Somedays in the studio are pretty straight forward. Maybe it’s a drum session (which are never really straight forward!), maybe it’s a vocal session, or a guitar session, or even a full band tracking live all day. While every session is fun (even if it’s a lot of work) somedays are more unique than others.
Recently I’ve had the pleasure of working with Country artist Kalynne Michelle and producer Max Pfisterer on Kalynne’s debut EP. The sessions have been well organized by Max and for the most part everything has gone smoothly.
The drum, vocal, and guitar sessions were all pretty straight forward in that we were only focussing on one at a time. Then, we had one of those sessions where we were jam packed the entire day recording pedal steel, banjo, keys, organ, fiddle, mandolin, and vocals! It was crazy but very fun!
Here’s how that day went!
Enjoy
Charlie
7:30: Wake Up!
My trusty dog Oscar wakes me up every morning to take him out and this day was no different. We did a full day of guitars the days before and I got home a little late so needless to say I was a bit tired.
9:30: Coffee Time!
Now my day can officially start! Lizzy and I hit one of our favorite coffee shops in Santa Monica, 18th St. Coffee. Quad Americano. That’s how I roll. (I had several pots of coffee later at the studio too…)
10:00: Drive To Studio
Not too eventful. Most of my drives to the studio are in silence or spent listening to sports radio for news on my Chiefs. Usually they are in silence though. Something about driving in silence that just prepares me for the day.
10:30: Fire Up the Console
I like having a few minutes to myself before sessions to get everything ready to go. Fire up the console, get the ac kicking, and just to have a few minutes in the studio alone. It’s like meditation for me. All I need is a few minutes and I’m ready for anything!
11:00: Pedal Steel w/Federico
We started our day with Federico, who is also my assistant, playing pedal steel on a few parts. He’s a talented dude and the song needed it. We still had our guitar rig setup from the day before so we used it for the pedal steel. It sounded great!
12:15: Fiddle w/Jesse Olema
We were in for a treat here. Jesse Olema came in and just wowed us all. It was my first time working with him and he was fantastic. Something amazing about fiddle.
2:00: Banjo w/Gus
Next up was banjo with Augustus Mccloskey. Gus was pulling double duty on this session starting with banjo. He played some really nice parts that worked well with the guitars we did the day before.
3:30 Keys w/Paul
Our day contented with Paul Myint latin’ down keys. Keys really fill things out and Paul played great. I think at this point I was on my second pot of coffee.
5:30: Lunch
In-N-Out. Not sure why Federico and I didn’t go to Chipotle.
6:30: Organ w/Paul
Got to fire up the Hammond M3 and lay down some real organ parts with Paul. Nothing beats a real organ. It’s so freakin’ cool!
7:30: Mandolin w/Gus
Gus was back up with mandolin this time. The mandolin adds such a neat color. It’s kind of dreamy actually. Gus totally nailed it too.
8:30: Vocals w/Kalynne
Ahh yes. Final to the reason this EP is being recorded. Vocals. Kalynne has a wonderful voice and after recording guitars the day before and spending most of this day recording all the extra elements it was nice to hear the vocals go down. It was nice having the vocals be the last thing we recorded for the day. For the two days actually. It was just a really nice way to end a couple great days of tracking.
10:15: That’s A Wrap!
Done for the day. Federico and I didn’t even bother tearing everything down. We cleaned up a bit and called it a night. I love being in the studio. I love hearing songs go from skeletons to finished pieces. On this day we had people in and out of the studio all day long. And at the end of the day that’s what makes music so damn special…the people. The people that put their heart and soul into making music.
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