Craziest, most ridiculous recording session ever!!!!

First of all, what I am about to share is 100% true. It was such an amazing piece of studio bizarro world, I had to share this!

About 1 and a half years ago, I was finishing up a year of building my recording studio (that's another story). When I received an email from a fellow TGPer who had been following along on YouTube watching the progress of the studio. He mentioned he was going to be recording his newest cd, and was interested in working with me. He had heard some of my previous work and fealt that I would do a good job. He came over to the studio for a meeting, we talked and checked out his last cd (eclectic fusion jazz instrumentals). We hit it off and decided that we were going to move forward with his project.


So, this was to be the maiden voyage of the long awaited studio. And the very first session, that marked the setting of sail went like this.

The client came over lugging in with him an array of gadgets along with a couple of guitars and amp. I knew that we were going to start this project with scratch guitars, so, thus far status quo. He then explains to me (as he starts hooking up gadgets), that he wants to start by recording his vintage drum machine (par for the course). But, he pulls out a weird looking contraption that looks more than rough, rudimentary doesn't start to describe this box with stuff, knobs, rods,..on it. He then explains to me (with joy), that he got this on eBay and it was made in some guys garage. Not like boutique made in garage, but junk made in a garage. He goes on to tell me (as his smile grows larger and larger), that this box will really futz the sound up! He is now grinning from ear to ear. So, He is going to run the drum machine through the box and then into the pre amp He says, "this is going to be cool"! It reminded me of a kid that found some fire crackers, and was heading into the back yard with a book of matches, and some model cars.

As we proceed to get everything hooked up, he then explains that he hasn't completely prepared anything. He is planning on creating on the spot with a riff he came up with. Now, for those of you who haven't recorded in a studio environment, typically structures, formats, songs,.. are worked out in advance, specially if you are doing scratch tracks. But, he wanted to just wing it with a drum machine and this pedal that would really futz things up! (Again, kid with fire crackers). We finish setting up, and we start getting some level checks. He was right, this weird box is really futzing things up. It is pumping 60hz cycle buzzing, phasing though frequencies, and to top it off, loads of uninterrupted RFs (radio interfearance). I don't mean, "hey, can you kind of hear a radio program or something" I mean "Dude!! WTF!?!" So, I at this point am obligated to explain to my client that unfortunately, I can not fix any of that in the mix, and regrettably, we need to take this Dr Sues looking contraption out of the drum machine chain. At this point, he looks at me and says "I like it" A few seconds go by as I am still looking at his smiling and now chuckling face. I said "what" (I couldn't get anything else out, I honestly thought he was joking) He said "yeah, I like how it futzes it up"(the first model car is now in pieces) I said, well the sweeping frequencies I can add, but the buzzing and RFs,... We need to get out or it will ruin the piece. He said (very politely) "nah, I like it". (I have more model cars to blow up) My maiden voyage is now all up in the rocks at this point. I was honestly confused, I had heard his previous cd, and though he said he wanted something completely different, it was more than just a competent performance. So, I decided, hey my client wants to record futzed up junk music, it was his call. And as much as I didn't want to have my name on this, I was in it.

So, I truged through the futzed up drum machine to get what he wanted, he was happy with this nightmare recording session! But, as we moved to the guitars, and then the drums it got better. (but he had already blown up many model cars).

More sessions were to follow, and this first session led to more than a 1 and a half years of recording, and 26 tracks of music. They say hind sight is 20/20, I am so glad that I stuck through our first session! As it happens, the last track to be finalized, was our first session track. As we finished up (1 and a half years later), all I could think of was "wow, no one will ever believe that this came from a kid with fire crackers".

What a ride!!! Thank you Carl!!!

Here is the piece,

http://talesfromtheclarkside.bandcamp.com/track/a-tribute-to-mike-mignola-ghostprints

 

You comic book guys! Lol