When I walked into the studio this morning Eddie (Mitch’s assistant…who is also completely brilliant) greeted me with a “happy Independence Day.” Eddie is British, so it was a cleverly ironic greeting. He followed that up with some hilarious tongue-in-cheek remark about his celebrating colonial day last night. Eddie is great.
We finished tracking vocals today. Things are really coming together. Only a couple more days this trip. I’m eager to come home and see my family. As awesome as this process is, living as a gypsy on somebody’s couch in a big city is only fun for so long.
Yesterday, I had the awesome opportunity to hang out with Stephen Mason for a while, putting some tracks on the album. Stephen has been part of the band ‘Jars of Clay’ since they began. They are getting ready to head out to Portland this weekend to spend several weeks tracking their new album. I asked him how it works for them being away from their families for that amount of time. He said a couple of things that made sense. First, he reminded me that they all go together so they aren’t alone. Second, he said it’s tough and not necessarily ideal…but it’s necessary. Part of them getting away from the Nashville scene so they can focus to an obscene level means taking a few weeks away from their families. It was at least pseudo comforting to know that other dudes with families feel the same way I do.
I have two days left this go around. We will be doing overdubs for the next two days (lots of keyboards, guitars, background vocals…etc.). Then I come home for a month or so. While I’m home, Mitch will add a few other odds and ends (strings, some more vocals) that I don’t need to be here for. Then I will come back in the middle of August and we will settle in for an intensive week of mixing. All of these things excite me a great deal. I’m also glad that I didn’t elect to do it all in one continuous stretch.
