After having recorded all vocals, horns, bass, drums and some piano, Hammond and Rhodes for two of our tracks, we sent all these files to Francis in America to mix them. Last Thursday, he himself has recorded some guitar parts, and tried another keyboard line on one of the songs. I found a file with a small part of the song in my email on Friday morning, about three minutes before I had to leave the house for a rehearsal, so I had a quick listen. It sounded great, though without the vocals on it I wasn’t entirely sure which part of the song it was…
That night, I had a gig in Oswestry with some of Francis’ friends. To my surprise, one of them (a bass player named Paul Brown) was specifically asked by Francis to ask me if I had already listened to the song. He had spoken to Francis earlier that day and had heard the part. He was full of praise about the bits he had heard and thought it sounded fantastic! Thrilled by the enthusiasm of both Francis, and everyone else we have spoken to lately, I felt like I was on top of the world (which happens to be the title of one of our songs by the way…).
This morning I woke up to find an email from Francis, saying some of the parts of the other song don’t have the proper sound and feel, so he can’t work with them. In other words: we have to find a solution quickly. Meaning we have to find someone else to record the parts and another way of recording them… I had almost forgotten at what level we’re working here, but this was a reality check once again: we have to keep aiming for the highest level possible.
This was not the best way to wake up on what is said to be Blue Monday. But luckily a couple of hours later, Francis’ everlasting energy saved the day: he had recorded some guitar parts on that very same song to give us an idea, and it lightened our moods instantly. I can say we’re back in the positive vibe!
Love always,
Maaike
Maaike with Total Chaos band members Phil Beaumont (owner of Forge studios in Oswestry), Mike Edwards, Paul Sturman, Charlotte Evans and Aziz Ibrahim
