Recording a CD: Oh happy day

The song is stuck in my head...and it was a happy day. I am so tired I could fall asleep as I type. The production meeting went well. I had no idea how little I knew until I saw the pros in action. I knew I was very amateur, but honestly, I think amateur is a bit of an upgrade from whatever it is that I am.

I had no idea what to expect, and I was woefully unprepared. I'm not sure if it was entirely my fault since I don't know how these things work, but I probably should have asked more questions. They had no idea what a beginner I am...now they do!

I met with the producer and the pianist, and they charted the 5 songs we'll be doing with the band tomorrow. I have 3 hours with the band, and we need to get all 5 songs done during that time frame. Let's hope I'm on my game! It's slightly overwhelming, but it's a lot of fun too.

These guys are PROS, and they have worked together for over 25 years. I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about half the time. At one point, the pianist asked the producer, "was that a 5 split one and then a one diamond for Tommy?" Huh? I have absolutely no idea what that means. I'm so glad they do, though.

Here they are, hard at work:

This is the chart for one of the songs - it's completely cryptic to me. I have no idea how I'll know when I'm supposed to sing what tomorrow, but I hope I'm a quick study.

The guys are *super* nice, and very funny - I was laughing half the time I was there. It's so nice to work with really nice people.

I had no idea that I would be doing any singing today, but they wanted to run through the five songs we charted, so they asked me to jump in at many points as they were working out the arrangements:

I look so funny when I sing. I told Darcy I thought I would have been nervous being asked to sing on command when I wasn't expecting it, but I was glad that I wasn't at all. They don't know I'm as underpracticed/experienced as I am, and that I haven't sang a solo since I was in high school. I'm going to fake it 'til I make it.

If I don't let myself be nervous, and if I just make this my own, and act as if I'm a pro, I'll have a better shot of pulling that off!

We bought a Sony handicam because I decided I wanted to document the experience, and possibly make a documentary about it (natch), so we needed a good quality camera...just in case. The sound and audio quality is really good.

Darcy videotaped me, and I watched it on our 50 inch HD flat screen in the hotel room: