A running account of goings-on in the M*K*M world.
F.Y.I.!
Brought
to you by current members Ian, Chuck &
Mark
with guests
lee, anj & warren
BEFORE YOU READ TODAY'S HOT
NEWS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK OUT THE OLDER STUFF...
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December 17/03
In the studio: The Picture
Two electric guitar parts are added to the song.
December 10/03
In the studio: That Girl Could Sing
Ian adds tambourine, Mark & Ian mix the song in two attempts.
December 3/03
In the studio: That Girl Could Sing
Ian records a 12-string guitar part to replace the guitar recorded on Oct.22.
Ian replaces the vocals from Oct. 29 with new ones.
November 27/03
In the studio:When I Get Home
Ian records two vocal tracks, Mark & Ian mix the song in two attempts.
November 25/03
In the studio:When I Get Home
Ian puts down drum machine snare, kick, cowbell & shakers.
November 19/03
In the studio:Come On In
Ian is unhappy with last weeks' mix, and adds maraccas & a drum machine part.
The song is re-mixed in three attempts.
November 12/03
In the studio:Come On In
Mark & Ian mix this track.
November 5/03
In the studio: The Picture
Lee puts down lead guitar and a rough piano track.
In the studio: Believing
Mark & Ian re-mix this track for the 2nd pressing of the Robinson album.
October 29/03
In the studio: The Picture
Ian does the lead and shadow vocals.
In the studio: That Girl Could Sing
Ian puts down vocals.
October 22/03
In the studio: That Girl Could Sing
Ian records acoustic & electric guitar parts.
October 16/03
In the studio: That Girl Could Sing
Lee records acoustic guitar & organ parts.
October 15/03
In the studio: The Picture
Ian records a bass part.
In the studio: Back Woman Blues
The song is transferred to multi-track.
October 13/03
In the studio: The Picture
Ian records scratch vocal & guitar to be replaced later, while daughter Eila McLeish does lead vocals.
October 9/03
In the studio: The Shape Of Things To Come
One of the damp tapes has dried out already, so this song is mixed before anything else happens to it.
4 mixes on CDR-W, the first - Mark's - is a master. One of Ian's mixes will be an alternate master, to be chosen later.
October 7/03
In the studio: That Girl Could Sing
Lee adds lead guitar fills, Ian adds bass to the track.
September 17/03
Back Woman Blues is back and noise-free - overdubs can begin.
Lee acquaints himself with And She Holds Me and That Girl Could Sing for future recording.
Ian realizes that there is so much material he will have to do 2 cds, one of country/folk/rock;
the other of pop/rock/electronic songs!
September 14/03
Ian transfers previous instrumental tracks of Letting You Go & Didn't Know I Loved Him
onto Dave Sampson's computer, and they change the pitch so Ian can attempt new lead vocals.
Both songs were originally sung by Mary Ellen Moore and were too high for Ian.
September 9/03
In the studio: That Girl Could Sing
Ian sings & plays a scratch vocal & guitar, Chuck records the drums.
In the studio: And She Holds Me
Ian sings & plays a scratch vocal & guitar, Chuck records the drums.
Two takes, at different speeds, are kept.
September 3/03
A listening session with the songs And She Holds Me and That Girl Could Sing
so Chuck can plan his parts for next week's recording.
August 27/03
In the studio: When You Fall In Love With Me
It is decided the drums from the demo are worth keeping, so the demo is transferred to multi-track for later work.
In the studio: Back Woman Blues
It is also decided that the original take of this from 1973 is a keeper. Mark will clean up the hiss for later overdubbing.
In the studio: Lifetime
The original demo is transferred to multi-track, then Chuck adds claves, guiro & maracas.
August 20/03
In the studio: Standing On the Levee
It is discover that 5 of the older multi-track tapes are damp & need to be dried before further work can be done.
Mark will take them to his temperature controlled studio at Carleton University to let them dry out.
The planned drum overdubs on this song will have to wait 'til later...
