02009-03-25 | Jon Gagan, Recording, Studio
Rehearsal 10:00-13:30 and then packing up and transporting gear. Band sounded good, but what’s really exciting is the potential of this group. These two drummers work very well together. It’s always a gamble, putting two drummers together – some make a great team, some don’t. (((not unlike setting up somebody for a blind date)))
Jon recorded every piece we have worked up for this tour, so we can each listen to the arrangements and memorize them on the two-day bus ride to California. Stevo and Jon kept commenting that much of it sounded like an album and I have to agree. Maybe we should record the band for our subscribers after the Summer tour – live in his studio.
In the meantime we should have a few pieces we can release as free Ottmar-Friends downloads… probably with a few warts (mistakes), but with a pretty nice feel.
Overall a great second day. The second day of rehearsals is often a let-down from the first, but not so this time. Now I have to pack…
02009-03-24 | Photos, Santa Fe, Studio
02006-08-22 | Music, Recording, Santa Fe, Studio
Day two of our recording session at Jon’s studio. We have recorded about two hours of material so far. Much editing lies ahead… Some of the most precious moments happened spontaneously. At one point yesterday I started playing some chords and Rahim began to sing beautifully. Then the music drifted toward a 6/8 rhythm and Rahim started playing the oud. Lucky for us that Jon was recording! Rahim told us today he could not sleep until four this morning because he kept hearing that piece in his mind… With me it was the other way around: I woke up at four and could not go back to sleep. When we listened to the piece today, I could not remember playing the music. It was like listening to somebody else’s performance…
This evening I started playing guitar without wearing headphones, thinking that Barrett and Jon were working on something in the control room. Rahim played the oud and some magical stuff started happening. To our surprise Jon had quickly captured the whole thing…
Barrett has a great feel on the drums and it is great to hear him with Jon. It’s funny, Al Masocco was my product manager at Epic Records and since he was also the Screaming Trees‘ product manager Barrett and I have heard about each other for about a decade, but we only met yesterday.
