Thursday, August 18, 2011

8.18.11 Overdubs at Leopard

Swung back by Leopard for a couple of hours to add some overdubs to Lydia Kavanagh's song "It's Christmas". Her original demo was sparse, and wonderful that way, so I didn't want to over do it. The demo had a synth piano doing the main accompaniment and a Melodica doing a counterpoint. The synth piano had a bell like quality that the real acoustic piano lacked, so I layered some of the same notes the piano plays with vibes. Used Leopard's Lawson L-47 tube mic through the Avalon VT-737 for the vibes, which gave it a very rich bell like sound. Also added a faint Glockenspiel part. Then I moved on to that counterpoint melody.

Although I do have a Melodica, I decided to try the part on the Hammond B3. I used the same three mics I had used on the piano. the two 414's on either side of the Leslie, and the Sennheiser kick mic on the B3's internal speaker, the 414's through API 312 mic pre's and EL8 Distressors as before, This produced a very full sound. Took me a few takes to get the right feel, using the leslie ramped up and down for accents. Once I'd gotten the part down I went back and overdubbed the bass pedals (I probably looked pretty silly crouching on the floor playing them with my hands, but I'm no organist, and hey, I was alone).

Finally I added some very simple percussion, a shaker and a Tamborine, not throughout, just in places. Satisfied I headed home to play with some rough mixes. I've sent them off to her and am awaiting feedback. I like how the mixes sound, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised or upset if Lydia decided to just stick to piano and vocals because the song is really so good it needs nothing else.

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