In the studio: The Picture
Chuck adds drums to the demo of this song.
August 13/03
Listening to proposed songs for the Ian McLeish cd, deciding what needs work first.
August 3/03
Ian & Dave Sampson do the cd artwork for Little Man.
July 30/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Mark does 3 mixes of the song, solo vocal, duet vocal & instrumental.
July 29/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Ian does the lead vocal for the solo version.
Warren re-records his guitar part.
July 28/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Ian does the shadow vocals for the duet version.
July 23/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Ian & Lana Hayes record the vocals for the duet version.
July 16/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Ian & Lana Hayes rehearse the vocals.
July 9/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Ian adds bass & re-records the acoustic guitar.
Lee overdubs organ.
July 2/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Chuck (drums), Ian (acoustic guitar), Lee (electric piano) & Warren (electric guitar) record the rhythm track for the song.
Two complete takes are done.
June 27/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Chuck, Ian, & Lee rehearse this song again.
In the studio: The Picture
Chuck, Ian, & Lee rehearse this song for the first time.
June 26/03
At Mark Valcour's office/studio at Carleton University, with Ian & Chuck,
finishing mastering the Robinson material.
The James H. Robinson project is finished!!?!
June 25/03
At Mark Valcour's office/studio at Carleton University, with Ian & Chuck,
editing the Robinson material onto a master cd.
June 19/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Chuck (drums), Ian (bass), Lee (electric piano) rehearse this song again.
June 18/03
In the studio: Seems Like A Cryin' Shame
The lead break is re-mixed in three attempts.
June 12/03
In the studio: Little Man (Zaverie's Song)
Chuck (drums), Ian (bass), Lee (electric piano), and Warren (guitar) rehearse this song.
June 11/03
In the studio: Alberta Highway
3 new mixes onto cdr-w, the last being the one.
June 4/03
In the studio: Alberta Highway
Anj returns to redo his mandolin fills on this track It will be re-mixed.
Chuck & Ian review Dave's edits of the three songs from 45, picking the best for the album.
May 28/03
In the studio: Lady Summertime
6 mixes are burned to cd, the last being best, but we may splice the beginning from #2 onto the master.
Ian & Dave transfer & edit the spicy language from Here's To It. It will be a hidden track at the end of the cd.
May 21/03
In the studio: Lines Of A Song
4 mixes to disc, two are very good, but the last is best.
Further lyrical revisions to Little Man (Zaverie's Song).
May 14/03
In the studio: Miss You
At B.S. Trax Studio in Dunrobin, mixing this song to cd with the assistance of Brian Smith.
We discover two more songs and a joke advertisement on the tape, but it's too late to use them on this album.
Brian & Chuck.
May 7/03
In the studio: Alberta Highway
2 mixes on CDR-W, the second being the keeper.
In the studio: Little Man (Watch Him Grow)
A simple demo tape is made of the song, Ian: guitar & vocal.
May 6/03
In the studio: Alberta Highway
Ian adds a high harmony vocal, doubled.
May 4/03
At Dave Sampson's, as Dave edits and cleans up the three Jim Robinson songs on computer from
45 rpm singles: Stay The Night, I Guess That's Only Natural & The Songs We Sing.
May 1/03
Chuck & Ian tidy up the lyrics and chord changes.
Little Man (Watch Him Grow) is finished.
April 30/03
More work on Zaverie's song, now titled Little Man (Watch Him Grow).
Music for the verses is completed.
April 24/03
Ian wrote lyrics for three verses & tightened the lyric for the chorus to Zaverie's Song(Little Man).
Only the music for the verses remains!
B.S. Trax studio is booked for May 14 to mix the 24 track tape of Jim's song Miss You.
April 23/03
Ian & Chuck work on Zaverie's Song, comparing their lyric ideas.
One of Chuck's lines leads Ian to figure out the song's chorus.
Both mull over verse ideas.
April 20/03
Ian & Dave are finished work on the cd booklet, their 8th session.
