Tonight I have vocal pre-production with the Goddess frontwomen; Brittany and Sheryl. The Goddess tracking sessions went really great with Brad the drummer getting the MVP award. Robbie Parrish did a fantastic job of getting our drums sounding great, and Al made the guitars sound very good. We had to do the basic tracks without Tushar, (bassist), but Al and Brad kept the song energy high throughout the process. When Tushar played his parts on overdub day, he filled in the blank as if he was laying it down with the band cooking live right along with him. Special thanks to the piano player from Houston's Drop Trio, Ian Varley. Our engineer, John Griffin recommended him at the last minute to cover a piano part that a song 'suddenly suggested', and BAM, in walks Ian 45 minutes after the call. Fourty five minutes after that, he was out the door, we were picking our jaws off the floor, and we had a great piano part.

Now all that I have to do is get some great vocals recorded, and maybe do a few extra parts myself, (although I am unsure as to what I want to add,..... I'm starting to get a few ideas. George Harrison is going to be my mentor on these parts).

Eileen Faxas' tracking sessions went INCREDIBLY well, and my thanks goes out to Rainel Pino, the 'Professor of Percussion' from the Havana Conservatory of Music. Rainel is best known for being an incredible jazz pianist, but he played percussion and the drum kit as well for this gig, along with doing the arrangements, and conducting the horn parts. This project just keeps exceeding my expectations. It's really good to be working with such talented people. Eileen recorded her first day of vocals this week, and she did really great. I sang her for the full 8 hours and she never complained!

I am evaluating three new artists; Winter Roberts-- a young lady from Houston, who has phenomenal singing skills and looks to be a good lyricist as well, Kendal Triplett-- a contemporary Christian singer songwriter from Arkansas who has a great old school R&B vibe, and Bianca, a contemporary R&B-ish singer songwriter from Hendersonville, TN. I am really honored to have such great opportunities to choose from. I'll keep you posted on the progress of these potential projects.

I confirmed the string section I am cutting for Sarah Sharp's next record. I'm super excited as band tracking and vocal tracking are just a few weeks away. In many ways, this has been the most involved project I have ever done. The teamwork between Sarah, Kevin Ryan, and myself has been SUPER rewarding. OH YEAH, we tracked a drum sampling session with Kevin, Steve Christensen, Robbie Parrish and myself last week--ostensibly to create sampled kits for Kevin to use for some of the songs he is creating with Sarah. It was the BOMB! Everyone on the session donated their time, and the results were some stunning 'in your face, old(er) school drum sounds. Kevin was pleased, and we all had a great time.

I had the opportunity to mix a song written and performed by Beyonce's sister, Solange Knowles. I'll be finishing the final mix this weekend with some help from keyboardist, Rick Thompson, from Moses Guest. I've been in Moses Guest withdrawal lately, so it must be time to go see them live. Most of you know that MG has a special place in my heart and these guys are busy trying to scare up a record deal. I cannot BELIEVE that they haven't been signed yet. They are stunning live, they groove hard, and their songwriting and lyrics are smart and accessible. If you are an A&R rep reading this, LOOK AT THIS BAND SOON!!!! They are going somewhere.

Sorry to be so long between blogs...... life has just swept me away. (I'll be back soon).

thelove,

Dan