Oh to be a record producer (Pt 2)...

Well, despite the now ubiquitous pain-in-the-arm and the still-not-healed-ankle scenarios, tonight it was back to the dingy smoky Waverley Bar to record eight, or possibly nine more acts for the next Out of the Bedroom CD...

I arrived at 6:30 and was set up and ready by 6:45, kick off time for the first act, Indigo Rose. But she and her band including Norman Lamont and Fraser Drummond, were no shows...

Neil Pennycook, who missed last week’s session arrived around ten to seven, but with NO GUITAR. Apparently someone on the OOTB committee had told him I’d have the house guitars with me....

No. They are in South Queensferry...

Luckily the next performer arrived a little early (as they were all advised to do) and Neil was able to borrow his guitar and, very professionally, lay down his track within ten minutes...

His band have been rehearsing non-stop since signing an indie deal for two EPs and an album and so his song just rolled out of the guitar...

Next up was a young Italian songwriter who sings in English and has a late sixties Californian feel to his material....

Peter Lewis (surely not his real name) broke the record for this particular CD for most songs recorded in 30 minutes – he must have reeled off seven or eight straight with hardly a missed note...

Emily Scott was a delightful singer whose origins I couldn’t quite locate – maybe I should’ve asked her. She had a slight American accent and her songs were very good indeed. Much plucking and harmonic creating going on. Tasty stuff...

Then came one of my OOTB favourites, Lisa Paton, who played on the same bill as me last summer at the OOTB Fringe gigs. She really is excellent...

Tonight though it was all a little bit shambolic as she’d decided to play as a trio with OOTB stalwarts Dave McGruar on bass and Stuart Clark on various percussion objects...

They seemed a tad under-rehearsed but, despite this, I think there’s at least one good take of the three songs they tried out, in between debating whether the rhythms were interfering with the scanning of the lyrics. Musicians eh?

Alex Payne is one of the longest serving OOTB’ers on this CD and he sat down and played around six songs in quick succession. A super performance although perhaps a little bit too Springsteenish for my own particular tastes...

A challenge next as Eagle Owl made their way into the, frankly, freezing cold room and set up their instruments – Distorted Electric Guitar, Bowed Double Bass and, erm, Ukelele....

Overcoming all odds, I think we got at least one or two good takes from the six or so they did of the same instrumental piece – during the last we put the guitar directly into the desk and this may be the take I use...

And they gave me an origami Eagle Owl too...which was nice...

Danny Dyer was another no show – but, to be fair, I had heard he might be ill and so I wasn’t too surprised – even though I’d heard nothing at all from the man himself since inviting him to be on the CD...

By now, I was frozen and went downstairs for a few minutes to try and heat up a bit, but to no avail...

Luckily, the last act of the night, Coke and a Cake, turned up 15 minutes early and so I took them upstairs immediately, got them set up for their guitar and violin duo and recorded around four different songs. Another professional performance to round off the sessions....

Back home by midnight after an enjoyable evening of music brought down a little by the no-shows and the dreadful cold and smokiness of the venue...

I’m due to deliver the finished CD in early April so will now need to spend a few more hours listening back to everything and making the all important choices...

Highlight of the Day : Finishing the OOTBCD4 Recordings