Some of Jim's mp3's are uploaded to the Mousehole site.
April 16/03
In the studio: Seems Like A Cryin' Shame
Three mixes to CDR-W; the third passes muster.
Mark wants to edit the lead break from #2 into this one later.
April 13/03
Ian & Dave are virtually finished work on the cd booklet, their 7th session.
April 9/03
In the studio: Lady In Red
Three mixes onto CDR-W, the last one fits the bill!
In the studio: Dance With Me (Mary Jo Roy)
Re-mixing the acapella beginning of the song, as Jim's timing is off with the other singers.
This will be spliced onto the rest of the song later.
April 4/03
Ian & Dave continue to work on the cd booklet, their 6th session.
April 2/03
In the studio: Livin' Life Like A Fool
Just before mixing, Ian decides to re-record the bass, feeling he can do it better.Quickly accomplished.
Four mixes are burned to CDR-W, the first finally being picked.
Bur Mark wants to edit onto it the ending from #4, as he feels it fades better.
March 30/03
Ian & Dave do yet more work on the cd booklet, their 5th session.
The end is in sight.
March 26/03
In the studio: Livin' Life Like A Fool
The track is evaluated, as Ian feels it's not ready to mix.
Chuck points out it was recorded at a faster speed to match Jim's tuning.
This solves the 'feel' problem.
March 20/03
Ian & Dave continue work on the cd booklet, their 4th session.
March 19/03
In the studio: Lady In Red
Chuck adds a simple yet effective synth part, then doubles it.
March 12/03
In the studio: High School Buddies
Five(count 'em!) five mixes are completed on CDR-W. The definitive one has yet to be decided.
March 6/03
Ian & Dave continue work on the cd booklet.
In the studio: Alberta Highway
Anj adds to his previously recorded tracks, beefing 'em up.
March 5/03
In the studio: I'd Like To Sing
Completed mixing in two attempts to CDR-W. Both good.
February 26/03
In the studio: Hell On The Road
Finally gettting around to mixing, we keep three versions.
Will mix #1 or mix #3 be the master?(Both are good...) Stay tuned!
In the studio: I'd Like To Sing
A quick reference mix is done, in preparation for next week.
February 20/03
In the studio: Lines Of A Song
Anj does his mandolin thing for the album's closing number.
February 19/03
In the studio: High School Buddies
Guest guitarist Warren Barbour adds his stylings to the song, including a great solo.
February 16/03
David Sampson & Ian continue on the cd booklet & cover
February 13/03
In the studio: Lady Summertime / Seems Like A Cryin' Shame
Anj puts mandolin on both songs.
February 12/03
In the studio: Lady Summertime
Chuck redoes the drum track to this song, to add some accents.
In the studio: Hell On The Road
The board is set up for next week's mix of the song.
February 10/03
David Sampson & Ian start work on the cd booklet & cover.
February 6/03
In the studio: I'd Like To Sing / Alberta Highway
Andy (Anj) Daub puts mandolin on both songs
.
February 5/03
In the studio: Livin' Life Like A Fool
Chuck records new tambourine & maracca parts.
Ian replaces the old electric lead & rhythm guitar parts with new ones.
January 30/03
In the studio: Hell On The Road
Ian puts organ on the song.
January 29/03
In the studio: Lady Summertime
Lee records mandolin on the song's choruses.
In the studio: High School Buddies
Ian adds an organ part.
January 22/03
Ian, Chuck & Mark review the progress so far, to see what's left to finish.
New track sheets are made for all the songs.
January 20/03
In the studio: Lady Summertime
Ian tracks Jim's vocal with a shadow vocal part, as the old tape
has partially deteriorated, leaving Jim's vocal ragged.
The new shadow vocal adds some 'warmth' to Jim's.
January 15/03
In the studio: Lady Summertime
Lee, Chuck & Ian add background vocals to the song.
Lee redoes his guitar part from last week
January 8/03
In the studio: Lady Summertime
Ian & Lee both add acoustic rhythm guitars to the song.
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