Hymns and Songs for Living:
Phase I – 1998 - 2004

Summary of Work Completed during Phase I:

A draft recording of the entire structure of the album was completed during Phase I (with the exception of the new arrangement for "Welcome Home" with David singing lead). This included:

• A draft for all of David and Ms. Gerber-Salins' vocal tracks, except for "Welcome Home" (a rough scratch draft of "Welcome Home" was recorded by the writer/composer during her trip to sing this song at mother's memorial service);
• Many of the hymns and songs include a piano accompaniment as part of the mix;
• A portion of the hymns and songs also include arrangements of additional orchestral instruments; and
• For Phase I, some hymns included keyboard electronic simulated pipe organ and a couple included Hammond Organ.

Biographical credits for each of the artists involved during Phase I are accessible via the dropdown submenu above left describing their contributions to this album. They are grouped by instrument. Click on the appropriate instrument category link and a new webpage will give you access to information about each of the artists who played in that category of instrument.

Technical Recording Process Note

The Phase I work on Hymns and Songs for Living  was recorded before wide commercial prevalence of the digital tools now widely available. The technical recording medium used at that time for the Phase I recording of this album in Studio B at Bias Recording Studio in Springfield, Virginia was:

• 24 track, 2 inch analog master tape;
• 30 inches per second; and
• Using Dolby SR noise reduction.

NOTE. With the strong resurgence in analogue recording and production of vinyl records, Dolby SR is again very much in use in recording studios. It's tape noise reduction capabilities are considered very close to what is achieved in digital recording. (However, you don't get access to the digital editing capabilities for mixing and mastering.)

Summary of Work Undertaken in Phase II

See Phase II for details

The first thing done at the beginning of Phase II was to convert all the recordings to digital for the Phase II work.

Phase II was carried out entirely in digital. Working file format is:

• Bit depth: 24 bits;
• Sampling rate: 88.2 MHz

Although almost all of the foundations for this album were completed during Phase I, the following things were identified in the working conversations with Ms. Gerber-Salins during the hiatus between Phase I and II that would benefit from updating/expansion:

• The accompaniments using simulated keyboard organ were very unsatisfying;
• Since the style of the hymns is not Gospel, those accompaniments that used the Hammond Organ were not a good fit for the traditional style;

(All electronic keyboard accompaniments and Hammond Organ were replaced in Phase II with real pipe organ. Slipped DISC made the on-location recording at Duncan Memorial United Methodist Church in Ashland, Virginia on their Scribner-Keeble Memorial Pipe Organ. The church is located on the campus of Randolph Macon College.)

• Some of the rough mixes needed additional attention;
• Some of the hymns would benefit by adding harmony parts to become more robust; and
• For "Welcome Home" it was decided to have a more robust acoustic guitar accompaniment written and choral parts written for the refrains. Both had to be recorded.

All those were addressed as part of the Phase II work.

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