Hello Dreamwalkers,
I am continuing down the road of recording acoustic guitars for our album with Patrick Russini producing and recording the sound. I am continually amazed at the sensitivity of his ear and how in working with him, my ear is developing as well. On Tuesday, we recorded guitars for my song, "Suggestion By Echo." I am becoming aware of how important the recording engineer who does the actual recording and then mixes the tracks is to the process. Working on our first album, last year, I thought I had an appreciation of this, but it has increased by an order of magnitude now. Patrick makes sure the guitars are interwoven with drums and bass, as if they were another part of the rhythm section of the song. We made numerous passes to the song, and when the sound was right, Pat began working on making sure the guitars were in synch. It was fascinating to watch him work and then hear the beautiful results. The process is measured and painstaking creative crafting, but absolutely worth the time and energy. A sound is beginning to emerge, a Dreamwalkers signature sound. Amazing.
September 24, 2020
Patrick and I met for another session of acoustic guitar recording. I'm getting a big window into how Pat works, and It's just this side of magic. We worked on two more of my songs, "The Outsider" and "Silence Between The Worlds." The Outsider is a personal favorite of mine, sort of Johnny Cash meets the X-Files. WE chose the Guild D-55 for that deep rosewood sound, and added the custom McKee guitar for a more trebly sound. Together they sounded fantastic. As we made each pass, I got more insight as to how the songs should be played. It's amazing how a song I've played many times can evolve under the pressure of the recording studio. Pat made the sound crystalline, yet somehow still warm and inviting. Next, we worked on Silence Between The Worlds. This is a psychospiritual song, which I initially felt should be very soft. However, while making the ghost track, it sounded slow and to be honest, boring. The b gave it a bit more energy and the song came alive, as if we had injected some blood into it's veins. We used the Guild D-55 again, but supplemented the chorus with a Taylor 12 string. The power of an increased sound in the chorus was impressive, and the 12 string was different enough from the Guild to make the combination very full and emotionally evocative. It's a long process and we are taking time to do it well. The results so far are just wonderful. More acoustics next week.
Peace,
Dr Dreamwalker
