So. We’ve all found different way to cope with the utterly surreal situation in which we’ve all collectively found ourselves. Me? I decided to — finally — experiment with home recording. Never something I’d been very interested in learning about. Back when I was doing the Pickups, recording was more complicated and required a pretty hefty investment in equipment, and there were plenty of people who were very good at it.
Plus, I can sing and I can play bass, but I can’t play guitar. It seemed sorta silly.
And then I took 17 years off from playing.
But now? A decent computer and about $300 will get you what you absolutely have to have to record. And the technology is such that you can work with other musicians remotely and it’s really pretty damn easy!
So, here is my first ever recording. There are plenty of deficiencies — I just sorta rammed ahead without paying a lot of attention to levels and such on the vocals, and it shows — and I’d love to have a real life drummer instead of an Apple Bot, but you know? It gets the song across.
Thanks to Tony Mandracchia for the wonderful guitar work — it’s so much fun working together again! And to Dan Westrick, my current bandmate, for walking me through what I needed to get and giving me the confidence to try.
(Dan btw has some serious chops for the tech/recording stuff. I expect you will be hearing a lot of local San Diego musicians recorded in the PlunderCave when we’re able to do such things again!)
Lisa, I love your voice! You must record this on Zoom so we can see you!!!
Loved it!!!
Thank you so much! There’s really no great way for me to do this on Zoom, unfortunately. I don’t play guitar — I mean, I REALLY don’t play guitar — and while I know there are some fancy ways to connect musicians in different locations, I don’t know what those are so you have a latency problem and things don’t synch up the way they should. I’m guessing there will be better ways to deal with all that soon!
That was enjoyable! Does it have a name?
Howdy Andy! It’s called “Bad Thing.”
Love it! More, more, encore!
Working on the second tune now!
Very catchy melody~ I loved the song and instrumentals~ (were they all done by you as well?!)
Love your voice~ youβd give Gracie Slick a run for her money! You are a true artist~ more please!
As far as syncing all the tracks~ I was watching how Erik Whitacre syncs up literally hundreds of tracks. He claps his hands ONCE before starting each track~ then, using some kind of program, the computer picks up on the loud clap (it shows up as a grand spike on his screen~ and now he can start the tracks simultaneously. Heβs tried many other more sophisticated ways~ but this is the way that does the trick most quickly and efficiently.
Lisa~ you are so gifted! ππππππππππππ
Thanks so much, Sara! I am all the vocals and the bass guitar. The guitars on the track are by Tony, and the drummer is a robo-drummer on GarageBand — not exactly what I’d want but it’s more or less the right feel.
I love it!!!
Thank you!
Fun! ππ»ππ»
Thank you!
Love it! When’s the live concert?
Well, my current band, Plunderbund, just did a properly socially distanced set from Dan’s driveway. It’s a fun band — we do my tunes and Dan’s tunes (his are great and a blast to play!). We hadn’t played together since March 1 and hadn’t played any of those songs since mid-February! It was really really fun and felt oddly meaningful during this bizarre time.
Tony and I, along with the fabulous Todd Tatum on drums and Dana Fredsti on backups and percussion, had a band in LA for years called The Pickups. We…wow, I can’t even say “recently” because I think it was about a year ago! — all got together and played for the first time in 18 years or whatever in Tony’s garage — we had a blast!