by-line

All Writing and Photography © Alex Livingstone/Owner's Closet

Friday, December 5, 2008

Just going to work everyday...

Since that last session with Rick,  Jim and I have been in Overdubville, creating sweet acoustic, electric and bass guitar sounds.  On "Repeat the Answers," we used my Ric through the Bassman and it came out like hot buttered sex.  For the electric guitar, we used the Telecaster through a Marshall and a Bassman amp.  After tracking a doubled vocal, the song was alive and walking.  just needs lead guitar on the bridge and the cacophonous intro I dreamed up.
"Drop Me A Line" came to life as soon as we put the simple bass line and acoustic rhythm tracks.  I'm glad that Joe and Jim told me to trust my gut because I did and those acoustics slid the swing right in there over Joe's straight drum beat.  Marvelous!  At some point we put on some electrics that took the songs to a whole nother level.  I did a Keith Richards-esque lead part using the Tele through the Blues Jr. and then did another to fill out the verses and harmony leads at the end of the verses and choruses.
We had a very productive session on Monday, working on "Pining for Verona."  Up until that day, we only had drums and a Fender P-bass track (that had been tracked quite awhile ago).  We busted out the Stars and Stripes SG with the P-90 that's tuned a whole step low to get that thick sludge we needed.  We ran it through the Marshall that was turned all the way up yet employing a power brake so as to save Jim's windows and siding.  Though this sounded great, it wasn't until we used the Les Paul Standard through the same rig that the song came to swampy life.  Those two guitars together just gelled the whole thing.  The issue at this point became the choruses.  The acoustic that we had first recorded was practically useless in the chorus so we tracked big open chords on the now-capoed Les Paul and it worked perfectly.  It's ideas like that that make me happy I hired Jimmy Jam to produce this joint!  I then went back with Stars and Stripes and recorded a simple arpeggiated line to spice up the choruses.  On the last chorus, I doubled the arpeggio with a higher melody, again on the Stars and Stripes.  By the end of this session, we were totally stoked on this song.  Heavy duty catchy rock.  Yes.  
During our next few overdub sessions, I want to tackle "Paid The Way."  I think that little ditty will come to life with some sliding acoustic and slinky electric tracks.  And bass, of course.  
We added acoustic and bass to "On Your Own" but that song won't really come to life until we get piano to double the bass line and fill out the rhythm track with some syncopated chords.