cyoungnashville
Chief Fanboi-ardee
heres an example of the tones im getting out of big al. im in love. its massive, with just the right amount of girth to growl ratio. this is a quick little "bass up / vocal down" mix i threw together of a typical song from a demo session i played on last week. its a little loose, but i kinda dig that.
some insight into the nashville songwriter "demo sessions":
we spend no more than 20-30 minutes per song on these demos. the songwriter comes in with some kind of worktape (crappy, noisy recording of writer hacking his way thru the tune on acoustic gtr) and a really bare bones number system chord chart. they play the song once, so you can catch the vibe of the tune, and correct all the mistakes they made on the chart. alot of times they just play up to the bridge, because youve already heard the chorus that comes next, haha. everybody goes out from the control room to their stations, chooses their weapon, sits down, and puts their headphones on. a few seconds before the drummer counts it off, they tell you what key they want you to play in, many times its a totally different key than the demo you just heard. the drummer says four, and you are recording. most of the time, we get it on the first take. if you dont get it the first time.... it's ok, no big, take one more. there will not be a third take, so hopefully if you messed up, it was only a chord or two that can quickly be punched. if you need to punch more than a couple chords, or consistently need 3-4-5 takes...... you're recording career is over in nashville. master sessions move much slower, and pay much much better, but theres fewer of them, so everybody does both to fill up their schedules. the demos can be brutal though. its not at all out of the ordinary for me to come home from a solid day (3, 3hour sessions) of demo sessions having recorded 20 songs that ive never heard before in my life. this sound clip is a good example of a "first take". little loose, but good energy. if it was a master recording, we would play it over and over and over, until there was no life left in it at all, cuz apparently, thats what music fans want. all the motown masters, were cut at the same pace our demos are cut. there might be a big lesson there, but no one here seems to get it. i digress..... ON WITH THE BIG AL SHOW!!!!
http://www.thecraigblog.com/media/bigaldemo.m4a
some insight into the nashville songwriter "demo sessions":
we spend no more than 20-30 minutes per song on these demos. the songwriter comes in with some kind of worktape (crappy, noisy recording of writer hacking his way thru the tune on acoustic gtr) and a really bare bones number system chord chart. they play the song once, so you can catch the vibe of the tune, and correct all the mistakes they made on the chart. alot of times they just play up to the bridge, because youve already heard the chorus that comes next, haha. everybody goes out from the control room to their stations, chooses their weapon, sits down, and puts their headphones on. a few seconds before the drummer counts it off, they tell you what key they want you to play in, many times its a totally different key than the demo you just heard. the drummer says four, and you are recording. most of the time, we get it on the first take. if you dont get it the first time.... it's ok, no big, take one more. there will not be a third take, so hopefully if you messed up, it was only a chord or two that can quickly be punched. if you need to punch more than a couple chords, or consistently need 3-4-5 takes...... you're recording career is over in nashville. master sessions move much slower, and pay much much better, but theres fewer of them, so everybody does both to fill up their schedules. the demos can be brutal though. its not at all out of the ordinary for me to come home from a solid day (3, 3hour sessions) of demo sessions having recorded 20 songs that ive never heard before in my life. this sound clip is a good example of a "first take". little loose, but good energy. if it was a master recording, we would play it over and over and over, until there was no life left in it at all, cuz apparently, thats what music fans want. all the motown masters, were cut at the same pace our demos are cut. there might be a big lesson there, but no one here seems to get it. i digress..... ON WITH THE BIG AL SHOW!!!!
http://www.thecraigblog.com/media/bigaldemo.m4a
