LOVE JD - CD TWO DAYS

Popis - TWO DAYS:
How It All Went Down I arrived in Melbourne on Thursday 12 May 2011. I was there to see one of Georgia’s shows that night then do Friday, Saturday and Sunday night pub gigs as a guitarist. Monday and Tuesday I planned to spend recording with some help from Georgia. It was cold. I saw lots of snow on the mountains on the flight down. That afternoon in a borrowed car we delivered her piano to the city venue. She stayed for a sound check and I found out that I was driving the car back by myself. My instructions were to turn left, then left again and that I would work it out. It was pouring rain when shortly after the second left turn the car ran out of noise. I was in the centre lane and holding up the traffic. Some how I managed to push it backwards into a space by the kerb. It was heavy. I was soaked to the skin, the borrowed car might need a tow and then I realised that I hadn’t got the house key off Georgia. I thought to myself I am in the gutter, soaked, and with nowhere to go. How could I have fallen so far so quickly? At that moment coming to Melbourne seemed like nothing but a bad idea. I had broken down outside a pub. It took a while in the bar and some text messages about the LPG system to eventually get the car back on the road. Recording began 9.00am Monday 16 May 2011 in South Melbourne not far from where I did my first recording 37 years ago at AAV in Bank St. I planned to record ten songs over two days directly to 2 track tape. Dave McCluney who had engineered Georgia’s last CD would engineer for us at Atlantis Sound. I explained to Dave that I wanted a master that had not been digitally recorded at any stage for cutting an LP. Also that I didn’t want to use headphones or have the musicians put in separate rooms. He suggested backing up the two track with 24 track 2” tape. He also suggested using pro tools to get a mix before we began recording to tape. The first song we attempted was ‘Love Made A Fool Out Of Me’ on piano and acoustic guitar. We did maybe four takes and kept one. Next I met Dave Bramble who would be playing double bass. I showed him ‘Cant Go Home’ and we got it in one take. He wanted to do it again and so did Dave McCluney. We did it again but the second version didn’t have the snap of the first so we moved on to ‘Love Is A Train’. Georgia sat at the piano playing the autoharp and singing. I stood a couple of feet away playing the acoustic guitar and singing. Dave Bramble stood a little further away with the double bass. I explained to Dave Bramble and Dave McCluney that I wanted the bass to be low and a bit booming like the Carter Family or Flatt and Scruggs. From the start it was half the speed I’d intended but it was perfect like that. There was no need to change anything. It balanced itself. We quickly recorded two takes. The second was the better one. At this point it felt like we had captured something good. Dave Bramble anchored that song and never moved, I tried to keep back to the new tempo and Georgia just shone through. Next we tried ‘Lost And Hard To Find’ with just Dave Bramble and myself as we had done ‘Cant Go Home’. It didn’t sound quite right. We tried three takes and kept one. Next we cut ‘Never going back’. Georgia stood next to me and sang harmony. We got it on take one and on brand new tape. The time was only 2.15pm. but it felt much later. I did ‘When You Went’ solo with the harmonica in a rack. Got it on maybe take three. It had been a big day, I had to try to relax, not play it too fast. I hadn’t expected the harmonica to distort the way it did but it sounded kind of cool in a 60s way so I kept it. It was still only 3.30pm but a lot of energy had been spent. Georgia showed Dave Bramble the songs we would be doing the next day then we gave ourselves the rest of the day off. Back at Georgia’s place and listening by myself I realised why ‘Lost And Hard To Find’ had not worked. Dave’s bass line clashed slightly with the rhythm I was playing. He’d asked me if the line was ok and I’d said yes. I marked that down to try again if we had time. Our first go at ‘Love Made A Fool Out Of Me’ hadn’t worked either. One more to try again, time permitting. ‘Can’t Go Home’ was solid, the others were good and ‘Love Is A Train’ was pure gold. Tuesday May 17 2011. Up early again. Matty Vehl drove us in. He would be playing keyboards all day, we had Dave Bramble on double bass all day and we had Tim from Georgia’s band on drums til 3.00pm. The previous summer when I visited Georgia for a couple of weeks she, Matty and I had spent an afternoon playing old songs in her lounge room. That was the inspiration for these sessions and what I hoped we would re create in some way today. Tim was already there and carrying in drums when we arrived. I think Dave B was there too. Dave McCluney had a selection of fine old musical instruments ready and no headphones anywhere. The musicians had been given an MP3 of a guitar /voc demo a couple of days ago but no charts and no rehearsal. We began with ‘Already Said Goodbye’ Georgia’s suggestion for a first track of the day. I had brought a telecaster along (although I thought I would probably play everything on the Martin acoustic) mainly because I’d hoped there would be an amp with a tremolo lying around that I could use for this song. There were two. One of them sounded deluxe from the first