese cats in the mail. His passion for animals is dear, and makes me sad that I didn't adopt the free kitten across the street last weekend. I have a feeling that he's super-duper intelligent and would kill me in Scrabble. I like him very much. And I love the way he plays.
Micah Burdick is a youngster twenty-something guy who I am so glad is on this project, because he loves to play weird guitar, and he's very, very good. Innovative sounds make such a difference underneath other layers, like little mysteries you can't quite define. He'll give us those and more, I'll bet. He likes to read the Bible and think about it very deeply, which is cool because so do I, so our conversations go deep really fast. He's introspective, went to Art School in Chicago but didn't like the cold there, has a wife and two kids who are small and incredibly cute. I saw pictures. He likes sushi and that seals the deal; he's a keeper.
Alex Cordero makes me wish I'd stayed in piano lessons. His knowledge of practical theory and production techniques stands like a sentry in the corner of the room, coming to the rescue only when needed, but so welcome when he speaks up. Little melodic hooks just fall out of him. He makes me happy. Gentle spirit, that Alex. Very cool cat. Oh, and his strings parts give me chill bumps.
Larry Gann is simply out of control. (It's his studio and he's the engineer, so I'd better be careful what I say:) He makes wacky sounds that actually mean things to describe what he wants the musicians to do, and I just roll. It's because sometimes he dances around when he does them, and it's hysterical! He's animated like your crazy friend in high school that always livened up anywhere you went, he's always right, and he's really fast at all those ProTools components. Banks of billions of computerized sounds don't daunt him one bit; he just mows through them and finds the right one and says, "Okay, we're going to rock it, it's going to be awesome, and we're going to rock it!" And then we do. You'll see.
Back at it in two days. I hope I can sleep until then so it'll come faster.
No need for nerves. Each one of the players completely owns their craft and I look forward to discovering the nuggets of gold they've deposited inside each tune over the next few months as I listen to them a million times.
A little about the guys:
Lester Estelle Jr. plays drums. A lot. The son of a master guitar player (who plays beautifully left-handed and upside down) here in KC, he came by it honestly. Playing with the likes of Pillar and his own band Stars Go Dim, he's now touring with a country artist I don't know yet but will find out. He splits his time between here and his studio in Nashville (where he tracks things via the internet for other artists), is married to Lisa and has three kids. He has black tattoos on both arms, one being a really cool symbol of his favorite verse, 2 Corinthians 5:17, the other a star. He laughs often. Great guy. By the way, did I mention that his skills are indescribable? He's so good...
Craig Cue plays bass. Almost perfectly. He's extremely humble, easy-going and will talk about the state of the union if you get him riled up, but probably not to just anyone. He is a volunteer for the Humane Society and kept talking about sending Alex two Siamese cats in the mail. His passion for animals is dear, and makes me sad that I didn't adopt the free kitten across the street last weekend. I have a feeling that he's super-duper intelligent and would kill me in Scrabble. I like him very much. And I love the way he plays.
Micah Burdick is a youngster twenty-something guy who I am so glad is on this project, because he loves to play weird guitar, and he's very, very good. Innovative sounds make such a difference underneath other layers, like little mysteries you can't quite define. He'll give us those and more, I'll bet. He likes to read the Bible and think about it very deeply, which is cool because so do I, so our conversations go deep really fast. He's introspective, went to Art School in Chicago but didn't like the cold there, has a wife and two kids who are small and incredibly cute. I saw pictures. He likes sushi and that seals the deal; he's a keeper.
Alex Cordero makes me wish I'd stayed in piano lessons. His knowledge of practical theory and production techniques stands like a sentry in the corner of the room, coming to the rescue only when needed, but so welcome when he speaks up. Little melodic hooks just fall out of him. He makes me happy. Gentle spirit, that Alex. Very cool cat. Oh, and his strings parts give me chill bumps.
Larry Gann is simply out of control. (It's his studio and he's the engineer, so I'd better be careful what I say:) He makes wacky sounds that actually mean things to describe what he wants the musicians to do, and I just roll. It's because sometimes he dances around when he does them, and it's hysterical! He's animated like your crazy friend in high school that always livened up anywhere you went, he's always right, and he's really fast at all those ProTools components. Banks of billions of computerized sounds don't daunt him one bit; he just mows through them and finds the right one and says, "Okay, we're going to rock it, it's going to be awesome, and we're going to rock it!" And then we do. You'll see.
Back at it in two days. I hope I can sleep until then so it'll come faster.