Dreaded Vocal Overdubs - Day Two

We spent the next week fawning over the dub tape we had from our first recording session. I had worked on trying to edit the lyrics and make sure they were a good blend with the music tracks.

We returned to Bob Goodsite's studio the next Sunday to wrap up our first demo tape. There were a couple of minor re-takes that needed to be done on one of the lead guitar sections so we did that first. This went quickly and Bob began to set up the vocal mics we would be using. I was getting so nervous because singing was just not something I was very confident about and it really showed once I began to sing the first line. Oh man. It was horrible! I felt so self-conscious and became very frustrated by how unprepared I felt.

I opted to take a break and let Todd work on his vocal parts (Cruisin' Down The Road) first. He did a great job and I quickly ditched my attitude as I enjoyed the performance. He was able to get the keeper track after only 2 takes! I was very excited again and, with words of encouragement from Todd, I once again set upon the task. One of the songs I was to sing was a love ballad (I Need Your Love) and the other (Stand Up) was more of a rocker. I chose to sing the second one first in hopes of building my confidence for what would be a more lyric featured song. Good thing too. (I am listening to this tape now as I am writing and, believe me, I am almost reliving each painful note.)

Personal agony. That is the best way for me to describe it. I had gone from feeling so good about the music we had recorded to be extremely discouraged by my contribution on the vocals. I tried to get Todd to take the vocals on all the songs but he wasn't rehearsed to where he felt comfortable. He kept telling me "c'mon Dave, you wrote those words. Remember how you felt when you did? Just let it out. You can do it". Thanks Todd. You have been a good friend but perhaps never more than at that moment. Of course, HE WAS LYING!

Our First Day of Recording

We arrived at the Goodsite Studios around 9:30 on a cold Sunday morning. Our cars were packed full with our instruments and various accessories. Our entourage consisted of a 3 car motorcade, Todd drove his van loaded with his drum equipment, I drove my car with my gear, and a third car with our "roadies" to provide moral support and provide security in the event of overzealous autograph seekers. OK, then.

We quickly set up our equipment in the cramped sound room. As I stated earlier, the studio owner left some major pieces of equipment in the room which made our set-up a little difficult. There was a full drum set enclosed by a baffle system, 2 small amplifiers, a suitcase piano, as well as a grand piano with more baffles.

Once the initial set was finished, Bob Goodsite, studio owner, began the process of microphone placement and conducting recording levels check. By noon, we were ready to start cutting tracks. Bob gave us a brief explanation of the process we would follow to record as the studio used only 4-track equipment. We reviewed the songs we intended to record with Bob and soon set about the recording process.

Our goal for today was to record all instrument tracks with overdubs for bass guitar and lead guitar parts. We had to wrap up the day's work by 4:00 pm that day so we burned through the initial recording phases. At the time, we were not really aware of how much we were conceding in terms of performance quality. There were many mistakes, some minor and some major, that we allowed to remain on tape in favor of our recording schedule.

The centerpiece of this day's session has to be while recording "Stand Up". We decided to incorporate a drum solo in the middle of the song. We added the drum solo a few days prior to this session so most the timing of this song we still "sight cues". We had a few of the guys in the sound room while cutting these tracks adding vocal encouragement for the drummer. Studio owner Bob added some special tape effects while recording the drum solo, reverb and echo effects, that really added character to the recording.

We barely completed our band tracks in time that day. Bob made a rough mix tape from our session for us to take with us. We set the next record date to be one week later and planned to finish the songs with any edits for the music and start recording of the vocals. This next session was NOT so much fun for me. More about that next time.

Todd Katke

Day One: This is a picture of Todd Katke during microphone level check. The studio owner left all his equipment set up in the room so we had to wedge our equipment anywhere we could find the space. Todd played such a large drum kit, finding room was challenging to say the least. I think the cramped quarters actually added to the enthusiasm we were experiencing that day.

Dave Stone

Day One: Here I am getting ready to start recording band tracks. It was a cold day outside and we just had a big snow the night before as you can see out the window behind me. I was 17 years old at the time.

All Roads Lead To Dead Dog Express

Our journey to DDE began while fellow band member, Todd Katke, the drummer, and I were working at a local resturant/night club in 1976. We worked in the kitchen as dishwashers. We met a waitress whose brother was an active recording/performing musician in the area named Bob Goodsite. She told us that Bob had a small recording studio in the basement of their house and occassionally rented it out for demo work. Bob had recorded several songs, some of which found their way onto an album sponsored by a local radio station that highlighted local talent in the Detroit area called "W4 - Home Grown". (FYI: W4 or WWWW were the call letters of the radio station. This was the station that Howard Stern worked at early in his career before he became syndicated.)

We had been working on several of our own songs and decided to contact Bob about using his studio to record a short demo. We continued our rehearsals to sharpen and refine our material. After spending about 3 months in the rehearsal/writing phase, we set our session dates. We entered the studio in January 1977 to record 4 songs for our first demo.

The songs titles were:

Cruisin' Down The Road
I Need Your Love
Misdemeanor
Stand Up

At the time of this session, we were minus 1 bass guitarist so I performed all bass parts as overdubs. Todd was to sing lead on 1 song (Cruisin' Down The Road) and I would sing lead on 2 songs (I Need Your Love, Stand Up). We had a small entourage in attendance while all the initial band tracks were cut. These were guys that had become our stage crew and helped us drink beer whenever it was available. We had a lot of fun during the 1st session. Plenty of clowning around. I had such an adrenalin rush from the excitement of our first recording session and hearing our songs taking shape. We even had some of the guys in the sound room while we recorded Stand Up and you can hear them yelling during the drum solo section of the song. (yeah, I know, cheesy.)

I'll scan a couple of pics from the session shortly.


To be continued............

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The Dead Dog Express

Finally, a photo of the Dead Dog Express This picture is facing the southwest. More to follow.