Squeaks and Rattles

I hopped on over to Looking Glass Studios to record with Catherine McRae last weekend. A very nice experience at a great studio. The whole session I had been dealing with rattles from those black spacers/support rings that have hardened up over the years. They are also very brittle and have broken off during transportation before I figured out how to orient the instrument to help prevent more breakage. The vibraphonette had a very strong role in a quiet song called Pentacostal. I had been putting gaffing tape on the black spacer supports to help with the rattles, but now there was also a squeak when I stepped on the damper pedal. Everyone said it was fine, but I decided to try one thing. While Catherine sang some vocals on another song, I took off the top and applied some WD40 on the spring. It worked like a charm!

Bruce Cawdron is also in the picture. He plays a bunch of instruments - here he's playing bass marimba. It really sounded great!

Click here for more pictures of the session.

I can't wait to hear what we recorded!