The Making Of A CD/Album - Part 1

The Making Of A CD/Album

What a day in the studio! Recording is work. Many just think it's like a live gig and you just go in and play the song, then go home. Truth be known, it's actually quite a tedious experience. Today we focused on the rhythm section for three songs, “Dockside Bar”, Yeah, A Harbor” and “21^st Century Kinda Girl”. The rhythm section is the bass and drums.

We worked on the arrangements on the songs last week. I had the basic arrangements done, however the producer, Ian Shaw, came up with modifications and adjustments for them all. Ian's input was exactly what the songs needed.

On “Yeah, A Harbor” he had us repeat the chorus at an additional point, then also moved the bridge of the song to after that chorus, where it previously had been after a verse.

On “Dockside Bar”, Ian had us add stops to a few points, which completely added a whole new feel and accent that the song had been lacking. In addition, he felt the second verse was a little long in the tooth. However, it was the exact same structure as the first. As a writer, I naturally raised an eyebrow when he first mentioned it. After all, here he was cutting out a piece of my creation.

We have to add a little note here regarding Ian. Ian Shaw is a world class producer who moved to Key West from London, England a few years ago. He maintains a flat in London and bounces back and forth periodically recording in both locations. He's been a record producer for over thirty years, and has a checkered history to go along with it. He's recorded virtually every type of music in the western world, save for an orchestra. He really knows what he's doing.

                        Ian Shaw - Picture by Ralph De Palma

           Ian Shaw (standing) working with engineer Drew Gunning
                                 Picture bt Ralph De Palma
                          https://www.facebook.com/rwdepalma

           Ian Shaw recorded the vocals for Dani Hoy's newest release
                                  At The End Of A Long Road

So, before my eyebrow was fully raised, I stopped myself to listen to what he suggested. After all, he knows miles and miles more about this process than I do.

The first thing I realized was that the verse he was suggesting to eliminate, really wasn't needed to begin with. What it was saying was redundant. Coming in with the verse he suggested, made complete sense. Off with the old and on with the new!

Throughout the rehearsal, bassist Robert “Bob” Tucker added immensely, along with drummer John Sausser. It was great watching them work out so that they complement each other, working out who does what, so that they complement each other and weave in and out their respective lines that together work out the rhythm section. Ian would say what he was looking for in a particular section, Bob and John would work it out, not to mention adding suggestions of their own.

Going into the studio today. It takes a very different talent  doing studio work than playing live. It's not often that a great live performer is a great studio musician, and visa versa. Doing studio work is a different ballgame all together.  Playing live is more like driving a Ferrari on a race track, whereas studio work is more like driving a tractor hoeing a field. It's a very different discipline. Nashville, for instance, I recall hearing years back, has a pool of around 28 musicians they pull from to do a recording. That's guitar players, keyboardists, bass players, and pedal steel players. 28 total, and they played on every Nashville cut on the radio. About a year ago there was a great movie out called "The Wrecking Crew" about a small group of musicians who were on so many hit songs, I couldn't begin to count. The Beach Boys wanted to cut their own tracks, but after hearing The Wrecking Crew, they backed off. It's a verry different talent, as I say.

Ian chose The Ramble Room Studios, on Eaton Street, here in Key West. The Ramble Room has been open for around a year, maybe a bit more, I'm guessing? I had not been there as of yet, nor had I seen any pictures of it either.

I have to say the studio is very comfortable to work in. Sofas, a bar to work on (no, sorry folks, no alcohol!) a drum booth with a very nice Yamaha kit, the main room, recording booth, all in easy access, plus, even a baby grand piano, donated by our friend Adrienne Z, for safe keeping. It's a very nice facility indeed!

With the studio came Drew Gunning, the engineer. Drew did a fantastic job all day and I need to say not only was he great to work with from an artists standpoint, but also he worked like clockwork with Ian.

I asked Ian what song we should start off with. His answer was “Whichever one you feel most comfortable with”. As Bob and I had been doing “Dockside Bar” live a couple of times, and it seemed to go well, I picked that one.

When we went through the first take, I felt that although it wasn't perfect, we would have this completed in a half hour. Ian however had different ideas on how the drums should be accenting the song in various different parts throughout the song. He would come out of the booth and say what he wanted in this part, or that.

In addition, throughout the entire session, if any of us were ahead, or behind the beat, he's make a note to us and we'd do it again. Likewise, if he wanted us to lay back, or be right on top of the beat, he's tell us. And we'd do it again.

A lot of all of this happened over the day, on all three songs, but funny enough, mostly on the first, which we felt we knew the best!

The next song “A Harbor” went a bit quicker, but not by much. I had a bit of trouble with the timing in a part of it and Ian came out and gave me a hand by actually directing! It worked!

