Terrible Majesty - The Making Of (Pt. 2)

After tracking all of the drums and bass, it was time to start layering on everything else.

At the beginning of this process, I didn’t have a quiet place of my own where I could record. Nor did I have a computer capable of running the recording software. So across a few scattered weekends, I drove up to Cameron’s bedroom studio to track all of the acoustic guitar for the record. Cameron then overdubbed tenor sax, clarinet, and tuba parts.

Later, we ventured over to my parents’ house to record their piano for the tracks where I’m the one behind the ivories (Holiest Day of the Year and IMG).

My friend Richard very generously let us record organ using his analog gear and helped us dial in the sounds we were looking for. Erin arranged most of the organ parts and nailed the performances. I mostly watched but stepped in to record my organ solo on Epistemology Blues, Pt. 2.

Eventually, I put together a small bedroom studio of my own and invested in a computer capable of getting the job done. I could finally record on my own schedule! I recorded all of my vocals. I layered on guitar parts. I punched in flute lines. I added shakers, tambourines, harmonicas, jaw harps, and all manner of other details across months of evenings and weekends.

Erin arranged all the string parts across the record including the beautiful string accompaniment on Are You My Mother? She recorded multiple layers of violin tracks and our friend Gabby dropped by the bedroom studio to add cello.

By the time I was ready to add more piano, my parents no longer had theirs so we recorded some piano overdubs a middle school where we know a VIP.

Contributions were also made by my friend Sam who recorded himself playing the trombone and emailed over the tracks for inclusion. My friend and high school band teacher Mat did the same thing with trumpet.

Friends and family including Lillian, David, Tate, Brendan, Jonny, and Maryn contributed their voices to the record as well.

Finally, all of the tracks were recorded! It was time to get the record mixed, mastered, and ready for release.

To be continued…