Chapter 9: Billy and the Recordings

Everyone was up by 8am, was coffee'd out, had eaten breakfast and introduced themselves to the gym for a good morning workout. This would actually be the routine they'd follow while they were at "The Ranch", as they had now begun to refer to it. The girls have always been early risers. Bob's time was dependent on the night before. The girls would soon learn that sometimes the music took them into the next morning -- after the sun had come up.

Billy arrived fairly early the morning after the others arrived and had gotten things set up. Well, it was like 10am, which for Billy is very early.

He's generally a night owl like most musicians or people that deal with them. All of them will get into that mode after a few weeks then have to acclimate back to somewhat normal hours for the tours. With the studio they didn't have to worry about disturbing any neighbors, so if they wanted to play at 4am there were no issues with them doing just that, and they did on more than one occasion.

The girls hadn't known that Bob recorded their session the day before, but as is their usual habit, played like it was "for real" so the recording was probably pretty good. He mentioned it to Billy when he got there much to the surprise of the girls.

"You recorded our practice last night?" asked Maryanne.

"That's pretty sneaky bucko," Michelle commented.

Heather just sat there with a grin on her face, and Janell just shrugged her shoulders.

"I want to get some raw sound while you guys don't know it's happening. When you know a recorder is on, you will tend to play a little more reserved. At least most people do."

"We only know how to play one way Bob," Janell finally decided to say something. "Honestly, I don't care if there's a recorder going or not, I'm not going to change how I play."

Bob got nods from around the table and Billy chuckled, "Well, let me go up and see what you got. If it's anything like the last set, it'll be worth mixing down."

Bob nodded, "You know where it is. Number one should be pretty close to ready for you. The equipment arrived yesterday afternoon and the troops have been in unpacking and wiring things but it may take them a couple days to get it all completed. We're putting in a lot of state of the art stuff they've never seen before.

The recording should be in number 3 and I left the pots where I recorded so you'll know the input levels. You can move the disk over to number one if you can, and re-set number three for recording.

If number one's not ready, just split the boards and you can use one with the recording of the session. I would like the main board and the recorder free to pick up today's session. I think we're going to work on a longer session today.

You may have to do some initial set up in number one if the crew has it far enough along. You know the crew, they'll do the best they can but it's up to "us" to make it the way we want. Like I said though, they haven't seen a lot of this stuff before. Hell, Bill maybe you can help them figure it out since you've got that kind of gear in LA."

Billy nodded enthusiastically and asked, "Have you given much thought to doing the album before touring? Depending on what is on yesterday's recording, I may have enough to put a double together already. I will need Heather and Janell for a couple really short fills, but other than that, it's show quality."

All the girls' mouths dropped in surprise but Bob asked seriously, "What about releases? Have you been able to work them all out?"

"Yep, except the two assholes we talked about the other day, so just drop their stuff from your lists. Realistically, you don't need it and they're the ones who will regret it later, especially when they try to jump on the wagon and we tell them it's already left the station!"

Bob just chuckled, "The one bunch are mostly jerks anyway, but the other one surprises me. I've played with some of them, and figured they'd go for it."

"It was their business manager not the band directly. He wasn't having any part of a shared royalty, so I just told him that's the way it was going to be, take it or leave it. He decided to leave it so I just picked up my offer sheets, and walked."

"That's too bad, I'd have liked to promote some of their stuff, but yeah, we'll just drop their stuff. I think it only amounts to six or eight numbers, and it'll be no big loss. How about the others?"

"Carte Blanche, you can do anything they've ever done at the shared one percent we talked about," Bill said. "Oh, I sweetened the pie just a tick by offering them a flat, no share, tenth of a cent per CD sale. They all figure that's where they'll really make out. Most everyone was pretty jazzed when they heard the prelim that I played for them."

"Excellent," Bob said quietly. Then looking at the girls, "It looks like most of the music you already play is a go, so other than the stuff those two negatives put out, we're in like Flynn."

To that he got smiles all around, while Billy did an about face and headed up to the studio. Nobody but Heather noticed where Maryanne's eyes were. She smiled knowingly because she had already figured out there might be something happening there.

