Sunday, February 28 2011 12:02am

Okay, so it's just after midnight and now officially Sunday. As I wrote down the date I realized that it was my sister's birthday Friday and I missed it. That's okay, I always miss it and send her a funny belated birthday card. So... I guess this won't be any different. But for the record, "Happy Birthday, Tammy!"

It might be the wee hours of the morning but I just had a great time with a dear friend and now I'm ready to do some blogging.

So Saturday morning I arrived at the studio knowing exactly what I was going to be working on. Being that it's really getting down to the last things to do on this CD that has taken so long to record that my "friends" have asked me if I'm going to call it "American Democracy". Yeah... very funny "friends!"

The only instrumental recording I have left to do is one acoustic guitar part on a song that I realized after recording it perfectly... that it was slightly out of tune. It MUST be re-recorded. But apart from that... all I have is vocals to do on like.... 4 more songs. But lyrics are written and Jeff and I seem to be on a roll and I'm getting in the studio enough to make a dent on it.

But today... or rather... Saturday morning... I arrived at the studio just before 9am. Jeff was gone. I opened up the studio, sat down and called Jeff. He was at an early appointment and on his way back. Not a problem, I just played my guitar until he got back. Jeff walked in and quickly fired everything up. I told him to pull up the song "Over and Over". This is a song that I stumbled across the music to one day when I came home from work and had just one of those days when I wanted to go straight to the bar after work. But... I came home instead. Fortunately my oldest daughter Megan was there watching the kids. I walked in and told her I needed just 20 minutes with my guitar. She has grown up with me and knows that my guitar is my release for so much. She just smiled and said, "No problem, dad". I went downstairs, fired up the gear and just started playing this chord progression that I never played before, just letting the release of all the stress go as I played. My first chord was a G, to a D-with the F#on the low E, and then an E to a C. And again... G, D, E then D to C. This song just literally came from nowhere. I grabbed a pen and started writing it down as some of the best songs I've ever came up with I've forgotten and are lost as I didn't write them down. Now I try to write everything down.

Anyway... the result was the music for "Over and Over". The lyrics came later as I re-hashed so many relationships that just seem to have went wrong for one reason or another. The 2nd verse pretty much sums it up:
"A change would be so welcomed and I.... wish it could be with you.
But when you hear a lie for so long... you start to think it's true.
But I feel that I'm alright and... and I guess it's just sad.
For this to be so familiar I find... that it's really not all that bad."

Yeah, that's the jist of the song. "Coming soon to iTunes and available to purchase on this website.:

So musically... the song was done. There was nothing left to record. And throughout the recording of the song I did a lot of thinking, double thinking, recording, changing my mind, re-recoding, then changing my mind again and re-recording still. The intro is simply the chord progression I just wrote about. And for the longest time I left it like that... just as is. Kind of along the lines of Rainbow's "Since You've Been Gone". Just a nice chord progression. But then... I thought.. no, it needs a little lead riff intro over it. So I put one down. And kept it, mind you. Then it was done. Well... almost. Then I kept hearing these harmonic notes at the end of the intro as the D chord hummed and the drums took it into the 1st verse. So I went back in and put these 4 harmonic notes down after the little lead riff intro. Ah! Now it's done! Well... wait, no. Not quite. Because for the next several weeks I kept hearing these SEVEN harmonic notes in my head during that part of the song. Finally I had to just give in and put them down. But.. I didn't really want to do them all at once and just hit 7 different harmonic notes one at a time in a 1,2,3... 4, 5.. 6, 7 pattern. Heaven's no. That would be less complicated and make things easy on Jeff. (God bless Jeff for being so patient). So on the first track I hit a harmonic note on the B string, let it ring until Dave struck the high hat for the 4th time which takes us into the 1st verse. At that time I hit the wammy bar and took the note out on a dive. Then on the next track I wait until the first note plays then hit the next note on the G string, wait for Dave to hit the high hat for the 4th time and then hit the wammy bar. I do this 7 times on 7 different tracks. When it was done we had to do some minor editing to make sure all 7 wammy bar dives all went down at the same time. I was happy with it. Then to make things easier on Ron (Gallagher who is mixing the project at his studio in California. "Go Team West Coast!") we mixed them all together, got the right volumes and then mixed all 7 down to one track. Seriously... Ron will love us for this. Then I fixed a couple of minor harmony leads at the end of the first verse that were driving me crazy. Then... I called it good and took my electric guitar off for what.... I really believe... is the final tracking to be done on electric. I've learned to never say never but... I think the electrics might officially be over.

Actually, I didn't realize that until I wrote this. Hmm... I'm not sure how I feel about that. After literally years of working on this... I'm done with the electrics. I remember when the drum tracking was done and Dave's job was done. Or when the basses were done and Bill and Jimi's parts were done. But electric guitar? This is me! Wow... interesting to think about. Wonder how I'll feel when I track that last acoustic guitar fix?

Moving on! The vocals were already done on this song and... well... I don't hate them. Singing lead vocals is still very new to me. And while I've grown quite comfortable singing with just me and Jeff in the studio and me in the iso booth by myself singing lyrics that I wrote to songs that I wrote.. I still continually question if the vocals will be up to the quality that I've put on myself to meet. I can say I'm very happy with the music. It's taken a LONG time to do but now that it's done.. I'm happy with it. Vocals, I'm not saying I'm not happy with it... I'm just saying I'm not sure. There are a couple that I'm okay with. As I've said, I have a softer David Gilmour of Pink Floyd type of voice and it works for the more laid back songs. But there are a couple that have some punch to them and I'm having a hard time finding that punch. In fact, I've went as far as to ask a singer friend of mine for some help on some background vocals. Just to give it the kick it needs.

So with all of the music and vocals done on "Over and Over"... Jeff and I started editing. This consists of going through each track: Each drum track, which there's usually about 5 of, the bass track, the abundance of guitar tracks... and taking out any noise on the track before or after the playing, finding spikes and running that track through some recording software that eliminates pops and spikes. Putting fades on the ends of tracks and what not. And actually.... we got through a lot of it. The only thing left to edit is the lead guitars and the vocals, which we'll do Tuesday night.

Once that's done... I'll be shipping off yet one more song to Ron in California to do his mixing magic on. At that time song #4 will be in California. The next song thing we'll be doing in the studio will be editing the title track "The Traceman Cometh" which is completely done and ready for editing. Once editing is down on that one it will be shipped to Ron as well. And that will of course be song #5. At that point half of the songs on the CD will be in the capable hands of Mr. Ron Gallagher who has been doing nothing short of magic.

As I've said so many times before.... one step closer.

Studio Blog, January 25, 2011

Ahoy, everyone!
So it's 11:18 pm on this fine Tuesday night. After a busy day at work where I got home just in time to drop my daughter Sam off at LCC and get to the studio by 6.

Historically, it's pretty much been a coin toss as to if I know going in what exactly I'm going to do once I get there or if I just figure it out on the way. But now things really are kinda coming to a close and there's less and less to do all the time.

