This past Tuesday morning, we made the trek down Lakeshore drive to the Performance Hall in the Logan Center at U. Chicago. Our friends from Parlour Tapes+ were already mostly finished in their setup as we warmed up and got situated. We came into this session feeling confident about our preparation and eager to get Hans Thomalla's "Albumblatt" on tape. It may be the piece we've played the most over our first three seasons as a quartet.
Adjusting to the incredibly clear acoustic of the hall took some time, but once we started playing full takes of the piece we began getting in a rhythm. Once the initial concern about getting it perfect wore away, it came down to playing the piece the way we know how...microphones be damned.
Having Hans' exacting ears there for the session was a boon, helping tweak our dynamics and articulations for the room and the microphones.
As the session wore on and it came down to making sure we were happy with everything, we realized we were better off having a coffee than continuing the session. We're looking forward to refining the sound of the recording the same way we've tweaked our conception of the piece over the last year.
