Bavarian Studio Session

Let's see.  How do I go about describing what was 'Schnauzer Studios'?  A lot of laughs - but also a lot of productivity.  And food,  including home made salsa and 'old fashioned' potato chips.  

If you're familiar with South Park, you will understand why there's a random picture of the chip bag.  Ahem.... Moving forward.

So Mike was able to record drums days before this session so that Ken and I could lay down some tracks last night.  Our first foray into tracking for this project.  Exciting stuff!   

Ken only needed a few takes to get the acoustic guitar parts down.  I needed a few extra to get the electric guitar bits laid down.  

Due to some technical difficulties with an auto-envelope DOD pedal, I resorted to having to manually 'wha' the parts with a very stellar VOX wha.   Up strum string attack instead of the traditional down strum really helped bring out the brightness I was seeking.

Bass was recorded last.  Bizarre as per usual - its normally recorded after the drums.  I was hesitant as I really didn't know what this song called for with respects to the bottom end.   The vibe of the room was good and I accidentally on purpose started messing with notes within scale this song was written and came up with something I was pretty happy with.  Was able to pull this off for all 3 sections of the song.

We'll shall see what magic Mike can we've with his mad pro tools skillz.

#Tbay lunch walkies

A co-worker and I have made a habit of walking to the Bay St. Area at lunch once a week.  We find it really helps the creative process to disconnect from all the technology we work with every day - we are Systems Administrators. 

We try to vary the walk and get perspectives on the neighborhoods and see what new developments are occurring.  Thunder Bay is in a state of transition - its turning over a new leaf - but only by walking can you really see the subtle changes.  

Eventually it will explode and will be very apparent.

Today's walk took us down Red River by the new Law School.  It is possibly one of the most stunning buildings in the city.  There's a mock up of the interior court house simulation on a billboard.  I'm sure it could double as film set when not in use.

Down Algoma and over to Bay Street we went, eyeing up all the residents that have been spruced up, and sadly many that have not tried.  If only I had some extra money to throw around and develop some of these run down buildings. But that's a rant for another day.

Some other sightings included a protest in front of a fairly prominent food place, a cheery fellow in Leafs attire busking outside the Hoito, a residential apartment undergoing some serious renovations and the backside of Hill Crest park.

Idea for a Screen Play

So I had this incredible vivid dream the other night and figured I'd jot it down to reference sometime in the future to see if I'm some sort of prophet.

Here goes:

I'm at the strip mall near the beer the store on Red River involved in some sort of Boot Camp exercise training.  From this vantage point I can see the harbor while in the midst of doing some jumping jacks.

A defining explosion occurs and as I gather my senses I look towards the water and a volcano has just emerged from the depths of Lake Superior - spewing an ash cloud that instantly darkens the sky.

Those around me profess this as a doomsday event and the world is about to end.  For an instance I consider this, than in another I'm in my vehicle racing down the free way that hugs the coastline of the lake.

This roadway which is similar to that of Toronto's Gardner Expressway is the 'old Water Street'.  Traffic comes to a halt.  An accident up ahead has frozen traffic.  People are wondering the road in a panic.

I'm stuck behind a transport that is hauling one the giant propeller blades from a wind turbine.

Everything is getting darker as the ash clouds thicken and block out the sun....