as you might have guessed, it’s gonna be sort of a summary, because a lot has happened in these two days:

the first session is about to end, only a few hours remain and what can i tell you, it’s been fun. working with guido, exploring my own music, LISTENING to the crap i have written over the last decade, rewriting and singing my lyrics, singing GERMAN lyrics…

…ah well, where to start?

how about day 4:

the day started with the recording of the guitar parts for two more songs. it’s pretty cool and amazing how easy recording sessions can be all participants know what they are doing. and believe me, i had my shares of bad sessions, but that’s a story for another time…

anyway, later in the afternoon my brother arrived with my sister-in-law, my niece and my nephew, to help me with some backing vocals on our old, first-song-written-together-ever, tune “better change your ways”. of course the kids wouldn’t let him record at first and they were full of “ooohs” and “aaahs” and “uncle dennis, show me this, show me that” while running around in the studio.

until guido had a brilliant idea!

roughly five minutes, two toms, a snare, a hi-hat, some sticks and cymbals later, the kids were quiet… well, sort of… ok, they made one helluva noise, but at least they were occupied.

ok, kids safely stored away, it was my brothers’ turn to sing, which i think he did brilliantly, but he wasn’t very convinced by his performance, because he hadn’t sung in a couple of years. it took him roughly an hour and a half to warm up and record his part of a song that’s fifteen years old, which is quite an achievement and his wife and daughter were eager to watch:

afterwards he jammed a bit on my guitar, showing off (and me), that he is still the better guitar player. i hate him.

then it was time to leave (after i had to listen and sing to the new songs my five year old nephew had composed on “his” drums), grab the kids and the whole family schwarz headed off to the big M (big cheers from the kids again) for some kids menu.

since it was already quite late, guido and i decided to wrap things up and call it a day, which brings us to:

day five!

day five held a little surprise for me, as i was about to meet the highly appraised studio drummer which would play the drum tracks and percussions on several songs.

well, those of you that know me, know that i am a total dick when it comes to meeting new people. i bitch and complain about them, ignore them a lot and act generally, though polite, quite cold and apprehensive towards them.
but i was gladly proven wrong by jens, who was not only a great and cool guy, no, he was also an awesome drummer. after the initial soundcheck it took him about five, maybe six, hours to record his part for five of my songs and he did one helluva great job. i don’t know how to explain it. he came, listened to the song, made some notes, we talked about them a bit and three to four takes later he was done with the song. just wait ’till you hear the songs and you’ll know what i mean.

please note that he never heard any of the songs before…

well, we had a great and funny time and i was quite a bit sad that the first session had ended. i packed up my stuff, said my goodbyes and drove home to get, quite satisfied with the recordings so far i might add, a good nights’ sleep.

next recording will take place late april ‘09, so make sure to stay tuned!

cheers,

dM

it’s been a good day, we recorded three more songs and also almost finished “sunday morning” and it sounds awesome with all the vocals. today we have to crank it up a notch because we invited the drummer for tomorrow, which means i have to drink more coffee!

last night i also made some “tagliatelle alla gorgonzola e spinacy” and i have to say it was pretty good. guido liked it and thats what counts!

i also hope that my brother can manage to come to sing his part in our old song today, but i am not sure if he can make it.

well, time to get to work, folks!

well, unfortunately we had to cut this day short, because guido’s kids are ill and he had to bake some pizza with them. but still, we were able to record two more songs for the album.

today we will hopefully manage to record around five to six more songs. that’s my goal at least, we’ll see how that works out.

the guest drummer is scheduled for sunday and i caught guido several times playing and improvising bass lines over my songs. i think he likes them, which i find good.

i also want to cook tonight, since i think i will be staying at the studio, but i haven’t decided on what to cook yet.

any suggestions?

cheers!

well, 4 days and 15 songs to go. lots a work to do!

stay tuned!