Hourglass
This page has details and some history about the music on the Hourglass album. A sampling of pictures taken along the journey are included below. And, if you're interested, some technical insight. Again, thanks for listening and visiting.
- Frank Leister​
• To hear excerpts of all 10 songs in one video, click here.
• To hear excerpts from this album, click here.
History…
My first two albums of original guitar music (Timepieces and Pendulum) were completed in 2001 and 2003. Although work on Hourglass began immediately thereafter (in November 2003), the project got sidelined for a variety of reasons throughout the intervening years. Bits and pieces were assembled and recorded in 2004, 2007, 2009, and 2010 before I finally got fully engaged in late 2015 and finished in the Fall of 2016.
I composed, arranged, recorded, and produced each song. I also played all instruments except drums. So, that includes: nylon-string acoustic guitar melodies, electric guitars, steel-string acoustic guitars, keyboards, bass, and percussion.
Song Details…
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I Believe In You — composed in 1983. Melody recorded in February 2016. Drum groove by Steve Ferrone.
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Like Your Love — composed in 1983. Melody recorded in May 2016. Drums by Jeffery Shoop.
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Silently — composed in 1982. Melody recorded in September 2010. Drum groove by Peter Fredlander.
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Turn Around — composed in 1976, when I was 17 years old. The first song I ever wrote. And the first official Copyright I received. Melody recorded in June 2016. Background vocals ("oohs") by Paula Maynard, recorded in October 2015. Drums by Jeffery Shoop.
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What I Wanted to Say — composed in 1986. Melody recorded in January 2016. Drum groove by Steve Ferrone.
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Seeds of Love — composed in 1983. Melody recorded in December 2015. Drums by Ezell Jones. To see a video excerpt of Ezell playing drums on this song, click here.
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Move the Mountain — composed in 1987. Melody recorded in March 2016. Drum groove by Nir Zidkyahu.
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So Many Dreams — composed in 1982. Melody recorded in October 2010. Used a sampled mellotron for the "flute" parts (same old keyboard used in "Stairway to Heaven"). Drums by Ezell Jones. To see a video excerpt of Ezell playing drums on this song, click here.
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David’s Song — composed beginning in 1983, finished in 1986. I was teaching guitar at the time. One of my brightest young teenage students was killed in a car accident. His name was David Clevenger and this song was written in his memory. Melody recorded in November 2015. Drum grooves by Ricard Nettermalm and Thiago Pinheiro.
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Collinwood — composed in 1987. Melody recorded in February 2011. Background vocals ("oohs" and "aahs") by William Merritt, recorded in May 2016. Drum groove by Nir Zidkyahu.
Technical Stuff...
I played all the acoustic nylon-string guitar melodies on a Breedlove N25-E guitar.
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The recording chain was: Neumann KM183 omni microphone -> Millennia Media HV3B Mic Preamp (except for songs #3, 8, & 10 where I used a Great River MP2NV mic preamp).
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I played all the electric guitar parts through this chain: Analog Man Ross Bi-Comprossor -> Goodsell Super Seventeen amp -> TLM 103 microphone -> Great River MP2NV mic preamp. A couple of songs used the Barber Compact Direct Drive inserted after the compressor.
I played all the acoustic steel-string guitar parts on a Breedlove C25-MY Myrtlewood guitar. On "Turn Around" I also played my Taylor 314-CE. Same signal chain as the nylon-string guitar parts listed above.
Apogee D/A converters (model AD16X) were used for all miked instruments and vocals.
My software workstation is MOTU Digital Performer version 8, together with a variety of 3rd party plug-ins (mostly by Slate, Waves, PSP, and FabFilter) and VI's (by VI Labs, Toontrack, Embertone, and AmpleSound).
For songs #4 & 10, the vocal chain was: Neumann TLM 103 mic -> Great River MP2NV mic preamp.
I edited and arranged all drum performances and grooves.