A Glimpse Through The Glass: Window Dressing Briefing Notes
written by Chris Herin, 2003-2004

We began recording March 1, 2003 at the White Room Studio in downtown Detroit, MI - and completed this session March 10, 2003 having completed all drum & bass tracks. The White Room is a studio especially noted for refurbished vintage recording gear and a great drum room. Kid Rock recorded a few of his early CDs here and I think the studio is actually in one of his videos or something. He'll probably want to sit in or something to help us sell a few more cds ;-)...

March 11, 2003: We ended up pulling "Slippers in the Snow" out of the "Destiny Undelivered" suite at the last minute since the overall program needed a little "gloom." We It was a lot of fun - but mostly hard work. We recorded the drums to 2" analog tape then transferred the tracks into Pro Tools - where we'll record everything else. Pat and Jeff played great and responded to Terry's input with inspired performances. The White Room Studio in Detroit has a lot of cool vintage gear and good sounding rooms with unique personalities. Next...guitars!

April 8, 2003: Four days worth of guitar recording April 4th through 7th... Terry is an excellent engineer (of everything, so far). The drums are clear and punchy, the bass fat and distinct, and the guitars are everywhere! The CD already sounds mixed (well almost). Most of the electric guitar parts are done except for solos. A day or two more in the studio should finish them off. Another session is scheduled for the first weekend in May.

April 28, 2003: Paul traveled to Terry's studio in Toronto April 24th through the 27th to start work on vocals. Although planned as a "pre-production" session - "All She Knows," "Remember to Forget," and the first few sections of "Window Dressing" are finished.

May 6, 2003: Technical gremlins spoil our session for May 2nd, but much hard work by the White Room's engineer John Smerek gets us back on track for more guitar and bass recording the 3rd through the 5th. Jeff revisited "Capture The Flag" to mend some tuning problems - and worked out a new bass arrangement with Terry for "Slippers In The Snow." Electric rhythm guitars were completed and Chris moved on to acoustic guitar overdubs. We got some scary sounds with John's Supro amp head and TS-9...

June 3, 2003: Paul went to Terry's studio in Toronto for the weekend of May 23rd through May 25th for more lead vocals - on his own without the rest of us "harshing his buzz," so to speak. They immediately began work on Window Dressing (WD) - picking things up at the first chorus and worked until about midnight (or pint time). Work continued the next day (Saturday, May 24th) on WD, getting most of the vocals done. Then Paul began work on Tear-Water Tea (T-WT). Sunday saw the completion of T-WT and the start of Capture the Flag (CTF). Paul and I had done some additional pre-production for CTF since I had written new melodies for the verses and pre-choruses. A few lyrics required changes too so it was best that Paul feel comfortable with things before going to Toronto. Something had never set right with these parts - too many words or something... CTF was about half-way done but time was up. Paul and Terry planned the next session for later that week. Back in Toronto on Thursday, May 29th, Paul finished CTF; touched up a spot in WD; and started work on Slippers in the Snow (SITS). SITS was finished Friday and Paul headed back to Detroit. Next: Chris and Paul go to Toronto June 13th through the 16th to work on Spindrift and Paintings vocals - and some acoustic guitars. Terry will venture back to Detroit June 27th through 30th for more electric and acoustic guitars at the White Room. We should be about 75% done by the end of June with backing vocals, keyboards, percussion, and maybe a couple special guest contributions to finish!

