Post by michael on Oct 2, 2005 22:30:38 GMT -5
This is the first installment of background stories concerning my songs from "Surface Tension" . I have a long standing promise to friends and fans to share these details. With this forum I can make it happen.
Please note that these details are mostly pulled from the diary I kept during those days. Here, I will include some details about the recording process, participating musicians, guitar gear used and word for word excerpts from my diary. At the bottom of these pages will be pertinent links.
I will post the diary in it's entirety sometime in the future.
(The Only Good) Fire Ant…
Composer: Michael Earhart
Origin of the tune:
This song came about one afternoon as I was spreading fire ant killer in my front yard. Killing fire ants is one of my favorite pastimes. Nasty little varmints. I was spreading the poison and singing a little nonsensical melody as I was doing so. Suddenly I realized that I had a new tune on my hands. I finished my chore, then ran into the house, grabbed my guitar and turned this one out.
In the studio:
The first tune of the CD is also the first one I began the recording process with. Surface Tension was my first time in a recording studio that was not a demo project. In the past I would get to whichever affordable studio there was and quickly get finished, paying no attention to mistakes as long as they were not too awful. This time though I intended to turn out a radio ready product, which meant a lot more personal discipline. That turned out to be a struggle for me, as I tried to get the parts recorded without the use of a click track. That was a big mistake, and it turned into wasted studio time. So, the click track came in, but concentrating on tempo hampered the ‘feel’ of the song, to me at least. The more I worked with it, the easier it became. Nick was real patient and cool about it all. Turned out he was used to this sort of thing by clients, and it was just no big deal to him.
After the guitar parts were all recorded, except for the solo flat-picking section in the middle, it was time to bring in the hired guns.
Alan Davis is a long-time friend and much sought after studio musician. It made sense to me to hire him because he would be excellent, creative and quick. He played a Hamer fretless bass on this tune. Love the solo bit in the middle.
Percussionist Brandon Bumpas is someone I’d been aware of for a while, though we did not know each other on a personal level at all. His band is ‘Velvet Love Box’ and they are a popular D/FW band. I approached him at one of his gigs, and we discussed the possibility of him playing on my album. I realized from the outset that the best thing I could do with Brandon was to turn him loose on the songs, with as little direction from me as possible. I would ask him time and again, ‘what do you think the percussion should do here?’ Brandon is a great musician, and watching/listening to his performance energized the rest of the recording process for me. On ‘Fire Ant’ I began to hear the song in my headphones that I had been hearing in my head. Very exciting.
Guitar talk:
The guitar used was a Taylor 414CE with a Fishman Rare Earth pickup installed in the sound-hole, and processed in stereo. The guitar was tuned down one-half step and composed with a Third Hand Capo in an Esus chord position. The chords, fingerings and flat-pick solo are played around that capo.
August 6, 2001-
It is 9:25 a.m., Monday morning, and at 1:00 this afternoon I will be at Pineapple Studios here in Arlington, recording what will be my first solo album. I’m a bit apprehensive, because I feel I’ve not prepared enough. But I could (and do) tweak my songs forever and ever, and not get anything done. So, it’s time.
I’m taking my Taylor guitar with me today, plus my strobe tuner, my stereo cable, the Boomerang, all of my capos and a notepad. I’m still thinking about bringing my Roland amp, synth, and Parker guitar, but I believe I need to concentrate on the acoustic for basics.
I’ve made arrangements with Alan for a fretless bass solo on ‘Fire Ant’. We’ll get that tracked on Wednesday the 10th or the 15th.
August 15, 2001-
What a great session! Brandon and I got to the studio on time, and after he inspected the DW drum kit in the studio he pronounced it ‘fine’ and proceeded to set up his snare and cymbals.
After 45 minutes of getting it set up and sound check done we were ready to start on ‘Fire Ant’. Everyone gathered in the control room and we listened to the scratch as I explained to Brandon what I was hearing for percussion parts. He was very receptive, and I gave him pretty much free reign to do what he wanted.
