New CD project underway

Saturday, February 20, 2010 found me in the “Upper Room” recording studio in Santee, CA to add the guitar parts to the new CD by “Rightside,” a local 9-piece gospel group that plays in the country rock style. I returned March 2 to finish the recording. The new CD is scheduled for release in April or May, and at this point, all seems to be on schedule. The CD will be titled "Living on the Rightside," and a special CD release party concert is scheduled for Saturday, May 22, 2010 at Pathways Community Church on Carlton Hills Blvd. in Santee, CA. A guest band (tba) will open the show.

The CD will include ten cover tunes, no originals, and the songs on the CD are:
Give It Away
Eagle Song
Rightside Of The Dirt
How Long
I’m Loving Life
Have You Traveled With The Lord Lately
Wine Into Water
Living For The Moment
Get Up In Jesus Name
Keep Walkin’

I listened to the last CD from Rightside, which was recorded at least two years ago, and this one should be significantly better for several reasons: one extra tenor singer, the last CD had no guitar player, plus the obvious fact that the musicians have gotten better over the last two years and the vocal blend is now much tighter and more rehearsed.

I was able to do two takes of all 10 songs in about two hours. I plan to make a return booking next month to re-do one of my guitar solos and to add acoustic guitar parts on three of the songs using my Martin D42. This first time, I used my Carvin AE-185 to play both the electric and the acoustic guitar parts, and I was impressed how well the Carvin sounded as an acoustic instrument because it has such a small, thin body. I used a BOSS GT-10 guitar processor to enhance the acoustic sound. I also used the GT-10 on the other tracks for amp and cabinet simulation. Rather than renting a selection of choice amps, the amp simulation on the BOSS GT-10 is so good, I just plugged directly into the mixer.

Another thing I did different is to record using the same GT-10 patches that I use for live performance. Usually I will record the guitar track “dry” (without any EQ or effects) and add effects and EQ during the mixing process. I decided to simplify the process this time by leaving the effects (compression, echo, reverb, chorus, EQ, etc.) in the patch because I had spent so much time setting up the patches in the first place. The recorded sound should be ideal, and will require no more of an adjustment other than leveling with the other tracks. The other thing I left off the recording was volume adjustments, which is the way I always record. I played the whole track at the same volume, and will trust the engineer, Jim, to work some parts into the background and to bring out the intros and the solos a little more.

Speaking of Jim Burnett, owner, engineer and producer of the Upper Room recording studio, he did an excellent job getting all the takes recorded. He obviously knew his equipment inside and out, and was very patient, cheerful and confident in doing his job. Beginning artists should trust the engineer and producer to make them sound as good as possible, and talented hands and ears can sometimes make poor musicians sound good. But when you’ve been around the block as many times as I have, you worry about just the opposite happening, you think “I played my butt off, now is this going to come through in the mix or is he going to muck it up somehow?” Well, if Jim does as good a job with the mixing as he did with the tracking, I’m sure I’ll be happy with the results.

The songs on the CD were all good choices and display a nice variety of vocal and instrumental talent. I enjoyed playing all the songs, and I hope this enthusiasm is captured in what you hear when the CD is released in April or May. We’ll be doing the photography on Saturday, March 27. The mixing should be almost finished by then. I can’t wait to hear the finished product, and I hope you all will pick up a copy also! All the profits from the CD will go to missionary work!