So, as some of you might know I have started recording my album and I thought this would be an interesting to do so as to share the process of actually making one for the first time. When I say the first time it means the first album I'm doing as a solo artist and not as guitar player , band member, etc. The difference lies in the fact that this is what I want to say, the way I wanted it said. Also, these songs are so personal to me (if you've been to any of my gigs you know a bit of the stories behind them) and I've gone through a lot of growth and change in the past few years to arrive here, at this very moment. Of course all I write is based on my perspective and my perspective alone which is only one side of the many sides of things so please don't misinterpret it as anything absolute. It's just my point of view. Me , my friends Marconi de Morais and Sandro Feliciano first got together to work on these songs in September 2007 . We met whenever I was in town and during the following 3 months were able to get arrangements and rough demos for most of the 14 songs that are gonna be recorded. After that came the process of me getting familiar with what had just happened and what needed to happen after that. So I spent the last 9 months living with these songs , understanding more and more what they mean and getting ready to play the part of Grecco the artist. I have been touring since January with k.d. lang and that has afforded me the time and discipline necessary to work on what I felt needed improvement. I've kept at it and feel I have definitely grown . There is and will always be room for improvement , but here I must emphasize that the process has been amazing. And the results are enjoyable but not as quite as the whole thing. We had planned to start recording in August. I talked to a few different engineers who I wanted involved , we start researching about studios and what we needed for the sound aspect of the album. After numerous meetings and "field trips" to studios around town , we settled on a more concise game plan for the tracking of the first batch of songs. We got my friend and amazing engineer Benny Faccone to track the drums at Ocean Way Studios, one of the most legendary studios in L.A. I got together with Sandro and we rehearsed for a week to make sure we got the parts feel and confidence to go in and have some great takes. And so we went in on the 15th and 16th of August of 2008. It felt so good to be able to do this and have this group of people involved in something I believe in and love so much as these songs. It also felt like we were not there. I've felt before that I actually haven't written these songs, I was just there at the time they needed to be put onto paper. Same kind of feeling. You're so much there that you're not there. It's hard to convey it in words but anyway. We got great drum sounds and great takes for the 7 songs that required drums on the album. Everything was recorded into analog tape to get the old school sound we wanted. And of course there were moments of frustration , of not getting it quite right , of having to stop for food when you want to get right and be done with it, but that's the beauty of this , the fact that you have to learn to work with the people you thought you knew until then. The dynamics of inter human relationships .
Again, I think that's gonna be the great gift of making this album, to look back and see where and who we thought we were when we began and who we are throughout the journey. So we finished the drums and I went home, packed and was off to London to play with Airto Moreira and Flora Purim for a week. I took the tracks with me to listen to and make notes on what needed editing if at all . We set up a date to get together, me Marconi and Sandro and edit the drums, and in the meantime started looking for a place to record pianos , but more of that on the next installment of this blog. Thank you so much for stooping by. I hope you enjoyed it and got something out of it and keep tuned in for more.
Peace !
Grecco
