Fine

I think my part in recording our album is now complete.

I went down to the studio Saturday night to spend some time on background vocals for Bombs Away and to put the finishing touches on Fallout Grace. Bombs Away turned out great... I resisted the urge to do too much and wound up just adding some nice high harmonies and textures.

Fallout Grace was a little more problematic. We set the bar high with some of the work we did on the bridge and third verse of the song, where I added up to 6 different background voices and two different counter-melodies. So I knew we needed something huge for the final chorus. I spent all week listening to the song, trying to figure out something to do... with no success.

So Dave and I put our heads together and... continued to have no success. After a lot of far-fetched and overreaching ooohs and aaaaahs, something clicked, and I tried interweaving the lyrics and melody from the bridge into the final chorus as a counterpoint line. Then I layered three voices over that line to make it sound like a choir.

And just like that we had it.

I think it sounds awesome, almost Rufus Wainwright. It was about midnight as we finished up Fallout Grace, and there was one more thing I wanted to do. I took Dave's old beat up classical guitar into the live room, sat on a stool near the vocal mike, and recorded a bare bones acoustic version of Bottle Boy that I think we'll use as a hidden track. It turned out perfectly. One take, one microphone... just me playing the guitar with my fingers (no pick) and singing.

I hope it works out that we can use it in the way I'd like to, as kind of a coda. We'll see. I thought I'd have a lot more to say about finishing up with tracking, but I need another day or two to get my thoughts and feelings in order.

In the meantime... don't stop rockin'.

jbg