Well, I finally did it. This past Saturday I did my first recording session at my friend Andy’s house. The night before, I learned the song he wanted me to sing, called “Leave,” a quaint pop song that an old bandmate wrote days before that band broke up.

First things first about Andy: Forget modern technology and computers - he’s not a computer guy. He’s got all kinds of crazy equipment that we would lovingly call “vintage” - including reel-to-reel. Here, in his upstairs second bedroom, he’s at home in the wall-to-wall cacophony of instruments and strange mechanisms that make an album. In his mind, if some of the best albums of all time could be recorded with this stuff, then he can use it, too. When I first walked into the room, I got the feeling that he was a little afraid I’d be taken aback by the old stuff in there, but when I explained that my dad’s a fanatic about keeping all his old stereo equipment (including a Teac reel-to-reel), he looked relieved. So I felt quite at home and, while Andy was tinkering around with the equipment, they handed me some interior design magazines to keep myself occupied.

In the back corner of the room, the small clothing closet was turned into a recording booth - nothing you can stand in, but there’s some sort of insulation covering all walls and a carpet on the floor. The door had been removed so I was able to stand in the doorway, in front of the microphone.

Then we recorded. I didn’t really know what to expect. Professional singers have been known to say how much they love hearing their voice played back to them, so I wondered if I would have a similar experience.

I didn’t! LOL

It’s been a long time since anyone’s recorded my voice in this way - around 15 years. In that time, my voice has changed quite a bit and the only recent (in the past 6 years) recordings that I’ve had were live with three-hundred or more people singing along with you, so it’s not the same. He played my voice back to me — and I immediately begged him to turn it off. I couldn’t even get through the first verse, I was so embarrassed by the sound of my voice. I looked at him, horrified and said, “Is that what I really sound like?” I realize this is repetitive to keep saying it, but the sound really was horrific to me. Of course he thought I was crazy, but no matter how many times I listen to my voice being played back, I cringe. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it.

The first recording was also a bad recording, because I just sang it straight instead of owning it. So we scrapped it and I gave him a few more recordings of the song. All through the process he seemed really thrilled with what I was giving him, and that makes me happy because my fear was that I would go in and do this song injustice - the point was to give him something he’d be happy with, regardless of what I thought of it. So, at the end of the day, even though I didn’t like the sound of my voice (still don’t) he was very happy. I got there around 10:00 and we wrapped up around 2:00. Overall, I have to say it was a lot of fun and, if asked, I’d do it again.

And before you ask, no I’m not sharing the recording with you because my voice is horrifying! LOL