NECKTIE SECOND 04 -Recording Pt. 3

Overdubs! Mixing! BTS videos! Plus, Skywatching links!

Necktie Second, my debut on American, turned thirty in May. To celebrate the occasion I’m sharing memories of making the album in a multi-part series. Here are links to my previous posts in case you missed them. My Debut Turns 30 • Recording Pt. 1 • Recording Pt. 2

Before I get to the final recording installment, I want to acknowledge another anniversary. On this day in 2003, I released my fourth record, Skywatching. Long-time readers of this newsletter may recall that last year, for its 20th anniversary, I celebrated with a few posts. For those of you who have joined the Love Songs Etc party since then, here they are:

SKYWATCHING 01 - Small Time Blues - This post gets into the recording of the full-band version of “Small Time Blues.”

SKYWATCHING 02 - Things Will Change… (Old Demo) - In addition to sharing the demo for “Things Will Change and Go My Way” I also geek out about gear.

SKYWATCHING 03 - Hard To Tell You (Old Demo) - A post about the time Cameron Crowe recommended me to James L. Brooks to take a crack at writing a song for the Jack Nicholson vehicle, As Good As It Gets.

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When I was preparing to head to Atlanta to make Necktie Second, my ninety-five-year-old Grandmother asked how long I would be away working on the record. I told her we expected it to take four or five weeks. Astounded, she exclaimed, “Good heavens! How long is this record going to be?” I told her the album would clock in at around fifty minutes with eleven or twelve songs. I explained how in addition to just playing the songs we would spend a considerable amount of time adding overdubs before jumping into the mixing process. I went on to tell her how mixing would be a complicated endeavor where each instrument would get its own track and how the mixer’s job was to not only blend those together but also add effects like echo, reverb, eq and compression.

The majority of our time was spent on overdubs. Producer Brendan O’Brien and I handled the lion’s share, trading off on adding guitars and keyboards to the basic tracks. Here we are working on “Hardest Thing To Do.”

Elaine Summers and Gregg Williams joined in on background vocal and percussion duties. As I mentioned in Recording Pt. 2, Elaine bonked out that great cowbell part on “If You Don’t Love Me.” While Gregg and Elaine were both skilled percussionists, Brendan decided to bring in a hot shot from Nashville to add some final touches. Terry McMillan was a first-call session cat who had worked with Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, and George Jones, to name more than a few.

Terry arrived with an arsenal of instruments to shake, rattle and hit. In addition to percussion, he was known for his harmonica playing, though we did not take him up on his repeated offers to add harp to the record. Eventually, Brendan pulled him aside and told him he could lay off on offering his harmonica talents. “Pete hates the harmonica,” he explained. While this was not true, it was successful in putting an end to Terry’s harmonica lobbying efforts.

The only other outside player to join us at Southern Tracks was keyboardist Rob O’hearn. I’d met Rob when we played in a band called “Little Women.” For a short time, I filled in on guitar in the group led by singer-songwriter extraordinaire Jerry Joseph.

Rob was a great player. And a pal. His unique brand of humor kept us in stitches. Before joining us in Atlanta, he had played in my live outfit, including a show at The Backstage in Seattle that was recorded and released on a promo cassette before Necktie Second hit the streets. I would have invited Rob to join us on the road if my tour budget had allowed it, but ultimately, enlisting a lead guitarist was a higher priority.

As it turned out, Rob did not appear on Necktie Second. We brought him in to play on one song. “Free” had been a staple in my live shows dating back to the Ramadillo days, but for whatever reason it ended up as an unfinished outtake. Here is a short clip of Elaine, Gregg and me tracking background vocals and Rob laying down some electric piano on “Free.”

We laughed a lot throughout the sessions and played a lot of poker. While our faithful assistant engineer, Karl Heilbron, was handling duties like running off safety copies, we gathered for quick rounds of cold hand. Then, at the conclusion of the day, we’d head to the studio lounge and sit down for a proper game.

Rather than tracking with the full band, “Sunspot Stopwatch” was built around my acoustic guitar, with the aforementioned Terry McCmillan adding percussion to anchor the groove. I played the signature licks on an old Fender Telecaster. Then Brendan added the atmospheric electric guitar swells and fills. Since bassist Robert Cooper had already returned home, Brendan also contributed that unique bass part played on a vintage Baldwin with a setting called “Wild Dog.” Of course, we went with that setting. How could we not?

“Hampton Inn Room 306” was another late addition to the album. It was written in my room at the Hampton Inn just up the road from the studio. Upon hearing it, Brendan suggested I record in my hotel room and set me up with a mini-disc recorder to do just that. I set up in the bathroom to take advantage of the reverberation and knocked it out. That is the very version we used to close out the record.

For the mixing process Brendan would work on his own and call me in once the song was shaped up and ready for my comments. I would plop down in the sweet spot at the console and listen as his mix blasted out of the studio monitors. Then we’d take a cassette out to his car and listen. As I’ve mentioned before, Brendan is an ace mix engineer, so my comments were minimal. They were mostly, “That sounds amazing. I love it.”

I don’t make a habit of listening to my old records, but when I have revisited tracks from Necktie Second, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. To my ear, it holds up pretty well.

This post will conclude my look back at the recording of Necktie Second. Down the road, I will write a series of posts chronicling the touring cycle that followed its release. Until then, here I am at the conclusion of recording. Please forgive my feeble attempt at donning an accent.

Peace & Love Songs,

Pete