Recording a backing track turned into a nightmare
Zoom R16 recorder saved the night
Blue Christmas Diary part 2
The first step in recording Blue Christmas was to get a backing track with everyone playing the song in time. Sonar wouldn’t work so it was done on a small digital recorder instead.
After that we would record each part separately so it could be mixed and balanced without worrying about bleeding between microphones.
I spent Wednesday getting the studio ready. The mic’s were checked and then the headphone amps to make sure each musician got his own mix. We didn’t have enough headphones for 4 musicians and the engineer.
The guys started to arrive around 7 pm Thursday . They were getting tuned up and we ran through the song a few times. It sounded sweet with a light country flavor.
Tom LeClair brought his upright bass which was inspired. We tried a few mic set-ups until I settled on a large condenser for the bass.
Ronnie brought himself and brushes. Turned out his boss just closed the shop due to health and Ronnie was in transition to another real estate office. Continue reading
