Thank you! We're gonna take a little break and we'll be right back...

After living and breathing these 11 songs for weeks and months, there's now a break in the recording of Glenn's record. Rehearsals for the upcoming Wonderful Grand Band tour begin soon, and there's a grandson in Halifax to check in on. Glenn Simmons and friends will reconnect in early December at Stage House for the last couple weeks of tracking with a planned release for winter 2010... so please check back here for updates. In the meantime,we hope you enjoy this clip of Where being recorded. Boomer slayed us with his birthday performance, and Glenn had to learn the bass part to his own song. No pressure playing bass with 4 fellas and a video camera hangin' over ya.

October Gale

Billy Sutton braved the elements to cut percussion, drums and bass tracks. Bad weather, great groove.

A Break Coming Soon

Here's a preview of Back Home:-) Must be alright if it inspires JM to bust a move.

Between the Wind and the Whitecaps

Considering the geographical and spiritual distance between the North Atlantic and the mountains of Afghanistan... the lyrics of Back Home take on a new, more poignant meaning in a military context.

More surf in my mix, please

The personality of the Stagehouse is making itself known. There are places in the beginning of In the 20th Century where you can hear the waves crashing against the cliffs and wind in the eves... and it will probably end up staying. Led Zeppelin recorded Black Country Woman for Physical Graffiti in the garden and you can hear a plane at one point. So a bunch of millionaire rockstars set the precedent in 1975. Nice guitars today, great combinations of Gibsons and Fenders, AKG and Audio Technica mic's, Neve and UAD pre's, Hot Wheels and Imperial Storm Troopers. Wes Kinsman loved it.

Special Guests

One of the Eagles dropped by the studio today.

Crashing Waves and Driving Rain

It's like playing in the wheelhouse of the Bell Island ferry. Drums, Telecasters and Mellotron... Glenn, Paul Boomer Stamp, Paul Kinsman and Justin Merdsoy.

Boom in the Room and Justin Textin'

Paul Boomer Stamp cutting drum tracks for Sweet Vanilla.

Good takes...

Some lovely musical moments happening at Stagehouse Studio. You almost have to turn your back to the windows so you can pay attention to what you're doing. Even the control room has a view. Great gear like Neve strips and Apogee converters help the music flow. Thanks for the J-Bass loaner, L & M. We'll even leave the price tags on it.

From Glenn...

     I've been writing songs for The Fables for the last 10-12 years. But like you might expect, inspiration doesn't just come in Celtic form. There's been contemporary stuff that I have from as far back as 10 years ago that I like but have never recorded. Some of that will be on this record.  Most of the album will be more recent material however. I kinda like where I'm at today as a writer.

     The process that we're using has been working great. Basically it started with me writing the songs here at my house and then recording guitars, bass, and vocals here in my home studio. I got some fairly decent gear and I got it sounding pretty good. Then I sent the stuff to Paul and he created keyboard tracks for the songs in the comfort and leisure of his own home studio as well. It really brought the stuff over the top. Over a couple of afternoons we transferred my files, and then Paul's files to the studio computer in St Phillips. It all synced up perfectly and immediately sounded fantastic. It's a very cool way to do a record. We're gonna replace some of the lead vocals and solos and the like at St Phillips. They have world class gear there. It'll  also give me a chance to sing and play with the engineering out of the way. We'll get some real drums happening there too. It's a great facility and Justin Merdsoy (engineer) is very talented and an all round great guy to be working with. We're gonna do some of the songs from scratch as well, but already the album is 60% done, and we love what we got.

Glenn

The Kitchen Sync

     Demos for these new songs have been recorded all over the place over the last year or more and tracks are coming from multiple sources, formats and sample rates. Acoustic guitars and vocals from Glenn's Mac, some drums and guitars burned onto a CD from Billy Sutton's house, accordion, Hammond and piano tracks recorded at Paul Kinsman's place, backups from an external drive and a moog solo imported from a memory stick on Paul's key chain. The amazing thing is, Justin is able to synchronize these elements and performances effortlessly on the studio's Nuendo and it sounds like they were all recorded in the same place at the same time. Technology can be your enabler.

     More capturing and less computing. Some amazing and surprising songs.

     Glenn is gone to Hopeall to tend to the cats.

Saturday, October, 3 2009

First official day of production at a beautiful studio space in St. Phillip's, Conception Bay, Newfoundland. Saturday included Glenn and engineer Justin Merdsoy doing some of the nitty-gritty data export and sync chores. Some existing tracks from the demos are coming together here for the first time, having been recorded at various studios throughout St. John's, Bay Roberts and Hopeall.Thankfully, everything is working the way we hoped.

Great vibe today... the view is inspiring yet distracting.