Mikey's Music - the music of Michael J. Kloepfer: Ironwood Rain @ Colorado Sound

07/01/10:
Today we recorded more vocals, and had our guest violinist Josie Quick play her tracks on the art rock ballad Where a Man Would Stand and the hootenany extravaganza Ages.
Scotte finished his lead vocals, and JJ and I recorded the last of our harmonies. (JJ came up with a COOL harmony for Where a Man Would Stand I knew right away where my part would be, and they sounded killer together! We are getting where we can read each others' minds.... oooOOOooo....)
On the down side, as time was growing short, we had to scrap the pirate song Pursuit. I was heartbroken, since that song was my baby and my showpiece tune, and it really is a downright epic tune; but in the end I believe the result was worth the sacrifice. We were able to invest the time and energy into taking the other six songs to the next level, and we did!
Next week, Steve and Scotte will finish editing and begin final mixes..
We all breathed a sigh of relief! All the parts are recorded!!! WOO HOO!!!

Scotte sings the heartbreaking art-rock ballad Where a Man Would Stand:

06/30/10:
Vocals!
Today - with the help of Academy of the Arts vocal coach Dr. Scott Martin and his assistant Tom* - we recorded vocal tracks for the title track Burn The Ships, the signature song Fly To You, and began work on the ghost story, The Attic (written by yours truly!)
Then Dr. Scott and Steve took over editing the vocals. It was amazing to watch.
The resulting sound is quite stunning. By the end, my head was full... no more notes could fit into my brain!
[*P.S. Ya gotta watch out for those two - they were playin' tricks on me and giving us all a hard time all day long... LOL "Did you hear that?" I love these guys...)

Scotte sings Burn The Ships:

Gary gets set to sing his part on Fly To You:

06/26/10:
Day 3. We finished laying down all the instrument tracks today, and began vocal tracks. At the end of three days, we have accomplished a lot, and we are very happy with the way the music is coming together...

The master at work - Steve, our producer (this guy is amazing!!!):

Gary puts down some tasty percussion tracks:

Gary St. Germain, the thundermaster, gets set up to do the lightning crash on the ghost song The Attic:

JJ sings the lead vocal on the signature track Fly To You:

We checked this pitch on this long note with a crescendo against the meter, and it was perfect! That is rare!

The sound is phenomenal! I can't wait to share the music with my friends!!!

06/25/10:
Day 2 of "Burn The Ships."
BEEF STEW takes over the control room!!!

Taking a moment to relax, Gary tickles the ivories. He hee! He's actually really good! We never knew...

Today was a lot of hard work. we tackled the two most demanding tunes today. One went way better than expected, the other was a lot tougher than expected. That happens. It was a bit grueling at times, and I'm exhausted. The good news, we got a lot accomplished, and more music in the can.
The sound is phenomenal. Steve is doing extraordinary work as an engineer and as a producer. His ideas and suggestions almost always seem to be 'just right.'
There were other outstanding moments too: when JJ and I were playing the guitars on All I Need, the two guitars started singing to each other. It was incredible! We were both looking at each other saying, "WOW! What was that?" I was playing these two notes, and JJ was playing those two notes, and then these other notes started playing by themselves!

We even recorded a song about a pirate ship!!! I wore this in honor of the song Pursuit:

Stay tuned for more piratey goodness!!!

06/24/10:
My Band, Ironwood Rain, is back in the studio to record our latest CD, "Burn The Ships."
We are really enjoying recording at Colorado Sound, one of the premier studios in the state. Steve is awesome to work with, and the songs are sounding really great.
06/23/10
Here are some pix from day 1:
The Gibson Hummingbird I am using for the project. Damn, this guitar is sweet.