We were heading to a shelter to play music for the guests. An artist friend named Joel also volunteered there. He and I used to be on a team together and when he had left that team, I had wondered if any of it had to do with me.
I asked God to heal our relationship if I had sinned and strengthen our friendship and if God wanted him to do artwork for this project, that he would open the door. Joel and I ended up talking after. He asked about music. I told him we were planning a two song ep. He said if I needed any artwork for a cd he would do it and do it for free.
Crazy! I was astonished at how quickly my prayer was answered and what had just happened.
I told him that would be awesome and Amber and I left and I told Amber about my prayer and what had happened.
Amber and I spent time in prayer asking where to record. We felt our answer was Omaha studio ARC. ARC is owned by the Mogis brothers connected with many SaddleCreek artists. We went in late one night to sit in on a session. The studio was amazing, the people we met were great and we had a fun night.
Amber and I were asked to sing a backing track to the band that was recording that night. The track turned out great! We had to wait to book the studio because an artist had paid for a large block of time (which i believe turned out to be Pete Yorn) and so they had to schedule his time before they wrote me in. however, our contact at the studio had a family emergency and left his position and we weren’t able to schedule.
Meanwhile, we had given Joel M!ghty Damon the concept for the artwork. We asked for a graphic based design, however, it wasn’t coming out and Joel said he was going to do a painting.
Working out parts at home, I had the thought that if God had brought Amber and I together, we might sound good singing together – even if neither were amazing singers, they might complement each other. I began to teach a part to Amber for “My God and My All”.
As I continued to work the songs parts out and rehearse, we ran into Tim Cich, owner of bassline studios and old friend. We booked some time for the next week and it was set.
I brought a carload of gear that next week. Took a tour of the studio and settled down for work. note: these studios have some sweet gear. Initial tracks were the hardest. “My God and My All” had nearly a thousand fingerpicked notes. Don’t mess one of those up or there goes your track. And then if it doesn’t have feeling behind it then its no good as well.
We tracked the guitars by about midpoint of the session. Tim liked my vocals first take. I re-sang one note.
Amber stopped by the studio later and sang her part.
We spent the rest of the session mixing.
I spent some more time at home on the distorted guitar on “my God..” and the next day I stopped in for and hour at the studio and got my final disc.
Joel said his painting had turned out great and was going to finish it soon.
Word on the street was that Doug Van Sloan was the guy in Omaha to have your cd mastered at. We had seen his great new studio earlier when he opened it. We dropped the recordings off to be mastered.
Joel’s painting turned out awesome!! He put the type on. We got the master from Doug and sent it away.
Joel had said he would do the artwork for free which was really cool. We gave him some money anyway and I wrote him the story of my prayer.
We went and played our dates in New England.
The EP was completed. I look foward to the next project and improving.
I am a singer/songwriter based in Omaha.
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All content © 2010 by David Paulsen
