Still hear the sound is a collection of acoustic-oriented songs of mine – some going back a ways, others more recent, that I thought would work well with mandolin, banjo, upright bass and drums.  The bed tracks were recorded over a few summer days at an out-of-the-way studio on Toronto Island after rehearsing with a band of talented local musicians who were brought together for the project.

How the band came about is a little story in itself.  Once upon a time when I began looking for acoustically adept musicians, I was referred to a guitar and mandolin player who was in a band with a banjo player.  I made a note of the name so I could follow up at some point.  Then, before I knew it, a pile of years had gone by.  That always seems to happen.  You might be familiar with the scenario – you have it in your head that you want to do something but for one reason or another it's never really quite the right time though you keep telling yourself you intend to get around to it at some point.  And the months slide into years as they go sailing by.

One day I somehow found out that the guitar / mandolin player was performing in a band that had a regular gig at a club on Queen Street West in Toronto.  On particularly cold, wet, blustery night I remember well as southern Ontario was getting the tail end of a tropical hurricane, I was biking home from work and decided to drop by to see if I could finally meet this musician now that the timing seemed right to be getting on with the album.  So that's what I did – when the band stopped for a break, I introduced myself and described the recording project I had in mind.  A couple of times he said, "I think your project will happen" with a confidence I found surprising but nonetheless welcomed and it turns out he was right.

Adrian was the starting point and his network led to the rest of the rhythm section, Michael, Dave, and Frank.  Rehearsals were held that spring and recording took place in early July before summer plans and touring schedules scattered the musicians until who knows when.  Scheduling is always the biggest challenge.

Later that summer, my day-job took me up to a town named Kenora which is on Lake of the Woods in Northern Ontario.  I decided to rent a cabin and stay up north over the weekend to write harmony vocals for the songs on the albums.  It's amazing what a bit of uninterrupted focus can do for productivity.  For a couple of days between waking and sleeping, I sat at a tiny table by the cabin window writing more harmony parts than I had ever intended, stopping only for the occasional break such as walking down to the lake or going into town for some groceries.

Recording on the Island had been similar – staying down there, removed by the ferry from the ever-present distractions of the city, made it easier to find and stay in a good groove for recording.  If attention began to wander, Dale kept us focused on the task at hand.  The first day we recorded well into the night wrapping up only a few hours before daybreak.  Of course, the next day didn't start until the afternoon – that's how recording schedules can go.  But back to the harmony vocals…

It was an intense experience writing all the vocal parts but it created a new challenge.  How was I going to get them recorded?  I suppose I could've tried scaling them back but after all that work, I didn't want to.  It was all or nothing.  If I scrapped them altogether, I could get the album finished sooner; if I went ahead, I had no idea how long it would take.

The vocal harmonies by themselves ended up being like doing another album altogether and they weren't completed until the following summer.  It was worth the wait, though.  I was lucky to work with Tania who transcribed my pencil notation into neatly printed, thee-part scores and helped with the vocal rehearsals.  Through her network, I was able to find vocalists who were very accomplished at sight-reading.  I thought I might have to re-write some of the parts if they were too difficult to sing but it wasn't necessary.  It was remarkable to me how effortlessly they could sight read the parts exactly as written with consistently accurate intonation.  Some changes were made to the parts here and there for the sake of improvement; not because they were too difficult for them.  As far as I could tell, there wasn't anything they couldn't sing.

When we got to the studio, this time an acrobat instructor's loft on College Street, Joe set up his portable recording equipment in next to no time.  Then with the same getting straight down to business efficiency, Michelle, Jill and Alex recorded all their parts in half the time I had booked the studio for.  At lunch that day, one of the singers asked me what my plan was to promote the album.  It's a big question every indie musician faces.  Packing up after the last number had been recorded, Joe mentioned he also does web sites for musicians.  I left the studio amazed at how well and quickly the session had went and began thinking about what a web site for the album might look like.