Rodrigo on Recording a New Record

There is a story behind every song. The melodic lilt of language, rhythmic intensity, and engaging interaction invite you to share in a journey that starts behind us, and keeps moving forward. Music disappears the moment it's played, but the stories remain. This blog is dedicated to those stories.

Rodrigo on Recording a New Record:

Over the years I have been part of quite a few recording sessions, and as you probably guessed they come in all shapes and colors, I 've had a lot of great ones, a few not so, a couple that were disasters, and some that were strictly business (go in, do your thing, get paid and get out).

I jut finished doing the bed tracks for the new Trio Bembe CD that we are planning to release in April of next year, it took 4 days of intense but delightful work, I tell you , I haven't had so much fun recording ever.

First of all, I love the music that we picked to record as well as the new original pieces (that Amber wrote for the most part), we also had the pleasure of having Jimmy Green record one of them (with a great solo) as well as Victor Lopez treating us with his delicious tres playing and playful e. guitar pickings. We're looking forward to having George Colligan as a guest too.

There are a few reasons why the sessions went so great and so much fun was had by all,

firstly: the 3 of us are great friends and share the love of groovy danceable music, we also love the sounds of percussion which all 3 of us take great joy in playing, also the studio, oh yeah the studio, what a great place is Larry's studio (yet unnamed), he has taken quite a while in finishing it and in actuality it's not yet fully complete , as a matter of fact we had the honour of being the first recording session ever held in this magical place.

But what makes a place magical?, meaning what makes it such a great place for recording, well I could point out the obvious things like great up to date gear and great acoustic design as well as comfortable rooms, even though as I mentioned it is not fully done yet. Now while all these things are important and this studio meets and surpasses all of the above mentioned features, the most important thing is the recording engineer, this case Larry,  not only did we benefit from his great expertise as a musician and recording engineer but the owner and builder of this fantastic new recording space, is one of us, a musician (an amazing musician) that loves what he does, but he like us is a kid at heart, playful and silly and never takes himself seriously, he made us all feel like we were the most important thing in his life at the time of the recording (in reality outside of the studio he is the same fun loving and caring person).

Yes, the most fun we had was mostly because of the warmth and friendship that emanated from this wonderful human being, how could I not have fun being surrounded by great people, thank you, Amber, Scotty, Victor, Jimmy and Larry.