Studio Backgrounds

Today was fun :) I had a bunch of running around to do... as always before a big trip... and Ben called and asked if I could come into the studio to sing some backgrounds for him.
I say Ben like everyone should know who he is, so let me explain :)
Ben Strano produced "Late Night Conversations". We met at school in Boston, and he turned out to be one of my best friends from Berklee. He is one of the most hard-working and talented individuals I have ever met. We have had a LOT of great times together. And when he calls, I NEVER know what kind of session it will be. Which is SO much fun for me.
He's currently working on a record that Dan Baird is producing. Yes, Dan Baird as in the lead singer of the Georgia Satellites. You know "I got a little change in my pocket going jang-a-ling-a-liiiang"
Dan calls me his "Country Kitten" :) Maybe because he can't remember my name.... but I don't really care the reason. It's pretty awesome to have a nickname from a rock legend.

Ben's on the right, Dan's on the left.



It was SOOOO stinking cool! The lead singer of the band has a very raw and uninhibited voice. And my job was to come up with harmony lines in certain places that would follow her vocal. That is so fun because it means I get to sing with a totally different voice than I normally would. Stylistically, she is so unique that I ended up doing some things that I have never done before. If you soloed my voice it would probably sound ridiculous but as a harmony part, it totally worked. And the guys seemed very happy so that means I am doing my job!

They had a really cool assignment for me on the last song. They told me to listen to the song and come up with a tag line that would be repeated as a background harmony at the end of the song - a la Beach Boys. And they had asked everyone else that had come in before me to do the same thing. They didn't play me the other ideas, they just wanted me to come up with my own. I used a line from the song and came up with a 3-part harmony - just the first thing that popped into my head. I can't WAIT to hear how they intertwine all the background parts on that one. I LOVE stuff like that. Ben and I had a lot of fun coming up with all the parts at the end of "I Needed You" on my record. Ben and I both love coming up with cool and interesting background parts. I could have gone on all day with that one. It will be really cool to hear the finished product.

Ben snuck in and got a pic of me singing in the vocal room.



He said that mic really liked my voice. :) We've tried a LOT of different mics on my voice to find the best one - especially when recording vocals for my record. Who knows - maybe that's the one we'll use on the next record :)

I'll let ya know when they get done with this record and tell you more about the band and where you can listen!


peace, love, fiddle ya'll