Week 4 - Tuesday 4/02/1991

Recording Virginia's Dress.

Our first attempt at recording the song's intro section combined Hammond chord organ and a live vocal performance by Gates. Berg played block chords on the piano for the next attempt, with better results. Gates spent the next hour perfecting the vocal part. Puig documented the amount of proximity effect captured during each vocal take, since he would have to compensate with subtractive EQ during the mixdown stage. In addition, the last two lines of the vocal part would have to be delayed slightly to help them sit better with the piano.

Proximity effect is the low frequency buildup resulting from a sound source's close proximity to a microphone with a cardioid pickup pattern. If the sound source moves as much as a few inches from the mic from take to take, the bass buildup captured to tape varies considerably, spoiling the illusion that the performance was recorded in a single pass. Gates tends to 'swallow' the mic as he sings, prompting Wallace to set up a dummy mic for Gates to sing into while the real microphone is positioned several inches away.

We figured it was as good a time as any to record piano overdubs for the main sections of the song, but Puig was unhappy with the piano's sound. We spent an hour listening to different mic placements, different microphones, and dozens of EQ and compression settings before we were satisfied. Berg had a go at performing the rhythm piano part, but Winegar eventually took over after wrapping his injured left hand with white console tape to protect the bruised thumb. Most impressive was his technically demanding piano solo with its rapid 32nd note chromatic runs and syncopated chord clusters. Wanting to show off a bit too, Puig performed a difficult punch-in with his back to the recording console.

Next on the agenda was recording Winegar playing a wailing harmonica solo. He leaned against the piano and kept his foot down on its sustain piano to bring out some sympathetic piano resonance as he played. Gates didn't like the effect, so Puig miked Winegar with an SM57 through a Fender Vibrolux. Following this, Winegar played a solo on his Strat through a cranked Marshall combo amp.

Wallace, having grown weary of recording instruments, decided to record the lead vocal next. To my horror and Winegar's disbelief, Gates sang the song's chorus with lyrics we had never heard before, certainly not the lines from the demo recording. The new lyrics went like this: "Who put the rocks in. In Virginia's dress." We complained about it until Gates reluctantly returned to singing the original indecipherable lines: "She (indecipherable) you, (indecipherable) forgives you (indecipherable)". Ahh, much better. Wallace promised to re-record the vocal the following day, since much of today's work wasn't usable.

Winegar overdubbed power chords via his Strat into a Fender Tremolux with a 2x12 cabinet. Mio (A & R for Geffen Records) dropped by and listened to a playback of the day's work. After he praised Winegar's remarkable harmonica performance, Winegar recorded 'skank' guitar chords using a Telecaster. The day ended at 7:50 P.M. I was grateful for Wallace's ability to draw good performances out of Winegar and Gates, despite their rapidly growing disenchantment with the song.