Recording session: Piano

We just recorded over half of the piano tracks for the new CD!

I love recording sessions. They are so intense in focus and creativity. And to finally be the one on the instrument, creating tracks on my own songs, was truly exciting.

Dead Aunt Thelma's Recording Studio in Portland, Oregon is a great place to record piano, because it has a nice 7-foot Steinway piano. I got some sweet sounds out of that thing: resonant bass tones, clear mid section, singing but not-too bright high notes, an even action throughout, and a lovely soft pedal effect. It did everything I needed it to. That makes a pianist happy.

Dean Baskerville was there serving as producer and engineer. It's nice having one person that can do both jobs! It's like a two-for-one deal. And he is SUCH a perfectionist, which I am so thankful for. I need someone picky. Someone that would hear if I wasn't quite in the pocket or if the piano pedal squeaked. Or any strange minute little thing that could happen while recording that you would hear later and say "What was that?"

When Dean is listening intently, he covers his eyes. I caught him in one of his regular poses:

Such an intense artist!

Dean mic'd the piano just right to capture everything. For one song, "Hey Yeah," he added this old-school ribbon mic, which made the piano sound a bit vintage. Very cool.

Jeramy Burchett came to part of the session to co-produce with Dean on the song "Words or not". Get those two together and the creative ideas really start flying. They had me try a bunch of different ideas, and we ended up with some great sounds. Different rhythms between my left and right hands, cluster chords, Coldplay-esque driving eighth notes.... the song has been transformed! It was like watching my baby grow up in fast forward.

All of my other recording projects up to this point have been "live", in that all the musicians plug in at the same time and record all at once. They are charming and raw with their flaws and group inspiration. But this project is different. It's being produced. Each instrument is tracked and recorded separately. So each player can take the time to make it right.

Which means multiple takes, punch-ins, edits... all part of the trade. As the night went long, though, the performer in me was itching to get one song in one take. And then it happened. The last song of the night, Joni Mitchell's "Both sides now". I sat down, played through it one time, and Dean said, "I think that's it." Ahhhh. I went home feeling good.

Next up - strings. Tim Ellis on guitar. Wahoo! Stay tuned.