Neptune Beach, FL, 25 January 2004 ~ Armond Blackwater
The dust has finally settled on personnel changes for The Force. The enduring line up will be Jerry "Whitey Douglas" Ancion on guitar, McKenna on vocals, Tim "Pork Chop" Hilyer on Bass, and Billy Box on drums. The band and their fans can at long last breathe a sigh of relief.

Seriously, this band been through some shit. They are a due a break, a chance to focus. Focus on what to do with the incredible pool of talent that has gathered. Focus on who they are as a band, an entertainment entity. Focus on making the music that is in their collective and individual souls.

I had the opportunity to catch up with The Force at Cap'n Odies on Mayport Road on the 10th of January, where they were somewhat reeling from the resignation of keyboard man Stan Morson, and again at The Moon Grille & Oyster Bar on the 17th & 18th of January. In the great tradition of the stage, the show must go on. In between those two gigs the foursome came to realize that they are a great blues band just as they are, that they needed to focus.

Undoubtably, the current configuration of The Force is the most powerful iteration of the group that I have witnessed.

I have run out of superlatives to describe Whitey Douglas' guitar prowess in previous articles (Debut, Allision's Gig, Jerry's 42nd Birthday Bash and G-Force at Nolan's Sports Bar.)

The time has come to for Cafe' Be At Productions to focus on recording these cats.

Thus, we are scheduling a recording session at Allison's Blues Bar in St. Augustine, Florida for April.

The sesson will be highly experimental. The Force has been working on original blues tunes. During the afternoon, they will record the songs in the same manner as a groups do in a "regular" recording studio. That way the crowd gets to be part of the record making process.

First, basic rhythm tracks are laid -- bass, drums, guitar, and a cue vocal track. We will be using a Fostex 16-track digital recoding workstation. Essentially, it is a 16-track mixer with a built-in hard drive recorder.

However, the device only permits 8 tracks to be recorded at one time. Thus, some comprimises must be made during the recording of the rhythm section.

We will take a direct out from Pork Chop's bass rig. I concluded years ago that this is only way to record bass. Here are a few good reasons: 1) Bass wavelengths are too long to be picked up adequately by a microphone, 2) microphones with a flat frequency response between 5 and 800 hertz (the principle frequency range of a bass) are difficult to find and expensive, 3) direct in provides a signal with no crosstalk from any of the other instruments on stage.

A single dynamic microphone in front of Whitey's guitar amp slightly off axis (angled, not pointing directly at the speaker) should be adequate and provide significant isolation.

Isolation is the key to recording. Or, more properly the key to remixing later. You want to be able to effect the level of individual tracks without boosting the levels of other instruments. So, the better the isolation during the recording process the easier it is to mix it later.

McKenna will sing what is commonly referred to as a cue track. Again, isolation is what we seek. Generally, the cue track gets left out of the mix because it is polluted with guitar, bass, and drums. It is imperative to obtain a pristine vocal performance once the rhythm and lead tracks are laid.

Ok, that's only 3 tracks, what do we do with the other 5?

Drums.

A drum kit is the hardest instrument to record. Billy Box has a fairly simple kit: a kick (bass drum), snare, hi-hat, 3 toms and 4 cymbals. Ideally, I'd like to have a mic on everything the drummer can hit. But, we won't have enough channels for that on this session. We have exactly 5 channels left for drums.

The kick drum must have its own channel, as must the snare. The other 3 channels then need to capture the toms and cymbals. This might require sub-mixing the drums before they get to the recorder. We'll be relying heavily on Billy's experience to get the best capture possible.

Once the rhythm portion of the song is recorded the hardest part is over. Next, comes individual performances by lead guitar and vocals.

For vocals we will be using a Marshall condensor wide-diaphram microphone, model MXL 990.

Stage mics, like the venerable Shure SM58, have lower sensitivity because they are intended for the noisy environment of the stage. Thus, you lose nuances of the singers voice. This is particularly true in the case of a gifted, polished pro like McKenna. Yes, she sounds great on stage, but you're not hearing all that the lady has to offer.

Wide-diaphram condensor microphones are intended for use in vocal booths expecting no other sound than the singer. Sensitive enough to pick up a gnat fart.

Once the recording session has concluded we will all take a dinner break to chill before the evenings gig. All of the recording gear will be set up and adjusted allowing us to capture the gig, all 4 sets, using 8-tracks. The best tracks will be selected for a "live" album and as an audio portfolio that will be used to sell the group to concert promoters.

In the days following the recording the real fun begins, mixing it all down. The Fostex has a built-in CD recorder and copies of the recordings will be made that night, but another thing that I learned long ago is that you can't do a proper mixdown the same day you record the music. After working with the songs for hours objectivity goes out the window, hearing is diminished, and patience ebbs. It is always good to let it rest for a few days and hit it with fresh ears and enthusiasm.