I have to laugh at myself when I read the Rush biography and learned how they recorded their first album in 3 days and pretty much kept that pace through the first four albums. Even 2112, their breakthrough album took just under a week to record. I guess the HUGE difference is (besides the fact that they are Rush) is that they go into the studio, music rehearsed and fine tuned, lyrics written and melodies created and then live at the studio for the next several days and spend the entire time recording. Weeellllll, that's just great. Here a couple weeks ago, I was finishing up the lyrics to a song I had to start recording vocals for on the very day that I had to start laying down vocal tracks on. It's not uncommon for me to change a verse or a line and then go back in again and change it later. (Story of my life throughout this whole CD) In fact, I've done the same thing with the music as well. In the song "Anyway"... we recorded the drums and bass (along with a dummy guitar track) when I came up with a bridge I wanted to put in just between the intro and the 1st verse. I could have started over. Or.... I could do what I did. We split the tracks right where I wanted to put the bridge in, recorded it, and then pulled the pieced together and making sure that we were still on time and on beat. It went off flawless.

So clearly... this has indeed been a work in progress. While I am pretty much completely done with the music (minus one acoustic guitar part I have to re-record because I'm very noticeably out of tune) the music is completely done. I very recently finished up the last of the lead guitar tracks which was the last thing to do. Pretty much all I'm doing now is adding the vocals.

So tonight... I got there at 6pm. I had Jeff pull up the last song we were working on, a tribute to pretty much every relationship I've ever been in called "Over and Over". The music is done and I am very happy with it. We finished editing the vocals and I was able to call it done! It's one of those songs where I just feel very good about being able to call it good.

After that, I had Jeff pull up "Nemesis" which is a song I have a clip for on my website. Again, the music is done and I am very happy with it. The vocals are close to being done. There were some lines that I had put down that I wasn't happy with so Jeff locked me in the iso booth in front of a mic and I recorded fixes and patches for the parts I wasnt' happy with. Jeff has worked with me for a LONG time and is such a good sport about my constant changes. It took some time but... I got the changes I wanted and left feeling good about it. "Nemesis" however, is one of the songs that I feel just needs a "little" bit more vocally. Several of the songs I don't have backup vocals on, just the lead vocals and that's it. But still there are several that do need some backing vocals and I've been trying to do both lead and backup. That's great if you're Brad Delp of Boston who could sing all the parts and have them all sound so full. Not so great for me who has a very soft David Gilmour of Pink Floyd kind of voice. I came to the conclusion that while I want to make this as much of a truly solo CD as I possibly can, I'm going to need to bring in another singer to add some backing vocals and help got that full sound. I have a person in mind. I'm not dropping the person's name yet as I havent' approached him yet but, we go way back, are very good friend, and I'm certain I'll get a good response.

But overall, it was a very good session tonight. While lead vocals is still not completely comfortable for me, I'm feeling better about it as I do it more and I'm not completely hating my own voice as much as I thought I would or did at first.

Ron Gallagher, Team West Coast, is in sunny California mixing the songs as I send them out to him. There are two that are completely finished meaning that the recording is done, they've been sent to Ron and he has completed the mixing process. Ron is truly an artist and what he does with the tracks is magic. I am so happy with the work he is doing. Hearing my songs just come to life is such a thrill and I cannot thank him enough for the outstanding work he is doing. Song 3 is currently having the finishing touches done and Jeff and I are finishing up another 3 that will be sent off to him soon. (Along with the next shipment of cookies which I admittedly am behind on. Ron always works better with cookies.)

At the end of the session I had Jeff pull up all ten songs and I did a quick tally of what was needed to be done. There are three more songs that still need work and that's pretty much it. So my friends... it really is getting close.

Thanks for staying tuned and even moreso for staying interested.

I'll talk to you all soon!

Traceman

Studio Blog, August 8, 2009

Missed this one back in August of 09. Sorry!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

At last, and finally… I got back into the studio. The summer of ’09 has indeed been a busy one. My daughter Samantha graduated from high school just after finding out she had been awarded a scholarship to study in Germany for a year. If you’ve ever had to prepare for an open house you know just how much work it is. The father’s role: We have no say in what happens nor are we involved in any of the planning. We do however do all the physical labor to get the house and the yard up to open house standard. Now if the child graduating is a daughter, I daresay it is ten times worse as things like “Themes” come into play. I had to do a lot of landscaping and cosmetic work in the backyard but it really did turn out nice and it’s so enjoyable now to just kick back in a chair under the umbrella with a beverage and a cigar and admire the upgrades.

Two weeks after the open house was my daughter Megan’s baby shower. Yes, another domestic title will soon fall upon me: Grandpa. Hmm… I’m still trying to get use to that. But as Megan has just entered her 3^rd trimester and as I sat just yesterday and could not help notice that the bump on her belly has grown so much larger since I last saw her just a week and a half ago, it is a constant reminder that this reality will be coming to pass very soon and Grandpa Traceman will be holding baby Ziggy for the first time.

And being that Samantha, now in Germany, will obviously not be able to attend her sister’s baby shower, Patty (Mrs. Traceman) planned one so that while Sam would miss the birth of her first niece, she could at least take part in a baby shower before she left. And of course a baby shower means… another theme party. The good news is that while I did some more manual work and last second leg work, males at a baby shower is strictly taboo. My son, Jackson, and I went to lunch and then to the Michigan Museum for the day.

But then of course there was the going away party which Patty planned as Sam’s “Year In A Day” Party where ALL of the holidays that Sam would miss would be celebrated in one evening. This means we would need provisions for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Sam’s birthday, Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and St Patrick’s Day. So… while the actual party went over famously, it was a lot of work scurrying about taking down the past holiday and setting up the new holiday décor, as well as putting out refreshments for each. A lot of work but… a huge success and just an absolute blast!

Then the hard part came as we took Sam to the airport and tearfully hugged her goodbye and unconvincingly told each other that the 11 months would go by fast. Patty and I are planning a trip to Germany to visit her late ’09 or early ’10. Can’t wait.

But… with all of the summer activities and necessities out of the way, I can once again return to the place that, before the big absence this summer, I spend so much time at. To be honest, it had been so long since I had been there that I didn’t even know what to work on. As I made the drive down 4-96 to 127 North, I ran a couple different scenarios through my head. I have 6 songs that are either completely done or musically done, which means I have 4 more to work on, and all of this work would be laying down lead guitar tracks. 3 of the 4 shouldn’t be a huge undertaking. But in the back of my mind I’ve had this 1 song that every time I thought about I cringed and I knew needed a lot of work. Whenever we pulled it up to play it, I liked it less and less. Not that I don’t like the song, I just don’t like what I’d done with it. I had about 8 rhythm guitar tracks laid down trying to get a nice big full sound. For the past year or so, I’ve been pushing that off to the side or placing it on the back burner. For the past several months I’ve even been considering just dumping it all together and had nearly convinced myself to do so.

So as I arrived at the studio, I sat in my usual chair and looked around at my former home away from home and caught up with Jeff for a while. When Jeff finally said, “So what are we doing?” I asked him to pull up the difficult song and let’s take a listen to it. Initially I had thought to just scrap the rhythm guitar tracks altogether and just re-do them all. Before I did that I asked Jeff to play the tracks one at a time. Some were just ghastly. It was like when you’re digging up in your backyard and you dig up a grub. It’s so ugly you just have to kill it. Yeah, same thing with these tracks, I couldn’t say “Delete it!” fast enough. The funny thing was that with about 6 of the tracks removed the remaining two sounded pretty nice. I had an accent track that I just played an apreggiated A into an A suspended that I replaced. I had to listen to it several times to make sure but… lo and behold, that did it. So I tracked the intro lead at the beginning of the song and the outro lead at the end. It’s a heavy but laid back kind of feel, almost lazy at times. I was happy for the most part with it. And unfortunately, I was out of time as Jeff and I both had things to do at noon so I had to leave. I did have Jeff burn in to a CD so I could take it home and listen to it a million times and decide if I like it or if I need to re-record or tweak a part. After listening to it repeatedly I’ve found a part I do need to tweak, which I hope to do this weekend. Apart from that though, it appears this Lazarus-like song has indeed come back from the dead and is going to work after all.

I never cease to be amazed at what can happen in the studio. So often things will just happen, something will just spill out; Something unplanned and spontaneous. And when the record light is on when it does and it’s all captured on tape (so to speak), it can be magic. I am again excited about my project and cannot wait to get back in

Studio Blog, July 22, 2010

Studio Blog 19

Date: July 22^nd, 2010

Looking back, the first part of 2010 went very smoothly. I crossed paths with an old friend who is working out in California doing all kinds of engineering type of work along with performing, writing, and so many other music related things. Somehow he has been able to add mixing my CD along with the many things he is juggling at present. Two songs are now completely finished and he is working on the 3^rd.

Meanwhile, I was back in the studio this past Sunday to review the last vocals I did on the next song that is soon to be mixed. The hard part is that I’m really not a singer and I’m just not certain what else to do on this particular song. I did the main vocal and added a second one on the chorus. While Tracy the producer is saying, “There’s one more vocal track that needs to be added.” Tracy the musician and novice singer just doesn’t know what it is. Maybe I’ll come up with it before it’s ready for mixing but Jeff and I went ahead and started editing it. I hate the thought of sending it off when there’s still even one more thing that needs to be there but… I just don’t want to hold this thing up anymore.

So.. what’s the delay now? Why are we half way through 2010 and still no CD? Well, it’s been quite the year let me tell you. At the end of 2009, the always health conscious but never actually trying to be healthy me… was really making the effort to get that exercise that middle aged Traceman needs so badly. I was in the pool and clocking in 3 to 4 miles per week. The weight was coming off and I was feeling good. At the end of the year I got pneumonia. If you’ve ever had that it lasts forever…. literally. I kept going back to the doctor and he kept putting me on antibiotics and it just never seemed to fully clear up. Then in April… yeah, April… my cardiologist had my lungs x-rayed again and put me on some butt kicking antibiotics and I was back in the pool that month. Then… an unfortunate accident at work (even if you ask I won’t tell) messed my left leg up pretty bad. I played the tough guy and acted like nothing was wrong. Five days later I was in the emergency room with a disgustingly infected leg getting antibiotic IV’s. I also had to start frequenting a place called “The Wound Center”. I referred to it as “The House of Pain”. I learned many things at this place. I learned that (according to them) mother was wrong when she said not to pick your scabs. Apparently… there is less chance of infection if you let it heal from the inside out instead of the outside in. I also learned that people can smile and be so friendly as they are inflicting the worst kind of pain on you. Gosh they were nice. And CRIPES did that hurt. I also learned about an “instrument” they used to inflict such pain on me. Picture a coke (cocaine) spoon with a long handle. Then imagine taking the spoon end of it and scraping a scab off. They said the first time is always the worst… and they werent’ kidding. Childbirth couldn’t have been much worse than that. This became a weekly ritual. While the swelling went down there was a “knot” in the middle of my shin that just wouldn’t go away. The nice doctor determined there was something in there and nicely injected my shin with novocaine and then lanced it. I’ll spare you any further details. Eventually it did finally clear up but I didn’t get the nod to finally start being able to swim again until early June. Half the year gone and between pneumonia and the leg injury, I’d only had a handful of times in the pool. And obviously trying to lay down vocal tracks when I can’t inhale deeply without coughing was impossible. However, with my friend Ron on the west coast mixing… progress has been made on the CD and again, two songs are completely finished with one more currently being worked on.

The good news during this time is that my daughter, Samantha, came home from Germany at the end of May. It’s been wonderful having her back and I enjoy every minute that we spend together.

The bad news is that in early May we learned that Mrs. Traceman, my wife Patty, had a baseball sized tumor in her chest that had partially collapsed her right lung and was pressing against her heart. The biopsy showed that it is Lymphoma. If you MUST have cancer, Lymphoma is the type you want to have as it is very treatable. They began her on chemotherapy almost immediately and as of today… she is in her 4^th session of chemo. At the end of July, they will do another cat scan of her chest to see how much the tumor has shrunk but at this point… all looks as well as can be expected. We have had no real “bad” news since the initial bad news. She will have to have a total of 6 treatments of chemo. There is a chance she will have to have 8 but they are thinking it will just be 6. She also may need some follow up radiation. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

And during all of this… my oldest daughter Megan got married. On July 10^th, Megan and her beau since 9^th grade, Taylor Hannon, were married. The ceremony was wonderful and Megan somehow was able to present herself even more beautiful on that day than what she already is. Walking her down the aisle was such a proud and unforgettable moment. All five Stiles children and the one grandchild were all in the wedding. It was adorable. Both the ceremony and the reception went off flawlessly. A week later, (and currently) Hugh Jackman was in Leslie filming a movie on location there. Leslie is very small and everything is a mere stone throw from everything else. Two blocks from where they were filming is the reception hall Megan and Taylor got married. The film company currently has rented it out and is the spot where the cast and crew has their meals catered. If either of my older two daughters tell me one more time that Hugh Jackman is a hottie with a body…. I’m just going to snap.

So… while things have came up this year that have just been outside of my control that has slowed down the momentum, and while I have quit giving myself deadlines, know that I really am pushing to finish this just as soon as I can.

I was recently asked if there will be any new clips from the CD. Well… probably not. At this point I just want to surprise everyone with the finished product. The 4 that are on there now give a good idea of how the music has evolved and the only real difference is that vocals have been added. Although… hearing the two finished products after Mr. Ron Gallagher has done his magic is….. well.. magical. I can’t wait for everyone to finally get to hear it and I hope everyone finds it worth the wait.

Studio Blog March 15, 2010

Monday- March 15, 2010

So I’m officially at the point where I am now recording vocals. And wow… what a whole new kettle of fish this is. I’ve worked with so many singers in the studio in the past but it’s just so different now that it’s me and I’m finding out I’m just so difficult to work with. Ha! I also completely understand why producers are needed. Sometimes the creative aspect just isn’t there and you need someone else’s expertise to pull from.

I chose one of the songs that was done, minus the vocals, and that I thought would be an easy one to do. I had a couple ideas and tried them and a few more that I come up with on the fly. I have such a new respect for singers who can come up with such wonderful melody lines. The likes of Brad Delp of Boston, Steve Walsh of Kansas, Ronnie James Dio and so many other great singers just blow my mind with the incredible melodies that they come up with to sing their songs to. Even Geddy Lee, who has a… unique and different voice, is a very good singer, comes up with some great melody lines.

While I have always appreciated good singers, I have a renewed respect for them now that I am trying to do what they do. You might think that putting lyrics to music would be easy but… not necessarily so. And in my case…. Yike!

So when I got to the studio Saturday morning, Jeff was already there and had the mic all set up in the iso booth. We got some levels and I tried my best to warm up during this time but what seemed like way too soon, I was laying tracks down. Now… I have always compared my voice to that of David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. That doesn’t mean I have a great singing voice like David does. That just means that I liken my singing style to his. That subtle, softer kind of voice… which will also make for a challenge as there a couple on this CD that I am going to have to BELT out!

So, being that the first one was relatively easy… two verses and two chorus’ and that’s it… it went pretty quickly. Like… about an hour and 45 minutes. Seems REALLY fast, huh? Yeah… I’ve already e-mailed Jeff this morning and said I wanted to do the chorus over. I left the studio knowing that there was a better line for it. I’ve got a couple more ideas I’ll be trying.

Overall, it was….fun! It was interesting. It was new. It was doing something I’ve always wanted to do but never have. It was just Jeff and I in the studio so I really wasn’t nervous and when I made a mistake, Jeff didn’t fall out of his chair laughing (Thanks for that, Jeff!)

I had hoped to do a 2^nd song and clearly I had time to at least start it. But once I put the lyric sheet up I realized that I didn’t have enough lyrics and I’ll have to go in and add to it. Shouldn’t be too hard to do as it’s a very dear subject to me and finding more to say on it shouldn’t be too difficult.

But it is my hope to complete the vocals on two songs on each session. I have 7 songs to do vocals on, so hopefully I’ll be knocking them out soon.

It’s been a very busy winter but now that March is here and spring is on its way things have started to settle a bit and I’m getting into the studio pretty much every Saturday.

Two songs have been sent out to the West Coast Connection and are being mixed and mastered out there. I’m very excited to have the friends out there that have showed excitement and enthusiasm to work with me on this. Indeed my gratitude has no bounds.

It’s getting close, people. It really is.

Studio Blog - March 08, 2010

03/08/10

Yeah, it’s been a while since the last studio blog and a lot has happened since then. And I do mean a lot. On the last entry, my daughter Megan was 3 days overdue and has since, early Thanksgiving morning, given birth to an incredibly beautiful little girl. So a very warm “Welcome to the world” must go out to my new granddaughter, Grace Mackenzie Hannon. The new family is doing VERY well.

Since my last entry I also made the journey to Germany to see my daughter, Samantha, who is there on scholarship until the end of May. I hadn’t seen her since July and the heart strings had been pulled to the point of snapping. Along with Patty and I, Megan and Grace also flew over so it was indeed a family affair. Grace flew incredibly well and didn’t make a peep during the long flights. Germany is full of many sights and so much history. While we stayed pretty much in the northern most part, we did squeeze a lot in the 8 days we were there and the Theiele family, Samantha’s host parents that insisted we stay there with them, were the epitome of gracious. We visited the North Sea, Denmark, a complete tour of Hamburg, and two days in Berlin. The town of Schleswig, which was where Wolfgang, host parent, was from was also loaded with tons of history and has its own castle which we also had a tour of. Perhaps the most enjoyable times was at night when everyone had retired, the Americans all met in Sam’s HUGE room, where we’d sit up and talk and laugh until the wee hours of the morning. So much fun, so many sites, and so wonderful getting to spend time with my daughter that I am so incredibly proud of.

In my last entry, I mentioned the 8^th and 9^th songs. The 8^th song is the one that I wrote for my dad and played at his funeral. I played it dreadfully. So it was very important to do it well on the CD. I had simply a 20 second fix that I needed to do. I also had started Megan’s song. I’m happy to report that I have completed the music to both of them. While my dad’s song is an instrumental, Megan’s song has lyrics. And for whatever reason, I’ve struggled trying to pen the words to her song. Either it didn’t come or it wasn’t right. Apparently I needed Grace to be born in order to finish it as there is a referral to her in it. I’m very pleased with the results of these two songs and can say, they are finished. So while I do still have vocals to do, the music is done on all the songs except for the title track. I’ve began tracking the lead guitar on this song but… I’m just not happy with any results thus far. This one is going to be a bitch. It’s pretty much flying, shredding, wammying, ripping, wailing from start to finish. I’m going to need to be in tip top playing shape for this and it’s probably going to take a few sessions. In the meantime, I am ready to do vocals on the majority of the songs that require them. The lyric writing is done for the most part. There is still one I need to do and one I need to finish up. But as there are 7 songs with vocals and I have more than enough to begin. And this will keep the West Coast Connection busy. Who is the West Coast Connection?

Going back to my Eaton Rapids High School days and the several years that followed… I spent a lot of time following a band called Boy Wonder. I met these guys my senior year, loved the band, and caught them as often as I could. As I got to know them, I hung out with them more. They were a great group to hang out with, talk music, and smoke dope with. The bass player, Ron Gallagher, and I got along especially well. He was n ex-jock like me and we played a lot of basketball together. Mens Rec, pick up games, church parking lot… wherever. Ron has been recording music since back in the 70’s and is now living out in California and doing what he loves. When I ran into him on Facebook we started talking and I sent him some songs from the CD. Before long, we had decided that he and some associates he works with would mix and master my project, with Ron overseeing everthing. The first song has been sent. The second one will be sent this week. And once I do the vocals on several of them I can send those to him as well. I’m very happy to have Ron doing this and look forward to many more projects with him.

With that… this brings us to date. I, yet again, blew another deadline I had made for myself, but I feel good about the progress overall. My life is busy, my family is big, the schedules I juggle with those I work with are many. I can only go as fast as my life will let me. I’m personally very excited that the music to 9 of the 10 songs is done, one song has been mixed and mastered, and more will be heading to California soon.

Studio Blog November 23, 2009

11/23/09

This past Saturday morning I was in the studio: I’m now working on song #9. (Pardon the Beatles pun) While I do have a little fix I have to do on song #8. I’ll catch that before all the lead guitar tracks are wrapped and the music is officially done. It’s only about a 45 second patch I have to do anyway.

#9 is a special one that has to be just right. It’s about my eldest daughter, Megan. Megan is officially 3 days past her due date of delivering her first child. She called me today to give me an update and told me that if she has not had it by this next Saturday, they will induce labor at 8 am on Saturday. So… if not sooner, I will officially become a grandpa then. (Too wild to try to comprehend, man) I’d been toying with some ideas very infrequently over the past couple weeks. Maybe just 2 or 3 times and I had a couple ideas but nothing concrete, and Saturday came up on me WAY too quickly.

Friday: The night before: Anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge Gary Hoey fan. Gary was playing in Detroit Friday night and I had to go see him. Yes... “Had to”. I tried to rally some troops to go but no one wanted to make the trek. My brother in law, Steve, lives in Plymouth and he wanted to go check him out since his brother had turned him onto Hoey after I had turned him (his brother) onto Hoey. So I drove the hour drive to Wixom solo where I met up with Steve and then drove the ½ hour to Blondie’s in Detroit. That’s in… DOWNTOWN Detroit. Right down the road from Joe Louis.

My session was at 9 the next morning and all night long that was burning in my head that I had to be at the studio by 9. As it turns out there were two opening bands (Surprise!) and Hoey didn’t come on until 10. He played (quite spectacularly) for 2 hours. Once he finished I made my way over to the SWAG table to get yet another picture autographed (I’ve seen him 4 times now). As it turned out he remember me from the 3 times I’d seen him up close and person in Lansing and even made reference to one time in particular (fan or stalker? I never know where to draw the line) so I knew he really remembered and wasn’t just being nice. He shook my hand again and said how nice it was of me to drive all the way to Detroit to see him. He’s such a great guy. Got a couple pictures snapped with him then drove to Plymouth to drop my brother in law home. At this time it was about 1:30 am. My wife had called and said for me to stay there and just drive home in the morning and Steve was offering for me to stay. I knew if I stayed there I wouldn’t sleep well and would be crap in the morning. So I drove back to Lansing that night. Got home just after 3 am and hit the sheets ASAP knowing that I had an early session.

I actually woke up in the morning with the song I was to work on in the studio playing in my head. I don’t’ know if I fell asleep thinking about it or if it just came to me or what. Five hours of sleep is pretty good for me and I didn’t feel too bad. I grabbed my guitar and processor and headed to the studio. As luck would have it… my studio partner Jeff had to do some errands first thing in the morning wouldn’t be back until 9:30. I unlocked the studio, went in, and started playing. I normally don’t’ get a lot of warm up time so the first few takes are always crap. But I had a good ½ hour to just sit and play and run through some things. By the time Jeff got there I was pretty loosened up. He pulled up Megan’s song and I hit the intro in about three takes. I did a harmony over it at one point and while looking for one passage, found another and ran with that one. Intro done. After the first verse there is a break between the 1^st and 2^nd verse that I played some leads over to break it up. Nailed that relatively quickly as well. Again, a harmony lead here and there just for flavor and that was done as well. Now the hard part. There is about a full minute of soloing I do during the chorus. This was the hardest part. I had some ideas I had been working with but still had a lot of uncertainty as to what I was going to do. For the most part I like to just not plan and see what happens. Then once I get a line down that I like I can go over it and refine it or change it until it’s right. Finally I had a long run that I was able to remember. Not note for note but when to change and move up and what not. I’d do a track and then say, “Quick! Give me another track!” and then before the thought and inspiration left, I’d do it again. I did this like 5 or 6 times until I was comfortable that we had something to work with. We replayed them and I picked the one I liked the most. There were two “little” parts that I didn’t like and we were able to pull from a different track to patch it. It was a seamless patch. Again, I went over and did a couple harmonies here and there. As much as I keep using the words “harmonies here and there” it wasn’t to the point of overkill. It’s really just here and there (there it is again!) for flavor.

It was about that time that my cell phone started going off and “the rest of my day” was beginning. I had to call it a day at that point. But I did so knowing that I had gotten a LOT accomplished. I took a copy home and have listened to it over and over and over and haven’t heard anything jump out at me that I don’t like. All I have remaining on this song is the outro leads. Granted this consists of playing the chorus again but I also have a key change about 30 seconds into it. It’s probably another 90 seconds or so of playing. Maybe not quite that long. But… it was one of those sessions where I left the studio SO STOKED! It really went well. A lot better than I thought it would. It was one of those times where I walk out of the studio going, “Self high five! Got no friends!”

Once this song is finished then I just have the last one remaining and that is it!!!

I can’t believe it’s actually getting this close, man!

Studio Blog, October 12, 2009

Studio blog 15

October 12, 2009

Okay, so I was in the studio again on Saturday, October 3^rd. It was yet again, one of those… left my house with an idea of what I wanted to work on but wasn’t 100% certain. This seems to be my MO so… I have to just run with it, I guess.

I’ve grown so accustomed to the ride to the studio and it’s both amazing and frightening how I will just go on auto pilot and end up “there” and realize I’ve been really deep in thought and don’t recall any particulars along the way. (My apologies if I ran over anyone’s slow moving pets or grandparents.) For whatever reason I always seem to snap out of it on 27 right as I’m passing Frandor. There’s a billboard sign that use to always advertise whoever would be playing at Soaring Eagle Casino next. I remember a while back it seemed like for the longest time Kenny G was up there. I swear they ran that ad 6 months before he played and just kept it up the whole time. I would always think of the scene in Wayne’s World when Garth was getting a root canal done at a Kenny G concert.

Anyway… I was relatively certain that I was going to work on an instrumental that I had actually laid some lead guitar tracks down on about 6 months or so ago and then got frustrated and bailed on. The hard part about this song is that I really wanted it to be special. I mean, I want them all to be special but this was the music that I played at my dad’s funeral. I guess I would call it a… family song. It was a piece of music that I had written and Bill (Kitley) and I at my dad’s funeral. I felt that I played so horribly on the one day that I really wanted to do it well. So… for the recording of this song… I had to make up for it as it was after all, for my dad. While Bill always accompanied me on acoustic guitar for this, he played bass on the track with Dave Foreback playing drums. I had layered acoustic guitars and clean sounding electrics as well as some strings on keyboard. I was happy with it and it was ready for the lead guitar tracks.

When I got there I had Jeff pull it up and I gave it a listen for the first time in probably six months or better. I was very surprised at how much of it I liked. Actually, I really liked it. I don’t know what I had gotten frustrated at when I was last working on this and perhaps I just needed a fresh perspective. A long session working on the same part can be stressful. The song has always been about a 7 minute song with the last…. 3 minutes being a mild tangent. I ended up cutting easily 2 minutes off of it. Pretty much jumped in where I left off and finished it up. I did some overdubs and did some harmony leads and accents in spots. I told Jeff it was done and to move it to the “Completed Music Folder” but… after listening to it non-stop for the past 9 days I do hear a few very mild tweaks I need to do. Easily do-able in one more session.

What I do like about this song is that there were so many very spontaneous things that I was able to do. Again, I have some ideas but I never really know what I’m going to do in this situation. Something will always hit me and I’ll play it out and see what happens. In this case, I hit some accents that I really liked and found some harmonies that are definite keepers.

One more session and hit one is completely done. Then I just have two more songs to do leads on and ALL the music for the CD is done! Then I just have to do vocals on 5 or 6 of the songs and the vocals are done. Yes, for the 8 million people that have asked, I am doing the vocals myself. Nothing to write home to mom about. The long and the short of it is that this CD is a guitar player’s CD not a singer’s CD. I’m hoping for people to take note of the guitar playing not necessarily the singing. Some songs require words and therefore vocals. Initially, I had wanted a singer to sing them and had even talked to three different singers over the years. But now that it’s coming right down to it and the end is in sight… I’ll just do it myself.

More to come… stay tuned.

Traceman

Studio Blog, September 15, 2009

Studio Blog 14

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

So I was back in the studio this past Saturday at 9am. My usual drive down 4-96 to N127 is normally where I finalize what I’m going to do that day. This day I already knew. I had been listening to that ”Lazarus’ return from the dead” song all week. I knew what I liked and didn’t like and needed to be replaced.

I took about 15 minutes and just loosened up before Jeff even started doing all of his tweaking and adjusting. I also went to the end and started on the outro leads. Towards the end of the song the verse riff is just repeated. A very laid back but heavy riff that I can just take off on. In one of the first session jobs I ever did. I did a lead track, then went back over it and put another lead over that. I did that several times; nothing too busy, just enough to keep it interesting. There were a lot of accidental harmonies and riffs that, while not planned to do so, just worked really well together. I’ve done this several time since then and it almost always gives really good results. It took a while to get the 1^st track down. I started it off with a Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath type of “Heaven and Hell” riff and then just kind of went from there. Once that one was down I did two more over that. I think the next two tracks I got on the first take. That doesn’t happen very often… especially with me. Once we got the outro’s done and I had been playing for a while and was good and loosened up, I had Jeff go back over that intro that I just hadn’t been happy with. It’s almost funny how after 13 years of working together Jeff and I know each other so well in the studio and Jeff has engineered enough music for me to know when I want to do another take. I did the intro over. Jeff saved that track, quickly fired up another track and said, “Okay, do another one.” I did. He fired up another one and I did one more. I ended up using the first one that I did and then blended that with one that I did during the last session. The hard part is that the intro is a good 30 second longs and I had to play it exactly the way I did the first time. Fortunately, I had that thing memorized. There’s a couple tricky parts that had always given me trouble and I’d have to do several times to get it and then sometimes piece two or three together to get the best result. But being that I’d been playing for a good hour before that, I was loosened up enough where it went pretty smoothly. I only had two hours in the studio that day. Jeff and I both had things going on that we had to attend to so he graciously gave me two hours in the studio even though his schedule was already pegged that day.

