Laying Down Tracks

The next night, we all returned to the studio at 8:00PM, fresh and rested, and determined to get some basic tracks down on tape. All the gear was still set up from the previous night, and everyone was pretty psyched to get started. We spent the first half hour in the control room, doing some lines, smoking a few joints and talking about the arrangement, and then as Peter set up the 2 inch tape recorder, the three of went into the main room to play the song a few times. By the third time through the arrangement, I was comfortable that the guys knew the song and could get through it, and having had enough experience in the studio to know that the best take might be the next one, I told Peter to start rolling tape, and we played "Free" three times in a row. There are two sections to this song, and I decided to record them one at a time, rather than in one continous version, as the band had done live. I detected a few tiny flaws in the playing from everyone on the first two takes, but the third one seemed to be smooth, steady, and mistake-free. The second section is a segue from the first...and so I decided to listen to the first movement, before recording the second. We went into the control room to listen to the takes, and when we got to the third one, it was obvious that we had captured a very strong recording, especially considering the fact that these guys had only started playing the song the day before. Although it didn't have the energy of the original band, I knew that to capture that would require months of playing and performing it, just as it had with the original band, and so I decided that that third take would be what I would work from to add on the additional tracks. The second half of the song was fairly simple and uncomplicated...the only tricky part was the ending, which happened at a certain spot...and consisted of a series of accented "hits" at the end of a guitar solo that only I heard...since I had to imagine the solo in my mind while I played the rhythym tracks with the guys and kept track of measures. It also required me to play acoustic guitars, which meant everyone had to record with earphones during the second movement. We got it all done in about 90 mins., and when it was done, the basic tracks unmixed sounded very strong...and I began to realize that there was a good chance that this thing might actually work...