| Once we completed recording of "Smash Hits" in 2002 it was my intention to keep on writing for the next CD and well... life got in the way. This song is one of the few from those 2003 writting sessions and as I will allude to in other liner notes it had been years since I wrote new songs because "Smash Hits" had no completely new songs. I wrote the music for The Sign shortly after completing "Smash Hits" but then got a new computer and upgraded software so it took a few months and I had to get back on that bike of writing. When I wrote The Sign I was in some crazy techno-metal mode but by the time I wrote the music to what would be Man in the Moon I was going back to my roots of heavy. The arrangement is unchanged from the 2003 recording- and it's the same drum tracks. It was the first time I attempted recording drum tracks from my DR-5 drum machine where I recorded each section of drums separate in synch with a click track. For you master recordists out there wondering why I just didn't do it MIDI- well... because, okay!! The original guitars were mic'd which was also something I rarely did and I thought they came out pretty good but to keep the mix consistent I redid them (many times) direct with a POD. I don't play live anymore so I don't really have live gear. I know the recording quality would have been better had all these songs had the right guitar gear but I did the best I could with the POD. On our next CD with electric guitar I'll just do it mic'd and figure it out. Same with the bass tracks. So I guess I'm saying I'm not too happy with the mix of this song. Couldn't get enough punch, it always seemed to just lay there a bit which was okay in the verse sections but not the heavy parts. I've made it acceptable but I know better. The other first this production represents is the addition of low frequency "hum" in the mix. I think I read it somewhere so I just took a bass sound on a keyboard and lowered the pitch to a rumble and played those root notes through the song. It at times might "muddy" the songs a little but I love the effect in a subwoofer'd system. Jeff said through headphones it made him feel submerged in the song. I continued to add that to every song on this project. Because Jeff's time in the studio is so short- and his life can be hectic, I felt he sometimes came in the studio with the roots to his melodies but he didn't have time to work out nuances from there. In other words based on what he'd come up with he would have a straight sing through of melody and maybe a double or harmony in mind. After that I would spend some time during the week and add things or break things up. In this case I wanted the lines from the chorus to be on different tracks and textured differently. I actually sang the whole chorus and worked out the arrangement. He modified down my original ideas but went with most of it- re-singing them of course. I'm actually singing the background "ah's" (along with the synth ah's). He didn't seem interested in re-doing them himself. I enjoy this song much more now that it's completed and I can just let it go. It's big and maybe a bit bloated but it has it's own feel and represents where I was at in 2003. |
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This had to be one of the most difficult songs I have ever had to write to the music. In part, the greater reason may be due to the fact that it was really, the first song that I had written the lyrics to soup to nuts in like 3 or 4 years, perhaps longer. When writing to music which is already there, one has to ensure that all of the written parts are going to fit with the musical parts. They have to align. As is usually the case in mine and Tom's writing partnership, he requested I not begin verse until intro completion. Without being facetious, let's just say I many times have no idea where that point is in Tom's lengthy intros. This was one of those songs. I not only had difficulty finding that point, I had difficulty writing against the unique verse pattern and riff guitar section. Once I figured it out (which took an exhausting period of time) it became a bit easier. In the studio, Tom helped guide me through such instances. I have learned over the years to step back at times and let him produce/direct his songs with what he has envisioned and keep an open mind unless it is something that I feel strongly about otherwise. At which time we will debate it otherwise, for the most part. It has proven to be a key and vital part of our writing of a successful song (in our eyes). Tom is partially right about my time constrained life when it comes to working out vocal arrangements but the truth of the matter is there have been instances where I just get hung up with what I will call un-inspirational moments. If I am not inspired by a certain part of a song I have a tendency to get stuck. It is probably something I should work on but the great thing about that is that is where Tom can give that little (sometimes big) push to get me up and over the "hurdle". The chorus of this song was one of those (little) instances. I had a very cool melody which went along with my lines but couldn't adjust it to fit everything I wanted to say. So Tom did something which is really the opposite of how we both usually approach a song in lyrical writing. Usually, when he writes lyrics, I have to edit and condense. Well, this time, he did so for me in the chorus. Then, while I was away, he came up with some cool background stuff which we kept mostly. I really liked the eerie "ah" effect he had sung in there. I originally, for the longest time, thought it was a keyboard "ah". But later on learned it was him singing. (Tom's note: it's both actually) I didn't think I could duplicate it so decided to leave it. There is another part that he did and I wish we had kept it because I never re-captured it the way he did it as much as I don't like admitting it. That line is "is the watchful eye". Lyrically, I am quite proud of what I wrote and what the song is about and how it fits into the theme of Tom's vision/story.
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