And The Beat Goes On...

Project update: Donna Beasley's next record, 'Under The Rushes" is coming along nicely. Yesterday we went to Anthony Aquilato's home studio and recorded a keeper vocal on a tune using the AT 4050 microphone. I had just purchased a 4050 for my own studio (and used it with great success) last week, so we tried it again and it fit the tune perfectly.

The day before, the amazing Kenny Vaughan (of Marty Stuart's Fabulous Superlatives) stopped by to pick up his D'Addario string order. I asked if he was free to throw a guitar part down on a song, he agreed and 45 minutes later we had a vibey guitar track that took the tune to a new place...very cool. In a room full of nice guitars - Les Pauls, Teles, ES-125s, Strats - Kenny opted for my Teisco Del Rey. Plugged into the 3 Monkeys Orangutan, he dialed up a killer guitar tone and had the part within a few passes.

On my most recent road trip, I was able to have "Pro Tools Guy" Mark Dobson rough out a mix on one of the more complicated tunes on the record. He showed me several tricks on getting a naturally ambient drum sound to be a bit drier, using gates and EQ and compression. With that session saved as a template, I can apply those settings as a strating point for any other song on the record tha needs "less room and more drum". All of the drums were cut on the same kit on the same day with the same mics.

I'm also getting a Pro Tools laptop rig together for a friend and will be out buying more RAM for it today. Stay tuned, I'll post a few snippets of what we are up to soon.