back from howard's in far off east ham.
the start
breakfast - 10am-ish. tea and another bag of those cheap micro croissants with hazlenut filling (again - well they worked last time).
listen through to things from last time.
jai guru sounding good. howard has done some work on the vocals (which is the thing it needs). horsemouth thinks to make the first half instrumental and then build from there. his last take at the main vocal over does it (they should chuck it or turn it down).
murder ballad sounding better than horsemouth remembered it.
something's on your mind probably the keeper from the session. sounding good.
if you have ghosts (roky erickson). sounding good. (but not much to it).
sometimes our dreams (they float like anchors) (william elliott whitmore). a tune horsemouth learned from andrew minty. howard will probably do a response vocal (as in 'call and response') for this. which would be good. otherwise fine. horsemouth meant to put some banjolin on it (but he forgot).
it's surprising how much better things sound when the vocal has seen a compressor or some such (software) device.
and on to the day's new recordings.
you and your sister (recorded with howard's valencia nylon strung guitar) this comes together really quickly. he thinks the guitar and vocal and the vocal takes are decent. probably another result. just needs the your loves adding, there's a little instrument under them too (horsemouth is not sure what it is). they are following the this mortal coil version rather than the chris bell version.
howard attempts a backing vocal (then decides he will have to come back to it).
wondrous love horsemouth and howard eventually find the (correct) chords online and horsemouth lays it down (hohner). a guitar and vocal together and a doubling up vocal track. nothing else. an intro and an instrumental half-verse.
hear us o lord once again horsemouth gets towed off the harmony onto the main melody. he is too flustered to get the fake-bass harmony right. so some bits of it work (and some bits don't).
plus the arthritis is fucking up his ability to play those stretches.
the only non cover of the day a guitar solo recorded on the resonator and then with the 12 string added on top. bit of an experiment (let's see how this turns out). in these days of digital editing that is probably enough. bits of it sound good. horsemouth is thinking of naming it variation on a guitar piece by pier marton (see if anyone gets that joke). he is not sure that he didn't rush it. it needs to be taken slow so that the beauty/ugliness of the resonator's tone comes through.
end up on high rise strutters' ball. guitar (resonator), banjolin, vocals, trumpet-impersonation. rhythm still a little baggy. ah well fuck it.
horsemouth is a little out of practice with this recording lark after the best part of two years off.
1pm finish.
walk up to the nearest open pub that's not a wetherspoons (the boleyn in west ham, they pass the block where jaime lives) - chips and beer (horsemouth 3 pints, howard 4 (he's a faster drinker))
back home. howard is wiped out and needs food (and sleep). horsemouth leaves him too it. horsemouth heads home bringing the resonator with him and a bag with the banjolin and the melodica (but he forgets the glockenspiel). no child minding work that night.
it was the kind of day where nothing sounded in tune and nothing sounded in time. (but it will probably turn out to be ok. horsemouth will probably have done enough). you and your sister came out well enough and quickly and this spoiled him. anything above and beyond that is a bonus.
that probably marks the end of the recording campaign for 2022. when howard will get the time to mix it god only knows. horsemouth would be totally happy with just rough unmixed versions at this stage. to him it is enough to hear the song the way he imagined it without having to play it (himself).
tonight a gig (martin carthy).
wait let horsemouth get another cup of coffee in and then we'll see if he has any inspiration left.
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