Dan Workman Studio Log

I was doing a little reminiscing today about my very first studio experience; recording basic tracks for Dorothy and Storm at Sugar Hill Studios with Dan Workman as my producer.  You never forget your first time at anything, and recording songs you have written from your heart with professional musicians in a professional studio is high atop the list of sublime experiences.  You're taking this intimate emotion you've neatly packaged into words and sounds, and in an exposing moment... not unlike standing buck naked in the middle of rush hour traffic...., you present it to strangers to re-create with their own hearts and skills.  After years and years of only being able to express your tunes with one guitar, one voice, and then being able to flesh out the sound with experts in their field is akin to working magic.  No exaggeration.  I cried when they played the very first note.

I found Dan Workman's write up of the experience, and it brought me great joy to re-read it.  I copied and pasted it here for you.  If you need a smile today, read on.  And thank you, "Tin Dan."  "Dorothy" is forever grateful for your kindness. :-)  For more on Dan's Blog, visit this link: http://studiolog.danworkman.com/2009_03_22_archive.html



Yesterday I cut basic tracks in SugarHill's Studio A for Girl Friday. The session was incredibly fun and worth an update. GF brought food which included an astonishingly good chocolate chip cookie (one of the giant pizza pan sized ones). It was amazing because it was cooked just right--about one minute past the raw cookie dough stage (danger!), but before the next chewy cook stage. She also brought each of us a chocolate easter bunny... along with Perrier, wine, bananas, veg tray, chips, picante' sauce,....

We did do more than eat. We got basics for two great songs, Storm, and Dorthy . Eric Jarvis played bass, Falcon Valdez was on the drums and percussion, and Josh Moore played piano and accordion. Steve Christensen engineered, and SugarHill Uber Intern Kevin assisted. This was the first time I worked with Josh, and I was suitably impressed. It was also the first time for me to work with this particular cutting crew. Eric, Steve and I have tons of hours logged in the studio together, and Falcon and Josh fit right in. As a matter of fact, the vibe on this session may have been one of the sweetest I have ever experienced, even though we were put to the test before the session even started. Andy Bradley's emergency mix session did not end until a few minutes after our slated start time. That was no problem at all for us as we all sat around the 'horn o' plenty' of snacks in the break room table. Way to go Girl Friday!

The highlight of the session was Falcon coming up with some great arrangement and percussion ideas. No. Wait a sec,... the highlight of the session was GF going into an unabashed girl-cry during the first take of the first song we tracked. She had warned me that it would happen, and U.I. Kevin was ready with the tissues. She was just so pumped to hear her song being realized by such generous and talented guys. I actually had some contact-cry emotions when I saw her break down. She was experiencing the joy that motivated us to work in the studio in the first place. It's always an honor to lead someone through the rite of passage of their first session working with magical players. The music was great, the vibe was beautiful, and the fellowship was wonderful. A really good day at the office. Now I get to play my parts!