We really did it.
We threatened to do it for a while, but this past weekend, we actually went into a studio and recorded a couple of songs.
It was my first time, and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
It took us an entire day to record them, but by Sunday night, we had complete rough mixes of “Booze is Talking” and “Early in the Morning” thanks to our awesome producer Paul.
“Booze” is all about guitars and has punk rock attitude, while “Morning” is more of a laid-back, country-influenced pop-rock track.
Chuck, the lead vocalist and guitar player, will usually come into one of our rehearsals with a neat, new guitar riff or the skeletal frames of a song and then we’ll just work through it. I’ll try to add a beat or rhythm that best supports the song, and Carlos, an incredible singer/songwriter and guitar player, who’s a true professional musician, will make everything better by just playing and adding his musical touches.
So, we just jam it out in a small room, and sometimes, a song comes together, sometimes it doesn’t, but we always have a blast playing together.
These two particular songs — “Booze” and “Morning” — really turned into something special and we thought they deserved to be recorded. So, we contacted our friend Paul, who used to work for Capital Records in Hollywood.
He heard the songs and liked them, so he agreed to help us record, mix and produce them.
Paul suggested a small studio in the Valley owned and run by one of his friends to record our songs. This was all new to me, so whatever Paul was going to suggest was going to sound cool. It sounded cool to Chuck and Carlos, too.
We immediately liked the space and the vibe when we got there.
I would’ve preferred to play my own kit for the recordings, but it wasn’t the best option for this session. We only had a day to record, and setting up my own drums and micing them would’ve taken most of our valuable time. I was glad to know that the studio already had an old Ludwig kit ready to go. I just needed to bring my own cymbals and snares. The kit ended up sounding great, so I was happy.
We ended up playing together in a single room to get the songs down first. We then added the acoustic guitar parts, bass, guitar solo and vocals separately towards the end of the day.
If you noticed, I never mentioned a bass player. We need one. Carlos played bass on these two tracks for the recording sessions, but having a solid bass player join our group would be the ideal solution.
I used a click-track during the recordings. It took me a while to get used to it, but it really did help me out. Some may feel that a click-track is a crutch, but I don’t think I’ll ever record without one. I’m not the greatest nor most creative drummer; I’m just trying to keep time as best as I can. That may seem boring, but I truly believe that’s my job as a drummer. And, for me, that’s challenging enough.
In fact, we needed several takes on the songs due to some sloppy drumming by me, but I feel I got stronger and better with every take.
The songs turned out great. Paul did a great job producing them. It was such a great thrill to hear them in his home studio.
We’re all so happy with the songs, we’ve decided to record two or three more so that we have enough material for an EP release.
We’re almost there to rock ‘n’ roll immortality. Now, if we could just figure out a name for the band. Any suggestions?