Sunday, November 15, 2009

Proud Dad Moment, Part 4,357,862


Today I got to see my genes at work in a way I never had before. A couple of weeks ago, my son Max (age 7 yrs. 4 months), who all of you know is a pretty gifted musician, told my wife that he had a song to write. Off he went, pencil and paper in hand, to jot down whatever thoughts were in his head. The title of his song was "Right Outside My Window," and featured a bird, a squirrel, and his best friend, Tommy.

Now, having written and published a few decent songs in my day, and having a degree in Creative Writing, I can recognize the structure of a good lyric. And what Max had committed to paper was, frankly, astonishingly good for any kid, but for one so young it was nothing short of brilliant.

Still, I just chalked it up to the proverbial apple-tree syndrome, and pretty much left it at that. But then, a week ago Lisa went on the national PTA website in response to some flyers she'd gotten from Max's elementary school promoting the PTA Reflections Program. This year's theme is "Beauty Is..." Lisa brought it up with Max one day. He got upset, thinking she wanted him to write another song. "I just wrote one, Mommy," he said. But Lisa said she'd been thinking about his song, and the theme, saying, "What if we say, 'Beauty is...right outside my window'?" At this, Max's face lit up and he was all over this idea. He came up with an idea for a melody (keep in mind that I, a songwriter, had absolutely no idea he was doing this, so the melody that emerged was completely his idea).

Lisa mentioned to me that the song was done, and that she was going to call her cousin, Jeff. Jeff has a professional recording studio (yes, they still exist) in his garage, and she asked him if he had some time to record this song. Jeff said that of course he did, and this afternoon we drove on up to the Valley. I planned to play the guitar and bass, while Max would play the drums and sing the song. I have not owned a guitar since 1997, but after Max sang me the song I was able to sketch out in my head a basic song structure. I wasn't sure how it was going to work. I had told Max earlier that I had a few ideas for the song verses, but he wasn't interested. Once we got into the studio and we started playing together, however, I figured that he'd hear it and want to make some changes.

Jeff loaned me a guitar to use (by the way, Parker Guitars rock!), and Max and I sat in the control room and he sang the song to me. As we jammed a little bit I threw in my ideas and asked if he liked them. He got so excited, and ran over to get a pencil and add a lyric to match my idea. I was beside myself! Watching him create was giving me goosebumps! We jammed a little longer and we got the song down from start to finish.



Next was the drum part. Jeff had set up the drums and Max fiddled around on them. Evidently he'd already had a few ideas, but once we got to the place where we changed the song, he needed a little help. I sounded out for him what I thought would work, and he pretty much nailed it the first time. Within an hour, we had a completed lyric, melody, guitar part and drum part. Time to record!

Working with Jeff was fantastic. I laid down a scratch (reference) guitar track and Max sang the song along with me. Done in two takes! Max got the drums down in just three takes, a couple of punch-ins, and the song was really taking shape. Laid down a bass track using a vintage Fender P-Bass (nice!), then doubled the guitar. The basics were done.

I sat with Max in the main studio while Jeff set up his vocal microphone. This kid had never even seen the inside of a recording studio, and he was as comfortable as a seasoned pro. However, his little hands were freezing and he looked very nervous with his headphones on and a very expensive microphone hanging inches from his face. He asked me to stay with him while he sang. The little champ got the whole song down in three takes! Even as I write this, I can't stop smiling. I'm so damn proud of him! I added a quick background vocal track and we were done.

Mixing took all of 30 minutes under Jeff's able ears and hands. Digital recording -- ridiculously simple! Three hours in all, and it was a completed 1:40 track -- three verses and a fade out chorus that incorporated beauty and his song title. I can't wait to post it online for everyone to hear.

When I think of me as a seven-year-old, sitting at my parents' Wurlitzer console, practicing my etudes, it just blows my mind that my little boy has such creativity and drive in him to write his own words and music. I look forward to much more creating from him and with him -- music is clearly his passion, it's what makes him come alive. I'm a cynical bastard a lot of the time, but around this I'm just a giddy fool.

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