So long 2000!

Since completing 'Toy', I spent the rest of 2000 working on another guitar-based pop/rock recording. This was with Joe McIntyre, who was one of the New Kids on the Block. Last spring, a mutual friend hooked us up with the idea that the three of us - my friend Mary Wood, Joe and myself - try to come up with songs for Joe's next solo record. Why not I thought, it could be fun, and it would be different from what I'd been doing the last few years. So they both came over to my house and we came up with a few ideas, and did some demos. Joe was a great guy, very straight up and VERY funny, and we all hit it off straight away. A good session. Afterwards, we all adjourned to a neighborhood restaurant, where we almost set our table on fire by goofing around. Thus the pace was set.

Joe and his manager were pleased with what we came up with, and asked me if I'd want to produce a few tracks for Joe on his upcoming album. Sure, I said - but when? At that time the DB camp was gearing up for Glastonbury, and I knew we'd be going into Sear Sound to track what would become 'Toy' right after that. No problem I was told, there was no rush.

So, when we took a break from 'Toy' in August, I went right into Looking Glass, Sterling Campbell and Earl Slick in tow, and completed work on five tracks. The demos we'd done in the spring would ultimately become masters with the addition of Sterling, Slicky, and some background vocalists and additional bits and pieces. Such is one advantage to the computer - everything, if saved, can be used. Plus, I'd taken a few of Joe's songs he'd demoed on his own, imported them into Logic, used what tracks I could, rearranged song structures, tempos, etc., and added to that. A snap.

Joe's songs are undeniably pop, and it was our aim to make sure the production reflected that. Joe's feeling was he wanted to do something a bit more rock. I love anything melodic,and generally like pop music, but can't stand when it's cheesy. So, we set out to create something with a bit more backbone. Thus Sterling and Slick.

I mixed the five tracks at Chung King, then went back into DB world. After 'Toy' was finished, I mixed a few more of Joe's tracks, which he'd been working on with other producers. I did these mixes at Quad, on the SSL Axiom desk. This is an all digital desk, so no D/A conversion from ProTools or a 3348 was necessary. In some ways this desk was very cool: you could reset the entire desk in seconds; the EQ was amazing, no phase problems even in radical cases; and once I got used to it, the automation was very straightforward. However, it was mighty temperamental and essentially just being a giant computer, the entire thing could just crash and all your settings with it. Which it did. Very scary.