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

Work completed during Phase I:

The entire structure for the album (with the exception of Welcome Home) was completed during Phase I. This included:

• A draft for all of David and Ms. Gerber-Salins' vocal tracks, except for Welcome Home;
• Many of the hymns and songs included a piano accompaniment as part of the mix;
• Orchestration accompaniments were written and recorded as additional accompaniment tracks for a selection of the hymns and songs; and
• Some hymns included keyboard electronic simulated pipe organ or Hammond Organ.

Biographical information for each of the artists involved during Phase I may be accessed via the dropdown links above left which are grouped by category for their contributions to this album. Click on the dropdown button above left, and then on the appropriate link to go to information about each of the artist categories for each person involved in each of the functional areas.

Work Undertaken in Phase II

Although almost all of the foundations for this album were completed during Phase I, the following things were identified as needing updating:

• The accompaniments that were done with simulated keyboard organ were very unsatisfying;
• Since the style in which the hymns were performed was not Gospel, the accompaniments with 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. The recording was made by Slipped DISC on location 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 of the instruments and vocals needed additional attention;
• A number of the hymns cried out for inclusion of more harmony parts to become more robust; and
• Welcome Home remained to be arranged and recorded.

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

Technical Note

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

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

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