Normally, I’ll have Jeff burn the song to a CD and I’ll take it home and listen to it that week to make sure I like it. I was… relatively certain… that I liked this and told Jeff to just move it into the completed folder. I’ll listen to it again next time I’m there. If it’s not right… it’s gotta be close.

And with the completion of this song musically… there is just 3 remaining. Two of these are instrumentals and one is the title track. The only thing remaining on all of them is lead guitar tracks. So on the title track… it’s just a fast paced flying song. Sounds like it should be easy but my only shot at it in the studio left me unhappy with the results. The other instrumental is the music that I played at my dad’s funeral so it MUST be perfect.

One step closer to being done.

Studio Blog, Friday October 12, 2007

Studio Blog #12

Friday, October 12, 2007

First off: We’re experiencing technical difficulties with my web mail so for those of you who have been trying to contact me or leave a message, I’m not being rude, I’m just not getting it. We’re going to try to alleviate this ASAP. Thanks for your patience.

Studio Update:

The keyboards (as little as there is) are done. It’s basically just strings behind some of the softer things but it really fills things up.

So to present: Drums, bass, keys are finished. I’ve been going to town on guitar tracking. I’ll be doing leads real soon. That’s one of the last things to do. At that point it’s just vocals. Vocals… yeah. So… anyone know any good singers?

Traceman

Monday, September 24, 2007

So, last night at approximately 8:40pm, we officially finished up the last of the drum tracking. This last song is a tribute to my dad, who passed away 13 months ago so it will be a very emotional one for me to do. As we listened to the playback I was able to play along with it and work out some ideas I’d been toying with and I’m certain it will turn out well. I also had Dave fix a part that was off and needed to be re-done, which officially finished up the last of the drum tracking.

Afterwards, Dave and I went down to the watering hole down the street to recap.

I joked around with Dave, who was sporting a new, rather short, haircut that we can clearly trace the process of the CD by his hair. When we first started it, his hair was short. Then he started growing it out and ended up growing it out quite long to where he wore it in a long pony tail for quite some time. Then he cut it, and now he cut it again to a very short, cropped doo. I also told him that he can’t come to my house for a while because my wife will see his nice short hair and then start demanding that I follow suit. She’s been on me about my hair for quite some time now. I guess my only response is, “HEY! I dance to the beat of no one else’s drum.” Which I’m sure sounds really tough in a blog that she’ll never read but just to be safe… “Dave, can I just meet you at your house?”

I also had to laugh as we left the pub and Dave, realizing the drum tracks were done, said, “So now what?” The good news is that any one of next three projects I’ll be doing will include Dave on drums and once I’m finished with my solo project I’ll be pretty much jumping right into the next one. So hopefully Dave won’t have too much down time.

And now that the drums are in fact done, I’ll be concentrating very hard to bring the rest of the project to completion. Jeff and I have a great opportunity this week to really get some work done so at present it looks like we’ll be in the studio Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. At this time I believe there are just two songs remaining that need a bass line and I’ll be grabbing either Bill or Jim, whoever’s available, to finish that up this week as well. I won’t give a date when it’ll be done because CLEARLY I’ve not kept a single one yet but I can say it’s getting close. One of the last things I’ll be doing is putting the lead guitar tracks down and we’re closing in on that point. So again, thanks for your patience.

I also want to quickly add that we’re experiencing some technical difficulties and I’m not able to receive any messages that viewers might be sending me. So if you’re at the site and leaving a message to say hello: I’m not being rude or stuck up by not responding, I’m just not getting it. The Amazing Justin is working on it though and we hope to have the problem remedied soon.

Talk to you soon!

Traceman

Studio Blog, August 20, 2007

Studio Blog

Tuesday, August 20, 2007

Every day just seems to be one step closer. The good news is that the end is in sight. It may still be down the road a ways but it is most definitely in sight.

So on the road to completion of the CD project I knew that I was going to need a CD cover shot. I’d had a couple photo shoots done last year and while the photographer did a really good job I just didn’t see a shot that jumped out and said “COVER SHOT”. I really needed a shot that brought the album to life. I’ve had a concept idea but just couldn’t get it to come to life.

So about a month or so ago I was at Jim Regan’s (bass player). Jim showed me some pictures that a good friend of his (and mine) John Garrett had taken during a weekend getaway to Chicago. Many of the shots were done in black and white. The finished product that I saw was nothing less than art.

Now, I know John from just getting together and jamming. John plays and sings in a local band and has also sat in on guitar and vocals with Dave, Jim, and I as Grey Logic, so I was pretty comfortable asking him.

So John and I started trading e-mails about doing a photo shoot for me. John sounded eager to do it so there was a mutual excitement about it. Besides that, John and I are both of Scandinavian descent so there’s the whole brotherhood of Vikings going on that we just can’t ignore. “Pillage and Plunder!!”

So we finally got settled on a weekend that we’d do it which was this past weekend. John said Friday or Saturday was good with him and I shot one back saying, let’s do Saturday.

So Friday, my wife Patty, calls me and says, “So you’re doing the photo shoot tonight?” I had no idea what she was talking about until she said that John had called and wanted to do it tonight (Friday, which was fine by me). I called him back and he said so nonchalantly, “F*#k it, let’s just do it tonight.” It’s been hotter than Hades here in mid Michigan for the past I don’t know how long. Friday night however was comfortably cool. There was a gorgeous sky with just enough clouds to paint the horizon beautifully.

My concept was to have a shot taken from atop a building that overlooked downtown Lansing. I really wanted to get the shot as the sun was setting. Not dark, not dusk, but just as the light was beginning to set in the west. But finding a building that we could actually get a photo session on the roof of proved to be harder than I thought. Then John came up with an utterly brilliant idea of shooting it from on top of the Sparrow Hospital parking ramp facing downtown. Sheer genius.

So Friday it was. My daughter Sam and I met John at Jim’s house and we all drove downtown, through the construction, and to the top of the parking ramp of Sparrow Hospital. I gotta say I was a bit nervous as I didn’t know how many people would be up there or if security would kick us out or what. As it turns out it went off without a hitch. I strapped on my guitar, climbed on top of John’s truck and listened to John’s camera shutter firing like a machine gun. The sun setting in the sky was nothing short of gorgeous. It could not have been any more perfect. In the distance was the Capital, the tower of Michigan National Bank and the entire downtown area. We could see the lights from Lugnut stadium and could hear the roar of the crowd. Sam kept me in check and reminded me whenever she thought I was getting too close to the edge and stated more than once, “Dad, you know you’re making your guitar face in every shot, right?” John worked the camera and would spit out an occasional, “That was a nice one.” He climbed up and down off a ladder to get different angles and perspectives.