Finally, we recorded the last song “21^st Century Kinda Girl”. This song I think we only did three or four takes and we were done. All totaled, we went from 11am to 4pm and laid down the rhythm tracks.

So again, the vocal tracks and guitar tracks that I did today will not be used. We call them “Scratch Tracks”. What they do is keep the song in structure for the bass and drums. Ian will take those tracks, edit and them. For instance, He may like Bob's first verse bass line on Dockside Bar's for that verse, but he might like his forth take on the song's second verse. On the chorus of the song, he might take part of one take and stick in another take's for the other part.

He'll do the same with the drums. Mixing and matching the best from the entire session. This is part of what will happen with every instrument as it's recorded.

Right now we have the bass and drums. When Ian is finished editing that, I'll go back in the studio and add my guitar and vocal. After that we'll add additional vocals and instrumentation. I'll keep you posted as we progress, so that you see the process in action.

I hope you'll enjoy it!

Hey Look!!!!  Dani Hoy and Terri Wlaschin!

For additional pictures, videos and stories, be sure to check out the Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/recordalbumKeyWest/

Also, if you'd like to help out with making the album, it's very easy, just buy the songs as they come out! The first one, Island Blue, already is out! My friend Misty Loggins sings it and Dani Hoy sings background vocals!

Here are the links for Island Blue. It's less than a dollar. The proceeds go to recording the next songs! For you, the consumer, it costs less to buy the album this way, plus you get them as they come out! Why wait for the album to be done? It actually costs less for you to do it this way!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/keywestchris2

https://itunes.apple.com/…/…/island-blue-single/id1142208757

https://www.amazon.com/Island-Blue-Key-West-Chris/dp/B01K39P4R6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470838734&sr=8-2&keywords=Key+West+Chris


Also! Check out my book on Amazon, "Bar Stories"! It currently had 17 Five-Star ratings!
Only $4.99!!!

https://www.amazon.com/Bar-Stories-Semi-Fictional-Adventure-Tour-Witnessed-ebook/dp/B01AHKCY1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472277826&sr=8-1&keywords=Bar+Stories#nav-subnav

Thanks for reading the blog and for those of you who purchase the son a very big THANK YOU!!!

All the Best From Key West!

Key West Chris Rehm

Story Behind The Song, Plus in Depth Analysis On How it Was Written - Garrison Bight

Story Behind The Song, Plus in Depth Analysis On How it Was Written - Garrison Bight

A few moths back, I was talking with a friend who is a DJ and a wonderful guy. He said “Well, your music isn't exactly Trop Rock”. I laughed and in a friendly way, corrected him saying something like “Well actually my music is more Trop Rock than 98% of the others you play. You see, they live in places like Michigan, New York, Maryland, California, or Illinois and are writing songs and singing about coming to the tropics, and more often than not, Key West. Their viewpoint is coming here, spending a few days, then heading home where they write about their experience, albeit from a tourist, or visitor's (there's a difference!) perspective”. I'm not being critical of their approach, only defining that mine is coming from a different angle.

Myself, I live here. Keith Richards says of songwriting “Songs just float through the room and you grab them”. The songs I write didn't float through a room in Michigan, Maryland, California, or anything like that. They float through my room in Key West. As my neighbor Many, The Coconut Man, says with his long, slow, sage African/Cuban/American accent, “It comes out of the groooouuuuuund!”

The subject matter is likewise different in that my songs are largely about day to day life here. It's not about visiting Key West for a few days,but rather living here 24/7/365. It's about my dog Cajun chewing up a coconut, or taking a day and going out sailing off of Key West, or the South being north of here. It's Key West music that comes from Key West. Blowing through the room, as Kieth Richards says, or “Out of the ground”, as Many says.

Here's a song I wrote, Garrison Bight. Garrison Bight is an inlet in Key West which has several harbors. Many people visiting know the large building there which is part of Naval Station Key West and says “Fly Navy” at the top. The one “hill” we have in Key West, the Palm Avenue overpass, goes right over Garrison Bight. Again, this is a story about living here, not visiting.

It was a funny story, in a awkward way. To set the stage for this song, I had been away from Key West for a short time and I returned when my marriage went south. My friend Gary had graciously offered to let me stay with him on his houseboat, which was docked at a boatyard in Garrison Bight, one of the two bights in Key West. During my stay there, I didn't have a job, or at this point, much of anything.

Garrison Bight was written one morning on the back of the houseboat. The song relates to my stay there, the things I saw, and the people I met. One of the things that I liked about this song is that it's completely a 100% true Key West living adventure, start to finish.

What you will see here in the video, is an in depth analysis of, not only the story behind the song, but actually much more. This video highlights how that story was transformed and fit to the particular chord progression. More specifically, how words are matched to specific individual chords.

