Way Cool
After the house concert, the kids in Big Wide Grin decided they needed to record a chorus for their upcoming holiday album. Since they were all travelling the next day, they set up an impromptu studio in Jeanne's guest bedroom. All it took were two microphones, a computer, a mixer thingie and three headsets. They invited us to come watch them work so I took a beer in, plopped down on the bed and watched the action.
It was quite interesting. They did several takes, replayed different versions through the computer and talked music stuff while they were doing it. I loved listening to the interaction as they decided how to punch up certain words, analyzed without any ego at all how each piece sounded and discussed how to blend it all together.
Lawrence offered me a set of headphones so I could hear the replay and I was able to kid myself that I was part of the creative process. They did ask our opinion a few times so I kinda was, really.
At one point, they wanted a high note on a specific word and they offered to let Jeanne or me try it. She declined as did I. If you put a list together of things I'm good at and put it in descending order, Singer would be near the bottom probably one spot ahead of Marathoner. Yes, I'm that bad.
They were finally satisfied with their chorus and played some other song parts for the album. Karl asked what our favorite Christmas song was and Jeanne took a while to mentally go through the traditional songs.
I didn't even hesitate with my answer: Baby, It's Cold Outside by Dean Martin.
Karl laughed and a few mouse clicks later, we were listening to their version of the song. That was way cool! I hope it makes it to the album. No one will ever top Dean but they were very good.
I finally had to head for home and I thanked them for letting me be a (somewhat active) fly on the wall during the recording. Karl said they were going to come watch me work and I said, "It's not that exciting because all I do is this..." then I mimicked typing and talking on the phone. They thought it was funny which makes me like them even more.
I can't wait for the CD to come out so I can play it to people and say, "Yeah, I was there for this part. I'm glad they went with my thoughts on that one note."
I drove home just buzzing from it all. Since I'm not musically inclined at all, it's really fascinating to me to watch artists collaborate and improvise and just do things that I can't.
It was quite interesting. They did several takes, replayed different versions through the computer and talked music stuff while they were doing it. I loved listening to the interaction as they decided how to punch up certain words, analyzed without any ego at all how each piece sounded and discussed how to blend it all together.
Lawrence offered me a set of headphones so I could hear the replay and I was able to kid myself that I was part of the creative process. They did ask our opinion a few times so I kinda was, really.
At one point, they wanted a high note on a specific word and they offered to let Jeanne or me try it. She declined as did I. If you put a list together of things I'm good at and put it in descending order, Singer would be near the bottom probably one spot ahead of Marathoner. Yes, I'm that bad.
They were finally satisfied with their chorus and played some other song parts for the album. Karl asked what our favorite Christmas song was and Jeanne took a while to mentally go through the traditional songs.
I didn't even hesitate with my answer: Baby, It's Cold Outside by Dean Martin.
Karl laughed and a few mouse clicks later, we were listening to their version of the song. That was way cool! I hope it makes it to the album. No one will ever top Dean but they were very good.
I finally had to head for home and I thanked them for letting me be a (somewhat active) fly on the wall during the recording. Karl said they were going to come watch me work and I said, "It's not that exciting because all I do is this..." then I mimicked typing and talking on the phone. They thought it was funny which makes me like them even more.
I can't wait for the CD to come out so I can play it to people and say, "Yeah, I was there for this part. I'm glad they went with my thoughts on that one note."
I drove home just buzzing from it all. Since I'm not musically inclined at all, it's really fascinating to me to watch artists collaborate and improvise and just do things that I can't.
