Hello my croissants!
Over the past couple of years, I have been collaborating a lot with my friends Viv and Riley, and it’s been a dream of mine to get into a studio and record some songs together. This past week, we finally had that opportunity, with engineer and producer Gregory Dwane Griffith at the incredible Peacedale Recording Studios in Connecticut.
A lot of what you bring into a session is your own baggage. It’s like a relationship in a way, if you bring in a lot of expectations about what the music should be, you can really miss out on what the music could be. In this case, we had a real emotional gift in that we were not quite sure what we were trying to make, only that there was a possibility for something special.
Peacedale Studios is a studio unlike any other. We had the run of an enormous mid-century mansion, complete with an indoor pool that looked and felt like California, as well as a small recording studio in a separate building. Riley, Viv, and I planned to arrange and rehearse in the house (where we were also sleeping, eating, and swimming), and then move to the studio when we were ready to record. But Greg had a different vision. As we sat on the carpeted floor practicing our first idea for a song, mics began to appear in front of us. It was done so seamlessly that I almost didn’t notice until we were already recording.
So, that’s how we recorded what may become my favorite track from the project; Sitting cross-legged on the floor, singing and playing, completely live with both instruments and vocals.
Although our legs began to cramp and we eventually transitioned to chairs, the live + cozy vibe continued throughout the week, and we never actually made it to the studio. We did the entire recording in the living room, jumping in the pool between takes and running to the kitchen to make coffee and toast and disastrous frozen pizza (which was both overcooked and undercooked somehow).
I think we made something really special, and I’m so grateful to Greg for having a vision that allowed us to record exactly what makes this collaboration unique; the vocal blend and instrumental interaction shine on these stripped-down, live recordings.
Here’s a little photo and video diary for your enjoyment.
George joined us for a few days and made us some righteous pasta!
Old Bomb shelter now serves as a reverb chamber.
Hope everyone is having a great week!
-Rachel
This looks and sounds like great fun, I can't wait to hear what comes out of this. I just finished (finally) listening to your interview on the Recording Podcast. What a jewel of an interview. It took me a bit to get into it because the two engineers seemed to be the focus. I had a free block of time this morning and decided it was time to dive deep and I was fascinated with the conversations with both Sean Sullivan and Tucker Martine. They went down the engineering rabbit hole for the common dweeb and it was pure delight to listen to y'all.