Hey folks,
It's a beautiful day, this here February11th, and I thought I would take a minute to bring you all up to date with what I've been planning and working on. I recently mentioned that I have a new album in the works (album # 5!) and that I was trying out some new guitar pedals a while back, in search of a particular sound that I was trying to create for one of the songs. Well, I’m happy to say that I found a great combination of pedals to make that sound, just the way I wanted to hear it, and I have a good portion of that song already recorded. I’ve also been having a really great time editing the parts that I’ve finished for it so far! Some don’t, but yes, I really do love editing! I could do it for hours and hours and weeks at a time and still be happy to do more. For me, it’s just one more part of the creative process and, as far as I’ve gotten into it with this new song to date, I can already tell you that this new album is going to be something really, really special. I started working on this song quite some time ago and haven’t been able to get back to it until now, but I’m glad to be back at it, full force again. For all of you gear heads out there: for the rest of the songs, I’m trying out a new recording set up, using two vintage U67s to mic up the acoustic guitars, and a combination of a Telefunken U47 and an AEA R44C ribbon mic on my vocals. For the electric guitar part on the new song, I used a Gibson 335 and had a stereo feed going from multiple pedals, into two separate amplifiers, a Princeton, and an Archon, each mic’d with an AEA R92. I've used Royer 121s coupled with SM 57s in the past with amazing results but wanted to try something new on the guitar amps this time. I also used an AEA R44C for the room mic. I ran these mics through AEA RPQ2s, a Black Lion Bluey and two AudioScape 76As into a Trident T88 console. I’ve never been happier with the sound I’ve been able to achieve here at First Thunder and I can't wait to get started recording the rest of the songs for this album. While working on recording of the first song and setting up for the rest, I’ve been waiting for these two new Blueys to arrive to use in the new acoustic guitar and vocal path. I’m also using two vintage UREI 1176s (rev H), a pair of Neve 1081s, a BAE 1073 and an AEA RPQ2 into the T88. Tomorrow I’m gonna rack and wire in the Blueys so they’ll be ready to use to record the rest of the new album. In the midst of all of this, I’ve also been preparing for the release of three new singles! I was asked to re-interpret three songs from The Crosswinds of Kansas album, as an alternate, solo–acoustic performance, for radio. I was so happy with the result that I decided to release them as singles. The first one, “The Broken Heart Side of the Road (Acoustic)” is already out and I’ll be releasing the second Single, “I-70 East (Acoustic)” on February 17th. After that, “Multnomah Falls (Acoustic)” will be released on Friday, March 10th. Also, keep an eye out for AmericanaUK’s Premiere of “I-70 East (Acoustic)” on February 13th, and Americana Highways' Premiere of “Multnomah Falls (Acoustic)," in March! I'll keep you posted here, as the recording of the new album continues. I feel really good about this one, and look forward to being able to share it with you all!
With much love and gratitude,
Bill S.
