Greetings, I hope things are well in your world! In this blog I’m going to discuss the different aspects of putting together a song from the perspective of my different roles I fulfilled in the making of Shadows In the Sky: songwriter, producer, guitarist, and mixing engineer. You can click on the ones that interest you. In the spirit of a deep dive I will get pretty technical in the mixing and guitar sections. : ) I’m going to do a deep dive on one song a month in the order they are placed on the album.
Before I wrote Today I thought was nearly done with the album, I had tracked ten songs and was ready to mix it and be done with it. Then I wrote Today, Home, and One More Step within a period of a month. After working on the songs for a few weeks, I felt like I really wanted them on the album, so I was going to have to cut a few of the songs we had recorded earlier and book a new session to cut the new tracks. Here is a glimpse into the making of Today from its creation to the finished recording...just click the bolded titles below to read more
+ The Songwriter
For me, it seems like almost all of the good songs come in a pretty quick burst then I often spend weeks refining phrases and changing the melody and harmony until there isn’t anything that bugs me anymore when I play it or listen back. There is truly nothing like giving birth to a song; it’s a very dreamlike space, almost always accompanied by a feeling of surprise that it’s happening — a surreal feeling of being out of time, like I'm supposed to be practicing for an upcoming gig, or whatever it is I’m working on that day, but I'm playing hooky, stealing away into the songwriting space. Even after writing hundreds of songs, it’s still an amazing experience every time. Today was one of those songs where after singing it for an hour, I was already trying to figure out which song I was going to cut so I could put it on the album. It fit in so perfectly with everything else on the record that it felt like a really magical thing that it came to me at the exact time when I needed it...
While sometimes I start writing a song with a lyrical idea, most of the time it starts with a chord progression, riff, or melody line, and Today was like that. The riff that the guitar plays at the beginning was the doorway into the song for me, and I played with it for a few minutes and got comfortable with it and then decided to come up with chords to go underneath it. The voice memos on my phone are full of riffs and snippets like this, and it’s not unusual for me to record something and never listen again, or come back to it later. But this one was definitely going somewhere, so I followed, and started playing the chords that I come up with under the riff. I then started listening to see if I heard any words in the music. Pretty quickly the phrases “pick a few — who turn away the pain from my eyes," and "turning blue — falling slowly into the sky” came out and then I had a direction for the song. The words and music for the other sections flowed out pretty quickly for the next 20-30 minutes, and at that point I had about 95% of the song done.
I then spent a few hours alternating between enjoying my new creation and wrestling and tinkering with it, messing with different melody and lyric tweaks until it was time for dinner. I made a quick recording to make sure I wouldn’t forget. At that point I had two verses (or, A sections), two B sections (the part that begins with “all we said”) and the chorus. I also put the verse chords in my loop pedal so that I could work on some lead ideas. Not every song wants a guitar solo in the middle of it, but this one seemed to want one that flowed out of the riff. After some jamming on the progression, I came up with the idea of playing the riff starting on the 5th instead of the root to end the solo. I came back in the next day and decided I wanted to come out of the guitar solo with a B section then to the chorus to end the song. So I wrote the third B section ("All we had began to fade”) the next morning, and the song was finished.
+ The Producer
Producers often have many differing roles depending on the project. For this blog, I’m going to define the producer as the person in charge of all aspects of getting the song from the songwriter to the mixing engineer. So, these roles include arranging the song in terms of what instruments and backing vocals appear in each section and what parts they play, what musicians and studio get used, what microphones, pre-amps, and recording techniques are employed, and what gets played live in the studio, and what gets overdubbed later, etc.
I knew that I was going to need a video to promote the album, and that I wanted the first single to be Today. Since I also had two more songs to record, and we had been averaging five songs per day-long session, I talked to the folks at 25th Street Studios about doing a combo session, recording audio in the day and video in the evening. This was a good way for me to be as efficient as possible, and get a studio and video recording in the deal. They were very accommodating and we worked out a deal with Scott (25th St. manager), Gabe (audio engineer) and Jamie (video producer). So now I needed to book an arrangement session with the musicians to teach them the songs and work out the arrangements, so that on the recording day we wouldn’t need to waste studio time figuring out our parts.