A half hour or so later we quickly packed up and headed back to Jim’s house to check them out. I cannot believe how well they turned out. There are so many good shots. The color of the sky and the whisps of clouds scattered across the horizon as well as the slowly setting sun was beautiful. And I actually thought that I didn’t look like a complete idiot in most of them. (I’m a bit critical of myself when it comes to pictures)

I said that night as well as today, the cover shot is without a doubt in there. The only question is which one do I choose? There are so many good ones to choose from that it’s going to be a tough decision. Thank you, John. Had you not called and wanted to shoot that night instead of the next night as planned and arranging it so the we got it just as the sun was setting… everything was perfect!

I know I say this all the time but I’ll post them soon. I’ve actually got a ton of new pictures to put up. Time is such a luxury. Did I mention I have 5 children??

See you soon!

Traceman

Studio Blog - July 29, 2007

Studio Blog 10

Written: Sunday, July 29, 2007

At last…. The Gathering. No. Wait. That was from Highlander. That happens all the time. I can’t pass a nun and not say, “Happy Halloween, ladies.” And then wag my tongue at them. Man, that’s gonna cost me.

So, yesterday was the day that I actually started laying down tracks of 12 string on the CD. I was pretty excited about doing it and was really looking forward to it. I needed to change the strings on Gil, my Guild 12 string. I simply abhor changing strings on the 12 string because it’s so damned time consuming. I contemplated taking it to Elderly Instruments and having them do it but common sense prevailed and I ran down to Marshall Music, picked up a set of strings, and killed some time trying to find a decent acoustic to play. Before I knew it, it was Friday night and I had to be at the studio at 9 Saturday morning. I had every intention of re-stringing Friday night. However, two out of my 5 children had other plans for me. Apparently, my Friday night was going to consist of watching Open Season for the 17^th time and A Night At The Museum for the 23^rd. When I woke up all the kids were asleep around me and it was way too late to think about re-stringing. No problem, I’ll just get up a little earlier and do it before I go to the studio.

So I get up at 7, and trudge downstairs and begin re-stringing Gil. The first four went on without a hitch. As I was putting on the 5^th, I heard of a string being pulled through wood. I looked down and saw that the 2^nd string (actually I start upside down so I’m talking about the thick low E string) had unraveled just past the ball and was officially useless. After cursing several times REALLY loudly, I had no choice but to take it back off. I thought I would just boil the old one and possibly bring it back to life. So I ran upstairs, put a pan of water on, and threw the string in. When I had re-strung the guitar and was ready to replace the low E, I ran upstairs and retrieved it from the boiling water. As I got ready to put it on something strange jumped out at me. I had to look at it for a moment but then realized I had actually put the bad low E string on to boil. More cursing. I ran up and put the right string on to boil and started loading things up in the van. I loaded up Gil, my 11 string for the time being, a guitar stand, a cord, and I also grabbed Ivan my trusty Ibanez SA220EX, just in case I needed it for whatever reason. It’s always good to have a Plan B when you’re going to the studio with ONE particular goal in mind.

So, I grab the string and took it with me, deciding I’d just put it on when I got to the studio. As I headed north on 127 and was passing the Frandor Shopping Center, I looked up at the billboard that always shows a group or artist who will be performing at The Soaring Eagle Casino. For the last several weeks I’ve been looking at Kenny G and I’d hoped that would have come and gone. Alas, it did not.

I stopped and grabbed a nice healthy breakfast of donuts and Mountain Dew for Jeff and I and then shot around the corner to the studio. As Jeff got mics placed and set up I quickly threw on the string and tuned it up. It sounded terrible. Nothing I could do would make it sound good. It just sounded so dead and with 11 new strings, the lone old one just stuck out like a sore thumb. The music stores didn’t open up for another ½ hour and I really didn’t want to lose the recording time to go and get one being that I’d burn at least a ½ hour doing so. Fortunately, I always keep an extra set of electric strings in my guitar case so I pulled out the electric low E string and threw it on. I’ve heard of guys stringing their acoustics with electric strings but I’ve never done it. And certainly I’ve never strung an acoustic with acoustic strings and one electric string.

However, once I tuned up and got it ready. It sounded just fine. There is nothing like the ring of a 12 string with new strings. It then took about an hour and 45 minutes to track the 1^st song. Jeff used two different mics and then ran them through two separate tracks with different settings. One is EQ’d with more mids and the other with more highs. I then did another track the same way for a total of 4 tracks of acoustic. They were panned from 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock. I totally LOVED the way it sounded. It sounded really good with the fretless bass line that Bill (Kitley) had laid down on this particular song.

The song is completely arpeggios so I had to pick each note exactly the same way when I was tracking multiple tracks. Fortunately that went well and we didn’t have to do a lot of editing.

I’ve really been pushing myself this summer to try to get it finished by the end of summer. It’s looking at this point that I’m going to make it.

I know I’ve been promising but I will soon have some audio clips to post to give everyone a feel of how it’s going to sound.

So I’ll talk to you soon.

Traceman

Studio Update- May 23, 2007

May 23, 2007

Okay, so I was asked why I haven’t posted on the website in so long.

Several reasons which date back to last year. Where to begin?

First off, my dad, Cliff Stiles, passed away last August 13^th. My life went on hiatus for a while. As his power of attorney, much of the legal work and arrangements were done by Patty and I. On August 8^th he had a formal military burial at a Veteran’s cemetery near Battle Creek. It was incredibly moving and I can think of no one more deserving to have such a sendoff as it was than my dad.

Jeff and I, while experiencing the busiest year ever for 3P Studio, took off a month from recording so I could get things taken care of that needed tending. Jeff went back to work in September and I took an additional month off. In October it was right back into the thick of it and we were busy through the end of the year.

Things have settled down a bit and I’ve actually gotten some work done on the CD. I put down some more rhythm tracks before Jeff and I came across a REALLY good rhythm guitar sound, which obviously meant… record more rhythm guitar tracks… which I did.

The Guild 12 string will soon be out and I’ll be recording some 12-string tracks, which I’m really looking forward to doing. I’ll also be doing some strings. We’ve found some great keyboard and synthesizer sounds that I can midi into and use for tracking. I’m pretty excited about that as well.

It’ll probably be just a little while longer though before I start putting down lead tracks. I really want to be in tip top shape when I begin that. I’ve been back working with my counterparts Jim Regan and Dave Foreback, who keep me on my toes musically. We’ve been talking about doing a project together of all of the impromptu improvisational jams that we do so much of. We keep saying, “Oh Man! We should have recorded that!” Well, we’ve now got the capability to do some crude recording at Jim’s house. That’ just seems to be where the inspiration falls on us. So we’ll get the ideas there, then refine them, shape them, and then go into the studio to record them.

But… first things first; I’ve got to finish my CD first. The good news is that much progress has been made and it’s really starting to sound like a music CD now and not just a bunch of scratch tracks waiting to be worked on. It’s taking form!! The amazing Bill Kitley came in and put down two bass tracks on NS Stick as well as one other one on fretless. Zowie!! I’ve had a couple people in fairly recently who were able to listen to some of the progress we’ve done and were pleasantly surprised. I always take that as a good thing.

So it’s definitely taking shape. In the meantime, just remember that I’m a huge Tom Scholz fan and apparently the influence is also affecting me in the amount of time I’m letting lapse between projects. Boston I- 1976, Boston Don’t Look Back- 1978, Boston Third Stage- 1986. Clearly he doesn’t rush things.

