A few days after Thanksgiving this year I went on a trip to record my third record with one of my favorite bands Daisybones. When we started talking about making this record we discussed doing it outside of my current studio.  We made both of their previous releases there and were all extremely satisfied with the results. We all wanted this album to be different from their others, and we wanted to get away from our lives to work for a week straight. We ended up booking some more sessions about a month later to finish up overdubs, but the majority of the album was made during our weeklong recording retreat.  

We packed up our gear and went to a beautiful residential studio located on a horse farm in Middleborough Massachusetts.  Making a large mobile rig, and moving a portion of my gear to set up in a room I had only worked in a handful of times was a daunting experience. Thankfully it yielded some amazing results.  Working in a place I wasn’t comfortable in caused me to push myself, I know exactly how to dial in sounds at my studio. I’ve been working in that room for years and am extremely comfortable there.  I really enjoyed taking my self out of my comfort zone, it was exactly what I needed to do to make this record. We lived in the studio for 7 days, sleeping on air mattresses carefully set up in the control room, live room and lounge.  We would wake up in the morning and dodge mics and gear to make it upstairs for coffee. We ate, slept (barely), and breathed this album. We didn’t go home at night to our cozy homes and significant others, we didn’t sit in traffic on our way to the studio, we didn’t look at the clock at 8 pm and say “it’s getting late we better wrap up”.  We worked around the clock recording idea after idea, most days we would record for 15 hours. A snowstorm caused us to be locked away in the studio for 3 days straight, cabin fever started to set in. We quickly realized this and ventured into the small town closest to the studio for a hot meal. We then started making daily trips out of the studio for a small adventure each day.  The trips into town were an amazing and refreshing break, and a chance to take stock of what we’d been doing. 

Having no outside distractions while making an album is an amazing thing. I truly believe that because of the way we made this album it makes it that much more special. We isolated ourselves from the outside world and cultivated memories and inside jokes that will last us a lifetime.  I’ve made a few other albums this way and even brought another band to the horse farm a few weeks after my week with Daisybones.  

I love making records and exploring new ways to make them.