clean and dirty

Yesterday was an all-day session at the studio, with Uberguitarist laying down electric guitar parts for the songs. Here's where some of the tedious side of things starts to come - not tedious as in boring, but there are all these minute little changes that Tim was making to the speakers and amps and other nifty sound things that baffle me. Small adjustments make a big difference in the final sound, and to get it just right takes a lot of know-how and patience and trying different things.

The morning was the 'clean' guitar sounds, the electric (Les Paul ... I love this guitar and I don't even play) sounds with no distortion. Sustained chords for the most part, these parts can still be edited in production to get effects like the tremolo sound Tim was trying out - very cool (think the original 'Crimson and Clover' and you get the idea).

The 'dirty' guitar was next. Here's where distortion comes into play, making a grungier sound that was filling out the choruses so well and taking the songs up yet another notch. And all distortion is not created equal, so again it was adjusting, trying, changing, and trying again to get it right. UG handled some very tedious playing with his usual sense of humor and ability. He's such an asset to this project.

And boy, does it sound good. We've booked another couple of days in two weeks' time to finish (hopefully!) the guitars. The piano is being scheduled for the first tuning before its time in the spotlight. I was just sitting and listening yesterday, approving and suggesting and helping with note ideas, but my real work is coming.

Band rehearsal last night had me pretty much brain-dead, but the crew were forgiving and laughed with me, not at me.

Right?

I suppose I was laughing at myself, too.