Recording Adventures!

One morning just over a month ago, I got a text from my friend Michael Goodman asking to record background vocals later that day for a song on his upcoming album “Unbreakable Heart”. I’m pretty sure I wrote, deleted, and rewrote my response at least 3 times as I was trying to tone down my excitement about getting to experience the recording studio world for the first time.  

I’ve mentioned Michael before, but here’s a little history: I met Michael soon after Rebecca and I had first moved to Chicago together on Thanksgiving of 2010. He and I met through his ad on craigslist looking for a female vocalist to join him in a costumed caroling gig for a Christmas party in Old Town (which we both enjoyed doing), and have kept up ever since. He not only performs his own music, but also is currently understudying in the Chicago cast of Million Dollar Quartet, as well as improvises with his improv group around Chicago.

Back to the story: In preparation for recording, I had to find the perfect outfit, of course, and my roommate Denise  talked me out of wanting to wear cowboy boots (hey, it’s a “honky tonk” album) due to it being hot and humid that day (typical CHI summer).  (It didn’t help that I’ve been recently obsessed with the show Nashville--so obsessed that I've been telling telling people that I want to move to Nashville and sing—and, of course, practically everyone in that show is in cowboy boots) Then, I was finally out the door and parked. After nearly skipping down the sidewalks, I greeted Michael, walked into the studio, and met the other female who I was to record with: the lovely Whitney Jones who is currently playing the role of Dyanne in the Chicago cast of Million Dollar Quartet. We had previously met a couple of times before at MDQ events, but it was a surprise to get to record with her! I definitely still had a tough time holding in my excitement. “Rachelyn, act like you get to do this every day” kept running through my mind to help out the situation. We recorded callbacks for a song just twice and were finished. After I had returned from a two week Europe trip, Michael asked me to record more background vocals for another track, and I was ecstatic for the opportunity once again!

Ben, the owner of Minbal studio was fantastic, and I could not stop studying all of his cool equipment in the studio. All of the recordings for the album were done on a type of mic that Elvis had used in his records. The feel of the studio was very old school, which I obviously loved. All of the tracks have been recorded and mixed and the album should be out in July.

Here's a peek at his album! https://soundcloud.com/michaelgoodmanonline/sets/unbreakable-heart

Michael and Ben in the studio!