Then, we noticed some timing problems on the scratch guitar. Actually Brandon noted how odd the parts sounded (downbeat) and after listening to the part again carefully, he was right. I had made a critical error on one section close to the bass solo. I’m so glad I brought my guitar with me to the studio! We were able to punch in the corrected part and Nick made it sound great.
Brandon suggested a different approach to a couple of parts, and after hearing his ideas, I went with that. What a great player he is!
After the drums were added we started on the congas, and then the shakers. We made one small correction on shakers, and that was it. I can’t wait to get back in there and do the guitar parts for real.
Brandon mentioned he is having a small amount of difficulty in hearing a percussion part on ‘Willow Tree’, but he thinks a djembe will do the trick. He is going to buy one this week, and we will talk again later.
Joni and her mom came out to the studio at my invitation and stayed until we were finished.
I took Nick and Brandon across the street after the session to buy them a drink and to talk for a bit. Nick had to leave after about 20 minutes, because his next session had arrived. Brandon and I hung out for about another hour, and got to know each other a little better. He seems to be a fine young man. He had received some news (the bad kind) about his grandfather, who has a brain tumor. His grandmother has Alzheimer’s, so the whole situation in Abilene is troubling to him. Brandon’s mom is there now, trying to take care of everyone.
To listen to an alternate take of (The Only Good) Fire Ant... : www.myspace.com/michaelearhart
To purchase Surface Tension: www.cdbaby.com/cd/earhart
Brandon Bumpas and Velvet Love Box: www.velvetlovebox.com/index_f.htm
Pineapple Recording Studios: www.pineapplestudiostexas.com/
Taylor Guitars website: www.taylorguitars.com/
Fishman Pickups: www.fishman.com/
Third Hand Capo: thirdhandcapo.com/
Boomerang website: www.boomerangmusic.com/
Parker Guitars website: www.parkerguitars.com/
Roland website: www.rolandus.com/
Please note that these details are mostly pulled from the diary I kept during those days. Here, I will include some details about the recording process, participating musicians, guitar gear used and word for word excerpts from my diary. At the bottom of these pages will be pertinent links.
I will post the diary in it's entirety sometime in the future.
(The Only Good) Fire Ant...
(The Only Good) Fire Ant…
Composer: Michael Earhart
Origin of the tune:
This song came about one afternoon as I was spreading fire ant killer in my front yard. Killing fire ants is one of my favorite pastimes. Nasty little varmints. I was spreading the poison and singing a little nonsensical melody as I was doing so. Suddenly I realized that I had a new tune on my hands. I finished my chore, then ran into the house, grabbed my guitar and turned this one out.
In the studio:
The first tune of the CD is also the first one I began the recording process with. Surface Tension was my first time in a recording studio that was not a demo project. In the past I would get to whichever affordable studio there was and quickly get finished, paying no attention to mistakes as long as they were not too awful. This time though I intended to turn out a radio ready product, which meant a lot more personal discipline. That turned out to be a struggle for me, as I tried to get the parts recorded without the use of a click track. That was a big mistake, and it turned into wasted studio time. So, the click track came in, but concentrating on tempo hampered the ‘feel’ of the song, to me at least. The more I worked with it, the easier it became. Nick was real patient and cool about it all. Turned out he was used to this sort of thing by clients, and it was just no big deal to him.
After the guitar parts were all recorded, except for the solo flat-picking section in the middle, it was time to bring in the hired guns.
Alan Davis is a long-time friend and much sought after studio musician. It made sense to me to hire him because he would be excellent, creative and quick. He played a Hamer fretless bass on this tune. Love the solo bit in the middle.
