Hello to all my Dreamwalkers out there,

Saturday. . . 

We have now had four keyboards sessions and things are moving with intensity and greater speed. Now that the foundation of drums, bass, and rhythm acoustic guitars are in place solidly and sounding great, we can turn to adding the touches to make the songs unique, beautiful, and memorable. Our sound is very complete and gorgeous.

What I'm really loving is the collaborative, creative atmosphere of the recording sessions. Debbie and Patrick have amazing ears, and I'm finding I can be very intuitive listening to what the songs are asking for. The songs tell us what they want and initial ideas I have for a soundscape evolve. Each song is takes on a distinct character and sound within a framerwork of an overall Dreamwalkers sound.

Debbie was playing "I Think I Think Too Much," and she presented the idea of adding a second layer of keyboards when the basic piano track was done. She floated several ideas and then I had a flash and heard a Fender Rhodes Electric Piano and when I said it, Patrick began to laugh and said, "Bro, that was right in my head, I was about to say it." Debbie played it and it sounded fantastic. Debbie added a cello sound to "How I Love To Love You Lord," and a flute to "Two Insomnias." I'm loving it.

As of Saturday we have finished the keyboards on the following songs:

Everything Is Changing 

Something ‘Bout That Boy

Louisiana 

Tricks On Me 

Two Insomnias 

I Think I Think Too Much 

Good To See You Gone 

Call Me Love 

How I Love to Love You

 

Sunday. . . 

The creativity in doing this project is overflowing. We finished keyboards on three more songs, and now have four remaining. We started with Debbie's "Don't Give Me A Second Thought (Let Me Be Your First)." The grand piano didn't sound right. I kept hearing a more sparkly bright piano. When I said, "Think Obla-di, Obla-da by the Beatles she switched to rock piano and it was just great. Then we added an electric organ. We had to cycle through the many choices the synthesizer had and found something terrific. All of Debbie's songs are now complete.

The next song was my "Suggestion By Echo," the psychospiritual rock anthem I wrote. For this one we had a driving rock and roll piano. "The booms are loud, the dadadas are quiet." I had the sense that we were working on a giant puzzle where one acquires the pieces as one goes and the end is uncertain until it is. The sound is play-ful and it's play-full as in full sound. Can't wait to hear this one when Tony Sheppard goes all Jimmy Page on it.

Our final song of the day was Tony Sheppard's "Road Song." This is a sweet instrumental that is best described as country western meets surf music inspired by Jimi Hendrix. Wow! Acoustic piano didn't do it, but a Fender Rhodes electric piano was perfect. Then I heard horns and we used two saxophones and two trumpets. It would have been cool to have live horns, but Patrick is the magic man and those horns started to sound pretty authentic by the end. The song is really terrific and we haven't even recorded Tony's signature electric guitars yet. 

We should finish the keyboards next weekend and then move on to the electric rhythm guitars. I am so lucky to be working with Debbie Stern and Patrick Russini. Debbie is so creative and Patrick puts all the frequencies where they are supposed to be. This is so exciting. 

Peace,

Dr Dreamwalker

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