Perfect day in the studio

I guess you could call this a pointless thread, unless you consider it a counterweight to the "A band is so much drama I'll just keep playing alone" posts we often see on here. TB happens to be the only place where I can share my excitement with other folks who can get it, so bear with me.

I had an absolutely perfect day in the studio yesterday with the best bandmates in the world. We recorded 5 tunes, which combined with another 5-6 we did during previous sessions will make our first LP. We're all "part-timers" with day jobs but the musicianship level is the best I've experienced so far as a part-timer, and we put on a pretty good show, too. We're using our gains from the gigs we have under our belt to pay for the recording/mixing/mastering.

The studio felt super cozy: It is set up in a barn in the country (about a 30-minute drive from Montréal). The sound engineer is a super friendly and knowledgeable guy who works full time as a pro drummer / soundman and who we instantly got along with. Absurd humour is a big part of our group dynamics, and there was a lot of laughing/goofing around between takes.

Everybody came prepared and took absolutely naaaaaaaasty solos! Our horn players who usually improvise their solos during rehearsals wrote them down in advance this time, to make sure they were perfect. They all played great, our trumpet player's solo in particular was just jazzy "a f" and really surprised the whole band. Our band leader/keys player doesn't solo much normally, but he took a jaw-droppingly good one with a nasty organ sound on another tune - it was nice to hear him play that way for once! Our guitar player took a solo filled with triplets, quadruplets and double-stops (his most technical to date), that both fitted the tune perfectly and is sure to catch the attention of music nerds.

The sound guy confessed at the end of the day that he's more of a rock/country music guy but also that he had a ton of fun working with us (which was kind of obvious: We had him dancing behind the desk during several takes).

Plus, my bass never sounded better on a recording. Yesterday just re-confirmed how much I love the p-bass: That thing is such a plug-and-play, set-and-forget funk machine. Straight into an Avalon DI it immediately sounded nice and fat - he just boosted the mids a smidge to make it cut through a bit more, but that's it.

Got some nice compliments on my playing, too: Our sound guy was playing "air bass" and making faces when we were listening back in the control room, saying "I hear some Rocco Prestia influence in there, man. It really works!". That totally made my day, especially coming from a pro drummer who has worked with so many bands. I still have tons of things to learn, but this gives me the nice "warm and fuzzy" feeling I'm on the right track and that my approach with this band has been the right one - which is stay in the pocket most of the time, and let out just a few strategically placed fills every now and then.

We finished the day with a band dinner at a rather low-key Portuguese restaurant with amazing food, where we had copious amounts of very tasty meat and sangria. I then went home and slept like an absolute rock - haven't slept this good in weeks.

So yeah, we had a blast. For all those who have become embittered about the whole band thing because of bad experiences, I sincerely hope you get to meet of bunch of like-minded musicians who you really gel with. I feel extremely lucky - I've been playing with these guys for about 2 years now. I don't know how long it will last but I'm really enjoying the ride.

 

There's always a huge amount of luck involved. Two years ago I replied to an ad on kijiji (website similar to Craig's list), but hesitated quite a bit before doing so (I wasn't so sure - the demo track from the band leader sounded a little too disco for my comfort). So, SO glad I told myself "Aw, why the heck not" and clicked "send". It's been the most fun I've had since I started playing in bands.

 

Thanks for the replies, guys!

Thanks, and I will. Our band leader is doing the edits this week, then he'll pass on the tracks to the sound guy we worked with Saturday for the mixing / mastering. We're looking at sometime in June, probably.

Thanks Cliff!

 

Thanks man! I'm fully aware of how lucky I am - I've suffered through my share of flaky, dishonest bandmates before meeting these guys!

 

Thanks guys!