This is Part Two of a two part special series by Bert Lams on the post-production of the third CGT Album, Pathways, which was released worldwide in June of 1998. Pathways was recorded mostly in Salt Lake City and mixed in Wiltshire, England by both Lams and David Singleton. Click here to return to Part One.

Monday 16 Feb
We mixed Classical Gas (with classical guitar overdub). In the afternoon we mixed Arroyo. Instead of using reverb David [Singleton] prefers to create a halo around the guitars with the resonator program in the Eventide. We find that the dry signal (that is, the direct signal rerecorded through a miked PA) can stand on its own, without effects. That is because the Somogyi guitars have such a great tone [See Technical under the CGT Resource Room for more information on the Somogyi custom guitars]. In the evening we mix Leap. We finish at 10:30 pm.

Tuesday 17 Feb
We work on Misirlou for a few hours without much progress. We decide to leave it for later.

Wednesday 18 Feb
We tackle Beethoven 5 again. We listened to it yesterday and still didn't like the mix. David asks me what time it is, and says he will fiddle with the sound one more hour. Quite suddenly he comes up with a much better overall sound. Most of it comes from a modulator in the upgraded Eventide H3000 S [Also see Technical under the CGT Resource Room for more information the CGT's equipment preferences]. We take a few hours break and listen to it again: It sounds great now. It's in the way David placed each of us in a separate space, but when mixed together it turns into something more than the sum of each part. When the mix is right your attention is with the music, not with the bass or this or that line.

In the evening we get going on Miserlou. We didn't get it right the other day, but David is inspired and turns it into something danceable and fun. With the Eventide he creates a weird little organ sound on the main theme. It's strange that we have had such a hard time with two of our strongest live pieces. I believe this is because we played in front of a microphone instead of for a live audience. The music does not suffer from this but the whole concept changes...

Friday 19 Feb
We meet at 11 am to start a running order. There are a couple candidates for the opening piece: Beethoven 5, Leap and Pathways are the chosen ones. In the early afternoon D has Robert [Fripp] on the phone and tells him what we're doing. R says that the first twenty seconds are crucial. It has to make you want to hear more.

All afternoon we work on different running orders. Pathways seems to be the best opener. I like it going into Moonlight. David likes it initially but it is really too serious. We try all afternoon with all other combinations, each time we find something that might work we play it all from the beginning. It takes a lot of time but its the only way to hear if the running order makes sense..

In the evening David says: "We havent tried this one possibility: Miserlou after Pathways." It sounds really great! This piece gives it a bit of humour, because its all getting quite serious. David says that the best setlist goes:strong, strong , strong, strong....We make the following running order:

Everyone likes different pieces best: Hugh likes Leap, Gill and Charlotte like the Moonlight Sonata and Diane likes the Samuel Barber piece. And of course everybody digs Misirlou. Someone suggests we put a surfing Beethoven on the CD cover... All agree that Pathways is not an opener for the album.

We'll have to come up with another running order...

We need to remix some pieces. We start setting up but we feel completely exhausted all of a sudden. I suggest David we give it a weekend break because none of us can concentrate anymore We havent had a break for a long time.

Monday 23 Feb
We remixed Ananda today. Almost immediately found a much better sound for Paul and Hidi. Then all afternoon D tries to find a good sound for Bert's arpeggios. It goes a bit off course, because (as he later tells me) David doesn't know what to listen for. He puts all these wacky sounds on my guitar (reverse delays and pitch shifts) but we are not getting there. D calls it the ''mad hatters party''. I feel quite desperate because I don't hear any music and I wonder if its still there.

We take a break for dinner and then I suggest we run my guitar signal through the Arroyo effects. This takes a lot of extra time because we need to rerecord the guitar onto a separate track , with the Arroyo sound and hope it will be OK when we mix it, because it goes through the same effects unit that produces Paul and Hidi's sound. AND....there is Ananda, sparkling with life!!! Then it all goes fast. We mix the piece in sections. We include Bill Janssen's sax for the whole piece. Trey is on the bass with a BIG sounding wooshy bass.

Tuesday 24 Feb
We remix Ananda, Great Divide and the middlesection of Misirlou.

Friday 6 Mar
We mastered and edited all other pieces except Moonlight, Adagio op11 and Classical Gas.

We did a few edits on Nr 5 and Pathways (shortened the sax solo in the middle).

Alex feels that Nr 5 would be a better beginning for the album. The mood is good, I feel relieved and excited because the mixes are great.

Thursday 12 Mar
Dear Paul and Hideyo,
I am happy to say that yesterday, on my 39 th birthday our third CD has been completed. The master was sent off as well, two days late for the deadline of manufacturing in Japan.

Kaleidoscope has been a missing link. Just before the deadline we mixed it into a miniature version as a transition into Ananda. This piece was an idea of Hideyo. Its circulating guitars with Trey, Bill and Roger Lambson improvising on top.

After listening to the initial rough mixes Robert had said to David that we will have to find a home for all the pieces. This means that every piece sounds strong after the previous one, before the next one and in the overall flow of the album. Listening to it yesterday I felt we accomplished that task. Thanks to David's perseverance. We should be on our knees kissing his feet for this feat!

I will send a tape to you both tomorrow.

best bert

This is the end of Part Two of a two part special featuring Bert Lams' Post-Production Diaries on the mixing of the CGT's 1998 release Pathways.

Return to Part One of Bert Lams' Pathways Post-Production Diaries.

Order the work of California Guitar Trio on-line from their own store, CGT Direct!

Home | News | Guestbook | Music | Shop | CGT DIRECT | Contact Info | Mailing List | Management | NPR Interview | Free Music | Discography | Technical Info | Paul's Diary | Bert's Diary | Band Bio | TOUR DATES | Roadcam Photos | Links | CGT Homepage | Photos | Discussion | Search |

Copyright © 1997-2006, Chronosynthesis Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.