Update On Kerry McFate’s Clarence Lowden Album Project
Posted: July 7, 2013 Filed under: Client News, Client News, Pro Tools Software, Studio News | Tags: .wav, Bill Watson, Hank Williams Jr., Jamey Johnson, Johnny Cash, Kerry McFate, Mike Douchette On Pedal Steel, nashville trax, Taylor acoustic guitar, Wanda Vick on fiddle Leave a comment
Songwriter Kerry McFate (left) and producer Bill Watson (right) taking a break from mixing Kerry’s songs.
Songwriter Kerry McFate (left) and producer Bill Watson (right) take a break from mixing songs for Kerry’s Clarence Lowden album.
Kerry McFate will be taking his flight back to New York City tomorrow morning just thrilled with the experience at Nashville Trax and stoked about the way the songs came out.
“Bill, I’m blown away, I can’t thank you and your team enough for taking the songs I brought in, mere kernels really, and growing them into these fabulous recordings!” Kerry exclaimed as we parted.
He’ll be the first to admit he’s not a highly skilled singer technically, but he has a great voice and with do-over punch-ins, plus a little help from software, reverb, delay and EQ, his strong baritone, (which has shades of deep register country singers like Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash and Jamey Johnson) sounds just great, even better than he expected. He also played his own Taylor acoustic guitar and those tracks mixed in, no problem.
Fiddle and steel guitar are featured throughout, which Kerry requested when we first discussed the project, and sound super, thanks to the contributions of my favorite calls on both of those instruments, Wanda Vick on fiddle and Mike Douchette on pedal steel.
The mixes are finished on all three songs, which Kerry intends to release on CD under his fictitious Clarence Lowden name.
Kerry has the stereo mix .wav files as well as the (Pro Tools) session files on his hard drive. That’s actually the 8th or 9th copy of all files on 4 different drives because at Nashville Trax we meticulously back up on external hard drives in rotation at each stage of the recording process: After each song is tracked, after each overdub musician or singer completes their parts, and of course, after the final mix.
With these first few tunes I think we were able to define a direction and create a unique sound for Kerry that can be explored even further as the album is completed- b.e. watson
Why Nashville Trax?
Posted: July 7, 2013 Filed under: Studio Equipment | Tags: Bill Watson, Gretsch drum kit, Nashville session guitarist Tom Wild, nashville trax Leave a comment
Want great drum sounds? Come record where the great drum sounds are!
Nashville session guitarist, Tom Wild, mentioned how well the CD he produced in a couple previous tracking sessions at Nashville Trax (for one of his own clients) with yours truly engineering, turned out. (We cut the rhythm tracks and overdubs then exported them to Tom’s hard drive for him to mix.) He said his client was thrilled, the entire CD came out fantastic and promised to forward a copy.
The music was rock and Tom reported, “The drum sounds were just awesome and mixed great, don’t ever touch a thing.” Most Nashville studios either don’t own a drum kit or have a tiny, constrictive drum room with zero ambiance guaranteeing “dead on arrival” sounds that require a lot of signal processing to make them right, if they ever can be considering the typical “studio drum kit” is probably assembled from a bunch of used junk pro drummers didn’t want anymore. The huge drum room here with a permanently setup Gretch kit and microphones chosen specifically for each drum guarantee consistent sounds, The only adjustments I have to make most of the time are volume to account for drummers with a lighter touch and minor EQ tweaking to a specific type of music- Bill Watson
Nashville Trax News
Posted: May 16, 2013 Filed under: Client News, Client News, Studio News | Tags: Cash, Jennings, nashville trax, Prine Leave a comment
Bill Watson, Owner & Producer of Play It Again Demos and Nashville Trax
Nashville Trax News: I’m beginning charting today on the first few songs for an album by songwriter Kerry McFate. Kerry hails from New York, NY. Some of the songs will be recorded there, some here at Nashville Trax, with the first session scheduled in late June.
I love that a lot of the influences in Kerry’s writing are Cash, Prine and Jennings. I’m hearing lots of good, old traditional fiddle and steel tracks on these tunes- b.e.
Happy Easter Weekend!
Posted: March 29, 2013 Filed under: Christian | Tags: easter, he reigns newsboys, nashville trax, playitagain demos Leave a comment
From the children of The Lord of Lords and King of Kings @ PIA Demos and Nashville Trax, Happy Easter!
Yes, He Reigns:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtWoTsW-k2o
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.. Isaiah 25:8
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ” Mark 16:1-8
Former PIAD singer Krista Marie Taking The Farm to Australia
Posted: March 11, 2013 Filed under: Music Industry News | Tags: alabama band, broken bow, krista marie, nashville star, nashville trax, play it again demos, randy owen, the farm Leave a comment
Former Play It Again Demo’s singer Krista Marie who joined The Farm (on Warner Brothers) a few months ago will be performing with them at a gig in Australia Sunday, March 17th.
Krista sang on many Play It Again Demos over a period of several years as well as singing lead vocals on the swing tune “Borrowed Time” for the John Smith Nashville Trax project.
Her first break came when she landed a job on Nashville Star as a personal assistant to Alabama‘s Randy Owen, who was on Broken Bow at the time, the same label Krista later signed with.
Unfortunately almost all artist signings include clauses preventing singers from using their voice to make money for anything except furthering their aspirations with the label. So after becoming a Broken Bow artist Krista could no longer work for us. But we love to hear about our former singer’s career building efforts and wish her all the luck possible.
The Farm’s current single is called, “Be Grateful.”
Nashville Recording Studio Nashville Trax Is Open For Business
Posted: February 20, 2004 Filed under: Studio Products | Tags: Nashville Recording Studio, nashville trax Leave a comment
Your Songs Can Be On The Next Session! Ask For A Quote!
Are you a songwriter in need of a place to take your song or songs and turn them into a demo recording or master for release on a CD or download? Nashville recording studio Nashville Trax can! We actually opened under this name in 2007.
Are you a singer in need of a studio to cut a demo showcasing your voice? Nashville recording studio Nashville Trax can!
Do you need high quality session musicians to play on your project? Nashville recording studio Nashville Trax can provide!
Do you have a home studio and need Nashville Trax to interface with your efforts, letting you handle the steps you can do and paying us for the steps you can’t such as tracking the drums, bass, guitar, piano rhythm section? Provide vocals? Or do the pro mixing for you? Nashville recording studio Nashville Trax can interface!
A Songwriting & Recording Blog 