Recording the Crystal

"I'm always doing things I can't do, that's how I get to do them."

                                         Pablo Picasso

I'm learning to record my songs. Some of the old rules of recording no longer apply today because we can do so many tracks and tricks.  Now we have all the million dollar recording studio stuff in our ipad and what not, and really anything we can think of, we can do. All the fancy bells and whistles can be applied after the fact, and can cover over a multitude of musical boo boos. 

So what is left, besides the infinite sea of choices and freedom? It is like the mote of dust around which what is to be the snowflake forms. It is the essence of the song, the spirit of the song itself.

When we record, we call that the crystal.  

Capturing the crystal is much like catching the wind in a bottle. It needs to find the musicians in top form, warmed up, in sync with each other, and familiar with the song. But it also requires a certain hard to describe something...

The musicians need to be in a particular mood of really feeling the song. Embodying the song, listening to its meaning. And feeling particularly inspired just then. The first run through of the song is usually the crystal, and it helps to have not played it in a good while. This, despite the need for familiarity, so it's tricky.

 And special!

The crystal then becomes the center of the recording, around which other parts are hung, like winding a ball of yarn. In some cases, the other parts added later replace bits of the crystal even to the point that, in some cases, the original crystal cannot be heard at all.

But it is there! There remains a pattern. A spirit.