OAKTeam

Terry, Jonathan and I have finally started some real work on the new OAKTeam record. Terry tracked electric guitar, then we tried a number of different approaches to an acoustic guitar part. We were having fun using some of the pre-made channel strips in Logic, but they ended up inspiring the approach. The song is called ' Lost Your Number'. Jonathan built a drum loop, Terry sang and I added a fretless bass part. All in all a very productive evening. We are planning on this approach until Dave and Greg get a break in their schedules to track as a band.

Ryan Hamlin

I met this kid several months ago when he and his father brought a track they had recorded at another local studio. I was blown away by the maturity in his playing and song arrangement. We arranged a session back in late spring. The original plan was to have Will Anderson track drums along with Ryan, unfortunately that did not work out. Ryan and his dad Rick came over to demo some songs. We tracked a few basic tracks with Ryan playing piano and when it came time to sing discovered that Ryan had spent his voice at rehearsal the night before with his 'screamo' band. We left it for a later date, which unfortunately didn't come around until August. He came this time by himself and we tracked another couple of songs and then decided to flesh out one of the songs with guitar, bass and vocals. He is good enough at most instruments so he played the parts and then we parked him in front of the Peluso to sing. Every take got better and better as his voice warmed up and he became more comfortable in front of the mic. He took direction well. We sent him away with with a few roughs. Hopefully we can get back together soon.

Sangin'

Terry came over and we sang some backing vocals for Monty ( 919, Luggage Loader). Terry sang a scratch for Keith's Little Stories and there was a knock on the door! It was Roger Gupton! He had a guitar and a bottle of old vine zin... guess that's means you are here to play and sang too! We gathered around the mic and sang the backgrounds for Photograph and Precious (Keith), Luggage Loader (Monty). Roger added a guitar part to Precious and we called it a night.

Keith Christopher

Keith came back to town a couple weeks ago to work on his record. He managed to get Dan Baird to drive in from Nashville for the weekend. We hung out a bit on Friday getting set up and started recording in earnest on Saturday. A new version of drunk song (title unknown), a crazy jam track called Crazy Lips, Little Stories, a new version of She Sings and She Dug Me Up, and Photograph (Ringo). Dan added more acoustic and electric guitars to several of the tracks. Greg played some keyboard. We had a few passes at vocals and called it a weekend. 12 tracks ready for vocals and guitar from Rick Richards. (Sept) Terry came over last week and added a second drum track to Photograph. It's sounds great! At this point we are on hold until Keith returns from a trip to Tunisia or somewhere with Dan. Looking forward to working on this record again.

CFam Mastered

Greg Rice and I spent 8 hours Friday sitting on the sofa at The Kitchen while Brent Lambert flew the plane. If you have ever had a project mastered by Brent you'll know what I'm referring to. He sits straight up and moves his arms like he is at the controls of a small prop plane. It's a sight to see... but man does he know what he is doing. He cleared all of the dust away and polished the mixes up real nice.

Greg and I walked over to Carrburritos to pick up some lunch while Brent continued to work. The special of the day was Mexicanos con Pollo (or something like that). The guy on the line asked what we would like and Kevin (from The Kitchen) had asked for this particular burrito.... I read the sign to the guy at Carrburritos and added por favor. He looked at me and said... sorry man I don't speak spanish..... uuuh dude I was reading the sign for special of the day. Note: don't take a job in a Mexican restaurant if you have no idea about the food on the menu.

Jonathan is very happy with the mixes, I'm thrilled, and The Cartridge Family have approved the master. I have a couple minor requests for Brent and the master will be ready for replication. I understand the cd has a title 'Shine Like A Bottle' and if is all goes to plan they should have a cd by October.

Cartridge Family

Well, it is finally gonna happen! We are scheduled to master the cd on August 10. We start at 10 am at The Kitchen with Brent Lambert in Carrboro. I have mastered several projects there and am always blown away by the magic that Brent sprinkles on the tracks. I uploaded the files a couple weeks ago so that Brent could have a listen and make suggestions about the mixes. We have a couple of tweaks to do when Jonathan gets back from Alaska and that will be that. I'll let ya know how it went and when the cd's will be available.

Your first recording

When you make your first recordings your initial urge is play them for everyone and anyone who will listen. It's natural, but very dangerous to the process of a project. Roughs are just that...rough mixes to get an idea of where you are at and what needs to be done next. I recently had a problem when I realized that one of our clients was sending out mixes and soliciting feedback on the tracks. I was forwarded a track by track review from an aquaintance of the artist. Someone who is not involved in the project and certainly should not have possession the tracks. I was not pleased. I had to call the artist down as we say in the south. The tracks were raw, missing additional parts, performances that were scheduled to be replaced and scratch vocals. Big mistake. The thrust of all this is you should hold your mixes close until the producer deems the project ready for primetime. That is the point in time when you play some of the tracks for family, close friends and more importantly, potential partners in the next step in the process. Labels, management, even musicians you may want to have in your band. Do not make copies and send them out. You cannot get them back.