Now This Is How To Do Recording Studio

No holding a microphone.  No bring an amp.  Just microphones sitting there minding their business, letting me mind mine.  The sound in my headphones was so awesome, I couldn't help but immitate the Wizard of Oz between tracks.  "I am the great and powerful Oz, and you will never have sufficient self esteem, so don't even bother!"

Oh yea, spent the day at the studio, I guess I laid down harp tracks for 12 songs. ?? Is that possible?  Must be.

You'd be surprised how cool the Oz thing can sound.  And, "A brain?  You don't need a brain!  All you need is this piece of paper.  Why, there have been people with less brain than you go on to be president of the United States!".

I think I should do an entire Oz album.

A little outfit called, Trackstar Entertainment, in either Lemon Grove, or La Mesa; I can't tell the difference.  Probably La Mesa.   I get a good feeling from the place.  The sound engineer is great to work with.  We're on a budget--Sande's on a budget, I should say.  It is her project.   If anything comes of it, I'll probably get maybe 70% because of who I am.

In preparing, I kept doing a little different approach every time, and worried about being the weak link.   The studio, with the wizard sound, changed things some.   It was the ego boost I needed.  Really.   Sande said I made her cry.  Berto said his head exploded and that the sound engineer said he'd never heard anyone play that way.  I realize that leaves room for interpretation.  I chose to take it as encouragement.

So much got packed into today that there was no time for him to give us rough copies of the tracks so far.  What I have is before the final vocals, and before my part.  I haven't heard anything I've done, played back.  Not more than a few seconds of it. like three, literally.

I'm thinking, I wonder if the real thing lives up to their reaction.  One can only hope.

Not everyone likes her stuff as much as we do.  Everyone playing in this group loves the material.  Some of the best lyrics.  And a little off the wall at times.  Never empty.

Still, I fight the temptation to berate myself for doing this instead of being the world changing physicist I was supposed to be.  [It may be that I was never supposed to be any of those grandiose things I imagine and cite in complaints galore.]

I sure hope they have time to let me play alternative tracks.  The sensitivity and range of sound this setup allows me to explore is beyond anything I normally enjoy.  I think I could produce what might be called "angelic" sounds.  It further encouraged this stylistic shift I have been undergoing for the last year or so.  That heavy chordal underlayment.  I think it is finally coming into focus.  It has been ever so slightly off up till now, I think.

Be that as it may.  I wish Austin was a place that stayed cool and had low humidity.  As it is, moving there could be hazardous to health.  I intend to fix that eventually.  One day I am fairly certain I will move.  Right now, heat and humidity bring on the heebie jeebies. A condition which has not always visited me, so it can again cease to exist in my world.  I see no reason why not.

Oh yea. I broke out the low Eb Suzuki Manji.  It was on a song that is very heavy harmonica and fast.  This was first time trying the low Eb.  Holy smoke!!  If only I could hear it back.  It sounded like a musical fog horn.  Sort of.  Now that I read it, it does not sound enticing.  But it is.  Trust me.