Burlap and Blues, The Blues Blog

This past Sunday evening I learned an important lesson - I am not a college student anymore and can no longer pull all nighters and function somewhat normally the next day.

Follow up:

My friend the studio recording major asked me to come down to the studio again. His assignment this time was to capture at least 4 instruments playing live. He theoretically had 4 people lined up but he knew one of them wouldn't show so he called me up to round out the group. Funny story (well not funny for my friend), but this is actually the third time I've been down there to lay down tracks - the second time I was supposed to record with a country band he had lined up and fill in for their guitarist who was out of town, but they got so discouraged and just figured they could never pull it off without their guitarist that they decided not to show. So this time he called me in to make sure he had all 4
instruments there. Anyway, me and 2 buddies showed up at the studio around 9:30 and started messing around with the song while my friend set up sound equipment. Our major mistake? We had absolutely NO preproduction at all. The song we were doing was an original by one of the guys there but was still in the rough cut stage and we hadn't been able to get together beforehand to figure out parts. We tried to figure out parts as the equipment was being set up but it was a little difficult given no bass or drums as we had just 2 electric guitars and an acoustic and we didn't even know who was going to be playing which instrument. Then we find out the bassist isn't
going to show but the drummer is on his way but won't be there til about 11:30. Ultimately, we didn't get fully set up to record until about 1 AM. From there it was a multitude of takes to figure out what sounded best and when we finally settled on something good it was about 4:30. Then it was another 6 or 7 takes before we finally got the song sounding real nice and got a few decent takes. By then it was 6:00. After listening to the playback and helping the drummer tear down I didn't leave until 6:30. By then I was almost literally a zombie. I had been awake for nearly 24 hours. Somehow I was able to make it back home, call my boss and tell her I couldn't make it in and crash in bed.
Annoyingly enough one of my buddies on guitar is this 20 year old who had more energy than a hummingbird on speed. He nursed a Red Bull throughout the night. Add to that the fact that he has ADD and you have a recipe for a ticking timebomb of energy. At 6 AM was laughing and cracking jokes and saying "that's what SHE said!" after every single thing anyone said while the rest of us were just trying to stay conscious.
So to make a long story longer - I love free studio time. What's better than recording with professional equipment and not having to pay for it? I jump at any chance for free studio time. If it had been a regular studio a 9 hour session would have cost a fortune. But I am NOT going in again without practicing the songs beforehand.