Slowly But Surely

OK. Now, I'm officially excited. I finally got a chance to listen to the recording from the scratch session we did and…how do I put this? I love it. Yes, I love the recording. Yes, we only did one live take of everything. Yes, it has mistakes. No, there isn't any production on it. But, with all humility, I still love it.

The studio is excellent. The sound is crisp and clean. The vocals are just where I want them - not singing-wise, but sound-wise; the placement of the vocal. Up front. In the room with you. Hard to explain if you are not familiar with recording. The guitar is clear and pretty. I don't consider myself much of a guitarist. Not like Rabbi Joe Black or Beth Schaffer. I'm very basic. But somehow my old Guild is sounding silvery and spry. And this is all just from a one-take-mistake-filled scratch session. I can't wait until we get in to production.

I feel like it's already halfway there; halfway to where Hallelujah Land ended up. I'm hoping to take it above and beyond. Troy Dexter (my HL producer) is a genius. I mean no disrespect. Without Troy, there would be no Hallelujah Land. He produced, engineered, and played every instrument (other than my guitar parts) you hear on the record. But, as I said elsewhere, much happens in ten years time.

Remember when the Beatles were playing ratty little clubs in England in 1961 and then they went to Hamburg for a couple of years? Neither do I. But when they came back, they came back polished and ready. OK, I'm not the Beatles. And instead of a year or two, it's taken me ten. But I'm not a novice now. I've had so much more experience - performing, writing, playing with other musicians. I felt comfortable in the studio. Like I knew what I was doing. And the proof was in the, er, resulting scratch session CD.

You'll never hear it. Nobody outside of the project ever needs to. It's full of mistakes and wrong notes and missed beats. But it energized and encouraged me, knowing what it can be.