The Chromaticity session was a perfect opportunity for me to reunite with Steve Smith who of course played drums on my very first release. Steve has and always will be one of my favorite musicians in the world. The energy and positive experience he brings to each session is simply one of a kind. This record was written entirely in Los Angeles and all guitar and keyboard parts were recorded and mixed by Bernie Torelli using a collection of many different amps. Some of the basics were recorded using the Carvin Legacy heads and many of the solos and melodies were recorded using the H&K Access Preamp.
The H&K amp is really wonderful because of the warm tube sounds it’s able to create without excessive volume. This is very important for me as I desire not to overdrive the microphone pre’s to much. I always use (1) 2x12 cabinet in mono format and then replay the other channel to create a very wide stereo effect. This works for me and I will continue to track this way on the new album.
I had a great time writing the material because it was my first time in quite some time since the Planet X days to pen the tunes myself. Since Steve Smith was located at that time in Northern California, we were in a position to complete the songs as far as basic tracks went, and overdubbed the drums in his home studio in Novato. And as usual Mr. Smith was full of many extremely creative ideas. So many things that were set in stone were changed which meant some rewrites on my part to accommodate the creative process that always exist in a studio environment. Steve Smith is a rhythm genius and its shows all over this album. I would say it took approx 2 days for him to record his parts at his pace. Amazing.
The bass was recorded by my great friend Barry Sparks. I have always been in awe of Barry’s remarkable tone and totally solid delivery. Another thing that sets Barry apart from many other players is the complete trust you can have in his work. He is not the type of player one will have to police or over produce to get the right results on the track. I simply had a very detailed electric bass part and some charts and the rest was history. His parts were recorded in Arizona at his home studio - so you can imagine I was very anxiously waiting each day for the songs to arrive. And when they did I was floored. He is quite a talented player. I am looking forward to the day when we can record some music again soon.
Chromaticity is the last record where I will include a piano work from another composer other than myself. I will record some piano works in the future, but only on albums that contain purely piano music. So I guess in some ways Chromaticity signifies an end of an era in terms of songs layout. “Isis” and “Avenger” were the tracks for me that I would say are my favorites on this disc, and will be included in the set list for my upcoming solo tour in the summer.
Thanks for enjoying this album. I will see ya soon...
