December 4th, 2008
A friend of mine sent this to me recently and I thought it perfectly articulated something I find myself chasing a lot…..
“The Flow” represents the moment in a task or activity when a person’s skills meet a challenge that engages them to their fullest capacity and potentially pushes their skill set beyond where it was before. It usually generates a “feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.”
I dig this feeling.
And last weeks sessions put me smack in the middle of it.
Last Monday was EWI day. If you’ve been following the blog since early on, you may recall an early post regarding saxophone parts and the fact that Shirk hasn’t been a huge fan of them, or the EWI for that matter. (EWI stands for Electronic Wind Instrument, basically, a synthesizer that also responds to the fluctuations in the breath of the player). In some ways, it’s kind of ironic we’ve worked together this long given my background and affinity for the instrument and his dislike for it, but it’s this push and pull between us that often nets the best results I think.
Anyhow, I picked up a replacement EWI a few weeks ago (you may recall my original one died), and I’ve had my heart set on giving it a try on “Spinning On”. I’d found some voices that I though fit perfectly for the tune, giving it an almost analog 70′s synth sound. Far from cheesy, and really pretty unique. And I found some simple ways of toning down the breath control so it didn’t have that lame smooth jazz vibe.
Shirk kept a very open mind to it, and we spent the majority of the day tracking parts.
Challenging is an understatement. The instrument doesn’t exactly respond like a saxophone, even though the fingerings are the same. Initially, I struggled to get the ideas in my head out through this device… I had the licks, but the touch had to be just right.
At longest stretch, I was tracking for about 5 or 6 hours straight and totally lost track of time. And eventually, it clicked. I found the feel, we had a great tone, and Shirk was actually digging it. The parts really elevate the tune and give it the unique character I think. GREAT day.
Tuesday, we found the flow again, tracking “Taking Time”.
I came in with much less than usual that day. I hadn’t figured out the phrasing of the vocals (I’d never actually sang the whole tune on my own yet!) but I had a complete set of lyrics and I knew I liked what I’d written. The other concern was the song itself… it’s by far the simplest song I’ve written yet, really just a 8 bar vamp with some layering and dynamics variation throughout. But the short sketch I’d created had gotten some very positive reactions from folks I shared it with (including blog visitors), and I felt pretty sure we had something worth while to develop. So we just dove in…
Shirk was on point, doing a fine job or getting sounds for my 4-5 guitar parts, creating an extremely complimentary set…. they all add something to the tune without fighting one another. I came right out of the gate laying down vocals and phrasing ideas, struggling LOTS at first, but eventually finding my way. We added some basic percussion cues, and in under 6 or 7 hours the song was pretty complete.
Here’s a some shorts clips… you’ll recognize “Taking Time” from the sketch I posted a couple weeks back:
“Spinning On” (guitars, EWI, kick drum, vocal scratch track):
spinning-sample_1-21
“Taking Time” (guitars, basic percussion, vocal scratch track):
taking-time-clip_1-21
Next week I’m back to the acoustic, tracking guitars for “Wedding Song”, “Down”, “Flora” and another song with no name, as we continue some more good Flow hunting.
PJ
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