"We'll be up in about an hour Bill, is that enough time?"

"How long is the recording?" he asked looking back.

"About two hours maybe a little more. Like I said, just transfer it over to number one if you can. If the mastering stuff is installed and ready you can work on it there without being disturbed. We're going to use number three again. If you need any replays let us know and we can teach them how we do fills."

By the time Bob had finished, Billy was already well on his way up the hill.

"What was all that about?" asked Michelle.

"Hmmm?" Bob was already lost in thought. "What do you mean?"

"Doing replays or fill in or whatever. What is all of that?"

"Oh," he responded with a strange faraway look, "When Bill mixes the stuff down for 'public consumption' he does what I showed you in the garage. He'll listen to each of you individually and note the input levels so that when he puts it all together he can adjust the sound to what he wants to hear.

I recorded all of it at a neutral position, but Janell may be too loud on the base recording to use, so when he mixes it he'll just turn her down to the level that best balances the overall sound. It's the same with all of us, what we hear while were playing may sound good to us but it may sound like shit on a recording.

If there's one part where, say, Hey misses a couple notes in a riff, she can go into that room where all the partitions were," noting they all nodded, "Billy will do a playback of the whole band except for her part, and she'll play along with the recording while setting down another lead track. He already let you know that he needs Heather and Janell for some shorties. It may not be anything you played wrong or bad, just something he wants to try."

"How can she listen and play," Maryanne wanted to know.

"Bill will play it back for her and she'll wear a set of very high quality headphones. She'll hear all of you without her part, and she'll play her part again as Bill mixes it in, but it's mostly for raw sound. Bill will put it together with the part that she'll be listening to, and when he's done, nobody will ever know that it wasn't done at the same time."

They all smiled, as he added with a grin, "Well nobody but us, and we ain't tellin'."

"Which reminds me," he said looking at Janell. "You will probably be in headphones pretty much all of the time Jan. That way you'll hear what's going on. It sometimes helps in keeping the beat in time. Give it a whirl, and if it doesn't work for you, that's fine."

Janell nodded, "There are times when I can't hear what's going on with everyone so it is hard for me to tell if I've messed up the timing. I try to keep it with Maryanne's bass so if the bass messes up, so will I."

"Ha ... and sometimes nobody notices," chuckled Bob while Janell nodded her head with a big smile.

"Oh no, trust me, they notice," she said with a grin. "Usually it's Chelly." Looking around all of the girls were nodding their heads. She finished, "Just like she caught you yesterday, she'll do the same to me, so don't feel like we're 'pickin' on the new guy'."

They all got a good chuckle out of that comment, but they all agreed.

So they sat at the table and went over the playlists again, scratching the tunes that they couldn't get clearance for. Of the 1200 songs on the master sheet they chose 200 to work with. The others could be used for filling in if the mood struck them.

Bob couldn't help dwelling on the two that didn't get on board. He knew that if he talked to the band members, they would overrule the business manager, but that could cause political problems for everyone. He'd mention it in passing if he could, but it's just the way it is in this business.

They would regret their decisions when the first album came out, and the girls were on their way. The bad part is the boys in the band probably won't even know the offer was made because their manager is such a prick.

They took the hike up to the studio to get on with that day's practice session and to "bug" Bill working in the mastering room. He looked up with a smile and a quick wave but was dancing around the studio with a set of headphones covering his ears.

Everyone continued on past to studio number 3 and did a few minutes of turn on and warm up before joining Janell in front of the drums for their stretching exercises. They chided Bob trying to get him to join in, but he had avoided the routine thus far. He was sure he'd end up joining them at some point, but for now he figured he was limber enough. Besides, he'd done his morning workout in the gym, but so had they.

When they took their lunch break, all wandered down to the house to see what they could scare up to eat. Bill joined them as well. Unnoticed was the animated conversation between Heather and Janell. They weren't arguing about anything but it was a lively discussion out of the earshot of the others. The others were used to seeing Hey and Janell talking. Heather was kind of the "boss", and Janell was the keeper of the beat, so they conferred a lot; it wasn't unusual.

When they were all assembled in the kitchen and munching, Bill got everyone's attention by tapping his glass with his spoon. Everyone looked up meeting Bills grin with smiles of their own.

