From the beginning I only wanted to be a Songwriter. I wasn't interested in performing and never wanted to get involved with technical things like sound engineering, mixing and so on. My dream was to write a song, give it to a performer like Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler, etc and of course they'd record it.
Looking back I realize now that what I didn't do was drop everything, grab the guitar and song books and head for L.A. or Nashville. But, after "Marriage Seed" in 1992 the music scene began to change. I was wanting to go back into music and this time give it a real go. But, looking back I knew that if I was to send demos to publishers I'd need good recordings of my songs. So, I called a local studio and booked some time.
I booked about 3 hours and recorded about 4 or 5 songs on an ADAT tape. The engineer rough mixed the songs on to a cassette and when I got home to listen to them I realized it would take a lot more time and money to produce the songs the way they were in my head. Thus began the journey to gather recording equipment.
Corelli & Mannarino
My best friend Kevin Mannarino who I've known since we were 12 years old was into the engineering side of recording, as well as lead guitar, vocal and songwriting. It was through him and his knowledge of recording gear and experience that I began the slow process of putting together my own studio. Back then since I lived in Tacoma, WA and Kevin lived in Denver, Co we would send cassette tapes back and forth to each other instead of letters. I had been working on a title for a song that I wanted to write but only had the title, "Grandfather Moon". I hadn't talked to Kevin about it but when he sent a cassette letter he had included some lyrics too. And there it was! The lyrics to 2 songs "Angels Dance" and "Grandfather Moon".
It was about 1995 or 96' that "Grandfather Moon" was written and it took until 2008 for me to record it. "Angels Dance" was recorded first on my first CD "Standing on the Rock" in 1998. I named my studio "Angels Dance Recording Studio" and Kevin's recording studio was named in memory of his father "Joe Mann", Mann Recording Studios"
Looking back I realize now that what I didn't do was drop everything, grab the guitar and song books and head for L.A. or Nashville. But, after "Marriage Seed" in 1992 the music scene began to change. I was wanting to go back into music and this time give it a real go. But, looking back I knew that if I was to send demos to publishers I'd need good recordings of my songs. So, I called a local studio and booked some time.
I booked about 3 hours and recorded about 4 or 5 songs on an ADAT tape. The engineer rough mixed the songs on to a cassette and when I got home to listen to them I realized it would take a lot more time and money to produce the songs the way they were in my head. Thus began the journey to gather recording equipment.
Corelli & MannarinoIt was about 1995 or 96' that "Grandfather Moon" was written and it took until 2008 for me to record it. "Angels Dance" was recorded first on my first CD "Standing on the Rock" in 1998. I named my studio "Angels Dance Recording Studio" and Kevin's recording studio was named in memory of his father "Joe Mann", Mann Recording Studios"
I was thrilled when it worked out that Kevin did the Lead Guitar on my 2008 "Grandfather Moon" CD. But that first CD "Standing on the Rock" was something else to record.
First, I had to put together a studio with physical equipment. A Kawai electric piano with midi capabilities, an Alesis 8 Track ADAT, a DAT recorder for mixing it all down, a mixing board, reverb module, compression module and not to mention good recording mics. So here I was doing what I didn't want to do and that was sound engineering. Now around this time my cousin, Brett Helling, introduced me to the world of midi. Back in 1997 it was totally new to me. He gave me a program called "Cakewalk" that took me about 6 months to learn. In addition to the program he also did the guitar work on "The Rock". The Rock was recorded at his place in Spokane Washington. He named his Studio after his father and called it "Mert's Place Studios". The fact was that he had the same ADAT set up Kevin had in Denver and I had in Tacoma. So, when I went to Spokane to record "The Rock" Brett's set up was in his Master bedroom.
The first tracks were done as Brett doubled as sound engineer and Alesis SR16 drum machine operator. Brett found the beat we were looking for in the verses and then one for the Chorus. He started the machine and I played along with my ovation and recorded my vocal at the same time. So we laid down the drum tracks, ovation and lead vocal in about 2 or 3 takes and then he kept the ADAT to lay down the Bass guitar, electrics and Lead electric. The version here is the newer version I re-released on my "Righteous Man" CD. I wanted the strings in the song and back up vocals but couldn't do that in the first version for lack of tracks and digital midi understanding.
First, I had to put together a studio with physical equipment. A Kawai electric piano with midi capabilities, an Alesis 8 Track ADAT, a DAT recorder for mixing it all down, a mixing board, reverb module, compression module and not to mention good recording mics. So here I was doing what I didn't want to do and that was sound engineering. Now around this time my cousin, Brett Helling, introduced me to the world of midi. Back in 1997 it was totally new to me. He gave me a program called "Cakewalk" that took me about 6 months to learn. In addition to the program he also did the guitar work on "The Rock". The Rock was recorded at his place in Spokane Washington. He named his Studio after his father and called it "Mert's Place Studios". The fact was that he had the same ADAT set up Kevin had in Denver and I had in Tacoma. So, when I went to Spokane to record "The Rock" Brett's set up was in his Master bedroom.
The first tracks were done as Brett doubled as sound engineer and Alesis SR16 drum machine operator. Brett found the beat we were looking for in the verses and then one for the Chorus. He started the machine and I played along with my ovation and recorded my vocal at the same time. So we laid down the drum tracks, ovation and lead vocal in about 2 or 3 takes and then he kept the ADAT to lay down the Bass guitar, electrics and Lead electric. The version here is the newer version I re-released on my "Righteous Man" CD. I wanted the strings in the song and back up vocals but couldn't do that in the first version for lack of tracks and digital midi understanding.
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