The rehearsal day went great and I've got my first day of basic tracking under my belt and everything went very smoothly. Yay! We were able to get 4 songs done, which was our goal for the first day. And I succeeded in my personal goal which was to not be the weak link in this trio that consists of extremely talented, seasoned musicians, and little ol' me. I totally held my own though and I am proud of myself. :-) Now that I've got one day down, and a couple of the trickier songs taken care of I feel way less nervous about the next couple of days.
The drummer and bassist that I am working with are so friggin awesome! The Sensational Todd Sickafoose and the Marvelous Allison Miller. It is exciting to hear them playing on these tunes and I am having so much fun working with them. I can't wait for you guys to hear this album. We're all going to have to wait a while though. I'm hoping to have the pre-release digital album ready for IndieGogo folks by the end of December. It'll be here before we know it.
My producer, Julie, gave me a great compliment yesterday. She commented on the fact that my energy yesterday was really calm and grounded. I was happy to get that feedback, because that was definitely another goal of mine. I want to walk through this whole process with as much grace as possible.
As you can probably imagine, taking on a project like this is a huge endeavor, and it is all to easy too get caught up in the pressure. We've got 3 days to record the basics for 13 songs-that's not a lot of time. When that tape starts rolling every little thing you play, every tiny mistake on timing or dynamics, is getting captured forever. It could be really stressful.
But I was really able to keep my perspective yesterday. I just focused on enjoying playing these songs with my amazing rhythm section, and savoring the chance to play them on the gorgeous grand piano that they have at Fantasy. Guys-this piano is literally the nicest piano I have every played on. I am in love! Seriously. I am excited to play it again over the next couple days. :-)
Speaking of which, I should probably get ready to head over to Fantasy for day two. I woke up at 5 this morning and I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep, so hopefully I can still hold myself together in a mildly sleep-deprived state... Wish me luck.