WORKIN-IT-OUT

Welcome to the Workin-It-Out page where one of my passions for music production comes to life.  It is this project where I bring together musicians of all ages, genres, and capabilities to lay down a song that they have been given.  I try very hard to get musicians that have not worked together, and in some cases don’t even know each other, to work out recording a song in one day.  We will try to show you the process for the musicians, as well as the recording engineer, and give you a glimpse of how music is put together.  Of course somewhere in the middle will be a full produced segment where you get to see the finished recording actually get recorded.  I use full production multi-track audio of the musicians, as well as up to 6 cameras to get in close and personal with the artists.

Below are some episodes that we have already finished.  Please enjoy this and let us know what you think.

Episode #5

Song: Magic Man by Heart

Artists:

  • Megan Rose- Vocals
  • Jason Edney – Guitar
  • Gary Sheehan – Bass
  • John Gaudete – Keys
  • Chris Meyer – Drums
  • Don Richardson – Sound Engineer/Videographer

Hi 
Thanks for joining the party here on October 12th, 2024.  This page will give you information for this session at the studio, and some insights that you might want to know about how this all works.

If you have not seen any previous session, please CLICK HERE to see them.

Session Date: Saturday October 12th, 2024
Location: 38 Cannon Drive, Nashua NH 03062
Arrival Time: 9;00 am
Completion Time: When we are done 

Schedule for the day:

  1. Arrival & Setup:
    I will have already figured out where you will be positioned in the studio, so when you arrive I will get you in place and then you can setup your gear.

  2. Socialize:
    When you are setting up I like to video the conversations that are going on in the studio.  Meet each other and share your backgrounds and whatever you might be chatting about.

    PLEASE DO NOT DISCUSS THE SONG BECAUSE THERE IS ANOTHER SECTION WHERE YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO DISCUSS THE SONG AND HOW YOU MIGHT SEE IT GETTING RECORDED.

  3.  Sound & Video Check:
    Once we have been setup I will go through each instrument to be sure we have the right levels for recording.  We will also go through some headphone mixing as well to ensure you hear all that you want for the recording session.  I will also place cameras in the studio to get the right angles for video taping.

  4. Video opening segment (Why are we all here?):
    This is a section where I will record my introduction to what we are here for and how this will all happen to get a recording of the song.

  5. Video Workin-It-Out:
    In this section you are now free to chat about the song and how each of you might contribute to it.  This includes who is taking leads, how the song should be played, etc.  This may also include discussions on what style to record the song in.  This may sound weird, as this is a well known song, but you might convince the group to play it in a Blues style, Jazz, Country, or whatever.  Most of the time the group will honor the style of the original song, but do what you want with it.

  6. Lunch:
    Before we record the takes of this song we will break for some lunch.  I usually order pizza, but if you want something different we can do that for you.  I usually have beer and water, please let me know if you want something different just let me know. 

  7. Record Takes:
    In this section we will get the song recorded.  We can do as many takes as you like to get the base song down.  Because we are video taping this I will ask that if there is a major mistake in the song, you should record it from the top again.
    There is a lot going on in this song do the base take may not have all of the elements needed.  For instance, there are a few guitar layers that we may need to go back and add to the recording.  Maybe there is a mistake in the vocal.  We can go back and touch that up as well.  What I am trying to do is get the best take with all elements so we can all be proud of this recording.

    Since our keyboard player is still recovering from rotator cuff surgery, he may be here to add in the moment, but we may need to go back and record his part later when he is all healed.

    The bass player is also a guitar player, so he may have some ideas on guitar layering that we can add to the song.

  8. Video end section
    At the end, we will all get together and I want each of you to comment on what you did here.  You may come in with some preconceived ideas of how you will fell, but you may come away with that and more, and we want to know this.

  9. Pack up and Departure:
    There is no hurry to get out of here so hopefully this will be a leisurely activity.