In the Studio! (Pics)

So far, we've spent our Summer visiting the wonderful NoiseVault Studios here in Dallas, TX, to record our upcoming EP - Girl on a String.  (It should be ready by August or September.)  The music sounds better than ever, and the studio experience strongly exceeded our expectations.  (No, Noise Vault didn't ask us to say that, we're just extremely pleased with them.)  It's rare to find a studio that does things the way you want them to without spending half a day explaining how everything is supposed to sound.

Here's some photos of the process.:

(All photos in this group were taken by Connor Roberts.)

Christine's guitar work formed the foundation of each track, and she always got it right on the first take.

Here's Ed laying down the bassline for the song 'Open Country.'  Between the drums, the organ, the piano, the bass, and his vocal lines, Ed probably did more work than anyone else in the studio.  He's very talented.

Believe it, or not, this mic was used by Jennifer Lopez before it was purchased by our sound engineer.  It made Christine's voice sound great.

Even though I don't really play the piano in our shows, when we got to the studio I had an idea for a piano part on Christine's song, 'Girl on a String,' and I recorded on the next take (while Ed was recording the drums and Christine was singing in the vocal booth).  The ability to record a few separate tracks simultaneously made the process much quicker.  (In the background you can see that I'm under the intense scrutiny of our sound engineer, James.)

"I think you should turn up the guitar...uh, a little more...no, that's too much...wait, back up....no, down again...now, turn it up just a little...and back down...that's too far..."

The drums are my favorite part of the recording, so far.  They sound really great, and Ed's jazz/rock style gave our music a great sound.

We've been playing 'Open Country' for two years, but it only got a mandolin part a few weeks ago.  And, yes, tall guys look goofy playing little instruments.

It's a good thing we went to the studio to record some songs, because we really don't have many band pictures.

Thanks for your support, and keep an eye out for Christine Hand's EP, Girl on a String.