On Saturday, May 10th, 2008, I did something I had not done in over three years... I headed into a recording studio to record one of my songs.

Back in March of 2005, I finished recording session work for "Her Song," at Scott Trifeletti's studio (story here: http://www.paulsehnen.com/node/44).   Unhappy with my own vocal performance during the several "Her Song" sessions, I opted to wait... and wait... and wait... to make another serious recording.

This year, at the urging of friends -- and the insults of foes -- I decided it was finally time to try again.   I chose to work with Jamie Myerson of Blackwood Recording, and I set up a date in his studio for myself and guitarist Steven Paul to record my tune "Fear the Silence."   My concept was to record the song in the duo arrangement in which I have been performing it recently, with myself on acoustic rhythm guitar and vocals, and with Steven on electric lead guitar.

Around 12 noon on May 10th, Steven and I headed into Jamie's Studio.   Apart from some tuning and capo-induced intonation issues which had to be worked through, it did not take too much effort or time for me to put down a respectable rhythm track, using my Oriskany "orcrist" mahogany guitar.

Next came the task of putting down a vocal track, and that task, sadly, seemed rather hopeless, as I had feared it would be from my vocal warmup hours earlier, given the utter devastation that New Jersey's pollen had wreaked upon my body.   Even my magic elixir of green tea with lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and a dissolved Halls cough drop, could not save my voice from the evil gremlins floating in the air and repainting my black Jeeps a creepy green.

A pragmatistic through and through, I agreed with Jamie to settle for a less-than-perfect vocal "scratch" track, and let Steven try his hand at putting down some leads around it.   So Steven set up his Fender Deville amp and Stratocaster guitar and went to work.   Jamie coaxed some nice playing out of him, and worked some further studio magic on top of Steven's recorded riffs.

After Jamie and I reached satisfaction with the two guitar tracks, it was time for me to try recording the vocal track again.   Luckily for all involved, my second attempt worked out better than had my first, with my delivery capturing more of the character I had wanted, and more of the vibe that Jamie had thought was warranted.   Mother nature is an unforgiving nemesis, however, and Jamie and I both agreed that even though my vocal performance had improved, the vocal performance he and I really wanted, was just not going to be possible that day given my biological issues.

Given the pain of my prior studio work in 2005, I was not happy to fail with my vocals, again, however, I was heartened by how much my vocal performance had improved between the first set of takes and the second set of takes, and was further encouraged by Steven's reassuring words about my ability to deliver the song well in a live setting again and again.

Around 6 PM, Steven and I left Jamie's studio, having put down two "good-to-go" guitar tracks, and a vocal scratch track.   In the weeks ahead I'll schedule a follow-up session for vocal only, and hope to have more cooperation from Mother Nature and my own body that day.   Having waited more than three years to record my second single, I figure it does not make any sense to rush out a less-than-stellar recording, especially since my peers agree that my vocal ability now -- on a good day -- is superior to my vocal ability of three years ago.

Now I just need to wait for a good day...