At recording studios.Recording professionally.I was driven by this when my high school hometown band eventually (as almost all Do) broke up."Dang' I thought,how am I going to continue playing without them?That is such a close and cool bond,not just as a band but as friends,I was always way to serious about this and when you are so young as we were your whole identity gets wrapped up in this circle.Plus on a small scale we were very successful.And again as friends we were very tight.even though we came from a small town I convinced them to believe we would make it on a major scale.Having to our advantage the ability to combine our rebellion against the world with the security of living at home with our parents we sincerely believed we were rock stars.I could not,or did not, wish to see myself doing it without them.Yet the time eventually came where I had to.I had to move on.I had early musical training on many instruments so I thought "in the studio I don't really need a full time band."Later bands were to come with great guys to play with but the end if the day always came.On the level of a working band going in the studio is not a high thing on the list.You rely on just playing covers to keep the gigs up and the money coming in.I took a different tack and we always did quite a few originals onstage.Written to fit in with the covers.So when the same end came time after time I would head back to the studio.I would not use the band there instead to use "session Players" from other groups that were my friends for the things I needed help with.The best players I could find.It was not real hard to talk them into it.$25.00 an hour goes a long way to get them to take the time to rehearse and do a session."Where are we going to record?"Then I would drop it...Morrisound Studios....the holy grail.They of course had heard about it,Oh man,this place was equal to any world class studio anywhere.All of that being now said....when I hear the recordings do I have any misgivings about it or am I delighted with the results,would I change anything?My rates were locked in $95.00 an hour for Studio A,$65.00 an hour for Studio B,this my friends was nothing short of a steal.Studio A in Hollywood or NYC would be costing you as an indie an easy $350.00 an hour,if you could only just get in.Studio B $200,00 dollars an hour.And when are you going to be able to get in...six months from now?I can't believe this,I was given a very high priority,I was always worked in ASAP.I think that is mostly because I am fun to work with.Way off the wall.And I was pushing all of it as far as it could go.Crazy concepts."Let's try this."The thing is,I feel for what I do is to lay it down raw on the original track.You have got to bake the cake before you ice it.Every studio effect of the highest order was available,yet the cake was so tasty in itself.Most of it done on a Skully reel machine in analog.You have got to cut it all in the original track for how I work.Then you are more concerned with blending it than enhancing it.There is no "fixing it in the mix."When you start mixing, it is all there.That is a rock and roll recording.