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A Volatile Mixture / Blog

Studio Diary

Today marks the end of recording for the A Volatile Mixture sessions. Chris Barrette was back at The Sharktank to add guitars and vocals to Love is a Hell of a Thing. The part that we are referring to as the chorus got a nice harmonized arpeggio section. A soaring solo found it's home over the bridge section and a three part vocal harmony populated the chorus section as well. After Chris left, I added the final touch. Tambourine! Producer Plancke will begin mixing the rest of the tracks immediately. Mastering will follow. January 8, 2013 is the scheduled release date for the Eat of the Apple 7" single. The EP will follow shortly thereafter. \m/

Studio Diary

I was back in-studio today to redo the lead vocal on Love is a Hell of a Thing. We had a bit of an issue with tape speed the time before that had to be solved. All that remains is for Chris to return and add his personal flair to this track and then we move into the mixing phase.

Studio Diary

Chris was back at The Tank today to add his harmonies on With You. He is never short on ideas! Lots of good stuff to choose from. It is going to be interesting to see which parts make the final cut.

Studio Diary

Chris Barrette was back with us today to lay down some additional guitars on a new song called With You. I went in expecting just a solo but Chris was able to provide a lot of improvised embellishments all over the tune. We'll be back next week for some vocal work on the same song. Mixing is now complete for the songs Eat of the Apple and Cinnamon Girl(Neil Young cover). Those 2 songs are slated for the 7" vinyl debut from A Volatile Mixture that is due out late this year or early next year.

Studio Diary

Love is a Hell of a Thing got the lead vocal treatment today. This song is me at my most vulnerable and it came out in the vocal performances. Funny how going through some shit will make you stronger in the end. We also chatted about the mix for Eat of the Apple. We should get a final version in the next week or so. I'll be taking a couple of months away from the studio this summer. I expect to be back in the late summer with a new batch of songs. Ciao for now!

Studio Diary

We cut the lead vocal for With You at The Sharktank today. Most of this tune was close to the bottom of my range so we went through some warmups so I could get comfortable. Once we got into that comfort zone things moved along nicely. I also heard the first mixes of Eat of the Apple and Cinnamon Girl earlier this week. Just a little tweaking and they'll be ready for mastering.

Studio Diary

Greg "Dr. Teeth" Duff spent some time with us today to play piano on Love is a Hell of a Thing. We came away with something that had hints of Elton John and Christine McVie. This song is a ballad that, it seems, is going to be centred around Greg's playing.

In other news, the songs that are slated for the Apple/Cinnamon 7" release have now moved into the mixing process.

Studio Diary

Chris Barrette was back at The Sharktank today to add the harmonies to Cinnamon Girl. Nice and easy! After that we played around with some clapping on the chorus bits with no singing. I'm at home now listening to mp3s of Eat of the Apple and Cinnamon Girl. Recording is done for both songs and I'm going to spend the next few days picking them apart just to make sure that they are 100% ready to move into the mixing stage. Full speed ahead for the Apple/Cinnamon 7".

Studio Diary

Finished guitars on With You today. We added some nice arpeggiated runs with a chorus effect and some beefy power chords to fill out the tune. Love is a Hell of a Thing got the power chord treatment as well for the bridge section. It really helps that part take off. The solos will have lots of room to breath with the chords ringing out.

Studio Diary

Acoustic guitars for Love is a Hell of a Thing & With You were the main focus for today. The "falling-down-the-stairs" part in With You was entertaining and fun! After that we took a shot at the lead vocal part on Cinnamon Girl. It should fill out nicely when we get Chris back in for harmonies.