Part 6 of 18 serialised by Nuance, New Straits Times
14th October 2002
We had originally planned to begin recording yesterday, but Lewis had a concert commitment in Singapore, so I gave everyone a day off instead. Lewis promised to return from Singapore in time for us to start work today.
Anyway, I rose this morning full of beans. It’s the first day in the studio, so we decided to take it easy: Ronan, Sherry and I would go into the studio in the morning to set up, Hayakawa and Lewis would join us after lunch. But Murphy’s Law has a habit of striking just as youÃre getting comfortable. And so it did today.
John the studio engineer greeted us warmly when we arrived. That was nice. But then he had to spoil it by telling us that the tape recorder cannot be aligned to the tape speed we specified when I booked the studio…
Oh no.
Running the recorder at our specified tape speed was crucial to the sound we had in mind for the album. But a special alignment tape was needed to recalibrate tape speed and the studio didnÃt have it. Either did the equipment supplier. I wonÃt go into the milk-curdling details of tape speed and recording technique; suffice it to say it would take most of the day, many groveling phone calls, and much frantic driving in drive-time traffic to sort it out.
Anyway, fast-forward a few hours. Sherry and I were triumphantly driving back to the studio with a borrowed reel of alignment tape in our grubby hands. My mobile rang. It’s Lewis.
“Hey Lewis, how do you like the studio?”
“Er… I’m still in Singapore.”
I nearly soiled my pants.
“WHAT are you still doing in Singapore?”
“I wanted to buy some new drum heads for your sessions and got delayed. I wonÃt be back to KL till 6pm at the earliest.”
And so a day of frustration continued.
We got back to the studio to find a couple of technicians waiting for us. It would take two hours to re-align the tape recorder. But no sooner was one problem solved then the next one emerged.
Surprisingly, no one at the studio knew how to use the resident vintage Neve mixer properly. Not John, who’d just graduated with from recording school a few months earlier. Not Ronan, who had only made one record in his entire career on this particular mixer. And because the studio owner bought the mixer used, there was no manual to fall back on. The only thing left was for Ronan to methodically learn the mixer by trial and error.
8.30pm. Ronan had finally sorted out the mixer. But by then, weÃd spent 10 hours in the studio and had not recorded a note. Worse, there was still no sign of Lewis. Everyone was feeling totally demoralised. I was livid.
It is at times such as this that an experienced producer proves his worth by knowing when to fold a bad hand. Ronan took one look at a sea of bowed heads and simply called it a day. He tried to reassure me that Van Morrison recorded his seminal album ‘Astral Weeks’ in two days and so there was plenty of time for us. But my drummer had gone AWOL and I was in no mood to be comforted.
15th October 2002
I was so stressed by yesterday that I only managed 3 hours sleep last night.
Thankfully, Lewis was waiting when I got to the studio. The mystery of his non-appearance last night was finally unveiled. He was stuck because people fleeing Bali in the aftermath of that senseless bombing brought Singapore’s Changi Airport to a stand still. He looked pale and tired from lack of sleep. I felt bad for having felt so pissed-off last night and tried to cheer him with a good chat over hot coffee. Then, when everyone was sufficiently energized, we got up to finally start work.
If only things were so simple.
It turned out that there was yet another technical glitch to do with equipment interface. Something about cables not matching. Whatever. We all waited while Ronan tried desperately to solve the problem. Waiting is very tiring when you haven’t had enough sleep. And it’s generally a bad idea to keep musicians waiting in the studio because it saps energy and builds frustration. Either way, when Ronan finally sorted it out, it was already way past noon and everyone was on slow motion.
Still, by 7pm we managed to lay down pretty decent tracks for two songs. Everyone felt good again; at least until we recorded ‘Marianne Called’. This is a slow song that had impressed us with its quiet power during rehearsals. Yet somehow, it was lethargic and lifeless in the studio. No one knew why. But it was past 9pm by then, and everyone was tired, so we called it quits. Hopefully, the magic would return tomorrow.
As I am writing this, I fear that recording the rhythm section is not going to get any easier. For one, Lewis is double booked all week with good paying jobs landing just as this project started. Good old Lewis is trying his best but itÃs going to be difficult for him to stay fresh if he’s working 20 hour days. In the mean time, Hayakawa leaves town in three days. So, the drummer is tired and the bassist is on a tight schedule. Not a good combination. On top of this, after two days in the studio, we’ve only recorded rhythm section for two songs. We have nine more to do in three days.
Damn, this is going to be a close thing.