Percussionist Brandon Bumpas is someone I’d been aware of for a while, though we did not know each other on a personal level at all. His band is ‘Velvet Love Box’ and they are a popular D/FW band. I approached him at one of his gigs, and we discussed the possibility of him playing on my album. I realized from the outset that the best thing I could do with Brandon was to turn him loose on the songs, with as little direction from me as possible. I would ask him time and again, ‘what do you think the percussion should do here?’ Brandon is a great musician, and watching/listening to his performance energized the rest of the recording process for me. On ‘Fire Ant’ I began to hear the song in my headphones that I had been hearing in my head. Very exciting.
Guitar talk:
The guitar used was a Taylor 414CE with a Fishman Rare Earth pickup installed in the sound-hole, and processed in stereo. The guitar was tuned down one-half step and composed with a Third Hand Capo in an Esus chord position. The chords, fingerings and flat-pick solo are played around that capo.
Diary Excerpt:
August 6, 2001-
It is 9:25 a.m., Monday morning, and at 1:00 this afternoon I will be at Pineapple Studios here in Arlington, recording what will be my first solo album. I’m a bit apprehensive, because I feel I’ve not prepared enough. But I could (and do) tweak my songs forever and ever, and not get anything done. So, it’s time.
I’m taking my Taylor guitar with me today, plus my strobe tuner, my stereo cable, the Boomerang, all of my capos and a notepad. I’m still thinking about bringing my Roland amp, synth, and Parker guitar, but I believe I need to concentrate on the acoustic for basics.
I’ve made arrangements with Alan for a fretless bass solo on ‘Fire Ant’. We’ll get that tracked on Wednesday the 10th or the 15th.
August 15, 2001-
What a great session! Brandon and I got to the studio on time, and after he inspected the DW drum kit in the studio he pronounced it ‘fine’ and proceeded to set up his snare and cymbals.
After 45 minutes of getting it set up and sound check done we were ready to start on ‘Fire Ant’. Everyone gathered in the control room and we listened to the scratch as I explained to Brandon what I was hearing for percussion parts. He was very receptive, and I gave him pretty much free reign to do what he wanted.
Then, we noticed some timing problems on the scratch guitar. Actually Brandon noted how odd the parts sounded (downbeat) and after listening to the part again carefully, he was right. I had made a critical error on one section close to the bass solo. I’m so glad I brought my guitar with me to the studio! We were able to punch in the corrected part and Nick made it sound great.
Brandon suggested a different approach to a couple of parts, and after hearing his ideas, I went with that. What a great player he is!
After the drums were added we started on the congas, and then the shakers. We made one small correction on shakers, and that was it. I can’t wait to get back in there and do the guitar parts for real.
Brandon mentioned he is having a small amount of difficulty in hearing a percussion part on ‘Willow Tree’, but he thinks a djembe will do the trick. He is going to buy one this week, and we will talk again later.
Joni and her mom came out to the studio at my invitation and stayed until we were finished.
I took Nick and Brandon across the street after the session to buy them a drink and to talk for a bit. Nick had to leave after about 20 minutes, because his next session had arrived. Brandon and I hung out for about another hour, and got to know each other a little better. He seems to be a fine young man. He had received some news (the bad kind) about his grandfather, who has a brain tumor. His grandmother has Alzheimer’s, so the whole situation in Abilene is troubling to him. Brandon’s mom is there now, trying to take care of everyone.
...to be continued...
To listen to an alternate take of (The Only Good) Fire Ant... : www.myspace.com/michaelearhart
To purchase Surface Tension: www.cdbaby.com/cd/earhart
Brandon Bumpas and Velvet Love Box: www.velvetlovebox.com/index_f.htm
Pineapple Recording Studios: www.pineapplestudiostexas.com/
Taylor Guitars website: www.taylorguitars.com/
Fishman Pickups: www.fishman.com/
Third Hand Capo: thirdhandcapo.com/
Boomerang website: www.boomerangmusic.com/
Parker Guitars website: www.parkerguitars.com/
Roland website: www.rolandus.com/