I have been again working the tune up at this point from two different studios,Colorama and Progressive music.Both are pro tools 10 facilities so the formats are exact and I really enjoy to cut the rhythm tracks at Colorama.Yet in the process of moving I lost my data CD for the rhythm tracks and only had an mp3 file of them for listening purposes.In a panic I thought to do the piano tracks over the mp3 files,which is a plausable scheme if you want to sacrifice the integrity of the recording.Four guitars and two bass parts(double bass and five string) all trapped on a highly compressed mp3 file.That my producer would have to mix down as a whole instead of individual control.Everything thus far is very well recorded mind you to a point where one may even get away with pulling it off.Yet I am so fortunate to have a very fine producer working on my behalf.And would actually have him to re-mix the rhythm tracks before I even proceed.To set up the tune the way he needs to hear it.It is after all the lead single to the album project.The signature track if you will.The tracks themselves are very well done yet it would be so obvious after the mastering that the song ought to of had much more depth than it does.Considering a full year was spent to do it.I am pretty humbled by this as I have experienced lectured and blogged about format integrity between different studios.And both formats were pro tools 10!I did make a data cd and lost it whilst moving.It's all one grand lesson I say.When ZI do a tune i put everything into it,it is for that moment my whole existance.As it was with the great film directors of old I have to put aside my personal problems,depressions,self doubts,whatever.. and get on with making the best tune I can do under the circumstance.You have to convey real emotions from the heart and drama/dynamics.and you have to be having real fun loving to do it.You may consider me to be a sellout because I rely very heavily upon my producer for the highest sonic fidelity I can squeeze out of a tune.It is not really that difficult for me to be able to talk a major league producer to work with me as they know if they can get the time in it is going to be a fun project for them,experimental and very tight with a lot of laughs.I go in with the tune played a couple of thousand times so I have got my idea in focus.I know every twist and turn of it.I still rehearse it with a metronome as when I was a kid.This is what may very well seperate a great studio musician from a great live performer.And you can't get around this on a track.if you are off time it is going to show up on the track.Live you can get a bit more loose and it does not hurt the groove but in the studio you have got to be spot on.Everything again has got to be pulling in the same direction.This can get so intense and hairy,you think you have got it yet your producer is telling you "you can do better here,take a little break and then tune up and we will try it again."I would say "what is wrong"...."you are not playing as fully dynamic as I know you can." Mike Rodgers in NYC reduced me to tears on several sessions,I would just hold my head in my hands and cry saying what the fuck do you want of me?"He would say "the best that I think you are capable of doing,a top drawer LA session man!That is referred to as drawing your talent out of you to a higher level than you thought yourself capable of.I find that if it is just you doing it you are not capable of being objective enough."That will do." We were an idie fucking with the major labels,that will not do,you have to bring your skills up to the top level and beyond.And it is so ironic because you ultimately come to find that in the studio the less notes you play the better because it leaves room for the silence.and silence is golden as they say.It creates pressure and dynamics,emotion and drama.Onstage you can just blow it over the top in front of an audience that is into it,you are giving them more than their money's worth.Yet in session you will not even put this past the recording engineer who will say "What you are doing makes no sense to me,you are to loud,way out of time and out of tune as well.I can't record this bullshit!"Man in NYC or LA you are about two steps away at this point for a session guy to be called in to do your part.You know have the choice,to respond as an asshole or tighten up like a pro.Oh man i had such a hard lesson from my engineer and co-producer Rob Valdez cutting the solo for "Stagelight Lover."This gentle,beautiful,and brilliant cat got so pissed at me,I had a marshall jcm 2000 and was getting my distortion from the preamp stage and playing as fast as I could do,blowing way over the top."I cannot hear a single thing you are doing,I am coming out there.Oh God he was so angry at me,why did you buy this marshall to get your distortion from the pre-amp stage?You want to drive it from the output stage Frenchy,this is a marshall!"he had the assistant engineer solder together a special fifty foot cord for me and the amp was moved fifty feet away from me and then turned up,every place I touched my les paul custom it screamed and howled.And then he said now,slow it down,you have all of the sustain one could dream of