We’re at the end of a very productive week of recording for A Time Will Come For Singing, the 22-year old Christmas album I told you about in an earlier series of posts. We’ve got some great stuff down on the hard drives, and we’re excited about next steps!
[blockquote]This is Part 4 of a series on the production of A Time Will Come For Singing (Special Edition). See All Posts[/blockquote]
Paul Sirvatka arrived back at the studio last Friday. With him is his good friend, drummer Steve Linley. Steve has incredible chops and it’s great to have real drums on this project!
We’re also thrilled to have a couple of other local friends, DC-based jazz guitarist Craig Gildner, and mandolin player (mandolinist? mandonlineur?) Matt O’Donnell, joining us on this project.
Craig is contributing his guitar stylings to a jazz-flavored arrangement of “Silent Night” that Paul arranged for the album, while Matt is lending a little extra sparkle on several tunes including “Here I Am, O Lord”, “Away In A Manger”, and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”.
Between takes, Steve and Craig regaled us with a little noodling.
Paul and Steve have an interesting chemistry, filled with all sorts of wacky inside jokes and sight gags.
Paul, conjuring up the spirit of Gonzo The Great and his trumpet in the opening to The Muppet Show, turns in a virtuoso performance on the congas.
Whew! Quite a week. We have something of a fun tradition here at ULS. In the stairwell leading down to the studio, we have a number of signs we bought when Hard Times Cafe, a well-loved Clarendon institution, shut down a few years back. One of them is a sign that hung in the restaurant’s window, showing that the restaurant was open til the impressively late hour of 3 AM on weekends. In keeping with that tradition, whenever we’re still…er…”working” with a client at 3 AM, it calls for a picture with the “Open Til 3 AM” sign.
Silliness aside, we got lots done over the past few days. Replacing the cheesy, canned synth drums is already making a huge difference. It being August already, I’m not sure whether we’ll be able to get this project done in time to reasonably have it out in time for this Christmas. Again, remember that part of the genesis of this project was trying to fix some of the stuff that was rushed when the album was first recorded back in 1995. So we’re going to do it right, even if it takes another year. Stay tuned!
