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Joe, you'll always be 22. And then some.

Okay this might be long...read at your own risk. Ted, this one's for you too!

Yes, I wrote this back then...maybe younger, sometime in college. Nothing changed in the song except I used to have a weird, slow opening, sort of an oddball, folky chant with different chords and melody, and these lyrics:

God of the Sun, what have we done?
God of the Moon, teach me the tune
God of the Land, turned into sand
God of the Wind, let it begin...

...and it would whip into the song as it is here. Only I used to play it solo on an acoustic, and it was called "After the Winds". And no werewolf. I remember when writing it that I wanted to have a lot of unexpected changes and surprises...like the opening starts with a G chord...so it's in G, right?...but it resolves down to a C and grooves there for a bit before the singing starts, so it's in C, right?...but then it flips down to A instead, when I start singing...and then all the lines of the verses are different, they meander around instead of repeating parallel lines. Kind of like some loner in a car who doesn't know where to go. It was really fun to write. (And it's actually in the key of E. )

So, how did I record it? I have a pretty simple set-up: Cubase, a firewire audio interface (Presonus Firebox), a cheap pre-amp to warm up the mic signal (Presonus TubePRE), and a mic (Shure SM-58), an acoustic guitar, an electric, a bass, a digital piano. There are lots of built in effects on any program like Cubase (or ProTools, or Sonar, or Logic, or even Audacity). Now, I've been chomping at the bit for 30 years to have this sort of recording tool at my disposal. It never existed when I first wanted to record multiple tracks--that used to mean a recording studio at an hourly rate. But today? All the tracks I want, and every piece of it can be tweaked, faded, twisted, copied or erased...all for about $240.

So I just built it from scratch. First I decided on a tempo and recorded a click track. It's a loud beeping signal you can hear while you play, but you mute it or erase it later. Then I played an acoustic track. Then another one to make it sound fuller, and panned them left and right on the stereo spectrum. Then I sang the main vocal, but used two different tracks for verses and chorus...that way I could change the sound on them in different ways later, for contrast. I sang the verses first, then I came back and sang the lift and the chorus...different registers, and it was easier not having to switch back and forth from mellow to loud voice.

Then the harmonies. That crazy "aaah" sound is just normal singing in three-part harmony. But when I adjusted the sound on those three tracks, I pulled up a six-fader EQ plug-in, and brought the low end faders down to nothing, and boosted the high end way up, so it sounds like its coming out of a little tin box, or transistor radio. This is also what a "high pass filter" does. (It ended up sounding a lot like the back-up singing on "Octopus's Garden" only without the bubbles. ) I sang the chorus twice on two different tracks...that double-tracked sound gives your voice an extra resonance, the same effect a 12-string guitar has compared to a 6-string. Many tracks on those voices.

What else. I tracked a lot of different acoustic and 12-string guitar, and played some normally, and others were played higher up with a capo. That "wall of acoustics" is a sound I really like to play with...The Traveling Wilburys did it best.

I added the bass and learned a new way to do it quickly. I play the part until I screw up. Then I add a new track and start just before I screwed up...the first one gets faded out while the second one gets faded in---seamless. And when I screw up again, I continue on the first track again. I'm not Sub. I know he'd play the whole thing through come hell or high water, flawlessly. Yikes...not me.

I played the one-handed piano thump for about 10 seconds...then I just copied and pasted it a few times to fill it out. Cheap tricks!



Googled some free sound effects...a werewolf howl, some wind.

The very last thing I added was drums. When I worked with tape, I used to have to always do that first. It bugged me, having to program stupid drum beats when I felt like playing some music. Now I can do that left-brain stuff while I mix. I used my old Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine, about 6" x 8", a little box from the mid-80's. Can't wait to graduate to GOOD drum sounds soon.

All the rest was fussing about with levels, EQ, reverb, all that...noise.

As far as imagining all this beforehand? I sort of knew where I wanted to go...always wanted to hear certain harmonies and full sound. But I never know exactly how it's going to be, so the end result is just as new to me as it is to a new listener. It really fascinates me, and I probably play it too much in the car. But I can't help it...I'm the grown-up version of the kid who played with two cassette players and tried to harmonize with himself on "Hey Jude"...and now I finally have the REAL TOYS I always wanted. So I will probably end up over-producing a few things, just because it's really fun and rewarding.

Anyway, that's my How To. The harder thing is to write the songs.