Cali-Forn-I-A
Nov 5, 2006
So I made a very quick trip to LA this weekend for the David Campbell string session. I actually think that I was in an airport and on a plane longer than in the California sun…no I’m actually sure of it. Anyway, as Ken and I always do, we did as much a possible in the time we had. We did all the important stuff like grab In-N-Out burgers, drive through Beverly Hills wondering where the heck all these people work to be able to afford these crazy houses. (They can’t all be A-list actors), and of course drove the strip. It was all cool, and super fast. We did meet up with one of Ken’s friends who lives out there. He was actually working on a project that has members of Tonic, and a few other bands. Very cool stuff… I was hoping to catch the guys so I could tell them the story of how I tried to “shop” them my tape after one of their shows (“Tonic” that is…you know the band that did “If you could only see” among other radio staples). So yeah, I did say tape which tells you how long ago it was, and because I was like 13, it was really awful stuff…thank God they brushed me aside! LOL!!! To no avail though, the guys had already left the session for the night…what can you do right?
So back to why I was in LA… By some miracle we got David Campbell to agree to do strings on two of our songs “The Part that Walks Away” and “Song for the Summer”. David, as I have mentioned previously, is a mega string arranger, and I’m quite sure you would have to be living under a rock for you not to have heard some of his work. From film scores to artist like, Goo Goo Dolls, Train, Tim McGraw, Linkin Park, Billy Joel…and the list really never ends. One cool fact that I learned about David this weekend was that he is actually “Beck’s” dad. Yeah, Beck, the “Looser”, “two turn tables and a microphone…”, “Sea change”…Beck. Not sure why, but I thought this was very cool. So anyway, David wrote two amazing scores, and had 12 of the best session players lay down his masterpiece at Capitol Studio B. (Another great studio with tons of big names still booking time… Green Day did “American Idiot “ here, and Eric Clapton actually had a session booked in B right after us) I can’t tell you how amazing this was…actually I can. I had goose bumps, and at times had to fight back tears…yes, I’m a baby…or maybe I’m more like a father watching his child being born…lets go with that, it’s a bit more noble although still very “un-rockstar-like”, but then again it’s me, so it goes without saying…. Enough rambling, All the players were amazing…perfect. They made changes on the fly like nothing. They did two songs in 3 hours…just insane. David was super cool and down to earth. He really seemed to love the songs, and gave tons of compliments. I can’t tell you how good it feels to have someone you admire so much give compliments about your work. It was amazing and beautiful.
So where do we go from here…D-Rock and I head back to NYC for another week or so for final mixing. The album is set to be done Nov. 15th, and then will be sent off to Mastering. Not sure who will be Mastering it yet, but there have been several names thrown around…all top notch!
I leave you with a few pics of the trip:
http://users.bandzoogle.com/troybrown/images/content/hollywood.jpg
This be where it all went down...
http://users.bandzoogle.com/troybrown/images/content/capitol.jpg
Bird's Eye view of the live room...
http://users.bandzoogle.com/troybrown/images/content/players1.jpg
http://users.bandzoogle.com/troybrown/images/content/players2.jpg
Score...
http://users.bandzoogle.com/troybrown/images/content/score.jpg
Me, David "The Mega Arranger/Beck's Dad" Campbell, and Ken at Capitol Studio "B" control room...
http://users.bandzoogle.com/troybrown/images/content/liquidtdk.jpg
Peace,
-T
