This morning Id like to talk about Jay Manley. Jay engineered a good bit of the basic tracks for Close to the Sun, at his home studio in Chapel Hill. One of my favorite contributions of his is the drum machine track for My Own Grace. This song was in danger of getting kicked of the island; at the time I saw it as the weakest link. I just didnt know what to do with it. For most of this record, I thought in terms of instruments and sounds rather than parts. I wanted this song, for example, to have a drum machine but I had no idea what the drum machine should do. I gave Jay a few minutes with it while I made coffee in the kitchen... I could hear it getting a little funky and I thought what the hell is he doing?!? But then when he put it all together I was in love with it. I would have called the song done right then and there, but Jay had the foresight to know it needed bass. So I called on John McNicholas for a Radiohead-esque bass line. Finally once it got to Rob Dysons hands Michael Roman added some subtle keys, all of which elevated this song to something I never could have imagined. Definitely a sum > parts sort of collaboration.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 11:13:10 +0000
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