Bills grin got even wider as he looked over at Bob and said, "So ... you fucked up a couple yesterday, aye big fella?"

Bob's jaw dropped and he blushed. The girls laughed because it was the first time they'd ever seen Bob really blush. "Uh ... Yeah. I didn't think so but they insisted we do them again."

"Well 'they' have good ears my friend. Both errors were REALLY hard to pick up, even on the recording. I had to go back and really listen a couple times before I really heard what they were telling you, but they were correct," he chuckled looking at Bob.

"We're used to Maryanne," Chelly interjected. "Something just didn't sound right to me." It was Chelly that had caught both of the errors.

Billy nodded, "You have an incredible ear young lady. You may want to consider doing some sound engineering and producing somewhere down the line. If you have any interest, I'll be happy to spend the time to show you the ropes."

Then turning back to the rest, "When I heard them explain it to you and you argued the first time I went back to listen, sure enough, there it was. I probably would have let it slide in a mix, because I figure if I can't hear it, nobody else will either. I think these girls are going to bust my ass too." Bill looked around and chuckled at the looks he saw on the girl's faces.

"But what I really wanted to tell you all is that we've got enough good recording to do a double CD set as the first offering. You'll have to tell me if you're happy with the mix of tunes, or if you'd prefer to include something else. It's no big deal."

The girls let out small gasps, but Bob just said, "Cool," with a big smile.

"Yeah, this afternoon I want to do a couple of quick fills. I may not use them, but I'd like to take a couple runs at them. The initial cut is excellent, I just want to see if Heather and Janell can do it again, maybe a little different. I'll explain when we go to do it."

"Great idea Billy. I think while you're doing the fills the others can observe for a little while so they all learn what it is and how it's done."

Then looking at the girls Bill continued, "It doesn't mean that you did something wrong or badly. The producer hears certain things that we probably don't and his thought process is, 'Hmm. I wonder if they could do it this way.' It won't deviate from the original music that much, if at all, because the goal of this group is to match studio recordings, but there may be a note here or a bar there which will enhance the finished product."

He looked around the room noting that everyone was paying close attention. "Like Bill said, it doesn't mean that something is wrong, only that he wants to hear something a different way and may not use it because what he's thinking may not work in the end."

They all nodded. Heather observed, "So we just sit in the little cubie thingie with a pair of headphones and play our piece to the rest of the recording?"

Bill answered, "That's about right Heather, what I do is run the music through your headphones minus your part from the original. What you'll hear is what you are playing right then, mixed in with everything else. I won't be actually doing the mix at that point, but just getting a raw recording of your piece, maybe a couple of different ways, then I'll listen to all the composites I make and choose what I think is the best."

Heather nodded her head, "Ok, I think I get the idea. You say that you want it done a couple different ways. What do you mean by that? I usually only play a song one way."

"That's going to be your challenge Heather. I'm going to suggest you do something a little different, and it's up to you to figure out how to work it. You're the expert with the guitar, not me. I just want to hear something and I'll do the best I can to explain it to you, but in the end you're the one that's going to have to come up with it. The thing I don't want is for you to get frustrated with me for asking you to do it over and over and over. You may get it out the first run through, and you may take ten, so you just have to bear with me. I may ask Maryanne or Bob to come in and play it the way I want it, but I doubt I'd ultimately mix that in."

"Bob's been down this road before, so I may be able to get it through to him," Bill joked with a grin. "If he can do it, then he may be able to explain it better from the perspective of another guitar player. Though Maryanne hasn't been down this path, she may be able to figure it out on some instrument or other and again, be able to explain it better than me."

"I'm not a musician guys, I couldn't play a note if my life depended on it, but I know what I want to hear in my head."

"So you're saying I may not be able to do it the way you want to hear it?" Heather asked.

"Yeah I guess so. You are so used to playing something one way it may not 'feel right' for you to do it 'my way'. It's like the forest for the trees thing. It's not your fault."

She nodded her head to him, "Ok."

"One frustration point for you guys," he said looking around the table, "And Bob is already familiar with this one, is that after all the shit I put you through, we may not use it in the end."