Pre-Production
When we record, I like to set everyone up together in the main room with Celso’s drumkit. When everyone is sharing space together as they play, it definitely makes the tracks come out sounding more cohesive. Because I was singing a guide vocal, my amp and I were in an adjoining room with sliding glass windows, so I had eye contact with all of the musicians.
We started off with Today, and worked through it pretty quickly and got a killer take on the second run-through. We then went on to cut Home and One More Step, two separate compositions that are combined on the album as one piece. Then it was time to shoot the video. We were playing live for the video, and the plan was to have the video recording be a separate live performance of the song, and have our earlier recording be the audio recording for the album. We had a great time playing for the cameras and I remember thinking that it felt like the band had clicked up the energy a notch for the video performance. When I got home and listened back to both versions it was immediately clear that the video version had the magical x-factor that one looks for on a recording, and which can sometimes be tough to get in the studio, so we ended up using the video take for the album as well.
Overdubs/Arrangement
So now I had a killer live track, with electric guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards. Maria joined us for the video recording, and ended up nailing her parts so beautifully that we kept her vocals on for the album version. So the next job for me as producer, after the basic tracks were done, was to decide what should be added to the track to make the song as fully realized as possible.
Most albums are made via overdubs nowadays because it gives the producer more control and it’s more economical. So you might start with a guide track of guitar or piano and vocal with a click track, and then have a drummer play with that, and build the track from there with bass, guitars, keys and vocals recorded one at a time. I already had that all there, so all I had to do was cut a lead vocal track and add whatever other seasonings I felt the track needed. I wanted to beef up the backing vocal ahh’s in the B section some, so I had my wife Carrie add her lovely voice to the mix. It turned out that she and Maria had a beautiful blend together, which I used on nearly every track on the album. I also wanted an acoustic guitar on the track, so I overdubbed that (details in guitar section) and listened to what I had, and felt like the track sounded finished right there. Eric had simultaneously recorded organ and piano at the session so now I had two layers of keyboards and 2 different guitars to work with when creating the mix.
One of the things I wanted to do with Today was play with where the beat fell in each section. Playing on top of the beat can convey excitement or chaos; Stewart Copeland of the Police is an example of a drummer that plays on top of the beat. Playing behind the beat gives the song a relaxed wistful feel; Levon Helm of the Band is a good example of a drummer that plays behind the beat. Usually a song might be behind the beat in verses and go to right on the beat for the choruses or on the beat for verses and slightly ahead for the chorus. In Today I wanted to flip that script and have the verses be slightly on top of the beat, the B sections behind the beat and the chorus right on the beat. This gives the song an unusual feel and, I think, drives home the lyric “I see you in a different way” by making the chorus feel different than a chorus would usually feel, the band plays very dynamically to accentuate this and the acoustic guitar comes to the forefront of the mix in the chorus.
Producing and engineering your own vocals is a bit tricky and it’s taken me many years to get to the point where I can do it effectively. If you are just starting out, I would not recommend it because there is so much that can go wrong, both in terms of engineering, production and singing, and the vocal is the most important element of any mix. The advantage to doing it alone is that it is easy to get lost in the vocal and create a direct relationship with the song as there is no one else there in between you and the music. Another advantage is that you can strike when you are inspired, so anytime you have access to your home studio you can cut the vocal rather than having to sing at whatever time you have booked the studio time. At the beginning of overdubbing vocals on this album I went to Oregon and spent a few days working on vocals on some of the other tracks with legendary producer Sylvia Massy, and I learned a lot as a producer, engineer and vocalist from working with her, so I felt good about producing my own vocals on much of this project. For the vocal on Today, I chose a dynamic mic, the SM7b, to give the vocals an up-front, intimate feel. I found a day where my voice felt good, and I was in a mentally relaxed place, and knocked it out in a few hours. Today was now ready for the mixing stage.
