Great project Donny (and Dave)! I wish I could be a fly on the wall ....

Boswell, post: 451370, member: 29034 wrote: Great project Donny (and Dave)! I wish I could be a fly on the wall ....

I think I can speak for Dave and say we'd love to have you in any capacity. ;)

Thanks, Donny. As a matter of interest, what's the expected time scale of the project?

Boswell, post: 451372, member: 29034 wrote: Thanks, Donny. As a matter of interest, what's the expected time scale of the project?

It's a little tooo early to tell yet. As of now we are shooting for a 20 song album - and because we are doing mostly section/ensemble tracking (at least for the foundations; drums, bass, rhythm guitar, keys) we are limited to certain days where we can get all the session players in the same room - and, because we are using different players in different session groups depending on the song styles, scheduling can be more difficult. I'd like to see it being completed ( mixed and sent out for mastering) by the end of the year, but I don't know if that might not be just a bit too "ambitious". Lol.
Dave and I have agreed that we are definitely not gonna push it through just to meet an arbitrary deadline... the songs have to be there, and so do the performances. Deadlines can be good to have something to shoot for, but we have to be happy with everything, too. We are doing this with a bit of an Old School vibe - live players, doing multiple takes of the songs. We both love technology, but we are putting a huge focus on the actual performances, along with mic placement for tonal changes before we reach for EQ or Processing.
So...By the end of the year would be great, but not at the sacrifice of the quality of performances or fidelity.
;)
-d.

DonnyThompson, post: 451373, member: 46114 wrote: We are doing this with a bit of an Old School vibe - live players, doing multiple takes of the songs.

... and ribbon mics all round!

OK, I'll look to see if I could get a couple of days in the next few months to come over at a time when you might have sessions booked.

Boswell, post: 451374, member: 29034 wrote: ... and ribbon mics all round!

OK, I'll look to see if I could get a couple of days in the next few months to come over at a time when you might have sessions booked.

Gawd ...that would be awesome pal!
Knowing your background, from reading your various posts here over the years, I'm pretty sure you'd really be digging the vibe on these sessions. Tracking ensembles gives that "feel" that you just can't get with overdubbing. Because they are playing off of each other, there's nice glue and dynamics, too.
All these players and writers are giving themselves to the project without compensation, and yet they are all so enthusiastic, with creative input being tossed back and forth between them, it's obvious that everyone is having fun doing this; lots of smiles and laughter, too. Yet they are also serious about doing their best - nobody is "phoning it in". All are totally into being there, and enthusiastically giving their best. Every veteran here on RO knows how fun sessions like these can be, because every one of us has also had to deal with the flip-side of that coin a time or two throughout the years... those particular sessions where we'd rather hang ourselves than be there. ;)

Boswell, you would be most welcome to join us anytime.

Donny, you are too kind. I enjoyed it very much. It was great working with a bunch of seriously talented artists. (including our own Donny T., whom I got to hear play guitar, bass, and drums - all at session-player levels of expertise). The musicians were all-pro and all sounded fantastic! You could tell all these guys loved and respected one another. There was nothing but joy in the building as they all cycled through during the day. Everyone was there for the camaraderie, and the good cause. And if nothing else, someone should release a box-set of CDs, or DVDs, featuring all the band war-stories.

And c'mon, geurilla-style recording in a makeshift studio... what's not to love about that?!?!

Thank You, Dave. ;)

I've been working with songs that have been put together mostly through overdubbing over the last few years, so being able to work with multiple players all tracking at once is a return to how I learned this craft to begin with years ago. While we have each instrument miked up and routed to its own track, there's still the glue of a section playing together. Having that set up also allows for those occasional "happy accidents" to happen...maybe a certain fill or passing chord that wasn't originally planned, and that's where things can really be fun.
As the producer, it's not my job to tell the session players exactly what to play - rather, it's on me to put the right players for the right song together and then encourage creativity. It would be pretty short-sighted of me to get a great player on a song, based upon their individual talent and style, and then tell them what to play. Giving the players a basic structure for the song and then letting them go, that's where you're more apt to catch lightning in a bottle.
IMHO of course.
;)

cool!

I forgot to mention that we have an awesome photographer and videographer who is documenting this project for us. She's very artistically inclined, and is also hip to the studio recording process, so she knows how to be right in the middle of everything capturing the action but invisible at the same time. She's also very nice, personable, and....drop dead gorgeous.
It took all the guys (me included) a few takes to get the testosterone and "hubba-hubba" factor out of their systems. Lol.
There are no "stars" in the room, nobody of any note, unless you happen to be from Ohio (or western PA). But these are all very talented and experienced cats, both in live performance and in the studio. They've all given their valuable time and talents for the cause. I love every single one of them.
There's a certain "joy" in the room. It's so obvious that these artists really want to be there. No one has shown up out of a sense of feeling obligated, or with self-serving agendas. No rock stars, just great players who all bring an attitude of "what can I do to make this song sound as good as it can?"
;)

DonnyThompson, post: 451388, member: 46114 wrote: I forgot to mention that we have an awesome photographer and videographer who is documenting this project for us. She's very artistically inclined, and is also hip to the studio recording process, so she knows how to be right in the middle of everything capturing the action but invisible at the same time. She's also very nice, personable, and....drop dead gorgeous.;)

We don't believe you. Photos, please.

I fully understand your skepticism, Boswell.

DonnyThompson, post: 451388, member: 46114 wrote: It took all the guys (me included) a few takes to get the testosterone and "hubba-hubba" factor out of their systems.

As an interested observer, I don't think anybody got anything out of their system. It was like watching trained monkeys jumping all over one another to impress the lone female. A beautiful woman with the ability to put the yammering monkeys around her at completely ease is a rare and wonderful thing.

Even better than the fact that she was stunning, was the fact that she was genuinely interested. She arrived at 1pm, and could have shot a few dozen pictures and been out the door by 1:30. She apparently does some high-level concert photography, and half way through the day one of the guys commented sarcastically that it must be a 'thrill' for her to take pictures of a bunch of middle-aged, bald, flabby guys. She said, "The younger bands are boring. I could listen to you guys tell stories all day." And she did. Nobody would have blamed her for leaving at 1:30pm, but she hung out until about 10pm taking photos, shooting some video, and chatting with everybody.

Emma really was something ... Beyond being gorgeous, she was dedicated, professional, and a true artist. I told her when she arrived that there were no limits to what she could shoot... I gave her full access. I gave her examples; if someone looked happy, shoot it...but a!so, if someone looked fatigued, or confused, or even deep in thought, to get that too.
She was great during takes, she knew when she needed to be quiet and when she could talk, no one had to tell her any of that stuff. We also made one of the Aviom satellites and a pair of cans available to her, and she even knew to turn down the volume on them before taking the headphones off during a take to avoid bleed.
She's got true artist's eye. You can check her out on FB, Emma Jaye Photography.

So good.