Rock Star Parents

Recording in the Studio Part III

She finished recording the scratch tracks... One of her old bandmates and his parents sat in so he could see and hear how the tracks that he helped write would go through the transformation process. He will be playing drums on both tracks, and drums are the most difficult to record.

The producer said that he would like a lean sound and that the drummer should try to work with just what was needed. If he wanted to bring his own kit in, the bass drum needs a hole in the head, and that they should set up the kit and plan on having at least two nights to record so he wouldn't feel rushed.  Mic'ing the drums is going to be hard, and playing drums to a click track for the first time is also likely to be hard.

We also talked about the CD release party and the Hard Rock Cafe was bandied about as a potential venue.

Rock Star Dad begged us to bring him a CD of the first song so he could share it with his work friends, and we did, but we aren't even making electronic copies -- only the CD. The producer doesn't want a half-finished product released to anyone...

I tried to get some more photos, but Rock Star Daughter kept hiding her face. I got some good shots of the drummer and his parents though.

Recording in the Studio Part II

This is the second time in the studio. We forgot the "great, once in a lifetime guitar" at home, so we had to use one of the producer's guitars. We finished two more tracks to some relatively new tunes that she wrote just for the CD. One of the songs had a difficult tempo so the producer added some morroca-type additions to the click track so it was easier for Rock Star Daughter to stay on tempo. He did it once for four minutes and then realized it didn't record so he had to do it again... Now that requires concentration!

I was able to get some good photos of the producer, and some not so good photos of Rock Star Daughter. Sometimes, as she hides her head from the camera, I realize again that she is only 13...

After that, we watched and listened as the producer added some keyboard to one of the first tracks she recorded during the first session. It was magical. The transformation was profound. He also added some violin... Rock Star Daughter's pitch was great, even though it was a scratch track, and the "great, once in a lifetime guitar's" sound just resonated. The producer said that Rock Star Daughter is a better guitar player than she thinks. We couldn't wait to listen to the other tracks go through the transformation as well, but that would have to wait.

One Way on How To Make Your First CD

OK, we are making our first CD. Rock Star Daughter went to the first recording session last week. She is making a "scratch track."  A scratch track is a recording that is unlikely to be used in the final product -- hence the name, scratch. The producer had her record both her acoustic guitar and vocals to a click track. A click track is a metronome sound that allows you to seamlessly integrate new music over old. This scratch track will be used as a base for other  professional musicians to play along with so Rock Star Daughter will be able to come back to the studio and record a final vocal track over the complete instrumentation.

Now, for the background. Rock Star Daughter quit her band a while ago (see Why Bands Break Up for more about this phenomenon.) Let's just say they didn't have the same goals. So, she is doing this project pretty much solo. Part of the reason for her doing this now is to be able to find other kids like her and be able to say, "this is the type of music I am interested in, are you in?" The other part is for her to get experience. My part of this whole thing is to try to learn to do what it takes to successfully promote the Indie project.

Finally, this summer she played in a garage band with this producer, who has had a top 20 hit on the Billboard Charts and a long and wide musical career, and he suggested that she was ready. He said that her songwriting  and voice was mature for her age, that she was vulnerable, not canned, and that her young age would likely get interest. She also had great pitch and timing. (If your daughter or son wants to be a singer, give them drum lessons in elementary school for four years!)

So we started this roller coaster ride. We are paying a minimal fee for the producers time and for the session players who will play with her. We will own the master. We will copyright all of the songs (with two of them co-written by her old bandmates. At least one of the old bandmates will play a track on both of the songs.) As we go through each stage of the process, I'll try to document it so others can learn as well.

The first thing that I found out is, your first time in the studio is really easy if you only have to deal with one person at a time! My daughter asked her father, Rock Star Dad, to play guitar for her for the scratch tracks. The producer heard Rock Star Dad play, and he plays with finger picking. Rock Star Daughter tends to play power chords. The producer wanted Rock Star Daughter to play everything on the scratch track to help get her sound as "her sound" so the session guys could use that as the base. Some songs, Rock Star Daughter was able to play guitar and sing at the same time, one take. Other songs, she played the guitar and then went back and added the vocals.

One word about the guitar... it is a "once in a lifetime guitar", a truly beautiful one with outstanding attributes. It even has a woman's name inlaid on the fret board. I'm sure it will become her signature guitar.

With her first time hearing the click track, she was able to put out one song every half hour. It turns out that the last song had a problem with the "form" because she did that one first with the guitar and then added the vocals and there were extra riffs in there. It will be easier to go back and do it from scratch again rather than trying to edit them out.

The next session is this week...

(Note: we are not using union players for this. A great article about working with union session players is found here. The guys who will be playing on her CD are friends of the producer. We've heard all of them play and they are excellent.  I don't know how common this is? Anyone with more experience, feel free to chime in.)