New
News!
April
began with another trip to Brasil for the annual Diante
do Trono Worship Conference. Dennis Jernigan
was a featured guest this year, and I had been working with
him for several months to help him learn some of his songs
in Portuguese. (Sort of like the blind leading the blind,
I'm afraid!) Many of his songs have been translated into
Portuguese, and Ana Paula Valadao Bessa, the worship
leader for Diante do Trono, recorded three of his
songs on her first project, and is a very enthusiastic fan!
This
was Dennis' first trip to Brasil, and he really didn't know
what to expect. He brought two of his daughters with him,
and they all received a very warm welcome. Since his songs
and books had gone before him, everybody there felt like
they already knew him. He came prepared to sing a few songs
in Portuguese with his tracks, but the band had rehearsed
all of his songs, and they played along with him. His iPod,
which he usually uses to play his tracks, was never even
hooked up! I think he was REALLY surprised to hear 25,000
people singing along with his songs in Portuguese! He even
taught a few songs that were not already well known there,
and everyone was with him all the way.
Part
of Dennis' ministry is singing songs over the audience in
a prophetic way, and he also wanted to do that in Brasil,
but we were all uncertain how that would work out, since
so much of that experience would be based on understanding
every nuance of the language. However, Ana stepped in to
make the communication complete. Dennis sang a phrase in
English, and Ana sang the same musical phrase, translating
into Portuguese as she went. As they worked together to
express God's heart for His people through these intimate
songs, the audience hung on every word. Dennis' testimony
of deliverance was especially meaningful and well appreciated
by everyone. Many responded by confessing their own deeply
hidden need for deliverance, and God moved to meet their
needs.
On
the last night of the conference, Ana invited Dennis onstage,
and after days of having him minister to the people, Ana
and the whole audience ministered to him and his daughters.
This was an especially beautiful time, and Dennis was genuinely
touched.
I was
there to record a new live project for Ana's brother, Andre
Valadao, who also attended Christ for the Nations,
then graduated from Rhema in Tulsa. Andre has always
been featured on one or two songs on each Diante do Trono
project, and his songs are always a highlight, especially
when he breaks up the song with an extended preaching/prophetic
segment that owes a lot to the rhythmic call and response
sermons often heard in black churches. His emotional intensity
and natural gift for communicating the gospel make him a
compelling speaker and singer.
We
recorded this project to Pro Tools HD and Radars simultaneously,
giving me the best A/B comparison between the two formats
ever, and I have to pronounce it a draw! I ended up using
the Pro Tools recording so I could get to work on editing
and overdubs sooner, since I didn't have to take time for
any transfers. But I did paste in a small segment from the
Radars, exported in BWF format, and none of us could tell
any difference at all.
One
highlight of this recording was a duet between Ana and Andre,
with only a piano accompaniment. Andre said it reminded
him of all the times the two of them had sat at the piano
and sung together in their parents' house while they were
growing up. The song, "Que Amor e Esse"(What
Love is This) has an extended spontaneous song in the middle,
and was only rehearsed once the night before, which made
the whole thing pretty spontaneous!
After
a few days of overdubs on Andre's project, we started on
the next Diante do Trono children's project. These
are always such fun to do! Ana writes great songs for the
kids to sing, Gustavo Soares comes up with the most
interesting and creative arrangements, and the vocal sessions
are especially enjoyable. I always like recording with children,
because it allows me to feel like a father again. Since
my daughters are all grown up now, this is a wonderful thing,
and it reminds me of all those years when they were little
girls. This year, we had some especially good soloists,
and Ana has a new co-star in Nena, a very young girl who
has a major role in the video.
We
worked at Estudio Polifonia in Belo Horizonte throughout
the overdub process on both projects, and as always, we
enjoyed the comfortable ambiance of the studio, especially
the bakery around the corner, and Emporium, one of my favorite
restaurants in Belo, which is located within walking distance.
