Daryl Darden and I after a hard but utterly gratifying day’s work
Haunted by visions of the great Daryl Darden twiddling his thumbs while I scramble with technical difficulties, I decided to have this recorded professionally by Tony Shogren at his Los Angeles studio. Boy, am I glad that I decided to go that route, as I was free from the burden of manning the technical side of the recording process and free to work with Daryl on execution of this very difficult tune of mine. Since I gravitate more towards melodies that would normally be played by a musical instrument, it generally takes an extremely skilled vocalist to interpret my songs, with their dense rhythms and large interval jumps.
me with Tony Shogren
The thing about working with my engineer for the day, Tony, is that not only is he a great engineer, but he’s an incredibly diverse musician, having played drums, percussion, and piano for over 30 years (he currently performs with the great Brazilian band, Sambaguru), composing music for film and television, well over 20 years of music engineering experience, and even teaching an ethnomusicology course at UCLA! Because of his multi-dimensional understanding of music, he was able to offer great insight into producing the best possible vocal performance.
I really can’t even tell you all how much I learned over the course of this 7-hour recording session, where we were able to capture not only Daryl’s incredible vocals (layered 5 times over in some places), but also some incredible George Benson-esque guitar+vocal unison scat-style improvisations along with some shockingly groovy rhythm guitar.
The last bit of recording I’ll be doing is the live funky poppin’ electric bass, which will most likely be recorded at Tony’s studio as well. Luckily for me, I’ve tapped in to one of Los Angeles’ finest bassists, Larry Steen- a master of both upright and electric bass and a highly renowned band leader in his own right heading the Larry Steen World Jazz Ensemble for years now. Larry’s performed with greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Louis Bellson, Benny Maupin, Jimmy Buffet and many many others, so I’m very excited to bring that level of seasoned musicality into this latest production of mine.
I’m continuing to learn that being a producer doesn’t mean doing everything myself, but rather knowing how to bring the right people together and directing the entire project as clearly as possible while creating an environment for those involved to shine at their very highest level (often by getting my own arse out of the way!).
So that’s all I got for today, just wanted to keep you all on top of my ever-continuing journey through the world of organized sound.
With Love from Marina Del Rey,
Doron
Daryl rockin’ the violently funky 70’s porno waka-waka guitar!
The last bit of recording I’ll be doing is the live funky poppin’ electric bass, which will most likely be recorded at Tony’s studio as well. Luckily for me, I’ve tapped in to one of Los Angeles’ finest bassists, Larry Steen- a master of both upright and electric bass and a highly renowned band leader in his own right heading the Larry Steen World Jazz Ensemble for years now. Larry’s performed with greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Louis Bellson, Benny Maupin, Jimmy Buffet and many many others, so I’m very excited to bring that level of seasoned musicality into this latest production of mine.
I’m continuing to learn that being a producer doesn’t mean doing everything myself, but rather knowing how to bring the right people together and directing the entire project as clearly as possible while creating an environment for those involved to shine at their very highest level (often by getting my own arse out of the way!).
So that’s all I got for today, just wanted to keep you all on top of my ever-continuing journey through the world of organized sound.
With Love from Marina Del Rey,
Doron