+ The Guitarist
There are three different guitars on Today: a rhythm guitar, a lead guitar, and an acoustic guitar. The rhythm guitar was cut live in the studio with the band. My rhythm guitar parts are usually stripped-down versions of the part I play when I write the song on acoustic or electric guitar. My initial part might have elements in it that the bass and drums make redundant, so I typically strip it down to make room for the band, and work it around the lead vocal so it goes from initially outlining the whole song during the writing process to playing a supporting role. When working with musicians as creative and talented as these folks I tend to not come up with drumbeats or bass parts for the songs when I’m writing them, so I can be as open as possible to what the others might create when we are working on arrangements.
The guitar solo was cut live in the studio when we did the video recording, and I feel like that is one of things that really makes it fit so well in the mix. I wrote some of the melodic phrases beforehand and then improvised the rest of it in reaction to what everyone else is playing. I’m very happy with the way it turned out, and feel that even though it is played over the same chords as the A section, the lead part creates yet another different section to keep the song interesting and to add breadth to it.
For guitar geeks only :)
All of the electric guitars on the album except for a few rhythm guitar overdubs were recorded on my Tom Anderson Mongrel run through my Sarno VG8 preamp into an SSL Cab with an EV 12L Speaker. The rhythm part was recorded with the middle single coil pickup through a Badgerplex preamp into a Strymon El Capistan delay. When I mixed the electric rhythm part, I duplicated the track and panned it wide to either side and put the left side through a chorused UAD EMT 250 stereo reverb panned wide to give it a little spread in the mix. The electric lead guitar was also recorded live with the band when we cut the track. I ran it through my typical overdriven lead guitar chain which is a Lovepedal Deux (a combo of the Lovepedal Church of Tone into a Lovepedal Eternity) > Origin Effects Slide Rig > Strymon Dig Delay. In mixing, I added a slight stereo delay (UAD Roland Space Echo) and a pinch of the chorused reverb to give it some depth. The acoustic guitar was a Martin 00016GTC recorded with 2 Earthworks TC-30K mics in an XY pattern. I ran both mics through a UAD 1176 to tighten them up and help them sit in the mix well.
+ The Mixing Engineer
I try to look at each song as an audio movie with shifting elements that contrast, cooperate and sometimes compete with one another. Sometimes one element takes the lead and others take a support role. I feel that my job as a mixing engineer is to make everything work together and complement one another for the greater good of the song. When I write a song I often have a very definite vision about what I want it to sound like, that gets delivered into my mind when I write the song. The challenge of producing a recording is to realize that vision without disappearing into any number of musical, technical or conceptual wormholes that can take you off course.
As a mixing engineer nowadays I have so much at my disposal. It's helpful for me to remember that most of the classic albums that folks love were made with much less at their fingertips than I have available in my home studio. The main tools I have are volume (I can turn tracks up and down in the mix), panning (I can place sounds in different parts of the stereo field), equalization or EQ (I can shape the EQ of each sound to help it fit into the mix better, compression (limiting the dynamic range of a track to help it “sit” in the mix better), delay or echo (creates an echo of the signal), reverb (makes the signal sound like it’s in a room or ambient space), and modulation (blurs or processes the signal in various ways to make it sound more interesting and fill out the mix better). I have several different types of EQ’s, compressors, reverbs, types of modulation etc., and each one reacts to the signal differently and sounds unique, and so presents itself in the mix differently. Part of the art of mixing is choosing which if these to use and making them all cooperate together in then mix. It’s very similar to cooking, with the instrumental and vocal performances themselves being the food and the EQ, Reverb, compression etc, acting as seasonings.
