I’ve been cranking out the music lately, and that’s a good thing.
However, the more you create, the more you have to mix.
So, I’ve begun mix sessions like there’s no tomorrow…
The track “Stuck In A Room” has been around for awhile. If memory serves, it dates back to 2004-05. I remember the marathon recording session with Shaun. It was the usual way I record with him – after several months writing by myself, he’d come over and play on about 6 to 10 songs in one afternoon. It’s an exhausting process, and I can be a bit demanding.
I believe in the 4 take method when working with other musicians:
1st take – do what you feel
2nd take – do it the way that I want
3rd take – do it the way I want with modifications
4th take – go nuts!
This methodology works well, plus I’m just gonna chop it up, rearrange it, and replay it anyway, so everyone leaves happy and feeling good about themselves.
The song hasn’t changed all that much over the years. I upped the tempo (94 to 99 bpm), and added to the drum track which was cool, but a bit static. The idea for the drum additions came while seeing Frederick Thomas’ live show last week. Someone played George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” on the jukebox in between sets, and the beat stayed with me.
I did NOT sample it. That would have been too easy. I just deconstructed it – figured out how they did it, and created my own variant. It’s essentially the 1st kick (and/or snare) drum played backwards on the downbeat of the measure – creating that WHOOOOP feel. What makes “Atomic Dog” so cool is that it was done to live drums – no drum machines (that I can tell).
This addition makes the track come alive. There is an obscure sample in the song, but I’ll leave that up to you guys to figure out it’s origins…
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