June 17, 1003: Paul and I are back from our weekend in Toronto. We did a complete review of all the vocal tracks Friday night (June 13th) and touched up a couple spots here and there. We also recorded the closing "tag" to Window Dressing. I used a beat up Vantage acoustic guitar that was lying around the studio and Paul and I recorded the part together sitting on the floor in true "campfire" style. Terry was skeptical but liked the end results! Saturday (June 14th) Paul finished Spindrift - a tricky song with odd phrases that play off the up-beats. We finished most of the song but his throat started bothering him late in the afternoon so I did some acoustic guitar parts. I recorded the parts for the bridge in Paintings - an arpeggio pattern and some counterpoint strumming, which I doubled at Terry's request. We moved onto Remember To Forget where I used my Tacoma Papoose tuned down a step for strumming parts in the bridge & solo sections. Then I tuned my regular acoustic down 2 steps for a strumming pattern in the Coda. Sunday (June 15th) Paul finished Paintings and recorded the high parts in Spindrift. Lead vocals are done! Paul left Monday morning (June 16th) and I stayed and added mandolin, banjo, and acoustic guitar to All She Knows and acoustic guitar and banjo to Spindrift. Overall, an extremely productive weekend. Lead vocals are done, bass is done, drums are done, and 90% of the guitars are done. Next up: lead guitar, more acoustics, more baritone guitar, keyboards, percussion, and a few special guests to round up. I picked up the latest I Mother Earth while in Toronto (not available in the U.S.) - what a great CD... check it out.

July 9, 2003: We had a few scheduling changes to make so there wasn't much news for a while. The late-June session was postponed until mid-July to accommodate the "Canada Day" long weekend. Paul traveled back to Toronto July 5th & 6th to work on backing vocals. He claims that 95% of the backgrounds are done - Terry is shipping a CD so rest of us can hear what they came up with. I've been working on my parts for the next session (in Detroit) - getting a general direction on the leads, etc. I borrowed a resonator guitar (dobro) which I think I'll use on some Window Dressing parts. We've lined up Mathew Parmenter to contribute violin to Tear-Water Tea and Hugh Syme is working with Terry on a few keyboards. Still plenty of work to do but we're on schedule to mix in late-September. Terry is doing a couple demo mixes to send to the record company so they can hear what's happening. I'll have more to report after the July 18-20 session...

July 25, 2003: Terry traveled to Detroit last Friday (the 18th) for a weekend of recording guitars back at the White Room. Everything went well. I did solos for Remember To Forget, Window Dressing, Spindrift, Capture The Flag, and a melody spot on All She Knows. These are all of the solos I had planned. I used a variety of guitars & amp setups - mostly the Mesa Tri-Axis but we also hooked up the studio's Supro head & small Supro combo amp. I finally picked up the PRS (not used much at all on this CD) for the solos on Remember & Capture - and strats on the other two solos. The solos are a little "out there" but I swear I wasn't drunk! We also finished up acoustic guitars on Window Dressing and Slippers In The Snow. I used a dobro that I borrowed plus the usual assortment of normal acoustics. I've always liked the dobro/resonator sound for that melancholy Dire Straits vibe. We closed out the session Monday with some keyboards. I did a scratch mellotron (sampled) track to get Window Dressing prepped for one of our alleged special guests - and recorded a piano interlude on the studio's "elderly well-worn-but-technically-in-tune" upright. For the piano interlude we placed microphones at the window to record background street noise. The piece will have a city "dance studio" vibe and turned out good (see Terry, I told you so). I think this means guitars are now done (never say never you know). The background vocals are sounding good so Terry's & Paul's claims of "almost done" were correct. Just a couple things to haggle over...Next on the schedule is a trip to Toronto for band photos, a photo shoot for our CD cover model, and keyboards the weekend of August 16th. In the meantime I'll work on keyboard arrangements, percussion arrangements, and other overdub-type tidbits.

August 18, 2003: The Great Blackout of 2003 erased the chance of accomplishing anything in Toronto last weekend. Power was restored Friday morning but was very low voltage. 100-102 volts at best and not expected to get much better - not to mention the periodic short-duration "rolling" blackouts. Not the best conditions under which to run sensitive computer equipment! Terry and I did a little keyboard pre-production on Friday but this got boring in a hurry. I like to be spontaneous with the keyboard stuff so we were just working on things I'd likely forget anyway. So, I went home. We're in the process of rescheduling so hopefully this won't really change our progress.

