So the Organic Blues Unit spent most of the weekend in J.-Daniel’s (thanks) recording studio for our first demo. I’ve been practicing like mad all month for this and was pretty hyper while I packed the car with my gear and a morning of setting up microphones, getting them to the “best” placements did nothing to help relax. I was stuck into the “aquarium” (picture), one end of the room that had been sealed off with a window and door, so that my washboard and cymbals didn’t bleed into what Dave and Bill where playing.
We had planed 6 songs and they needed to be recorded that afternoon so there was little time to fiddle about, so once everything was ready we launched into Chauffeur Blues. Now this is a song that I know well but have no “arrangement” for, I’ve had various ideas of how to play it but none have really stuck so it was a bit like being thrown to the lions. Amazing how self conscious you get once the record button is pushed. Having to hear Dave and Bill’s playing through earphones wasn’t the greatest thing either.
I have already heard the results since the demo was mixed and mastered and done by 11pm last night. Only three or for things were corrected, one anticipated end cymbal clash of mine was moved back a bit and a few “bad” note were replaced with “good” ones (poor bad notes, no one understands them). And I’m pleased because although no one IMO could consider my playing as great washboard, I can hear the progress I’ve done and a few moments are really quite decent. The only big embarrassment is my “solo” in Women Be Wise, this tune was one that I always felt at ease playing until Bill suggested a few changes; one being clashing the hi-hat most of the time. Although playing with my feet has gotten better, clashing the hi-hat continuously is a strain.
We had to start Women Be Wise over four times so the first complete take we got was the one we are using, no time to start over again. My solo in this song has a pretty wild second half in which I just go crazy and hit everything wildly. By the time we got to the beginning of the solo part, fatigue was showing and I accelerated the rhythm a bit, realized what I was doing, slowed down and was disturbed enough that by the time I got together again, the first half was over and I had to plunge into turbulence. So it’s far from what I would of liked. My friends think it’s very funny of course…