#soward

Riley here–I’m bringing you another update live from L.A.! 

I can’t believe that we’ve already been in the studio for seven days now. Tuesday Zach finished recording all the different guitar layers and since then he’s been mostly recording vocals. 

Recording vocals means editing vocals, which is quite an interesting operation. As part of the vocal editing process, our sound engineer, Anthony, has to go through and listen to each line on repeat. It’s proven to be quite grueling yet entertaining. It’s grueling, because well, when you sit there and listen to the same line again and again and again twenty times it starts to get kind of annoying. At the same time, however, it’s sometimes entertaining because as you listen to the lines on repeat, they meld together and take on a different meanings, often humorous. Right below I've typed up a few interesting line developments we've seen.

“You left your bracelet on my bedside table” turned into “you left your braces on my bedside table” (which is really strange when you think about it); “And I don’t know why” turned into “And I don’t know Hawaii” (Zach actually knows Hawaii pretty well, he’s been there a few times); “sound cause I” turned into “owned a Cuzza” (we decided Zach was referring to his 1976 Honda Cuzza that he used to drive back in the day); and lastly–my favorite–“No, I don’t know if I’m right, but baby I’m trying” took a very interesting turn and became “Noah–I don’t know if I’m Riley, but baby I’m trying.”  

I’ve been enjoying hanging around the studio throughout the recording process. Even though I lack any musical talent–and don’t understand probably half the phrases Mark, Anthony, and Zach throw around–it’s exciting to watch everything come together. I’ve always known Zach’s songs just as acoustic songs and it’s really cool to see them develop and turn into fully arranged compositions with bass, piano, drums, and additional guitar parts. At this point, we’ve recorded all the core parts to each song and I gotta say, I can’t wait to share these songs with the world :) 

We're heading home in just two days. Tomorrow and Sunday we’ll be editing and adding in minor parts to the songs and then we’ll be driving back Sunday evening. It's crazy to think our time in L.A. is almost over. 

Below I've included a few more photos from inside the studio. Thanks for tuning in! 

Cheers, 

Riley

Our high-tech solution for filling the sound hole in the top of Zach's guitar: a stuffed hedgehog!

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Zach in the recording booth

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A photo from the perspective of Beela, the studio puppy :)

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The crew taking a listen to one of the tracks

We just posted the photos from our recent photo shoot with the wonderfully talented Nicole Falsetti! You can check them out below :)

www.zachgospe.com/photos

Riley here–I’m bringing you this update live from inside the studio! It’s been an exciting past few days. We arrived late Friday afternoon, ate some delicious Thai food for dinner, and then went to bed early to get ready for a big week of recording. 

We're making good progress so far. Saturday Zach laid down rough vocals for all six songs (so he could have something to play along with when recording the guitar parts) and then tested the different guitars to figure out which one to use for each song. Yesterday and today Zach spent all day recording most of the acoustic and electric guitar parts for the six songs we've picked out for the album.  

We could not have asked for a better setup–our studio and team are awesome. The studio is this cool little place in Hollywood. It’s casual and comfy but at the same time, we’re getting to use top-of-the-line recording equipment. Mark Mazzetti, our producer, has been fantastic with building the arrangements, leading the process, and carrying out our vision for the record. Anthony Brodeur, our sound engineer, has been brilliant with capturing Zach’s songs in their best forms and has also been instrumental with helping create and develop the various musical parts for the songs. 

Below I’ve included some photos from our adventure so far. Thanks for tuning in and I'll be posting more updates later this week!

Zach working on a guitar part with Mark and Anthony.

Zach in the sound booth.

Day #3 in the studio–Matching Sock Monday!