John Martin Live

Cowboys Forever

john — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:32:18 +0000

Last April, I was hired to oversee the production of the 2009 Oklahoma State University football pre-game video. Early on in the pre-production stage of the project, I thought about one of the many facets that makes OSU different, Pistol Pete. I’ve always thought that it was very unique that the school’s mascot was a real person! Frank Eaton was a larger than life type person, and for this project, I wanted to embrace the story of Pistol Pete. After watching all the video I could find and reading as much information that I could get my hands on about Frank Eaton, I wrote the song “Cowboys Forever”. The lyrics are loosely based on the legend of Pistol Pete, setting out to “avenge the blood” of his father.

After the song was written and the recording session was booked, I recorded “Cowboys Forever” at Sunset Sound in Hollywood where the song was produced by Aaron Johnson (The Fray) and Engineered by Warren Huart (The Fray, Augustana). Once the song was mixed and mastered, my focus shifted gears to the video.

For the video, director Taylor Bolding and I were given full access to the players and their summer workout sessions. We wanted to get a ‘behind the scenes’ perspective of the Cowboys in training as they prepared for the season. Working with the players was a lot of fun throughout the project, but the highlight for me was watching Dez Bryant race Bullet inside Boone Pickens Stadium!

I wish I could show you the video now, but you will have to come to an OSU home football game to see it!

Friday, May 22, 2009

john — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:33:51 +0000

This day started off with Zac finishing up on the keyboard parts. Once again, the kid was amazing and he came in and did his thing – then left like it was no big deal. But it was a big deal, because once again he dominated! While Zac was doing what he does, I talked to Aaron about my concerns regarding the “Phoenix” vocal performance. He told me that he still felt like we had “good enough” takes to build a “good” comp, but if I wanted to do it again then I could give it another shot later in the day. That was all I needed to hear; I knew that the vocal for “Phoenix” needed to be much better than “good enough”, and I was determined to make it better. But, first things first, we had to do the vocal for “Come Home Soon”. Similar to “Phoenix”, “Come Home Soon” is a song that the vocal performance is key. I felt like I failed on “Phoenix”, and I was up thinking about it all night. Again, singing is all about feel for me – when I write songs, when I record my demos – I’m always sitting down on a piano bench. That is what feels comfortable to me, and even though it isn’t normal for other singers to sit while they track vocals, it is normal for me – so I decided to sit down to do vocals on “Come Home Soon”. After the first line of the song, I felt comfortable again. I don’t know what it was, maybe it was because I was sitting down or maybe it was something mental – but whatever it was, I felt like I was singing like me again. We did three or four takes and we were finished. It was apparent to Aaron that I felt better so he asked me if I wanted to sing “Phoenix” again. Of course I said yes. I took a break for a little bit, then sat back down and took another shot at “Phoenix”. I sang it better than I ever had, and my mind felt better instantly. I’m thankful that Aaron gave me another shot at the song, because the song means the world to me. Some Producers wouldn’t have given me another shot, or wouldn’t have believed that I could sing it better than I did the day before – but Aaron isn’t like most Producers. He gave me another chance when we didn’t have much time left and he believed in me when others wouldn’t have. At the end of day five, I felt at peace with the session and knew I would sleep better after I redid the vocal for “Phoenix”.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

john — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:12:24 +0000

I was able to witness talent like I had never seen before. Not only did I see the most talented musician of my life, but I also saw the most keyboards and pianos of my life. I can’t really describe in words what Zac was like. He was definitely like a character in a movie. He had a beard that was easily 9 inches long, talked in a low voice with a British accent and, he learned the songs on a ukulele! Needless to say, he was interesting. He didn’t ever practice any of the piano parts. He just played them on the ukulele, then went in and tracked the parts on the piano. And he didn’t just play the piano…. He dominated the piano. More time was spent on picking sounds then actually playing the parts. Keys for two songs were finished quickly and Zac was done for the day, with plans to return the next day to finish up. Next, we moved on to setting up for vocals. Picking the right microphone was very important, so we searched until we found the microphone that fit best with my voice. One thing Sunset Sound does not have is a shortage of microphones…. Aaron and Warren decided which microphone they liked best for my voice. Then, they brought in another microphone exactly like it, to compare its sound to their first choice. From experience, they knew that each microphone has its own unique sound and they ended up choosing the second option over the first choice. The vocal setup did take some time, but I was ready to get going and we started vocals on “Phoenix”. Aaron and I talked about a few things before I started singing. One issue that we discussed was the fact that I prefer to sit down while I sing. Traditionally, people stand while tracking vocals. Ultimately, Aaron left the decision up to me, but I said I would stand because I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal for me to change. I did five takes and Aaron said he felt like we had enough to build a comp. If you don’t know, a comp is a compilation of the best parts from all takes. After the fifth take, personally, I didn’t think that I had sung the song the way it needed to be sung. I couldn’t tell you exactly what wasn’t right, but my performance just didn’t feel right to me. I expressed my feeling to Aaron, but he decided we needed to move on because we needed to track vocals for another song that night – and he said he could hear my voice getting tired. I took his word for it and we moved on.

