I hold up songs like this as an example of what home recording can accomplish over studio recording. Sometimes it pays to have the recorder going just in case something exciting occurs, rather than work something up ahead of time and then record it. This song was completely improvised, and any attempt to recreate what happened in a recording studio would have been a disappointment. Or it would have simply been something different than this.

The song began when a musician friend of mine, Patman, came from Florida to Atlanta to visit for a few days. I was showing him some features of my new digital recording studio and explaining some of the new recording techniques I was playing around with. Before you know it, I was playing the drum machine and he was jamming on my MIDI keyboard.

The drum machine comes with a lot of rhythms already programmed in, and each rhythm has a sympathetic alternate rhythm, as well as patterns which serve as transitions or fills. Along with a foot pedal to turn the drum machine on and off, I was able to provide a flexible rhythm backing to Patman's soloing.

Once the original take was complete, we listened back to it and decided that some more instruments could be added to fatten up the sound and make it more psychedelic. We took turns overdubbing more keyboards and some lead guitar before moving on to the next step.

With all that overdubbing, the sound was pretty busy. Some of the parts fit, some didn't. The job then was to listen to the playback and fade out any parts that seemed to be detracting from the overall sound. Suddenly, it became purposeful and focused. Here was another example of playing a song, then writing it.

Rick Hines: electric guitar, drum machine.
Patman: MIDI keyboard.

Produced, engineered, edited and mastered by Rick Hines. Arranged and mixed by Rick Hines and Patman.

Recorded November 8-9, 2007 at Rick's Studio, Atlanta, Georgia.