September 4, 2003: Well, we made up for the "lost blacked-out weekend" Friday, August 29th through September 1st. Schedules finally meshed and the band, our cover model Lani (with her sister Melissa along on make-up duty), and Hugh Syme (with his associate Linda) converged on Terry's studio in Toronto to shoot the CD cover and band photos that Friday. Things went well and it was great to finally meet Hugh after hours of phone conversations. He is certainly as intelligent and entertaining in person as you might surmise from his artwork! Hugh started work with Lani. Photographing her in various stages getting dressed - all tastefully done and not at all gratuitous (really!). After a brief refreshment period ("are you sure that's not too much vodka Lani?") Hugh proceeded with band shots - allowing Jeff to leave his Hawaiian shirt on (much to my dismay). We did some photos in the studio and the stairwell, then wandered over to a nearby entertainment complex called the "Distillery" for some scene variety and lots of windows. An actual distillery that's undergoing renovations to create restaurants, a brewery, and nightclubs - the area had many interesting backdrops that fit the artwork's theme. Terry and I had originally planned to begin working on keyboards after the photo shoot but quickly realized that mingling and dinner were about all that was going to be accomplished. We reconvened Saturday at noon, saying goodbye to everyone, and Terry and I got to work. We started with Remember To Forget - putting just a few parts here and there, then moved on to Capture the Flag - which was harder to pin down. It's a pretty heavy song but I kept hearing some "floating" parts in some of the sections plus strings in the chorus. Finding the right sounds was the challenge. We skipped dinner and put up Paintings - adding some filler parts for texture. We experimented with a lot of sounds and parts and finally settled into a working pattern which got things moving quicker. After about 13 hours we called it a day. Sunday we again started at noon and reviewed the previous day's work. It still sounded good so we move on to Spindrift. We hashed out some concepts and eventually decided to add a variety of loops to the verses courtesy of "B-Doody," a persona not unrelated to P-Diddy I think. Time consuming but I think the results are cool. Then we put some keyboards in various (and unexpected) places. The song is over 9 minutes so this took all day. Again we skipped dinner and started working on All She Knows. We experimented with a few single line counter melodies in the second half of the song for a while and called it a night. Monday was an early start so I could head home mid-afternoon. Terry's studio partner, Russ, had hooked us up with his Virus sound module Sunday and we started relying on it more and more. We plowed through the rest of All She Knows, and spent the rest of our time on Window Dressing (except for the middle interlude for which Hugh Syme will add his touch). Hugh will also play piano on Slippers In The Snow. I finished all my parts and we called it a day. So..., we're almost done. Just a few more keys and then we'll touch things up with a little percussion & violin. We have about 3 more days of studio work I estimate. Terry has a couple of new projects on his schedule so it looks like we'll mix in early November.

October 9, 2003: There hasn't been much happening lately with Terry away working on another project until October 20th. In the meantime I've prepped my last set of overdub notes for percussion, mandolin, keyboards, and a couple special guests. We're getting together this week with Matthew Parmenter (of Discipline) to work out violin parts for Tear-Water Tea and maybe Unicornicopia. I'll go to Toronto next weekend to do a bunch of this stuff - including Hugh Syme's guest appearance(s) - then we'll have maybe a few hours back in Detroit the first weekend of November for the real "last session." At least these are the plans. Terry will mix in November, we'll nod our heads in approval, figure out a running order, and shop for the Holidays... Oh, and Jeff got married. Congratulations Jeff!