We decided I should do “Cowboys Forever” next. I can’t remember how many takes I did for this song, but I do know that when I was done, I felt great about my performance and I knew that we had what we needed. Singing is such an interesting thing…. It’s all about feel for me – I felt good about “Cowboys Forever” and never thought twice about whether or not my performance was good enough on. At the end of day four, all I could think about was the fact that I didn’t feel like I delivered the vocal performance that was needed for a song like “Phoenix”.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

john — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:42:12 +0000

Wednesday was the day dedicated to electric guitar overdubs. If you have ever been in a studio, you know how difficult it can be to record electric guitars because of intonation problems. (Intonation means tuning.) It can break down even the best guitar player because it is such a frustrating issue to deal with. We did have some intonation problems, but I must say that Adam never let it get to him and, eventually, we got everything sounding great. All three songs began to take shape at this point. The overall vision of each song could vaguely be seen. My favorite guitar line happens in “Phoenix”, in the second verse after the line “kiss me like you’ll never kiss another”. The guitar line is very subtle, but something about it gets me every time I hear it. My second favorite guitar part is in “Cowboys Forever”. The guitar lick happens during the bridge…. The best part about it is that Adam was obviously getting into the song and really liked the part he played; when we had the guitar soloed, we could very easily hear Adam saying, “Ahhh yeah”, on the track while he was playing the guitar. It was hilarious, but awesome at the same time! Not only did we track electrics, but we also tracked the acoustic guitars. Tony brought his Gibson on the trip and it made it on the record, his guitar is the acoustic used on “Come Home Soon”. At the end of day three, what we had been working on was starting to sound like music.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

john — Wed, 20 May 2009 05:40:06 +0000

We started around 10:30 a.m. “Cowboys Forever” was the next song on the agenda. A few alterations were made for the drum sound, but we all got in the room, learned the song, then started tracking. This song took shape relatively quickly… Again, we made a few arrangement changes. Originally, after the first verse, there was a pre-chorus that went directly into the second verse… Aaron decided we should go into the chorus before the second verse, so we implemented that change and kept on moving forward. Then, we added a four bar section that Aaron referred to as “the Who part” after the bridge. Once the arrangement was ironed out, we focused on getting the drum and bass tracks down. A few takes later we were done and moving on to the third and final song, “Phoenix”. For this song, we brought the band into the control room to listen to the demo so they could chart out the song. We didn’t make any changes to the arrangement on “Phoenix”, so we finished tracking drums and bass in just a couple of takes. After we finished tracking “Phoenix”, we took a two-hour break to take pictures and get documentation of the microphone placements and the setting on all the gear because Warren liked the drum sound so much. Now, this wasn’t Warren’s first time at the rodeo – he doesn’t spend two hours documenting a sound unless he really thinks the tones are great! At the end of day two, we were right on schedule and definitely feeling pretty good about the way the drums sounded.

Room One…

john — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:34:35 +0000

Monday, May 18 was the first day of recording. Around 2 pm, we walked to the studio because I don’t like to drive anywhere when I’m in Hollywood. It wasn’t a bad walk at all, about ten or fifteen minutes. When we arrived at Sunset Sound, it began to set in on me, “I am seriously about to record in a studio that many of my favorite artists have recorded in,”!! The history of Sunset Sound is inspiring. Before we arrived, Warren Huart, the Engineer, had been setting up and dialing in the drum tones since the morning.

