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The Blue Room 2003 Glitterhouse Records
Tracklist: Blue Room Introduction notes from Glitterhouse Records: When we talked to Terry about which direction his new album should take we all agreed that it should be sparse recording, with hardly any other instruments than his battered guitar and a dobro. Something that sounds like his solo shows. t was somewhat fitting that the Texas-born musician had already written a bunch of songs that dealt with a recently departed lover, which almost cried out for sublte arrangements. Chris Eckman of the Walkabouts, who had already produced a few records, shared our soundvision and even took it a step further. Notes from the booklet: This CD was recorded, mixed and mastered over 8 days in late january 2000. Recording took place at Flora Ave. Studios, Seattle WA. Engineered by Tucker Martine. Mastered by Barry Corliss at Master Works, Seattle. Photograps by Franck Betermin. Modeled by Karin Dantec. This new CD is a record of me playing alone, pretty much how I sound live on stage. Chris is the one who really encouraged me in this direction. Hell, I wanted to still add that extra violin track but nooooo.........He kept urging me to keep it simple and that, in the end, is just what we did. Tucker quiet patience and presence at hte mixing board are also an integral part of this CD. Most thank to both of them! Also to Glitterhouse, Jackie Peron, Howard Lev and Marion for life support systems and Alain LeCloirec at Attic Studios (Concarneau, France) for the demo work. Thank-you for your presence here, at the shows and for listening to the music. Terry Lee Hale April 1, 2000, Paris, France
Produced by Chris Eckman All songs by Terry Lee Hale Tender Loving Hell Music / Bug publishing LTD./BMI (copyright sign) 2000 Here's the diary Terry wrote during the recording of "The Blue Room" Hello Friends- I kept a short diary of my new recording project.I hope you enjoy the notes. Chris Eckman was the producer and it was good to be working with him again.Tucker Martine was the engineer and both of them are still good friends of mine. I think the record will be released this summer sometime by Glitterhouse once again. Still not sure of the title but I think I can find a good one. Read on........ Day 1- Today was a day that we just spent getting good guitar and vocal micsounds. We decided to record me just playing live with little or no overdubs and so microphone placement is everything. Really it wasn't a very exciting day but an important one never the less. It's been a year since I was last in a good studio and it does take me a little time to acclimate myself into the recording mode. I ran through 4 or 5 songs but no "keepers" today. I just had new frets installed on my guitar (Froggy Bottom 6-string) and she was a little difficult to play (too high action) and so in the morning I will make a quick trip to the guitar doctor for an adjustment. Tomorrow it's work work. Day 2- We begin our recording at 12 Noon. I had to wake up at 7H30 this morning to be at the guitar doctors by nine as my Froggy Bottom 6-string need some adjustments for me to be able to play her well. Then I met Chris at 11H00 at a local music store where I rented a 12-string guitar (Taylor) for these sessions. I do own an Ibanez 12 but she is back in France and I'd been looking to purchase a new one here in Seattle but I had no luck in my searches so it is to rentals i go. The songs we recorded today were "She Makes Me", "Unmet", "Big Mountain", which were all "keepers" and we tried "Throw A Match" (an instrumental number) on 3 different guitars and finally settled on a nylon string as the good sound but I must practice it tonight to do a good job tomorrow. Also I will finish the words to "Paris Suite" (a working title still) that must be recorded also tomorrow. Tucker and Chris are way cool and relaxed in the studio and I'm excited to hear how this will all turn out to be in the end. We went and had lunch at a little deli close to the studio and then finished the day at 18H00.
Day 3- Today was very productive, relaxed and nice. I was more comfortable than I had been in the previous days and I think the results will show. I finished the words to my new song this morning at 10AM and so was ready to go at the beginning of the recording day (12H00). The song was a rather ambitous one with 3 or 4 different sections ect. and after recording it a couple of times Chris made the suggestion of shortening the song and my rearranging a couple of parts and so I basically ended up with 2 songs instead of one. The second part (or song) we decided to not record but that is cool as we are trying to keep to a kind of theme for this CD. So we recorded that song (working title"Postcard Paris"), re-sang "Unmet", and also recorded a brand new song called "Michigan Weather". Also added harmonica. Worked on recording a couple of instrumentals and another song from the first day entitled "Old Dogs"; but with no luck. After we were finished this night (18H00)we all 3 went and had a couple of beers at a nearby tavern call "Jules Maes". Tucker has his studio in the south Part of Seattle, an area called Georgetown. It's a working class neighborhood very close to Boing Airfield. Cool bars and people down here. Day 4- We're locked into a good routine now. I arrived at Noon to find Chris and Tucker reviewing what had been recorded up until today. Pretty much they liked what they heard and so I went to my little recording booth, tuned all my guitars and away we flew. One nice thing about this method of recording is that if the microphone placement is correct and if the songs are sung and played well the mix-down time should be short as the songs a simple. Tucker has been experimenting with some simple reverbs that we will probably add into the final mixes. First up today was "Texas Rose". I played it once through on the Dobro but it didn't have the right "feel" and so switched to the 6-string and we got a good cut on take 3. Generally speaking I would almost always play my best version on the 3rd or 4th time. Also recorded the new song, "Throw A Match" (not a good version either), "She Makes Me". A good work day today and with just one more recording day tomorrow, it was important to get a lot done. Day 5- So today was the work day and the kind of day that sometimes makes recording frustrating and tiring. One song all day. I believe at the end of 5 hours "I Still Want You&" sounds wonderful but we really beat this one to death to get it just right. Hats off to both Tucker and Chris for their patience and perseverance. This song was originally written for me to play with the Blind Doctors but I've slowed it down considerably and added harmonica so that it's more of a ballad now. I think it's a beautiful song and also essential for this project. It is really quite simple to play but performing it correctly and with the right emotion was a different matter. We also tried to record "Throw A Match" again but this time on Chris's nylon string guitar. The problem was that we put new strings on it just today and it kept going out of tune. So on Monday morning we will record this last song and then we will begin to mix. I'm really excited to hear the final mixes but I must wait until Monday. Day 6- First day to really hear what the finished songs will sound like and I am very happy so far. Just 4 songs mixed today but we started off with trying to record "Throw A Match" again. First take on Chris's nylon string and then on an old Silvertone electric but, alas, to no avail. The song was just not working and mostly because my playing was so uneven that we couldn't get a good version down on tape. As it is we have 10 good songs and this CD will probably go 40 minutes or more so, in the end, we don't really need it anyway. Just one more song for the next project I guess. In any case we did mix "Blue Room", "Unmet" (after adding a harmonica part at the last minute!), "Red Rose Withered Bouquet", and "Michigan Weather". A good start and tomorrow will be the last day. Day 7- Started off early today as it is our last studio day and we must be finished with everything tonight. Both Tucker and Chris are busy with other projects besides mine. We spent the first 2 hours figuring out which were the good vocal tracts for "Unmet" and then we mixed that. It's the only one we didn't record absolutely live. On we went with the mix down of "untitled"; (I am looking for a title for this song by the way!),"Texas Rose&", "Still Want You"; and "Big Mountain".The last song was difficult because, frankly, it was a bit boring with just the normal mix so in the end we used the room mic (verses a close mic) and came up with a real interesting sound. Chris added a simple harmonium part and, voila, we were finished. It was 22H00 though but we all went out and had a beer with fish and chips at a local bar. A long day but it was good to be done with it.Chris and Tucker were ultra mellow and cool up until the very end and a BIG thanks to both of them for their expertise and help. All recording sessions should go this well and smoothly! |
