Our Saturdays in the recording studio have been lots of work and fun and we are very happy with the way the album is coming together. We've finished all of the guitar and vocal parts added some cool sounds to the songs including glockenspiel, melodica (a keyboard that you blow into to get sound), tinkley bells and electric sitar. We've started the mixing process, getting all the different sounds to balance out and sound their best.

Here are a couple of photomontages that I created on my iPad Pro of Phil playing the instruments:

Last Saturday we completed our third 6 hour recording session and we are pleased to say we've been making steady progress on the new album. We've gotten all of the basic guitar parts for the 5 songs and 3 of the vocal tracks with harmonies done. 

Stage fright in the studio?

I found myself a little jittery when standing behind the microphone singing my lead vocals although I was completely alone in the room with only Phil and Chris listening through headphones.  I was imagining that I would never get the part right and we would be there all day spending money on studio time with nothing to show. It was a little disorienting because I am so used to playing and singing live or recording at home. As it turns out, the third take was actually much better and smoother than I thought and we kept almost the whole thing with hardly any corrections needed.

Hobbyhorse Half Hour Webcast Concert

We've finally found some time to schedule a "Hobbyhorse Half Hour" webcast concert! It will be on StreetJelly.com/live at 5:30pm [Pacific].

How to watch: Go to http://StreetJelly.com/live at the time of the show and click on Hobbyhorse's picture. 

You can either sign in  beforehand if you want to join the audience chat or watch anonymously without signing in. Stay as long or short as you want. Tipping is appreciated but optional. 

Recording the new album has begun! We spent 6 hours last Saturday March 25, at Blue Seven Audio with recording engineer Chris Scott Cooper laying down guitar tracks for three songs, Wild Mountain Thyme, Monkey and The Mushroom and Love is Forever. 

Phil and I sat  on separate sides of a glass door so that the sounds of the guitars would be recorded on different tracks. That makes it easier to balance the guitar sounds later. 

We got a lot done and took a few breaks to hang out together and talk about music and mutual friends. 

Here are two short videos of Chris at his desk and Phil and I warming up. 





 

The Kickstarter campaign ended on Sunday. We are very happy that we surpassed our goal for recording a 5 song EP. We had no idea what to expect when we started out and we sincerely appreciate your support! We didn't quite raise the amount required to print the CD with eco-friendly packaging, but are very close and still may be able to do so if our budget allows.

We have already booked our first two recording sessions at Blue Seven Audio starting at the end of March  and are in the process of selecting, arranging and rehearsing the songs that will go on the album.