Well, dear readers, we have finished phase two of the new Sandy Bainum CD – phase one being the planning and preparing and phase two being the recording of the orchestra and then the final vocals. We had our final final vocal vocal session session last evening. It was an absolute horror show – not the session, but trying to get to the session. I left the home environment at 6:15 just as I’d done the night before. The night before I was to Westlake Studios by 6:30. I got to Santa Monica Blvd. and Cahuenga right at 6:25 and from there it’s a mere five-minute ride to the studio. But as soon as I got close to Las Palmas I knew there was something up, because the traffic was so backed up that no one was moving at all. I finally got past Highland and it was still terrible. I finally got past La Brea – the studio is only four short blocks from there, but we were stalled, standing still, and I was beginning to lose my sanity due to my extreme claustrophobia. But I hung on to my sanity and at the first opportunity I got off Santa Monica Blvd. and drove the long block north to Fountain. That was a huge mistake but there was no way of knowing that then.
I drove the two blocks to Poinsettia and there was a police car blocking anyone from going further and so EVERYONE was either turning around or taking Poinsettia – WHERE was anyone’s guess, since the only place to go was Santa Monica Blvd., which was horrendous. So, I turned left onto Poinsettia (the studio is located on Poinsettia and Santa Monica Blvd.) and it literally took thirty minutes to go one block – it was madness and I went berserk and not quietly. If I’d filmed it and put it on You Tube it would go viral. Anyway, I finally got to the alley that runs in back of the studio, which is where we park. Our engineer was fifteen minutes late due to the insanity and Sandy got there just before our start time at seven. Lanny was there already and had been there for ninety minutes – he missed all the craziness. But here’s the thing – I deem it a major thing when the police close off an entire area and screw up everyone’s trying to get home or go somewhere. And I feel it is someone’s duty to let the populace of the area in on what’s happening or even warn them that things are cordoned off. But no, that would be too difficult for these people. In fact, when I got home I went to Google and searched to see what the problem was and there was not ONE reference to anything going on. Say what?
After I calmed down and had some grapes, we began the session. We had seven songs to do and I knew that two of them were a bit trickier than the others we’ve done. But everything went very well. I did my usual number of takes so that I’d have plenty to work with. I always let Sandy do a take without me saying anything, then we talk through things, talk about the point of the song and the point of the song on this particular album and then we begin for real. There was one song I felt wasn’t working at all – it’s not a song known for its deep lyrics but I felt the song had a point and we had to get that point across. We did a couple of takes and then I tried doing just a few lines at a time, but it just wasn’t working and I could tell Sandy wasn’t “hearing” what I was not responding to, so we just played it back for her and she heard instantly. But she was kind of then locked into whatever that mode was and so I did something I’ve never done in my twenty years of making albums – oh, I’ve done it before a song and after a song, but never EVER during a song. I went in and stood in front of her and had her sing the song to me. I gave her stuff to react to and gave her expressions she could sing to to get the point of the lyric across. And it just did the trick – it was night and day and with that one take we had the song.
We had a little meal break and got food from a restaurant called Jones, just a block away. I’d only had a turkey sandwich earlier, so I had a small chopped salad with vinaigrette and it was just the right amount of food. We wrapped the session at around 10:45. I’m very anxious for phase three, which is the comping of the vocals and the mix. That will happen in the next couple of weeks.
Prior to all that, I’d had a perfectly okay day. I had a rough night due to some pain in my mouth from the area that had been sore that Dr. Chew had picked around at. I got up around 9:30, answered e-mails, and got everything ready to ship CDs. I then went and had a turkey sandwich and no fries or onion rings, picked up a few packages, came home, did a three-mile jog, did some work on the computer, relaxed a little, and then left for the studio.
Since I’ve been enjoying putting little ditties in the notes, here’s one that was included on the Kimmel Rarities CD that was given to anyone who ordered There’s Mel, There’s Woody and There’s You from the Kritzerland site. This was written for that musical Yearbook: The High School Musical. Two of the songs I wrote ended up in the show – Nerd and Three Friends, but two didn’t – an opening number (they already had one, but no one told me that up front) and this song, The Dissection of the Frog. They really liked it, but the way they were designing the show there were only high schoolers playing high schoolers – no teacher characters. But that’s the thing – this song could have been done by a student – you know the type – in a lab coat or even making fun of the teacher – there were many ways and having read the script and heard the songs now they really could have used a number like this, one that every high school kid would “get.” I had a great time writing it, and it has a very complex rhyming scheme – it was easy to do the first verse that way, but once having done that I had to adhere to it and boy was that hard. But I’m proud of the result and it’s pretty funny, I think. We’ll probably do it one of these days in one of our Kritzerland shows.
I am happy to say that I somehow escaped ever having to dissect anything let alone a frog. I would have vomited on the ground.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, then I’ll begin writing liner notes, then it’s a meeting with Sandy and Lanny, then something to eat, hopefully picking up some packages, do a jog, and then I have to finish the liner notes and get them on their merry way because we’re trying to rush this project through so I have something to announce on Monday. After that, I’m doing nothing.
Tomorrow I will try to actually take a day off – I’m sure I’ll have to do some writing, but other than that I don’t really want to do much of anything. Then it’s some meetings, a meal or two, and seeing something on some stage somewhere at some point.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, have a meeting, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, write, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that phase two is done – now on to phase three.