Last night Keith, Andrew, Jon, Sarah and I worked quite efficiently on a couple of tracks for the record. I must say, i'm very proud of the team, how easily it seems to come to us, and how quickly we deliver on the new ideas that get thrown about.
Before the band showed up, i spent an hour or so cleaning up and balancing the mix on Jon Roger's "Woman Ain't Happy." It's certianly done with tracking, and all the instruments are now seated in the right place in the mix. Just some more time needs to be spent balancing within each group - Drums & Percussion, Guitar Uke Fiddle Piano, and Vocals. Only then can the subtley of reverbs be dialed in to enhance the total mix. Tedious, exacting work, but the pay off is YOU getting an ear-grin the first time YOU listen to it.
Then the band showed up, there may have been whiskey.
First up Sarah laid down some serious violin on Cheryl's version of "Dopamine." After performing her usual parts that have been worked out for some time, we tried something new. We had her layer the violin into a string quartet over the heart-pulling bridge, really deepening the emotional connection in the song. After that, she laid down the first of the vocal back ups.
Jon went up next, nailing his harmonies in a couple of passes, and then adding to the background harmony layers that Sarah had started. Andrew got in there to cover the bass and baritone harmonies, then I came in with the remaining notes, filing the musical hole left by Andrew's low parts, and Sarah's higher notes.
After that Andrew and i took a moment to really dial in the rhodes, which will be paired with the vioolin part and has to be balanced at times so the are seemingly a single sound. Even the electric guitar gets into that part at times too.
This all prepares for the final component for the track - Organ. Next week, we track organ.