Stu-Stu-Studio

So I had a full day yesterday, with driving to Brooklyn in the morning to have a three hour rehearsal with the Lisa Bodnar Band, and then returning to PA and setting up gear and pre-production stuff at Signal Sound with the boys from Manfreedy & Johnson.

Lisa Bodnar is a friend of mine from my Moravian days who is a lovely singer and songwriter. She’s recorded two albums (the second of which is coming out soon) and has been trying to put together a group that can play out. I guess she’d gone through a slew of drummers, and wasn’t happy with anyone. She got around to asking to me, figuring that I’d be too busy- but I told her I was into it. Why not? The tunes are cool, the guys in the band are talented, and I was very clear about my availability. (PFA and my stuff gets priority, but if I’m free, I’ll play ANYWHERE…)We’ve only practiced twice so far (the first rehearsal being my audition too…) and I think things are sounding OK. Lisa’s stuff is pretty straight ahead, in a sort of Aimee Mann style, with nice grooves. I hope I can keep everyone happy.

After Lisa’s practice, I got to Signal Sound in Quakertown, and the guys had just arrived. We set up Al’s drums, and got a nice sound happenin’. The main room at Signal is a nice large wooden space, and it’s really easy to get a decent drum sound. PLUS- Al (the drummer) seems to know what he’s doing and how to hit a drum. (Yay!)

The big room at Signal. Rick the engineer is holding the bass...
and that's actually Dave B. from PFA sitting on the drum riser.
I think this shot is about 10 years old. Nifty.

I’m being very optimistic in that I hope that Al and Talik can get through all of the bass and drum parts tonight. I REALLY want to keep it fresh and live and spontaneous sounding. The guys have eight tunes ready to go, and I might throw in an improv tune or two just for a challenge. They’ve very graciously decided to do a weird version of The More I Despise it Less from my Minutiæ album. Think a Footprints groove with Hrabian melody. Cool.

Talik was very funny when he pulled into Signal. You have to realize that the studio is essentially in the middle of the woods, in a wing of a beautiful house. Talik drove up from Philly, and as he got out of his car said: “where the fuck are we?” I think he was surprised to find such a great studio in the middle of NOWHERE. His fears were allayed though as we stepped into the control room and Rick (the engineer) was in the middle of setting up the computers and cables and all of the incredible gear at Signal. “Sheeeeet…” said Talik. “Quakertown.. go figure…”

The control room. I have no idea what most of this gear does.

I’m excited, and I hope the guys are ready to play.