Mix Construction
When I’m mixing, I like to close my eyes and lock in with each element in the mix and listen to how it is sounding and relating to the other instruments in the mix. Ultimately a really good mix for me is a mix that has sonic depth, width and punch while supporting the lyric, melody and all of the other elements on the track as well. I feel like sometimes a mix that is too centered on the vocals misses out on the opportunity to engage the listener in hearing a cool bass run, drum fill, etc., and a mix that features the instruments too heavily misses the opportunity to connect with the listener emotionally through the vocals, melody, and lyrics. I try to make sure that I get to know the individual performances well enough to weave them together into a coherent whole in my mixes. Ideally a mix should be even enough that the listener hears different things each time he or she revisits the song, but focused enough so that one doesn’t lose the vocal or lead instrument in the mix. With this approach, one hopes to reward and encourage repeated visits. . . :)
With Today, there are three very distinct sections of the song that I wanted to function as a progression, leading the listener to the chorus. The verse (or A section) is the section that starts the song and follows the first and second choruses. After the second chorus, the third A Section is a guitar solo over the same chords as the verses. The B section happens three times as well and leads into the chorus.
In the mix I wanted the A section to be dynamic and have a bit of a chaotic edge-of-your seat feel, which is masterfully created by Celso’s parts on the ride cymbal and hi hat, and his slightly on top of the beat feel. The cymbal mics are positioned in the mix as they were on the kit, panned hard left and right in the speakers. The electric guitar, organ and Murph’s lyrical basslines are weaving in and out of one another with the acoustic guitar harmonics adding some bloom and mystery to the proceedings. The tape delay and chorused reverb on the guitar serves to add another layer and gives more depth to the A and B sections.
The lyrics in the B section are wistful ruminations on the past, so I wanted the music to reflect that. So the feel in the B section is behind the beat, and the guitars and the keys are more mournful, and mixed with more reverb and delay to create a dreamy effect and put the vocals a little more up front than they were in the A section. This feel sets up the short musical connective passage leading the listener to the chorus. Eric came up with the beautiful interweaving piano and organ parts. When we were first recording them he did them separately, when we cut the video he played them simultaneously and they fit together perfectly and lead us out of the B section and into the chorus.
The chorus is a meditation on trying to see people (both singular and plural) in a different way or with a different viewpoint than whatever way we have typically viewed them, in hopes of evolving our relationship with them and with ourselves. The production and mixing decisions I made were in hopes of highlighting and supporting the lyric by making the chorus different than a chorus in a typical rock song. Here the vocals and the acoustic guitar come to the front of the mix and everything else drops back in intensity, density and volume. This was done live as we cut the track, and works so well (at least for me) because we did it together. This is where playing with amazing musicians who really listen and play for the song really pays off, as the band is literally mixing itself and it makes the mixing engineer's job really easy. In the past, I have been mixing and have wanted to create that effect after the fact using volume, EQ, etc., and it never works as well as if you play it with that intention in the room as you cut the track.
Final Mixing
Once I had each section in place I then set about making the song work as a whole. When I was mixing Today I was trying for a smoothness between each section, as they are all really quite different. Without mixing it properly, the track could easily come out sounding disjointed. I used elements that recurred throughout the song, like the organ and the electric rhythm guitar, to tie everything together while the drum patterns, the bass, acoustic guitar, and the vocal arrangements shifted considerably between sections. Eric’s connective part between the B section and the chorus is an excellent example of an element that stitches two disparate pieces of music together.
The final step for me in a mix is to make sure the story being told by the vocal is center stage, so my last few passes on a mix involve small vocal tweaks to get the vocal to sit in the mix well - not too out front, but not buried either. Once I have that happening in my mixing environment and in my car, earbuds, etc., then I take it around and annoy my friends by constantly playing it on their systems and making changes until it behaves well in all environments. Then you know the mix is done!
If you’ve made it all the way through this, thanks so much for taking the time to look into my song and my process creating it more deeply. I will be doing one of these a month, with each song on the album in order, so stay tuned for next month, when we do a deep dive into track 2, Wonderwheel.