Sunday, June 15 - We had a nice relaxing day. We attended an early sacrament meeting. We played a bit, but decided to set up the recording gear the next morning. That evening we visited Doug's sister, Stephanie, and her husband and boy. Jeff had just had surgery on his feet so he was laid out on his back. He is a professional artist and we were able to check out his studio. Stephanie works at Irrisoft, the company that Doug works at and that their father founded. It's a family affair. We had a nice conversation, although there seemed to have been some miscommunication. Doug and I were under the impression that we had been invited over for dinner, but the longer we waited, the more we realized there was no dinner to be found. Our bellies grumbled but at least our hunger was staved off by a bowl of ice cream. I can't remember what we ended up eating for dinner...probably leftover beans and rice. I do remember that we headed over to Redbox and picked up 3:10 to Yuma. Doug made some brownies and we watched a great movie.
Monday, June 16 - The first day of recording. The morning went really well. I think we mostly focused on tracking Doug's guitars. We set up a stereo X pattern of two SM57s and a Rode NT2 in front of the guitar. We then placed another Rode down the hall. Doug's dining area, kitchen, entry way, and hallway have slate tiles. We happily discovered that the hallway created a nice reverb chamber. We were able to get some warm reflections from the room mic. This worked particularly well for the mandolin parts I laid down. Any way, Doug ripped through his takes and then we decided it was lunch time.
Several months ago, Doug told me about this great Indian place at an old gas station. In the meantime, the place has grown quite popular and they have since moved into a nice location on the main street. Apparently, the head chef from the Bombay House in Provo decided to open up his own place, the Indian Oven, in downtown Logan. The place was not much different than most Indian buffets, but it was delicious.
That afternoon we continued recording and having a good time. There were a few technical snafus, but we worked through them. I was a bit grumpy, which was mostly due to sleep deprivation and the weariness of travel. That evening we headed over to Hollywood Video and picked up two movies. That night we celebrated a successful day of recording with some amazing steaks. D's father-in-law is a cattle rancher and they have an endless supply of delicious beef. We watched The Big Lebowski, a Coen brothers film I had not yet seen. It was pretty funny, although very, very strange.
Tuesday, June 17 - I didn't sleep well that night. As I started to wake up, I heard the dulcet tones of "The Star-Spangled Banner." However, this was Jimi Hendrix's version from Woodstock. I was not pleased. In fact, I decided that I would stay in bed an extra half hour just to spite Doug. My agitation of the previous day was amplified along with the distortion of Jimi's strat. I was not a happy camper. Doug had been up for awhile and was eager to record. Later he told me that as soon as he hit play he thought that I would either find it funny, or get really annoyed. Well, at least he was aware of one of the possible outcomes. Regardless of the rude awakening, we got some good recording done that morning. For lunch, Doug took me to a great Thai place he had been telling me about, The Kamin. The food was tasty and the service hospitable. We also enjoyed watching the gorgeous daughter of the proprietors as she set the tables for the evening. I'm really hoping she was over 18...otherwise, I would feel like a lech. We got back to recording and then Doug had the brilliant plan of going up to campus for some of that famous Aggie Ice Cream. We ended up getting a 1/2 gallon of some divine chocolate cookie fudge creation. The sumptuousness of the ice cream helped us choke down the dry and flavorless movie we watched, Godsford Park. Bleh! We kept waiting for it to pick up, but it never did.
Wednesday, June 18 - We finished up recording that morning. I continued my streak of morning a-holery and got really upset when Doug turned off a CCR disc we had been listening to while cleaning up. Doug is a great friend and he usually just lets me work through my grumpiness. It's one of the nice things about him. Because he doesn't act negatively when I'm being a jerk, it helps me realize I'm being a jerk. Once we had the house back in order and the car loaded with some gear we had borrowed from Kevin, he stopped by the local Burger King before we headed back to Salt Lake. Doug, in his continuing efforts to attract me to Cache Valley, decided to take the long way to the freeway, going through Mendon. I have to say, Logan is beautiful and I would not hesitate in accepting a job at Utah State if the opportunity presented itself. Doug and I listened to some great music and talked eagerly about the future of this project. I think that since we had a mostly positive recording experience, it will be easier to pull off next summer. Hopefully, we'll be able to follow our original plan and record in Alton, Utah with Richard. That would be so much fun.
Several months ago, Doug told me about this great Indian place at an old gas station. In the meantime, the place has grown quite popular and they have since moved into a nice location on the main street. Apparently, the head chef from the Bombay House in Provo decided to open up his own place, the Indian Oven, in downtown Logan. The place was not much different than most Indian buffets, but it was delicious.
That afternoon we continued recording and having a good time. There were a few technical snafus, but we worked through them. I was a bit grumpy, which was mostly due to sleep deprivation and the weariness of travel. That evening we headed over to Hollywood Video and picked up two movies. That night we celebrated a successful day of recording with some amazing steaks. D's father-in-law is a cattle rancher and they have an endless supply of delicious beef. We watched The Big Lebowski, a Coen brothers film I had not yet seen. It was pretty funny, although very, very strange.
Tuesday, June 17 - I didn't sleep well that night. As I started to wake up, I heard the dulcet tones of "The Star-Spangled Banner." However, this was Jimi Hendrix's version from Woodstock. I was not pleased. In fact, I decided that I would stay in bed an extra half hour just to spite Doug. My agitation of the previous day was amplified along with the distortion of Jimi's strat. I was not a happy camper. Doug had been up for awhile and was eager to record. Later he told me that as soon as he hit play he thought that I would either find it funny, or get really annoyed. Well, at least he was aware of one of the possible outcomes. Regardless of the rude awakening, we got some good recording done that morning. For lunch, Doug took me to a great Thai place he had been telling me about, The Kamin. The food was tasty and the service hospitable. We also enjoyed watching the gorgeous daughter of the proprietors as she set the tables for the evening. I'm really hoping she was over 18...otherwise, I would feel like a lech. We got back to recording and then Doug had the brilliant plan of going up to campus for some of that famous Aggie Ice Cream. We ended up getting a 1/2 gallon of some divine chocolate cookie fudge creation. The sumptuousness of the ice cream helped us choke down the dry and flavorless movie we watched, Godsford Park. Bleh! We kept waiting for it to pick up, but it never did.
Wednesday, June 18 - We finished up recording that morning. I continued my streak of morning a-holery and got really upset when Doug turned off a CCR disc we had been listening to while cleaning up. Doug is a great friend and he usually just lets me work through my grumpiness. It's one of the nice things about him. Because he doesn't act negatively when I'm being a jerk, it helps me realize I'm being a jerk. Once we had the house back in order and the car loaded with some gear we had borrowed from Kevin, he stopped by the local Burger King before we headed back to Salt Lake. Doug, in his continuing efforts to attract me to Cache Valley, decided to take the long way to the freeway, going through Mendon. I have to say, Logan is beautiful and I would not hesitate in accepting a job at Utah State if the opportunity presented itself. Doug and I listened to some great music and talked eagerly about the future of this project. I think that since we had a mostly positive recording experience, it will be easier to pull off next summer. Hopefully, we'll be able to follow our original plan and record in Alton, Utah with Richard. That would be so much fun.
2 comments:
I am partial to Utah State, as well.
Yeah, well, you would be.
It is nice to know that at least one person reads this blog.
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