October 27, 2003: Back from Toronto after a long dreary drive in the dark last night. We had a very productive few days. I started with changing some keyboard sounds in Window Dressing and added a little melody part in the intro. We created an interesting "reminiscence" interlude and added a few vocal effects. So, except for Hugh's keyboard contribution to the middle interlude the song is done! I finished off mandolin parts in Window Dressing, Slippers In The Snow, and A.02; added Tibetan Bells and some guitar to Capture the Flag; and put a few effects in Spindrift. A friend of Terry's came in late Friday night - and after a few snifters of cognac butchered a trumpet improvisation part for Jeff's as-yet-untitled bass & drums piece. Mr. M. Davis-Baker hadn't played his trumpet in a number of years but this was what we were looking for and Terry found it. Terry has yet to pick which of the 12 or so takes is suitable (none probably!). Matthew Parmenter of the Detroit band Discipline arrived with Jeff Saturday at noon. Matthew performed admirably on his violin on Tear-Water Tea and Unicornicopia. And he works cheap! Liver & onions washed down with Guinness - give him a call. Matthew is finishing up his solo album which should be out in early 2004. Sunday Terry and I pasted a little violin warm up on to the intro of Unicornicopia for fun; then reviewed Tear-Water Tea for potential keyboards. Terry insisted I play a piano part - which seemed like an odd idea. However, he's been right about a lot of things (imagine that) so I gave it try. Sure enough, it worked out great! So, just a couple of tidbits left to record. Hugh's two parts and some miscellaneous percussion (just a little - my grandiose percussion ideas don't look necessary or even feasible). Terry is actually going to start prepping for mixing. Our goal remains to be done mixing by the end of November.

November 17, 2003: Jeff and I traveled to Toronto the 15th & 16th to finish recording. Much to our disappointment Hugh's work schedule has prevented him from contributing his keyboard skills. I filled in the best I could and recorded keyboard parts (mellotron chords and a wandering melody line) for the interlude section of Window Dressing (the song) - also adding some atmospheric guitar harmonics. That was it for Saturday as we had gotten a late start due to some stubborn MIDI problems. Sunday we started tweaking the violin parts in Unicornicopia - editing out just a couple parts here and there. We then worked on Jeff and Pat's bass & drum instrumental workout. The trumpet parts recorded last time weren't "happening on their own" so Terry wanted us to put some guitar and keyboards on the song. Now the "duet/trio" arrangement is gone & it's a full-fledged instrumental - if only we could come up with a title! So we're done (recording). Terry has started prepping the files for mixing - which he'll begin concentrating on soon...

December 8, 2003: Mixing is officially underway in Toronto. We don't even have to be there in this modern age of computer technology! Terry will send us test mixes via FedEx and we'll send him some feedback (for example: more guitar and less Jeff please!). Then, once he's about 90% done, we'll convene in Toronto for a few days and finalize everything. That will happen in early January. So as I read through my previous entries we're a little behind schedule but after 3 years in the making I guess it doesn't matter...

January 7, 2004: Happy New Year! We hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season. We've been silent, but busy. The mixing is complete - we're in a one week "see how it feels" period before final mastering takes place Monday, January 12th in Toronto. Terry spent December mixing and sent us review cds just before Christmas. He made some adjustments based on our initial comments - then Jeff and I went to Toronto January 2-4 to tweak a few things in person. We took time out and dined with Kim Mitchell to thank him for contributing some of his stellar lead guitar work to "Capture The Flag." Now that we've worked out a running order we can finish off the artwork and hand everything over to the record company so they can do their thing. I think an early-April release date is penciled in for now.

March 8, 2004: We finished the second phase of mastering Window Dressing at the end of January and "lived with it" while work ensued to reissue our previous three cds. Once again Peter Moore took instructions from Terry - with just a few from me - and put the songs in order, did the fades, added compression and equalization sparingly, and served drinks. We had made only small modifications from the initial session - adding more compression to Capture The Flag and lowering the volume on A.02. Peter did a great job (with the mastering that is)! With the cooling off period over we listened back and gave WD the thumbs up, had Hugh put the finishing touches on the artwork, and shipped everything to Germany. The usual paperwork has demanded our attention in the meantime: contracts, publishing, copyrights, press releases, photos, bills, etc... and talk of actually playing together as a band(!).