Post by michael on Feb 1, 2006 9:09:40 GMT -5
This is the sixth 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 its entirety sometime in the future.
In Loving Memory Of
Composer: Michael Earhart
Origin of the tune:
This tune is the third part of a large scale tone poem I've written entitled "The Sands Of Monahans Suite".
I intended to include all 8 parts of the poem on Surface Tension, but it just didn't work out that way; I ran out of time and money. So, there are only 4 parts of the suite on this CD, with the remaining 4 appearing on my follow up CD release in March of 2006 (if all goes well).
Not only that, but the 4 tunes that appear on Surface Tension are out of order. Here are the songs in order as originally intended:
Surface
On A Clear Day
In Loving Memory Of
The Scorpion...
...and the Dog
36 Miles (as the crow flies)
Brother Terry
(Re)Surface
Getting back to the song: This was composed as a memorial for Stefanie Hill, and recorded with the kind permission of her parents, Terry and Karen Hill, and her sisters, Janelle, Jessica and Jordan.
Terry Hill is my closest friend in the whole world. He is a friend of my youth, one of the few I still have contact with. We’ve played guitar together, toured Texas together, supported and loved one another.
I was at the hospital with him in 1979 when Stefanie was born. I have the clearest memory of him walking out of the delivery room, scrubs on, with a great big goofy smile on his face. He threw his arms around me and said “Michael, that’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life!” Having witnessed the birth of my daughter Jasmine, I concur.
In 2001 while Stefanie was enrolled at Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas, someone broke into her apartment, killed her and then tried to burn the apartment down. To date, the police have not apprehended the person or persons involved.
I contacted Terry just a few days ago (January 30th) to let him know this story was about to be posted on this message board. I asked him to read over what I had written and to add anything he wanted.
Here is his response: Well Geez, Michael, I don't know what else to add. You said it pretty well. That was a great memory of the day Stefanie was born. You brought a smile to my face. Thanks, Buddy! One little correction: the year was 2000, not 2001.
Let me give you a little more info on Stef, and you can add whatever you like. She started college right around her 17th birthday. She was 19 and had just become a senior when she died. She was planning on attending Texas Women's University in Denton for her post-grad work. She was going for a doctorate in psychology and wanted to be a family counselor with an emphasis on children.
I am so glad that every conversation with her ended with the words "I love you." Those were the last words I heard her say two nights before she died. I was getting ready to leave for Lubbock to help her move into a new apartment that Monday morning when we got the call that she had been murdered. It was on Memorial Day. It's funny, but I still get a lump in my throat every time I think of her. I guess it will always be that way.
Michael, I want you to know that your song has touched our entire family deeply. Every time I hear it I think of Stef's sweetness, her kindness, and the love she had. The song captures that feeling (for lack of a better word) perfectly. I think God's hand was really on you while you were composing that one. I still consider you my best friend, the best ever. You mean more to me than you could know. I love you. brother. I hope I have given you some info you could use. If not, let me know, and I'll do whatever you need. God bless.
In The Studio:
While most of the songs on this collection had some difficulty going to tape, this one came together with no trouble whatsoever. We used up about 10 tracks getting all of the individual parts laid down.
There was one minor bit of distortion on the first burned copy of the tune and I was afraid we had a guitar level set too high, but it turned out to be the gain from the mixing board to the CD burner, not the guitar level.
Guitar talk:
The primary guitar on this tune is my Taylor 414CE, stereo wired.
September 12, 2001 -
On my way to the studio today I stopped off at Competition Music. A couple of customers in my store told me that Scott had a used Taylor acoustic guitar for sale. I called Scott, and he said it was a 514CE model. I went over and bought it for $1500. What a cool guitar. It needs new strings and a proper set up before I can start recording with it. I got to the studio about 5 minutes late (not bad considering) and we set up to record more guitars, though I wasn’t really expecting to do any of that, what with Brandon coming in. Nick played back the corrected cymbal ride on Fire Ant for me, and it sounds nice.
Since we were just waiting for Brandon I decided to start recording tracks for ‘In Loving Memory Of’. Three hours later, we had some great basic tracks recorded, much of which was made up on the spot. Upon listening to it I know where I want to make some slight corrections.
September 17, 2001 -
We started at 1:30 today; Nick had to go to the bank. We worked on ‘Resurface’ first, making corrections on an edit at 2:05 in the song, extending the pretty harmonics section at 2:42, and changing the ending tag. I want to re-record the rhythm guitars in the middle section, but I will wait until Wednesday to do that.
Next we worked on ‘Loving Memory’. The distortion I was hearing was caused by the level the test CD was recorded at, not the source. Whew! I added a small fill at 1:18, added a small lead break at 1:30, and added a nicer tag to the end. ‘Loving Memory’ is finished.
To listen to "In Loving Memory Of”: www.myspace.com/michaelearhart
To purchase "Surface Tension": www.cdbaby.com/cd/earhart
Taylor guitars: www.taylorguitars.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 its entirety sometime in the future.
