SnowGhost Music

Greg McGrath and I had a bit of history prior to his first SnowGhost Session. I met him through his father Peter McGrath, a well-known classical recording engineer. We immediately found that we both had a passion for indie rock and hi-fi, and it broke our hearts that they weren't sleeping in the same bed. We couldn't understand why there were so many shitty recordings out there of our favorite artists. I invited him up to help out with the building of the studio and he accepted, moving to Whitefish for all of two months, lifting, wiring, lifting again, and wiring some more. During that time, we took breaks to record his first record with Kris King (of Lansing Dreiden fame) on drums. It was both of our first tries, with the studio being far from finished. The end result was Uninvited Guest.

I convinced him to come back out for a round two, as we were further along and were trying out the SnowGhost Session concept. He would be here for our very first SnowGhost Session with Luke Temple and would play a key role as an engineer with all of the skills he had acquired from working with me a year earlier.

After Luke had come and gone, we had a week left and I asked Greg if he was into doing a SnowGhost Session himself. During the few weeks that he was in Montana, he had managed to write five new songs, being prolific as usual. Because it was just Greg and I, we would have to be a little creative with the instrumentation, but this was nothing new to us; we had both learned to play as many instruments as possible because of our lack of patience with dysfunctional bands. Greg played guitars and drums, while I rounded out the tracks with some piano tracks.

Most of the time we would get in the studio when Greg had an idea and lay it down on the first pass. On a couple we were lucky enough to snag Rex Francis, one of the best studio drummers around,and who just happened to be in town. We even recorded one of the songs amidst a crowd of friends who had come over to cook some dinner. The live studio audience can work wonders on the psyche sometimes, and in this case it helped make the track.

I suggested that we go with a more live band feel. Greg was into it, so I called Rex to get him into the studio on a Friday evening. Greg, Rex, and I can all sing, we can play plenty of instruments, so the idea was to work as a trio live, and then overdub. I set up a M149 through a Manley Slam on Greg's voice, along with a pair of 451s through the DW Fern for acoustic guitar, in Studio A. Because of the inherent loud nature of the drums, I felt that it would be ideal to put Rex in the Iso Booth, leaving me on the piano in Studio A with Greg. I kept it simple on the drums, with the stereo XY Schoeps out in front of the kit as overheads, along with the AE2500 condenser/dynamic mic on the snare and a D112 on the kick. I used the SSL pres, EQs, and compressors for all of the drum mics. On the piano, I placed a pair of 414s because they´re good on everything. I ran these through the Summit pres with a touch of the LA-2A to control dynamics, since I would be playing the piano, not riding the faders. I made sure to turn the piano away from Greg, with the lid acting as isolation between me and his voice.

"The Damage I've Done" was a piece that Greg had been working on prior to coming to Whitefish. He wanted to record it, but didn't know where to go with it. We ran four takes, each one being slightly different, as we learned the song. It had a nice bounce to it, but I suggested that we slow it down to a slow waltz, and play a bit quieter. The third take had the most vibe to it, and was executed well enough to call the keeper. If there's anything that I have realized over the years, playing producer and artist, it's that if you don't get the take you want on the first few tries (if not the first), you should step away.

Upon listening back, I heard a Wurlitzer with some vibrato playing sustained bass notes. One pass later we had our bass sound. The Wurlitzer enters after the first chorus, with the xylophone. The xylophone was Rex's idea; he wanted to be minimal with it, just adding some melodic lines to bring in the verse. At that point we decided that less was more and let it be, which I still feel was the right decision.

The Following day we had invited some of our local friends to come join us at the studio for a BBQ, not having any intention of recording. But, as most musicians who have a few beers do, we found our way to our instruments for an impromptu jam. The most memorable piece was Greg's new song "I Can't Help Counting" which Greg had written in Montana, about missing love. And yes, it was a waltz. I quickly showed one of my buddies where the red record button lived, and then ran into Studio A to inhabit the piano bench while Greg sat next to me on guitar and vox, and Rex covered the drums. This was a one-taker, full of dynamics and feeling. When Greg shouts, you can hear him bleed into the other mics, which is one of my favorite aspects of this recording; perfection in imperfection.

A few days later Greg played me the beginnings of a song he was working on that would come be "The Other Half". The words in this song were dedicated to a girl that he had left back home, filled with imagery that Greg has always impressed me with. To this day, I still think about the mother who had four sons, splitting her diamond ring in four pieces for them to give to their true love. Because "The Other Half" was so powerful in the words alone, I suggested that Greg go with something that was borderline a cappella. He was thinking of a few different arrangements, but we ended up doubling the steel string guitar, along with vocals. He went with our Santa Cruz fingerstyle 000; I miked it with a pair of AKG 451s into the DW Fern preamp. The subtlety of this recording compliments Greg's imagery.

I might call Greg a self-historian. If you know him, you're probably in one of his songs - I'm still waiting, Greg . As he struggled with distance in his relationship, I saw the shift from sentimental to more edgy themes; I was seeing an artist in action. "Martydrom" leads us in with a bittersweet nylon string guitar, a la American Analog Set. It's almost misleading in it's initial optimism, but as we arrive at the end of the song, we find that we were right in our optimism. This song was Greg all the way, as I wasn't sure where he wanted to go with it musically. I told him that I would just work the board so he could do whatever came to mind. I started by miking the nylon sting guitar with the same 451s and DW Fern combo we had been using on the steel sting guitars. For Drums we used the same setup we had used for Rex (Schoeps overhead, D112 kick, and AE 2500 snare), as it was already set up. Greg did a pass with the guitar and vocals, and added a drum part with the hot rod sticks, for the understated rock feel. I panned the guitar mics hard left and right to get a full stereo sound. Finally, we felt that some bass would complete the vibe of a mellow, but edgy, acoustic-rock tune. Patching our Modulus through the Summit TPA-200B (my go-to for bass sounds), then into an LA-2A to even out the inherent bumps in frequency.

By end of the session, Greg's inner frustration had come to a head, and would be conveyed through "Only Gets Worse". This song was recorded and mixed in the early morning, just before he had to get on a plane back to Florida. The electric guitar was his Michael Kelly Baritone through the Carr Amp, miked with an SM57. The bass and drums utilized the same setup in our previous recordings. The questions aimed outwardly turn inward at the end of the song, as it builds with background vocals, electric guitar melodies, and some heavier drums. A fairly unfinished sound, matching the unfinished theme of the content, I could hear this song with some backing treatment: Strings, horns, and anything else you would put on an power ballad.

Overall, I enjoy working with Greg because he prefers simple arrangements that allow for good sounds to come across in playback. I view our work together as humble. It´s not all that different from his typical home recordings, just with a touch more attention to detail. The intimacy of Greg's songs and these recordings are a window into the guy next door, who loves and hurts, and loves, and hurts.