Bob just chuckled, "I did a couple fill ins on the last album with the band and Bill ran me through the same thing for two days straight. Then when we were all done, he said he liked the original the best."

The girls mouths just dropped and Janell gasped, "Two whole days, and then it wasn't used?"

Bob nodded slowly.

"I think that would piss me off," noted Janell.

Bill looked at her, "Jan, that's exactly what I mean. I don't want you getting pissed off. That's why were discussing this so you'll know how it works. Live performances are different and so are studio runs, but fill ins can be really a pain in the ass. Not just for you!"

She nodded her head and smiled, "It just seems like a lot of time for nothing."

"Sometimes it is, Sweetie, but it's how we strive for absolute perfection, and I know you all can relate to that. It shows in your music."

"Oh, one more quick thing," Bill threw out to the group. "In the next couple sessions if you could run through the Beach Boys Medley once or twice with added or removed tunes it would be really cool. I think the tempo of the way you have it set up is really great, but the Boys did a lot of music that's really good, and you guys don't play it. If I like it," he said with a grin, "We might put it in as a bonus disc just for fun. We'll see."

They nodded and said they'd work on it.

The rest of the lunch break was pretty much silent. The girls contemplating the afternoon session, Bob thinking about some of the business angles and Bill mentally coming up with a fill in plan that wouldn't frustrate the musicians.

When break time was over and they all wandered back to the studio there was a little apprehension in the air, but between Bill and Bob they put it to rest fairly quickly with a little humor. They also were totally up-front with the young women so they totally understood what was going on. There were no hidden processes, nothing that they were going to try to slide in on the girls or anything like that; it was all straight up.

Trying not to trip over wires they all gathered in the mastering room where Bill ran them through the process. He played the existing composite, then he played it the way Heather would hear it in her headphones. After a couple of runs through that part, he played the original part by itself and stopped to replay the piece he wanted to hear differently.

When he explained it, Heather just nodded her head and said, "I can do that ... I think."

When he was done with Heathers part of the fill in, he did the same with Janell's part in the same sequence. When he explained to her what he wanted, he played the section as it was.

Janell nodded slowly saying, " I think I hear what you want Bill. I may have to run through it a couple times to get the sequences right, but I hear what you're asking."

"Muy Buenas chicas," said Bill. "You four seem like you are going to be a joy to work with. I know it's painful being a perfectionist, but that makes six of us striving for the same goal. When everyone is on the same page, it makes it a whole lot easier."

Bob interjected, "Don't think it's always going to be this easy or straight forward. You guys are all very mellow, tolerant women, but you are also human, subject to human emotions. Just understand that when you're being asked to re-do something that you feel is already as perfect as it's going to get, that it's not personal. Neither Bill nor I will ever demean anything you ever do. As far as we're concerned, and we've talked about it, you four are already the best of the best. The diamonds just need a little buffing."

They all nodded, and a whispered "Thank you" was heard from all corners. There were very serious faces in the mastering studio at the moment.

"Ok," said Bill, breaking the mood. "Heather, you want to get started?"

She looked up at him and nodded with a smile.

"Good, grab your guitar out of studio three, the one you were playing yesterday afternoon and the one you played in the garage session."

"They're the same Billy," Heather told him with a grin.

"Cool, down that short hall you'll find a door with "Fill" on it. Go into that room, move all the way forward..."

"I'll show her Bill, Bob interrupted. "I'll get them set up for their first runs and then vacate."

"That works," said Bill.

"Janell, why don't you come with us? You can do a final setup adjustment on the drums in the fill room while I'm getting Hey ready."

Janell nodded, "Do I need to move them from the play room?"

"Nope, it's a whole separate set."

Her eyes grew, "There's another set?"

"Sweetie, there are four sets right now, and there will be at least five before we're done."

"The crew looked at your setup in studio three yesterday evening after we were done, so with any luck you'll only have some minor adjustments to make on the other sets. When we go on the road, there will be a roadie or two assigned to you. You'll need to train him or her to set you up exactly as you like it. When you get to a sound check there should only be some minor adjustments you'll have to make. After a few shows, you won't have to make any adjustments because they'll have it done for you."