Day Nine: Friday 3 June 2005
To record a master drum track, Steve plays the drums in the ‘live’ room. He is playing along to the rehearsal recording and is listening (via headphones) to all the vocals and guitars from the guide version. Steve usually cuts three or four full takes and then listens back to them and decides which one is the best. This usually means taking the bast sections from all the takes and then editing them together. The drums sound amazing. We then move onto another song ‘Rain Down’. This song came quite close to being on the last album. We all loved the song but felt that it was difficult to perform live. It is also a tough song to sing as it moves from a low register to a high one. I had recorded a version in a lower key for a Gathering dedication disc. It was in this key that we attempted to work up the song. We got into an interesting groove with some ‘Rain In The Summertime’ style guitars. We put a version down on tape and went upstairs to listen. I was listening along and playing an acoustic guitar at the same time. I started to subconsciously play a riff that reminded me of ‘Breathe’. I asked the band to come back down to the rehearsal room and we started to play the song again in the style of ‘Breathe’. It sounded great straight away. The new key allows me to go low to high but with a little ‘breathing’ space so that I can now perform the verse and still have some room for the chorus. We even wrote a middle section for the song right on the spot. We cut a version after a few run throughs and we all felt really good with ourselves. We had taken a song and improved it and then re-worked it to fit our ‘sound’. Craig recorded a bass track for the ‘new’ Raindown’ and then James and I recorded some electric guitars on ‘Menai Bridge’. I put down a rhythm part on the Telecaster and then James recorded his Gibson Les Paul.
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