Once I arrived, everyone was pretty close to being ready to go. Aaron and I got together to talk about the change that needed to be made on “Come Home Soon”. Earlier in the day, right when I woke up, I had an idea for the pre-chorus and I recorded it on my iPhone, so I played it for Aaron; he liked it – so we had our pre-chorus fixed. Graham “Cracker” Hope, the Assistant Engineer, got me set up in the tracking room and the next thing I knew, we were recording drums and bass for “Come Home Soon”. This was the first time I had been in a session where most of the tracking was done live, so I got to sit in the middle of these amazing session players and just make music! For me, it was nothing but fun! I wasn’t worried about anything, because the song felt right. Aaron would guide the players in a direction for the feel he wanted the song to have, and then it was all about getting locked in. We made a few arrangement changes; everybody would make a note of it, then it was back to getting the tracks right. Time went by fast. The next thing I knew, we were done with drums and bass and moving on to overdubbing electric guitars.

At the end of day one, I felt the day was a success.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

john — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:32:47 +0000

I met Aaron Johnson for the first time. He was mixing a song at Swing House. We walked over there to meet up with him so we could talk about the upcoming session. From the beginning, Aaron and I got along great. The thing I initially liked the most about Aaron was his confidence. But it’s not the type of confidence that causes him to tell you how great he is… It’s the type of quiet confidence that you can simply feel. From that point forward, I knew the session was going to have a good vibe to it. Over dinner, we continued talking about the songs. Of the three songs, there was one song in particular that Aaron thought still needed to a change. In the demo of “Come Home Soon”, there were two lines in the chorus that Aaron thought would work better as a pre-chorus. He talked with me about changing the chord progression, but keeping the same melody… I agreed with him that it could make the song better, so we said we would work it out the next day at the session. Back to the Roosevelt, which meant Tony and Taylor were back at the pool… I thought I heard Marilyn’s ghost moving around in our room while I was trying to sleep off the swine flu, but it turned out to be an earthquake… No big deal, just an earthquake!!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

john — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:31:08 +0000

Taylor and I continued our road trip west as we drove through the desert before we arrived at our second destination, the Hollywood Roosevelt. My first night in Hollywood was very interesting, to say the least. I seriously thought I was about to die, while Tony and Taylor developed their love for the pool at the Roosevelt. I still don’t know exactly what was wrong with me, but it felt like I had three knives in my stomach. I diagnosed myself (with the assistance of WebMD of course) with a case of dehydration, but I really don’t know why I felt the way I did. Back to the pool, both Tony and Taylor spent every free second at that pool!! But neither of them actually got into the pool…. Didn’t ever even put on a swimsuit!! They would just stand around the pool and talk about – the weather or photography or sports or fashion or restaurants…. Actually they probably didn’t really talk to each other; most likely they just stood there checking out the beautiful women at the Hollywood Roosevelt pool! Meanwhile, I’m still trying to fight off death and looking for Marilyn Monroe’s ghost.

From East to West

john — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:29:37 +0000

My friend Taylor Bolding, who shoots music videos and photography, and I hit the highway on Saturday, May 9th with our first destination set for Scottsdale, AZ. We stayed at my Aunt Sheri and Uncle Bobby’s house for a week before driving to Hollywood where we would meet up with Tony Payne. I needed a week in Arizona prior to the session to clear my head. Typically, when I do try to relax and turn off my mind – that is when I write songs…. The second evening in Scottsdale I wrote a song called “Never The Same”, then recorded the demo the following afternoon. Something about the view from Aunt Sheri’s back porch inspires me…. I pray that the inspiration never leaves. For some reason, when I’m in Arizona I always wake up early. Usually around six or six thirty in the morning I’ll go sit in the hot tub and think. I thought a lot about what my time in Hollywood would be like….

Timing Is Everything

john — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:27:24 +0000

My thoughts about working with a Producer began stirring in my mind when I was hired by Oklahoma State University to oversee the production of the 2009 football team entrance video, which I would also write a song for. But what were the chances of Aaron having a week available in his schedule? In my mind, I honestly didn’t think we had a chance of aligning our schedules because the session had to happen within the next four weeks…. Somehow, Aaron was just wrapping up a record, and had 2 weeks before he started his next record – so he slid me into his free time, and made it happen like it was no big deal!