Big Chris & D'Bare Bones Band update

I hope to be in studio doing a couple of guitar and vocal retakes soon with Eddie De Poole of Blue Tape Studios soon.  I have to fix a guitar track and a vocal track.  The rest of the songs he is ready to start sending to me for my approval.  So, it won't be long, my friends!

As many of you know, the cover artwork is complete.  It was done my our own G/F aka Jim Willis.  I may have something fun in mind for the back.  Either way, I hope to have this complete before summer is over!

Great news!!!

Oh, and this time when I ask for an autographed cd, don't write "Staybrite smells funny" like you did last time.....not cool.



When your wife tells me that you've started showering, I'll be sure to! 

Staybrite wrote:

Oh, and this time when I ask for an autographed cd, don't write "Staybrite smells funny" like you did last time.....not cool.

 Priceless.

At least some people get my odd sense of humor. 

That's wonderful good news.

I went to Blue Tape Studios in Nashville yesterday to redo some parts.  This is where my album is being mixed.  I redid a couple of rhythm guitar tracks on one.  I redid lead vocals on two.  Last, but not least, I redid the entire guitar work on "Bound For A Throne".  I did all of that in less than two hours.  It is amazing what you can get done when you aren't playing recording engineer, artist, and producer all at the same time!

Anyway, I should start receiving finished tracks next week.  Eddie, the guy that runs the studio, said he had some things he wanted to tweak in the final mix, but that he was pretty satisfied with it overall.  With what I heard, this baby is gonna sound huge!  No one, without me telling them, would even guess that my home made cigar box guitars were what was used on this recording.  This sounds so much better than I could have achieved with my current setup.

Even the drums sound huge.  Yes, we used my little electric Yamaha kit.  Eddie went in and added extra drum sounds precisely where the hits were.  So, what you will hear is definitely Darren's, Tim's, and my own drum performances just with a secondary tone overlaid to make it fuller.  Its crazy what you can do with computer recording!

I can't wait to hear this.  I may even cry a little.

Excellent!  Looking forward to hearing it!

Very cool news!  Like Xid I am really looking forward to hearing it.

Can I ask you what made you decide to record in a professional studio this time instead of at your home studio?

I did do the recording in my home studio.  I was having trouble getting my mixes right as I just don't seem to be able to get a great sound with my own stuff.  So, this particular studio was running a special on mixing a full length project for a price I could afford due to a couple of CBG selling.  So, I contacted him, set up a meeting place, and dropped off the money and individual song tracks.  He's been working on these for about a month.

While mixing, though, he found a few issues where my vocals were peaking and crackling a little that couldn't be fixed with all his gadget, gizmos, and plug-ins.  Also, there were some issues with a couple of songs with the guitar that needed fixing.  I just had to completely redo "Bound For A Throne" on guitar.  So, those final guitar tracks and vocal tracks were all that I recorded there.  Everything else was recorded here over the past couple of years.  Now, we just wait for songs to start coming for my final approval.

That sounds great.
I'm looking forward to hear all those bluesy songs.

Great news!  I reckon this is going to be awesome!

I will be glad to let people hear "Thank You".  It is a worship song but lyrically is different.  Fundy wrote it and shared it with me years ago but I could do anything with it at the time.  I wrote the music for this song and then remembered his lyrics.  Boom!  Perfect fit.  I had to tweak a couple lines to make the meter of the verses flow, but the original words are probably 95% intact.  It has a cool Third Day vibe with some twin harmony guitars for the lead solo.

That sounds like it will be really cool.  Looking forward to getting my hands on the album.

I love to listen to "Thank You".

Just wait until you get to hear it with the drums and guitars sounding HUGE!  I can honestly say that I will never have had this level of sound on an album in my life.

I got my proofs back today from Eddie at the studio.  These sound amazing!  I really can't believe I did this!  The guitars are fat sounding, the bass and drums are strong without overpowering, and my vocals sound better than ever.  Of course, it helps that I am singing in more comfortable ranges this time and not trying to be a metal singer.

Eight of the songs will become final renditions.  I did find some minor issues with 4 song that Eddie felt were quick fixes.  Most of it was with missing backing vocals.  On a couple of tracks, I wanted the choruses to sound like an old time southern gospel trio.  Without that, the song sounds a little flat.  I need that to also keep some variety on this album.  He said he would fix it this afternoon and run those back through the mastering guy.  I should have those tomorrow.

Here's the track listing:

 1.  Life's Just Bad
 2.  Giant
 3.  When Your Time Comes
 4.  Punch In The Face
 5.  Rest In Peace
 6.  Walmart Blues
 7.  Girl In The Window
 8.  Telephone
 9.  Daddy's Little Girl
10.  Bound For A Throne
11.  Thank You
12.  You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Sweet!

Xid wrote:

Sweet!

Sweet?  No, that's Stryper.  I am Big Chris & D'Bare Bones Band. 

Ballroom Blitz!

No, that was Krokus and some other band that nobody cares about! 

Brilliant!  I was going to ask you what the tracklisting would be, as I was keen to see the titles of all the songs.

I've listened to the Rest In Peace clip quite a few times now and your vocals do seem pretty perfect for the music.  Really looking forward to the day when the album is released!  That song definitely packs a punch.

Just waiting for my crack design team to do my proposed back cover.  My design team is G/F!  He's having some MRIs today, so anytime he can complete this is fine with me.  I am going out of town the next few days with the church, so I am in no rush.  When I get back, though, I am going to start seeing what I can do to get this out there.