In Loving Memory Of
In Loving Memory Of
Composer: Michael Earhart
Origin of the tune:
This tune is the third part of a large scale tone poem I've written entitled "The Sands Of Monahans Suite".
I intended to include all 8 parts of the poem on Surface Tension, but it just didn't work out that way; I ran out of time and money. So, there are only 4 parts of the suite on this CD, with the remaining 4 appearing on my follow up CD release in March of 2006 (if all goes well).
Not only that, but the 4 tunes that appear on Surface Tension are out of order. Here are the songs in order as originally intended:
Surface
On A Clear Day
In Loving Memory Of
The Scorpion...
...and the Dog
36 Miles (as the crow flies)
Brother Terry
(Re)Surface
Getting back to the song: This was composed as a memorial for Stefanie Hill, and recorded with the kind permission of her parents, Terry and Karen Hill, and her sisters, Janelle, Jessica and Jordan.
Terry Hill is my closest friend in the whole world. He is a friend of my youth, one of the few I still have contact with. We’ve played guitar together, toured Texas together, supported and loved one another.
I was at the hospital with him in 1979 when Stefanie was born. I have the clearest memory of him walking out of the delivery room, scrubs on, with a great big goofy smile on his face. He threw his arms around me and said “Michael, that’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life!” Having witnessed the birth of my daughter Jasmine, I concur.
In 2001 while Stefanie was enrolled at Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas, someone broke into her apartment, killed her and then tried to burn the apartment down. To date, the police have not apprehended the person or persons involved.
I contacted Terry just a few days ago (January 30th) to let him know this story was about to be posted on this message board. I asked him to read over what I had written and to add anything he wanted.
Here is his response: Well Geez, Michael, I don't know what else to add. You said it pretty well. That was a great memory of the day Stefanie was born. You brought a smile to my face. Thanks, Buddy! One little correction: the year was 2000, not 2001.
Let me give you a little more info on Stef, and you can add whatever you like. She started college right around her 17th birthday. She was 19 and had just become a senior when she died. She was planning on attending Texas Women's University in Denton for her post-grad work. She was going for a doctorate in psychology and wanted to be a family counselor with an emphasis on children.
I am so glad that every conversation with her ended with the words "I love you." Those were the last words I heard her say two nights before she died. I was getting ready to leave for Lubbock to help her move into a new apartment that Monday morning when we got the call that she had been murdered. It was on Memorial Day. It's funny, but I still get a lump in my throat every time I think of her. I guess it will always be that way.
Michael, I want you to know that your song has touched our entire family deeply. Every time I hear it I think of Stef's sweetness, her kindness, and the love she had. The song captures that feeling (for lack of a better word) perfectly. I think God's hand was really on you while you were composing that one. I still consider you my best friend, the best ever. You mean more to me than you could know. I love you. brother. I hope I have given you some info you could use. If not, let me know, and I'll do whatever you need. God bless.
In The Studio:
While most of the songs on this collection had some difficulty going to tape, this one came together with no trouble whatsoever. We used up about 10 tracks getting all of the individual parts laid down.
There was one minor bit of distortion on the first burned copy of the tune and I was afraid we had a guitar level set too high, but it turned out to be the gain from the mixing board to the CD burner, not the guitar level.
Guitar talk:
The primary guitar on this tune is my Taylor 414CE, stereo wired.
Diary Excerpt:
September 12, 2001 -
On my way to the studio today I stopped off at Competition Music. A couple of customers in my store told me that Scott had a used Taylor acoustic guitar for sale. I called Scott, and he said it was a 514CE model. I went over and bought it for $1500. What a cool guitar. It needs new strings and a proper set up before I can start recording with it. I got to the studio about 5 minutes late (not bad considering) and we set up to record more guitars, though I wasn’t really expecting to do any of that, what with Brandon coming in. Nick played back the corrected cymbal ride on Fire Ant for me, and it sounds nice.
Since we were just waiting for Brandon I decided to start recording tracks for ‘In Loving Memory Of’. Three hours later, we had some great basic tracks recorded, much of which was made up on the spot. Upon listening to it I know where I want to make some slight corrections.
September 17, 2001 -
We started at 1:30 today; Nick had to go to the bank. We worked on ‘Resurface’ first, making corrections on an edit at 2:05 in the song, extending the pretty harmonics section at 2:42, and changing the ending tag. I want to re-record the rhythm guitars in the middle section, but I will wait until Wednesday to do that.
Next we worked on ‘Loving Memory’. The distortion I was hearing was caused by the level the test CD was recorded at, not the source. Whew! I added a small fill at 1:18, added a small lead break at 1:30, and added a nicer tag to the end. ‘Loving Memory’ is finished.
to be continued...
To listen to "In Loving Memory Of”: www.myspace.com/michaelearhart
To purchase "Surface Tension": www.cdbaby.com/cd/earhart
Taylor guitars: www.taylorguitars.com