Take Down

This page follows the creative journey of “Take Down” ~ from early demos and recording sessions to the evolution of the song through collaboration and production.

Recording the Song

Takedown ~ Drums Recording Session w/ Jimmy Paxson & Seth Atkins Horan

In this video, you’ll see the beginning of the process of building a track from the ground up.

After going through the song with Jimmy in the studio’s lounge, I head into a small booth and Jimmy goes into “the big room” where his drums are set up. We record one full take of the song with me singing and playing a “scratch track,” meaning, it’s a placeholder that I’ll eventually record over.

Once we’ve played through the song together once, and my scratch track is recorded, I go into the control room with Seth to hear how Jimmy’s parts sound with mine, so I can listen to Jimmy play future takes without having to also play with him (it’s VERY hard to evaluate parts while you’re also playing!).

This video gives you a sneak peek into the recording process ~ the things Seth and I discuss when throwing around ideas for different parts, as well as Jimmy’s amazing array of percussion “toys.” My FAVORITE “secret weapon” of Jimmy’s is his trash can ~ the sound is absolutely amazing, and he changes that sound by putting an array of crazy things on top of the can to make it resonate differently (as you’ll see in the video). I hope you enjoy being a fly on the wall in this session 😄

 

Takedown ~ Pre-Recording Run-Through

Before recording any song in the studio with a new musician, I always run through it with them. This process is what you’re seeing here. This song was much easier to start recording than the others, as one of my co-writers already produced a version of it that I love, and I used that as a roadmap for my own version. 

Writing the Song

Take Down (Co-Writer Version ~ Linza Ray)

This is my co-writer Lindsay Ray’s (Rayelle’s) version of “Take Down.” Her take leans more pop, while mine goes in a bluesier, more rock direction ~ I LOOOOOVE her version 😍

This is an early demo of “Take Down” ~ where the core ideas and structure of the song were first taking shape.

 

This version is already really close to the final sound ~ at this stage, it’s more about refining the details as the mix comes together.

 

This is the fully mixed version of “Take Down” ~ where everything comes together into the finished track.