As I’ve already alluded to, the studio has become an important pursuit for me.
Starting off, I had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted to accomplish, beyond recording my own songs. While at this point I don’t pretend to be delivering fully radio-ready recordings, I hope I have set the bar high enough to deliver reasonably well produced songs that can act as quality demos for securing gigs, or helping singer-songwriters realize a full vision of their compositions.
One of the first projects I took on was a recording of Gary Edward Allen‘s Come On, Come On. Below is the bio I used for the now-ended ABC Songwriters’ Circle.
Gary Edward Allen is a singer songwriter hailing from Vancouver now living in Toronto but born and raised in Ottawa. He plays an interesting mesh of acoustic styles ranging from Neo-classical to psychedelic freak folk. Rooted in classic 70’s rock and 90’s alternative, but with modern sensibilities, Gary takes you on a journey every time. His songs are online and readily available on iTunes, Bandcamp, Soundcloud and ReverbNation. He performs and co-hosts at a weekly open mic with Amber Durette at Legends on Danforth every Thursday night. (show #6 – Tuesday, November 28, 2017 / show #36 – July 17, 2018)
Gary and I have known each other for a few years now, first meeting at the Linsmore, then when I have performed at the Thursday Night Open Mic at Legends, which he co-hosts with Amber Durette. Gary kindly agreed to let me take a stab at producing a song for him. He came in well-prepared, and the song is very close to what I think he had in mind from the get-go, with the addition of an intro and the suggestion to hold the long vocal note just leading into the outro. Gary plays all the instruments save the drums which are from the built-in software in Logic Pro X, and which I tried to program as best I could. Still learning…
Track List:
- Acoustic guitar 1 through AKG D202 panned hard left
- Acoustic guitar 1 through Rode NT-1A panned hard right
- Acoustic guitar 1 direct centred
- Acoustic guitar 2 (after bridge/outro fills) through AKG D202 panned hard left
- Acoustic guitar 2 (after bridge/outro fills) through Rode NT-1A panned hard right
- Acoustic guitar 3 (intro) direct panned partway left; delay & reverb
- Electric guitar 1 with modelling amp and fx panned hard left
- Electric guitar 2 with modelling amp and fx panned hard left
- Electric guitar 3 (capo’d at 12th fret) with modelling amp & fx panned partway right
- Electric guitar 4 (slide for outro) with modelling amp and fx
- Bass direct with modelling amp
- Drums: Logic Virtual drummer – “Liverpool” kit, “Darcy” drummer
- Vocals: single track through the Rode NT-1A
The recording is still rough, and given more time and more experience on my part, I’m certain we could tighten it up technically. Nevertheless, we are both reasonably happy with the result as it accomplishes what we had hoped, which was to flesh out what Gary had in mind and establish the right feel for it.
I hope you enjoy it!
Come On, Come On! ©2018 Gary Edward Allen
And Speaking of Recording…
The Cats have finally been herded and we have begun laying down beds for our forthcoming album?/EP?, tbd. It is such a joy to work with Chris and Neil as they are creative and professional in every way. Thanks guys!
Gig Alert -Change
This coming Saturday’s previously announced show the at the lovely Dock On Queen (Queen East between Logan and Carlaw) is postponed to a date to be determined.
Until next week, be well!
felixandthecats.com 