Adam Kurtz vs. America

A more productive day, i’d like to see it!

Hey you all out there!  I started this morning at 9:45 am, after a needed 9 hour sleep, by doing a drum track for the song “Open Road.”  Initially when I decided on this record I planned to do a no-drum thing.  I wasn’t psyched with how I’d managed to get live drums sound before, the MIDI drum thing is passé, and I wasn’t gonna pay anyone to play drums for me, especially on an alt-country record, since the parts SHOULD be quite simple.  This morning, with the Harpswell sun shining on me, I had the revelation: why not, try it.

Well I’m glad I did – I think the drum part came out great, so in typical fashion, without more than the coffee I’d already brewed to fuel me, I laid down the drum parts to every song, all nine of them (I deemed one – and later on today deemed a 2nd one – as not needing drums).  So now Open Road really will be an all out rockin’ alt country album.  Of course, not all the songs are up tempo, in fact, there are a few slower, prettier tear jerkers in there.  Beware.

So in the last 12 hours, I have drunk a pot of coffee (only 5 cups), 4 beers (Miller Lite – why?), and eaten one corned beef sandwich.  But more important, I’ve recorded the drums to 9 songs, and the lead AND background vocals to all 6 songs that I had not done in the last few days.  My voice is shot, my chest burns, but vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, and drums (sorta) are entirely done.  Done.  And I just listened to ‘em all and I like ‘em.

It was a good day, and so it was written.

Why it’s good to write before you record

It’s now been officially 23 hours that the studio has been up and running, and I’m pleased as punch drunk love to say that acoustic rhythm guitar, and bass guitar is now DONE for the entire 10 song album.  now for the fun of lead guitar, vocals, backing vocals, and maybe a jangly piano here or there.

Halfway Rock Recording Studios is where i wanna be

HWRRS has now been up and running for exactly 8 hours and in that time I have laid down what i think are 5 beautiful acoustic guitar parts for 5 songs.  I decided to start 5 songs (and the others are next) instead of doing each song in its entirety one at a time because after the first one I thought, damn, that Taylor is sounding like butter, i wonder how it’ll sound on the next one.  and sure enough, i couldn’t believe it wasn’t butter but was in fact a taylor acoustic.

For you techies, normal I double my acoustic guitar parts and compress the shit out of them as a rhythm instrument.  For this record, i decided (before i even tried it out) to do a single acoustic and not to double it.  I set up two mics - my standards, the audio technica condenser and my SM58, both about 2 feet away from the guitar and pointing in at about 20 degrees each.  Made a stereo track with those, each hard panned L and R.  I also did a direct in since the Taylor has a fantastic preamp system (the Expression System).  That’s a mono track.  These 3 combined are pleasing to my ears, after a touch of compression, gentle EQ, and some room reverb.

I’ve done half the songs and something tells me i should stay up late and do the other 5, but is that crazy? or is it crazy not to? i’ll probably do one or two more.  or three. or four. or five.  shit, that’d be all of them.

The Eve of the Next Step

Tomorrow is the day I will officially relocate to Halfway Rock Studios to record a new alt-country record before hittin’ the road. I’m ecstatic to say that - despite the annoyances of moving from a place i’ve lived for 4 years into nowhere - I’ve managed to write the whole record in the last two weeks. My new songs are running through my head and i’m looking forward to actually getting them down in album form.

A lot of people are asking me why I’m packing it up and heading south - and west. So that’s why i wrote this new album. I wanted to write an album entirely during the period of having decided i’m leaving, and having not yet left. When it’s done, by the end of the month if all goes right, i’ll be able to refer people to a link on my website with a free download of a ten-song explanation of exactly why.

I think explanations are always best in song form, because you then get to sing along with them, and also because i can describe things in metaphor - either loose or not so loose - and that’s fun.

Halfway Rock Studios awaits and i couldn’t be more excited to chill and play guitar for 2 weeks before heading to all my friends’ couches. I’ll be playing these new songs probably a bunch at MunjFest on Sept 19 and the Empire’s Day of Rest Music Fest on Sept 27.

Writing an entire album in 2 weeks is an extremely satisfying endeavor. I think recording an entire album in 2 weeks will be more so.

Quote of the night

From my mom, out her window, at us on the deck, telling us to keep the after-party down after having already told us to stop playing music inside (after night of cachaca, vodka, tequila, wine, beer and lots and lots of Brazilians):  “Esther. This is worse.”