3:58

Three minutes and fifty-eight seconds. Not a long time. Except when 3:58 is the length of a song you're trying to record. It's within the time frame, albeit near the long end, of what a record company would like for a length of a single, yet when you're recording it, it feels like an eternity.

"Fuck you, motherfucker!"

That's my favorite phrase when recording.

"Fuck you!" is directed towards the mistake I just made.

"Motherfucker!" is directed towards myself, because I have to start over from the beginning. You see, although it's a relatively short song, there's not much in the way of punch points I can use (depending on the part), so often I have to start again from the beginning.

I just finished all of my guitar parts tonight. All but one. The last one is a solo that I won't be recording until after Matt lays down his vocals. You see, this is one of two songs that we're recording as "rough demos" to use to hopefully find some additional musicians to play our brand of southern rock which is likely to be not hugely popular here in Boston.

Recording a rough demon should be easy, right? Doesn't need to be perfect, just serviceable. Of course, that depends on what your idea of serviceable is. And I have a problem. That is, when I sit down to record, I get into it. I think of new parts, ways to split parts, this cool little slide solo, etc. So what should be rough and quick like sex in the bathroom of the Model, ends up taking quite a bit longer.

For this rough demo I recorded 5 guitar parts (s0 far.) Two different versions of the same rhythm track. One being a straight through acoustic guitar (which I just finished tonight) and the other being that same part cut into two separate acoustic guitar parts. Then there's the electric appregiation of the chords at the end of the song. And the short slide solo. 5 tracks for a rough demo. Not all of them will be used, but I like to keep my options open. Much like a movie director shoots extra footage and then cuts it down in the editing room, I recorded extra tracks, and will cut them down during mixing, depending on what me and Matt decide on. Personally, I'm leaning towards the rhythm track that's split into two acoustics. He prefers the one acoustic track. So I took about an hour to record a part tonight that I'll be lobbying against not keeping when it comes down to it. One hour. 39 takes. Some played most of the way through. Some messed up and stopped after the first note. One that I thought was a keeper even though I tapped the mic with my hand while recording. However when playing it back, hoping that the mic tap wouldn't be audible, I noticed that it sounded much like....well, much like a starting pistol going off.

But after countless hours, 5 tracks, and 243 takes, my guitar parts are done. (Unless Matt ends up not being happy with something. Primadonna singers.) Rough demo, indeed.

But it's all worth it in the end. All the frustration. The swearing. The backaches from leaning over in my chair. The headaches from repaeatedly playing the same part, from squinting at the screen making sure I'm not clipping my input, at the same time still trying to play the part, and not tap the microphone. It's all worth it when I listen to it and think, "God damn! This sounds awesome!"