Recording Process
The recording production at Christ For The Nations was such a unique experience for me.
For the most recent recording, the song selection process went as follows:
-songs submitted to CFN Music,
-the leadership selects about 20 songs to rehearse and then they submit the songs to the recording team,
-the band works through each song analyzing it from different perspectives, -leadership team either decides against the song or decides to place the song on the Nights of Worship set lists,
- finally, it is decided to be placed on the recording or not.
Once the songs were selected to be on the album, the very tedious process of arranging parts, progressions, dynamics, and vocals began. The part I played came around in the second step when the song was submitted to the band for arranging. It is a very intricate process because everyone in the band has different backgrounds, musical tastes, and influences. Not to mention, musicians are notorious for being very opinionated. Each one of us had strong personalities so as you can imagine there was a little bit of discrepancy among us. When the songs were first given to us we played them stripped down to the bare bones so that we could gain a feel of the song and change the foundation (melodies, progressions, etc.) if necessary. Everyone on the team had different levels of creativity and various perspectives of how music should sound in worship. The leadership team was open to trying anything for the sake of hearing it first, which improved the overall process and response from the team. Personally, the only way I maintained a good attitude and outlook was because the Holy Spirit imparted patience into me. A healthy dose of submission was injected into my spirit man during this process so I could submit to my leadership and go where they said to go. Some practices seemed so chaotic in that so many ideas were trying to be communicated and executed at the same time that we had to just stop and reevaluate everything that was happening in the song. Musical creativity came naturally to musicians like Paul Trimble, Caleb Massey, and Andrew Ponson who were eager to try new things. Ironically enough, a majority of the really catchy, off-the-wall sounds and melodies were stumbled upon by complete accident. God has unique ways of grabbing our attention at practice. Each one of us worked our hardest to make different things work, but in the end oftentimes simplicity was the key.
Playing Electric Guitar/Keyboard
Some of the song arrangements and parts all fell together so easily. Several of the songs, however, were hard work to piece together. It was amidst the arranging process that I really came into an understanding of my role on the recording team as an electric guitarist. I wasn’t there necessarily to drive all the music, I was there to fill holes in the music and give the different songs their signature. This was accomplished many different ways. Several songs on the recording, including “Shout it Out” and “You are Good” consisted of me just playing some open chords, nothing too complicated or rhythmically challenging, so that the rest of the instruments have the liberty to be complex musically and not get muffled by a guitar crying for attention. It allowed the really important, specific parts to stand out, which gives the song a big sound. Some of the other songs needed more than just open chords. There were a few times when I felt the need for a specific line to be played and the line was placed in the song to fill it in. “Sovereign God” is a perfect example of me just adding to an already full sound. The band and lead electric guitar player, Paul, had already developed a nice sound to the song, I just saw a place to add a rhythmical second guitar part to the intro and then add a small line during the chorus. It worked out well and it was when we felt our creativity start to click with each other. The entire time I continued to strive to fill my role.
“Blood So Beautiful” was my favorite song to work on. We fiddled around with an arrangement similar to the one we recorded but it wasn’t quite there. It felt like eating a steak without A1 sauce, it was good, but it could have been better. I fished around for ideas with Paul and nothing seemed to come up. We decided to run through the song and really worship to it, along with trying different ideas. The idea for a delayed guitar line came from a Christmas song I had heard a few months prior to the recording. I started playing around with it and it ended up feeling like finding money in a pair of jeans that was forgotten. It came out of nowhere and just meshed on so many levels with the song. We decided to keep it, turn it into an instrumental, and work a lot of different things around it. Right now, it’s my favorite song on the recording.
Several different songs on the recording I found myself not needing to do anything. The most evident example is “My Heart Sings Worthy” by Bethany Stephens. It’s such a simple song, and came together so well with just one electric I found myself not playing guitar at all because I would have just added too much. I recently entered the world of plugins and synths. Andrew Ponson and I worked out a few synth parts including the music box, pad and organ. We decided that I would use a unique very warm organ to fill out the entire foundation of the music for the song. It was a great experience to use programs and synths I’d never used before. The organ part also helped to give the song it’s signature sound and gave it such a warm atmosphere. I used the very same organ patch on “Be Thou My Passion” in an effort to tie all the different parts together during the verse. Although the song is a very different feel, it still benefitted from using my organ sound that later became known as ‘Bethany’s Organ’.
written by: JD Gonzales – recording team electric guitarist
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Blog Discussion:
What questions do you have about the recording process here at CFNI?
