Billy was booked in for Sunday afternoon and Monday evening. I had never met Billy before Sunday's session. Introductions and bookings were done by email. You never know what to expect. It was a surprise to meet a well over 6 foot tall smiling chap with 12 string acoustic guitar in hand knocking on the door.
Billy had a brand new song to record and the plan was to get the backing tracks down in the two sessions and for him to take away a mix and then come back in a few weeks with daughter to lay down the vocals. Of course, I hadn't heard the song, so we spent a few minutes discussing the feel and style that Billy wanted. He had described the song as in a Country and Western style waltz.
He brought out his famous 12 string Martin acoustic guitar, which I must admit sounded wonderful. We agreed on a tempo, and I put down a click track for him to follow. Once he was comfortable in the sofa, I mic'd up his guitar with the sE2200a, sorted out his headphones and off we went for a take. The first few chords drag you into a dreamy waltz.... After a once through, and then re-doing the key change and final chorus, Billy put down a guide vocal. He claimed to have a cold, but his first vocal was spot on, until we got to the key change. The song key was chosen for a female voice, and was a bit too high for Billy, but he gave a great performance anyway. We added a few other guitar licks and discussed which other parts to do. Billy left about 5pm.
After the session, I had my tea, and set about putting down bass and drums. The chord structure is quite simple, so the bass line didn't take time, just emulating an upright double bass really. The drums took about 10 takes to get right. I'm not a pro drummer, but I can manage a fairly reasonable beat as long as it's not too fast. For this song, the simpler the better.
Billy had a brand new song to record and the plan was to get the backing tracks down in the two sessions and for him to take away a mix and then come back in a few weeks with daughter to lay down the vocals. Of course, I hadn't heard the song, so we spent a few minutes discussing the feel and style that Billy wanted. He had described the song as in a Country and Western style waltz.
He brought out his famous 12 string Martin acoustic guitar, which I must admit sounded wonderful. We agreed on a tempo, and I put down a click track for him to follow. Once he was comfortable in the sofa, I mic'd up his guitar with the sE2200a, sorted out his headphones and off we went for a take. The first few chords drag you into a dreamy waltz.... After a once through, and then re-doing the key change and final chorus, Billy put down a guide vocal. He claimed to have a cold, but his first vocal was spot on, until we got to the key change. The song key was chosen for a female voice, and was a bit too high for Billy, but he gave a great performance anyway. We added a few other guitar licks and discussed which other parts to do. Billy left about 5pm.
After the session, I had my tea, and set about putting down bass and drums. The chord structure is quite simple, so the bass line didn't take time, just emulating an upright double bass really. The drums took about 10 takes to get right. I'm not a pro drummer, but I can manage a fairly reasonable beat as long as it's not too fast. For this song, the simpler the better.
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