Day #1 Sat. 5/22
Saturday was spent tracking drums. Highlights include discovering the 'bodhran' (Irish drum) in the studio's bag of percussion goodies and using its low rumble on our newest sitar song, the gorgeous tone of the snare on "Winter Clothes" (think Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago"- [Adult Contemporary Version] ), getting turned on to Alasdair Roberts by Jim, and, last but not least, the elaborate and delicious meal that Steph made and brought to the studio, which consisted of a bottle of Pinot Noir, Edamame Goulash (beef for the carnivores) and a pistachio chocolate, cookie dough invention dubbed "The Jim Roll Pie".
Day #2 Sun. 5/23
In the morning, Max did "Seraphim" with borrowed tambourines (thank you Mike Shea!), and on "Water" and "Hollywood" I played my Guild Hollowbody. The room mic gave the guitar a particularly natural sound; somewhat reminiscent of the electrics on Lost Wisdom by Mt. Eerie. Up next was "Khalela", and, upon its recording, we decided that either Wes Anderson should use it in his next film or we should make a music video of it (ideally the former). The session ended with Jack playing bass on a few tracks. All in all, another productive day.
Day #3 Wed. 5/26
Wednesday was a listening day. It mainly consisted of me watching Jim work his magic with Logic (i.e. fixing a click track bleed with this high-tech plug-in called izotope, which maps out and isolates different frequencies to make them easier to delete). Other activities included drinking lots of coffee and exploring the studio's plethora of instruments (a highlight being the decoratively shaped five stringed 'polka-lele').
Day #4 Sun 5/30
Anne and Rachel kicked off the day with their seemingly effortless hitting of all the songs. Kudos to the flute power duo for some beautiful takes. Afterward, Mark and I sang on "Winter Clothes" and "Seraphim". The songs are taking shape in a way that we are all really, really, really happy with. Next month we'll get upright bass and violins on a few tracks AND Dan Piccolo on tabla! Stay tuned.
-Alex
-Alex
