Raise Your Glass Behind the Studio Door

Raise Your Glass Releases Their First Studio Recording

Raise Your Glass (RYG), the ultimate Pink tribute experience, recently completed a five-song demo showcasing their take on some P!nk classics. Included in the release are RYG versions of “Don’t Let Me Get Me” and “Get The Party Started” from the Mizzundastood album, “So What” from Funhouse,  “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” from the Truth About Love record, and of course, “Raise Your Glass” from P!nk’s Greatest Hits…So Far CD.

“E” Producer/Engineer for RYG

The album was recorded at For The Record Studios in Orange County. The studio was the in-house studio for Doctor Dream records whom some may recall was a leader in the Orange County surf-punk and alternative music surge in the 80’s. Everyone from No Doubt to The Cadillac Tramps to Joyride and Zebrahead tracked their early recordings there. In addition, For The Record has been the home for countless groups and artists from all walks of the musical spectrum. The common denominator behind them all is producer and engineer Eric Garten, who is simply known as “E”.

RYG choose For The Record and “E” not only because of the long relationships some of the members have had with the studio, but mostly because “E” knew how to get RYG’s vision of translating the excitement of their live recreation of their Pink Tribute show to a studio track without it becoming sterile or so over-produced it would not be representative of what RYG fans have come to expect, let alone the agents and booking managers RYG is now courting in order to start playing the larger venues that are its goal.

To make this happen,”E” had the band set-up in a close circle and play all the tracks live as a band. For those not familiar with how most songs are recorded nowadays, this is extremely rare. Generally each instrument is completely isolated from the rest and is usually recorded independently of the others. You record some drums, add some bass, add some guitar and so on. In addition as everything is recorded digitally nowadays, bands will record to a “click” track, which is a constant tick-tick in their ears to keep them all at the same time so it is easy to go in and edit and correct mistakes or play with the time in post-production. To record a group live with no click means that the group has to be extremely tight, know the material and not make any mistakes through the entire recording as everyone’s sound is bleeding over into the mics of all the other instruments. The plus side is that if done right and the group is spot-on, you can capture the live feel of a band that usually will be lost using the normal recording method. Once again the members of RYG proved themselves up to the challenge. After doing a couple of run-throughs, they nailed the tracks on the first take. Ok so Blow Me took a couple of passes, but it aint a walk-in-the-park to play.

The only overdubs you hear on the track are the vocals. But staying true to the premise, the vocals were recroded live in capturing as much of the song in a single pass as possible. Even the harmonies were recorded with Stella, Kathrin, Tony and at points the entire band, doing all their parts together. In mixing no EQ or compression or other enhancement was done to the instruments. Everything was a straight up mix with just some delay and reverb added to give it a more open live feel.

The result? Well, the members of RYG are pretty proud of the result but you be the judge. Go over to http://rygrocks.com/media-room/ and take a listen yourself. Be sure and leave a comment or share the music with your friends and others if you like what you hear. The recording finishes up one more piece in the package for RYG as it preps to launch itself into the frey. We hope you all come along for the ride.