Hear “Garrison Bight” on Soundcloud

There are of course, different ways of writing songs. for me, this format is very natural. It may be for you. I found out many years after writing in this way that it was likewise used by Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, and Garcia/Hunter. 

GARRISON BIGHT

Esus

SUNRISE OUT OF THE BIGHT

                                G                 A                         Esus

IT'S GONNA BE A HOT ONE AND I THINK I MIGHT

Esus

START OUT WITH COFFEE, CUBAN COFFEE

DARK, THICK AND SWEET

                                       G

YOU DRINK IT LIKE WHISKEY

           A                                            G              G    A    Esus

WITH PASSION TO A RHUMBA BEAT

II

Esus

HOUSEBOAT, SHE'S A TENNENT

TWENTY SIX YEARS DOWN FROM TENNESSEE

                     G                                         A                        Esus

SURVIVED WILMA THOUGH SHE'S LISTING FIVE DEGREES

Esus

SAILBOATS IN THE BOATYARD GETTING RESTORED AND LOOKING SO FINE

                                 G                       A                                 Esus             G A Esus

FRESH COATS OF PAINT, BAR B QUE RUM ICE AND LIME

(chorus)

G                                    E9                                 E7

FISHING BOATS ARE HEADED OUT THIS MORNING

G                                     E9                              Em add9

TRAWL THE WATERS LAY THEIR LINES DOWN

G                              A                     Em

SHE CAME HERE WITHOUT A WARNING

G                             A                                                      Esus

AND NOW SHE'S ANCHORED ON THIS SIDE OF TOWN

III

Esus

TALES, NEVER ENDING

CHARACTERS ABOUND

G

WAVES AGAINST THE HULL,

         A                                                  Esus

TEN BUCKS GETS YOU PUMPED OUT

IV

Esus

A PLACE ACROSS THE STREET

THEY TELL ME IS GOOD TO EAT

                    G                   A

I HAVEN'T TRIED IT

                                             Esus

'CAUSE I'M DOWN AND OUT

V

Esus

SUMMER DAY,

YEAH, IT'S A HOT ONE

I AIN'T COMPLAINING, IT'S BETTER THAN PAIN

G                                        A                             Esus

PERSPIRATION BEATS TEARS ALL THE SAME

(chorus)

G                                     E9                                E7

FISHING BOATS ARE HEADED OUT THIS MORNING

G                                     E9                              Em add9

TRAWL THE WATERS LAY THEIR LINES DOWN

G                              A                     Em

SHE CAME HERE WITHOUT A WARNING

G                             A                                                     Esus

AND NOW SHE'S ANCHORED ON THIS SIDE OF TOWN

                     G                 A                        Esus

AND IT'S A HOT ONE, AT GARRISON BIGHT

                        G                A                                    Esus

YEAH IT'S A HOT ONE HERE AT GARRISON BIGHT

                        G                A                                     Esus

YEAH IT'S A HOT ONE, HERE AT GARRISON BIGHT

©  2009 By Christopher R. Rehm - BMI

Please also take a look at my last blog and help the new album cause! Thanks!

http://keywestmusic.blogspot.com/2016/08/new-album-new-marketing-twist-release.html

Thank you for reading my blog!

All the best from Key West!

Key West Chris Rehm

New Album: New Marketing Twist – Release As We Go!

New Album: New Marketing Twist – Release As We Go!

My last CD release, “Shanghai'd and Marooned in Key West (things could be worse)” was a major success as far as the overall quality of it went. The accolades poured in from all over. Everyone expressed satisfaction and I was honored to have made a CD that included eighteen Key West musicials who were second to none.

What it was, however, was expensive. I'm not complaining, mind you, just making a matter of fact statement. My total production cost, which includes, renting the San Carlos to record the rhythm section (drums and bass), paying the eighteen musicians to play, paying for all of the studio time for recording, mixing and all that goes with it, the actual production of the finished product in CD form, came out to over fifteen thousand dollars. Again, I'm not complaining at all. It was worth every penny!

On the flip side, fifteen grand doesn't grow on trees. With my investment in the Cork and Stogie last year, that pretty much gobbled up any extra money I had.

The issue with an artist such as myself is, it doesn't matter if the money is there or not, the creativity continues and new songs keep coming out of me.

It's time to get back in the studio and put together a new release!

So, here I have all of this material available and I ask myself “How do I make this happen?”, because I don't have the cash available to do it. (Philanthropic investors are more than welcome to contact me however!)

My girlfriend Dani, and others, did the Kickstarter program. It's worked for them well, but it's not something I'm all that comfortable with as of yet.

So, I came up with an idea, which I think makes sense for everyone.

How about if I release the album song by song as it gets recorded? On line, the cost of songs are $.99 each. That's easy!

