Recording Bass and Drums

Today I have the bass player Chad Watson (www.chadwatson.com)  and the percussionist Scott Breadman (www.scottbreadman.com)  coming in to  record their parts for All Wood and Doors (www.thedoors.com).

Cliff Eberhardt (www.cliffeberhardt.com) and I have laid down the basic guitar tracks and have made certain that their time is rock solid so that the other musicians can just concentrate on the groove and not worry about the time floating.

It’s important if you are going to have any overdubbing to make certain that the bed tracks are solid because the less they are the more trouble you are going to have with the next layer of musicians and if there are to be more overdubs after that then the problem is even more compounded and ends up sounding like the cacophony of a train wreck.

So we layed down the basics as solidly as we could.

I like having the bass player and the drummer performing together as they develop a conversation that is different than when they are simply responding to what is already laid down.

There is more room for spontaneity between them if they are working off of each other.

I always wanted to have enough money to put together a group of musicians and then rehearse them for a solid week; eight hour days.    Then take a day off and then go into the studio and record everything live, but I’ve never been able to put that together, and the Beachwood Recording studio isn’t large enough to accommodate a large group of musicians.

I tried once, in Santa Cruz, a long time ago, when I was recording at the Automatt in San Francisco, but the musicians were of different levels and, while given enough time they could have developed a rapport, there was neither the time nor the budget to allow that to develop, so I’m still waiting for that opportunity.

If Backstage At The Resurrection (my almost mixed new solo CD)  does well enough, then I’ll have the budget to try that next time.

In the meantime, I am very excited about what’s going to go down today.   Cliff and I sat together and played and played and there is that conversation between us musically that should make this All Wood and Doors recording a joy to listen to.  

And now, we’ll have the added bonus of a live rhythm track, bass and drums going downtown together.

I can’t wait.

Comments

[playmobil games]

Playing bass for me is really fun though this instrument makes my shoulder numb. I guess I'll be used to it soon.