note. No need to go anywhere else for a sound. I think I asked Tim to play “soft and cool like the seventies” or some such and he immediately played the perfect feel. Dave B slotted in on double bass. Georgia’s piano and Matty’s Hammond likewise. There was some discussion about how loud the tambourine was which Georgia picks up and plays in the chorus bits. The drums were in a separate room with double glass doors which were left open. Dave B was behind a small screen in the centre of the room. Georgia was at the grand piano on one side of the room, Matty and I next to each other on the other side of the room. There was no screening other than for Dave B. Only Tim had headphones on. I explained the intro and breakdown in verse four. We ran it a couple of times to get the changes then had a listen to the mix. We played it a few times for a take, got a good one and kept it. Next came ‘Since You’re Gone’. Matty played a handful of tambourines which were quickly arranged with help form Dave McClune and Tim. Tim started playing something on the tom toms that sounded good. I asked him to keep playing that. The doors to the drum room were then closed so I couldn’t really hear, but it felt good. Dave Bramble dropped in an orchestral bass line for the second half of the verses of pure genius. We listened to a mix of it then began recording on tape. It took maybe six takes and a few false starts to get a keeper. I wasn’t sure we had it but I didn’t have another take in me. I’d promised myself not to get precious or squeamish about any of this. Unlike the previous day time was flying by, it was already about 1.30pm. Next we did ‘Walking Away’. This song had started out months ago as a slow country twang song but had recently changed to a pop song with a half soul feel. I had a two part piano theme running through the whole thing with the band joining in then dropping out. The changes were very simple. No one had heard this yet except for Dave Bramble who had been shown the changes quickly yesterday. Right away the grand piano sounded too harsh so I dropped it. I used a second fret capo on the acoustic guitar and played key C 1/6/4/5 chords with the first string ringing high A to replace the piano as a constant note. Georgia played the two part theme on a Fender Rhodes but only one to the bar. It sounded great – thank heavens- so I had the essence of it. I told everyone where to come in and where to finish, leaving it up to them how to accomplish this. Tim suggested tapping rim shots for the first chorus before bringing the band in for verse three – good call. Matty played like Booker T Jones, the Rhodes mixed with the guitar perfectly and Georgia threw in a low ragged harmony. I think we kept take two or three. The time now had gotten to 2.35pm and Tim had to be gone by 3.00pm so I mentioned to Dave McClune that we should cut the rest without drums. Tim was heading for the door. Dave McClune stood in his way and said, “Get back and play. It will take you three minutes”. We all stayed put and I showed them the changes once for ‘Let It Rain’. After a false start we got it on take one. I hand signalled some of the changes as it was being recorded. Matty fired up the Rhodes Ray Charles Style. I even mimed the last drum beat to Tim as the chord was fading and he played it! A genius move by Dave McCluney. Tim was on his way by 3.00pm. About now I realised that everything we had recorded through the day was probably good –and- we had a couple of hours left to re visit the two songs that hadn’t worked the day before. Georgia, who had even tuned my guitar for the last track to keep things moving along, now suggested a break and calmly took off with Matty to a nearby coffee shop. I was there with them but my mind was back in the studio with Dave Bramble and Dave McCluney hoping they wouldn’t disappear. All I could think about was how best to redo two songs. It seemed like an eternity waiting for that coffee. Once we got back to the studio we went straight into ‘Love Made A Fool Out Of Me’ -my No 1 priority. Matty suggested chains as percussion which I thought was a little weird. While I was showing Dave Bramble the changes Georgia found a key chain and a cymbal. Dave McCluney seemed to materialise out of thin air and hand her some bells. She somehow made these work and we had the sound. I think we got it on take two. Matty who I’d been holding back on Hammond all day because it is such a distinctive sound, just grabbed the first solo and nailed the ending perfectly. Matty and I were in the same place we’d been most of the day on one side of the room next to each other, Georgia stood nearby and Dave Bramble in his spot in the middle of the room behind a small screen. Dave B banging the bass for a back beat or two was spontaneous and it sounded great. A big relief- now I had a fine opening track. ‘Lost And Hard To Find’ followed effortlessly. Georgia found some kind of sand shaker for percussion. I asked Matty to play electric piano and in one or two takes we had a relaxed closing track. In some ways the last two tracks were like a beginning. By that stage we had found some kind of sweet spot, the lounge room from six months ago adapted for recording. We’d made it. Six talented people, two days. Next we were saying thanks to Dave McCluney in some kind of a blur then listening to the day’s work in the car. ***************