If you’ve been following my twitter feed, you’ve probably seen references to me sending demo songs to @springclock. For the past few months, I’ve been demoing out my entire album and sending them to Ian Baird, in order that he may have enough time to learn the tunes. This weekend, he will be traveling here to the metropolis of Traverse City Michigan to lay down all the drum tracks. He will be joined by longtime college friend Joel Gragg, who will be providing the Pro Tools rig, some highend preamps, clocking, and mics, as well as the rockstar engineering skillz needed for such an operation. Between the 3 of us, we have over 15 mics to choose from. I’ve chosen to cut the drums in my parent’s living room. It’s a huge expanse with hard woods, a fireplace, tall vaulted ceilings, and all 45 degree angles. I prefer cutting drums in untreated spaces, because drums need a large special place to resonate in. I spent some time in Nashville in studios with treated drum rooms, and I came away feeling like the drums were cold and stale. However, wherever I would track drums in a space that was not meant for recording, they always seemed to sound vibrant and alive. Look. If Zeplin can cut drums in an empty swimming pool, all bets are off. Therefore, I’ve chosen my parent’s place as a prime recording spot. It’s open, spacious, isolated, and full of vibe. It’s gonna be a whirlwind 2 days of recording, but I hope that it will be filled with creative chemistry that sparks some performances that are completely alive. They will be arriving tomorrow evening. The countdown begins.
Tags: drums, headspace, Ian Baird, Joel Gragg, Kevin Reeves, Michigan, music, Traverse City