I'm Cured.
September 03, 2014

I am happy to say I have been cured of an extremely debilitative disease. I have suffered its destructive effects for about a decade, but I finally feel I am free of its hold on me. This dreaded disease is called...

Demo-itis.

I've always had a hard time moving on from demos. I mentioned in a prior post about my love of rough mixes, and it is a similar thing. Demos have a certain character. The performances are usually not rehearsed, so you are creating in the moment as tracking happens. Sometimes scratch vocals, while not being perfectly sung or in time, have a level of spontaneity that can't be recaptured. So when you go to re-track songs in the endless pursuit of capturing a great performance AND a clean recording, it can be hard to pull yourself away from the demos you have been living with, in my case, for months.

So on Thursday and Friday, when I went in to track with Tom, Chris, Tim, and Jamie, I decided to keep an open mind. I knew I needed the parts I had written to be played with better sounds and awesome players, but I also knew that creatively I was tapped on these songs, so getting new ideas was welcome and necessary.

I couldn't have been happier with what everyone brought to the sessions. The path to finishing each song was different. Sometimes we replaced sounds, and sometimes we kept the old sounds. On some songs, a hybrid version of my parts with the guys' ideas worked best, while other times completely new ideas worked incredibly well.

Now on to the players...

Tom Rasulo, the assistant at the studio, is a mother f'er of a drummer and percussionist, and he brought a great balance of energy, groove and technique to the tracks.

Chris Chaney played bass, and took the parts I had played to another level. Doug kept talking about it, but there is such a difference between how a guitarist plays bass and how a true bassist plays. Sometimes the parts were exactly the same, but the feel was completely new and fresh. Also, Chris is an old school player and plays bass with his fingers, which gives a warm and fat character to the bass. It is really how the instrument is meant to be played.

Tim Pierce did the Tim Pierce thing and was fast and awesome. The parts he improvised are now so integral to the songs, I can't imagine how they sounded before. On some songs, I didn't even know what I was looking for, but he seemed to find something that sat right in with the energy of the song. He was also super accommodating. When a part he was trying wasn't working, he went back to his house to get some different instruments to find the sound I was looking for.

Jamie Muhoberac put the final sprinkling of awesome dust on the tracks, adding great counter melodies, piano, and his trademarked samples that he's personally been creating since he was a child.

I want to thank all of you, Chris, Tom, Tim, Jamie and Doug, for bringing your talents to my project. The songs are getting better and better, and that would not have happened without you all.

I was sick, but now I am cured.

And the best news?

We're just getting started...