I was in the studio last weekend, recording some very challenging, highly arranged,
often counter-intuitive
music for a 6-piece quasi-jazz outfit, and had a few random thoughts about it:
- Recording easy music for your own record is harder than recording hard music for someone else’s.
- Preparing by playing easy stuff in the feel and tempo of the pieces you’re recording is a great idea.
- So is clearly segregating the parts of the arrangement where you need to play functionally from those where you need to play creatively.
- Hey, simple stuff played solidly in time and with authority sounds great.
- This music involved some difficult reading, with lots of rhythm section stops, which made it prone to dragging. Using a click both removed any second guessing about tempo and insured that it would be possible to borrow sections or parts from various takes if necessary.
- A little emotion goes a long way.
Just play the notes in time with a good sound. - And finally: My 22″ Paiste 602 Dark Ride does indeed rule. Making a fortissimo crash on the thing makes you feel like McCoy Tyner. Powerful.