The sale of the individual songs, will go to paying for the next songs to be recorded. Does that make sense?

I don't know if it's been done before or not. I will say that when I announced it on Facebook yesterday, my friend Kole Dunn wrote me saying he would be doing the same thing. Great minds think alike... or maybe that's not great minds, but rather, madmen! HA HA!

The first song, “Island Blue” is released today, August 3, 2016 and is available on CD Baby. The other carriers, iTunes, Amazon, CD Universe, and so on, will be available in the next few days.

“Island Blue” was recorded by Dan Simpson at Private Ear Studios, here in Key West and features the amazing Country artist Misty Loggins on her Trop Rock debut, singing lead vocals. For background vocals, we have Dani Hoy! On drums, “Father Time”, Richard Crooks, Bass is Dan Simpson, Ericson Holt on keyboards, and myself on guitars.

The song has a Patsy Cline/Willie Nelson feel to it, with a contemporary theme to it of someone heading to a tropical island, like somewhere in the Keys, for example, on vacation, and staying. The song is in a Country ballad/lament style.

Dan Simpson, who recorded this, as well as my previous album, Shanghai'd and Marooned in Key West (things could be worse), regretfully is moving to Ashville, N.C. after a thirty five year run in Key West. Dan is a fabulous guy and everyone in the Key West music scene will miss him. It's said that there is a bustling music scene there, so we wish him the greatest success!

The rest of the album will be done with Key West/London producer Ian Shaw. I'm guessing Ian has been here in Key West for around four years. He still bounces back and forth between London and here regularly, working on various recording projects. He's been in the business over thirty years and I can't wait to start working with him. I've known him since shortly after I arrived here and we've always gotten along great. My experience working with him falls into the introductory level. I did a vocal track with him for a song of Renn Loren's, when I first met him. Renn introduced me to him, as a matter of fact.

                                          Ian Shaw

Dani Hoy, for her brand new release, At The End Of A Long Road, did all of her vocal tracks with Ian as well. The release was actually produced by Kevin Johnston up in Maryland, but Dani did her vocal tracks with Ian. I actually had a fun little two words on her song Back Country Pontoon Party, where I holler out “And beer!” that we did with Ian, but for reasons unknown, Kevin deleted it. Damn producers.

We'll be going into the studio to do two songs this month. One will be “Yeah, A Harbor” and most likely a song I wrote a few years back “Dockside Bar”. This will be a rhythm section with Paulie Walterson and Bob Tucker, the current rhythm section of The Shanty Hounds.

After that we'll be adding guitars, vocals, and additional instruments. It is actually a very time consuming project making a recording. The person who buys the recording, for the most part, doesn't realize all that goes into it. That's natural, as it's not their field.

Additionally, there are two songs that I recorded with the band Homemade Wine last year, that have to be finished. These two songs fall into the category of Southern Rock. Both songs are about 70% completed and we'll get to them when we can.

After that, there are also the title song “Jump Into De Fi-Ya!!!”, “Yippie Cayo Hueso!!!!” ( Cayo Hueso is the Spanish name for Key West, Translation: Bone Key), and “Tote The Load”, plus a song named “Smile!” and maybe one or two more.

Like Shanghai'd, each song will have it's own art cover. Island Blue's is one of the most beautiful islands in the Keys, Marvin Key. I took the picture and Dani, a graphic artist for ages, sized it and added the font.

Once the album is completed, I'll offer it as a complete work. The advantage is here, you can get it as it becomes available! Conceivably, the complete work could be over a year in the making, so here you can get the first song TODAY!

Conventional? Hardly! But what would anyone expect from me anyway? Certainly not the norm!

                                 Misty Loggins (Getty Images)

                      Key West Chris Rehm and Misty Loggins - 2012

Here's the link for Island Blue. It's less than a dollar. As the other carriers, iTunes, Amazon... etc, start to pick it up, I'll add their links too.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/keywestchris2

https://itunes.apple.com/…/…/island-blue-single/id1142208757

https://www.amazon.com/Island-Blue-Key-West-Chris/dp/B01K39P4R6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470838734&sr=8-2&keywords=Key+West+Chris

Thanks for reading the blog and for those of you who purchase the son a very big THANK YOU!!!

All the Best From Key West!

Key West Chris Rehm

Midnight Drive in a Key West Rainstorm

Lots of flooding tonight on our way home from our gig at Boondocks, up on Ramrod Key, twenty eight miles north of Key West. This video starts on N. Roosevelt Blvd. in Key West a bit after midnight on  August 3rd. 2016. It continues when the boulevard becomes Truman Avenue, then home in a rainstorm with a lot of of street flooding.

Includes lightning drama, a truck that appears to be disabled and on the wrong side of the street, idiot drivers, and the adventure of the rain storm.