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.