We
also enjoyed the newest great restaurant in town, Porcao,
which means "big pig" in English! This is the
ultimate Brasilian churrascaria! The one in Belo is located
high up on the ridge which divides the city. It has a beautiful
view, and such incredible food! I think this is the main
thing that keeps me from moving to Brasil permanently. I
love the food so much, I am afraid I would weigh 400 pounds
in no time!
This
little token (on left) is used to notify the waiters of
your surrender when you have eaten all you can hold, and
this is pretty much how I looked after eating there!
We
returned to Dallas for a string session and mixing, followed
by mastering sessions at MasterMix in Nashville,
with Ken Love doing the CD version and mastering
the 5.1 mix for DVD. While my friend Andre Espindola went
to Nashville to help with the mastering sessions, I started
mixing the Youth for the Nations "Collaboration"
project, a compilation of songs from all of the groups featured
in this year's YFN event.
YFN
is like a summer camp without the campfires and chiggers,
and the high energy worship which is always a part of the
event is faithfully captured in the studio recordings on
this project. The tracks were recorded while I was in Brasil
by Chris Rogers, a Full Sail graduate who is well
on his way to becoming a great engineer, and the finished
project is available from youthforthenations.com.
While
we were involved with the mix for this project, I took off
for a couple of days to finish some overdubs on a project
started over a year ago for Chris Davis, the worship
leader for King's Cathedral on Maui. From previous
NewNews
pages, you may remember the 'extra' project we did for the
Hawaiian choir in his church, which went on to become very
popular there locally, even occupying prime shelf space
in Border's Books! We were all very surprised and pleased
to hear that our little project had been nominated for a
Hoku Award, which is sort of like the Hawaiian version
of a Grammy. The Hawaiian Academy of Recording Arts
gives out these awards each year to the best in Hawaiian
music in many categories. After our session, Chris had to
hurry home to attend the awards ceremony in Honolulu. Of
course, we knew we didn't have any chance of winning, since
we were up against the very best professionals, and backed
by the biggest record companies, with a huge fan base, and
a long history in the Hawaiian music business. Still, who
is going to pass up a chance to dress up and sit down front
for the biggest night in Hawaiian music? Chris went to the
awards ceremony just to soak up a little of the star-studded
atmosphere, and I bet he wished he had prepared an acceptance
speech when THEY ANNOUNCED THAT WE WON! For more info, check
out reign-music.com.
We
started out the month of June with a project for CFNI
graduate Josh Franklin, who was featured on several
projects while he was a student, and has contributed several
great songs to CFNI projects over the years. This project
is his first on his own, and it was so much fun to do. We
had a great band, and some really outstanding songs. We
spent a few days cutting tracks with Josh Muraira on drums,
Anthony Sallee, who plays for Michael W. Smith, on bass,
Chad Copelin and Josh Franklin on keys, and Roger Hodges
and Dragan Jakovljevic on guitars. Anthony is a really great
player, and he kept us all in stitches with his extensive
repertoire of Arkansas redneck humor. Josh and Roger produced
the project, which will be released in the fall. For more
information, log onto joshfranklin.com.
From
that project, we moved back to mixing part of a project
for Hear the Word Ministries in Zimbabwe. This great
church is gifted with some truly great songwriters, musicians,
and singers, and it is always a pleasure to work with them
on their worship music.
We
set the studio up for more 5.1 mixing in late June to finish
the children's project for Diante do Trono. We are
going for a more adventurous surround mix on this one, and
since we are not constrained by the live concert setting
to make everything sound realistic, we might have the whole
mix swimming around in circles before we are through!
At
the end of this quarter, we start out like we began, with
another trip to Brasil in early July. This time, we will
be doing another huge live recording with Ana and Diante
do Trono in Salvador, the old colonial era capital of
Brasil in the north of the country. This trip will mark
the first visit to Brasil for our oldest daughter, Melissa,
who will start her Ph.D. at UCLA when she returns. Hopefully,
we will have some interesting and uplifting news from this
trip for our next website update, which should be posted
around October 1. Thanks for logging on and reading about
the happenings in our little world.