Studio Blog October 4, 2006

Studio Update

October 4, 2006

Ahoy everyone!

Okay, so I’ve had some people remind me that it’s now October and that I’d mentioned that I should be done with the CD in September and what was the delay.

Well, the delay is that on August 13^th my dad passed away. While everything went relatively smoothly, as smoothly as something that heavy can go I guess. We had a wonderful memorial for him and then had him buried at Ft Custer National Veterans Cemetary in a very moving ceremony performed by the Naval Color Guard. It was very impressive and made me very proud. They did an excellent job.

While completing my CD is still very important to me, there was much to take care of and my wife, Patty, and I worked pretty diligently to make sure that everything that needed to be done was done. While still on the list of things to do it flying out to Seattle to pick up my mother and fly her back, things have settled down enough where I can continue to start working on it again.

Jeff and I have been really busy in the studio this year and we had decided to take August off from paying customers and get a little weekend R and R that we’d been missing and then concentrate a little more on my CD. My dad passing brought that to a screeching halt.

I made my return to the studio this past Sunday to work on an ongoing project. It was nice to get back into the stream again. And it appears that we will be pretty much picking up where we left off. We’ve got a death metal band, Intestinal Alien Reflux, coming in to record a demo on the 14^th of October.

My new goal is to have it finished by the end of the year. Hey…. I’ve waited this long what’s another couple of months?

Thanks for asking though. It lets me know someone’s actually checking out the site.

Talk to everyone soon!

Traceman

Studio Blog - July 31, 2006

Studio Blog 8

7/31/2006

More good news: As said in my last update, I was in the studio last week and laid down 6 guitar tracks for one song. Jeff and I were playing with some different sounds and found a GREAT rhythm guitar sound. I ended up using it on a couple different tracks. We definitely saved that one!

I’ll be back in the studio tomorrow night to do some more. As said previously, my goal is to have everything done instrumentally, except the lead guitar work, by the end of August. This will include ALL the electric, all the acoustic, and all the keyboards. At this point I believe I’ll be playing the keyboard on most of the tunes that require them. For the most part we’re just talking about strings. If there was anything intricate to be done I would more than likely have someone else do that. I really want to do as much of the instrumental work as I can but certainly not at the cost of compromising the quality of my CD.

Jimi Regan and Dave Foreback, the rhythm section extraordinaire, and I will be getting together quite a bit during the month of August. Schedules have been freed and cleared and opportunity is indeed knocking. The good part about an abundance of simply jamming is that I’m able to spend literally HOURS just playing, experimenting, and exploring. The three of us have been playing together for about 5 years now and know each other very well musically. We might do a cover and extend the guitar solo out for about 5 minutes or so. If I jump into a rabbit hole while I’m playing, they both jump in right behind me and know right when to jump out. This kind of jamming for literally hours on end really loosens up my fingers and helps my dexterity a lot. Being that the three of us are planning on playing a lot in August, I will wait until the end of August before I start laying down lead tracks. Think of it as going into training before a competition of some kind. Body builders do heavy and strict workouts when preparing for a competition in order to get themselves in the best shape they can be in for it. This is also my plan as well.

I’ll try to put a few audio tracks of some of the covers that we do onto the site in the near future. I hope soon to have some video of some tunes that we played at a recent gig.

Even More News: Dave, Jim, and I also have recently picked up a new singer. We just had a guy into the studio that we all liked and thought fit us very well. I’ll wait before I release too much information on him as I want to make sure that this is going to be a permanent thing. We just this summer started working with a new singer that we had really thought was going to work out but, as it turns out, did not. This guy that we just picked up might be the ticket. We go by the name of Dreamline. I will post updates on any upcoming gigs that we have and would love to see people come out to see us. We will be sliding some of my material into the set lists.

Studio Blog March 3, 2006

Studio Blog

March 3, 2006

Okay, so I’m finally recording guitar tracks now. I was in earlier this week and started laying down some tracks. I started things off badly as I got into a disagreement with my producer, a pretty bad one at that. I ended up storming out of the studio in a fit of disgust.

Later that night I realized that I’M the producer. I quickly sent myself some flowers, kissed myself on both cheeks, and went back to the studio.

I’ll be back in this evening to put some more tracks down. Currently I am tracking strictly rhythm tracks and that just on my electric. Once I get through these I’ll then re-string the Guild 12 String and start tracking some acoustic.

Studio Blog- November 12, 2005

Monday, November 12, 2005

It was the weekend with Dave. After one of those weeks where you want to drive straight to the bar from work, I did the next best thing. I hooked up with Dave around 8:30 and we hit an Irish pub on the eastside. Dave was quite gracious and just smiled and nodded a lot as I spewed forth my rantings and ravings of the prior week. Eventually the conversation shifted to music, it always does. We eventually left the pub and drove to Jimi’s house. I had my guitar with me so the three of us were able to make some noise for a bit. “Loud Noises!”

Saturday night I hooked up with Dave again. We met at the studio and laid down the drum tracks for the 9^th song. We had fairly good luck and it went down pretty easily. Again, once I hit ten tracks I will start laying down guitar tracks while still putting down new stuff as well in order to reach the goal of 10 songs.

One step closer.

Studio Blog- October 24, 2005

Studio Blog

Monday, October 24, 2005

I really want to take the time to acknowledge the musicians who are helping me out in the studio. It’s really an honor and I’m truly and genuinely so grateful to be able to have such fine musicians who seem to be as excited about coming in to lay down tracks as I am to have them come in and do so.

Case in point: Last night Jim, Dave, and I all got to the studio right around 7 at night. Jeff was showing off the new 17-inch flat screen monitor he’d just got for the PC that we do the recording on. I’d talked to Jim on the phone earlier that afternoon and told him he could pretty much pick the song he wanted to throw a bass track on and have at it. He listened to three before getting a good feel for the one he wanted to do.

He played through it a few times and then hit the zone. I think we did like five takes. The 4^th one was really good. The fifth one was perfect. We kept it.

It was only 8:30 and I really wanted to try to squeeze another one in but Jeff needed to wrap it up. So while part of me was frustrated about having to wrap it up so quickly when there was still stuff that could be done, I have to understand other people’s situations and schedules (as well as spouses). And the bottom line was that it was hard to feel anything but excited about the track that Jim had just put down.

This past Wednesday was my birthday and being that I hadn’t seen Dave and Jim since, we went around the corner to Buddy’s for a celebratory beverage. We ended up having TWO celebratory beverages.

The post recording gatherings are almost (almost) as fun as the actual recordings themselves. We are able to reflect and get everyone’s perspective on what we’d just done. At this point I currently have 7 songs that have drum tracks recorded. Three of these have bass tracks recorded as well. There are guitar dummy tracks that we use as a guide but will be recorded over once I start putting down guitar tracks. I also have several more that are ready to begin recording as well. Two of these I will be working on with Bill and Phil while the others I will continue working with Jim and Dave. The great part about knowing the different musicians I do is getting just a little different feel when using different ones. I’d love to mix things up a little bit more and see what kind of results the different combinations would yield. Jim and Dave sound great together. Bill and Phil sound great together. Dave and Bill have worked on the same material in the past and sound good together. I would really like to hear the combination of Jim and Phil sometime to see how that would sound as well.