Tahitian Skies by Jackson Moon

Tahitian Skies by Jackson Moon and Richard B. Doctors. This classic instrumental was recorded with traditional valve microphones, full live instruments, and no click track in the 'Naked Recordings Format.' This old-school method results in an organic, free-flowing recording.

Session Notes:

In late 2021, Richard and I met at my studio. I set up a couple of vintage valve mics, and we recorded the major acoustic rhythm guitars in real time. Richard played his Takamine, and I my Nashville tuned Art & Lutherie Legacy. Richard's rock-solid rhythm holds the track together. The sweet sound of the Nashville tuned Art & Lutherie lends a lush jangly layer in unison over the Takamine on the rhythm track.

I experimented with numerous guitars for the lead lines before settling on my 58 reissue Gibson Les Paul and custom FabStrat.

I play the Les Paul in the first and second verses, choruses, middle sections, and outro. The Stratocaster appears in the entrance and verse 3, and it doubles in the chorus. The pedal steel parts in the beginning, outro, and throughout the song are played on my FabStrat.

I utilised a single amp, a Supro Delta King, with a mic positioned slightly off-axis in front of the speaker. The Delta King's reverb is full of character, and it's one of the finest I've heard on a guitar amplifier.

Next, I laid down the bass. My first reaction was to use my CORT fretless, but I chose my Fender Jazz Bass. The tone was exactly where I wanted it in the mix. So I went with the Jazz Bass.

The mandolin is an antique Stradolin from the 1930s, and I am really new to it. The mandolin gives a touch of  'Americana' at the end of the song. You can hear it: the voicing alternates between the tune in unison and harmonic tones. I performed the percussion parts live, using a simple egg shaker and log shaker in each hand in front of a microphone.

I used a Rode NTK and Nude C1 mics through a Universal Audio interface an straight into into Logic Pro X. There are very few effects, only compressors, limiters, basic EQ, and reverb. I added an adaptive limiter and a spacializer to the master outs, and that's all.

I designed the single cover. I hope you love Tahitian Skies as much as I enjoyed recording it.

* Arranged and produced by Jackson Moon
* Composed by Ray Flacke.
* © 2022 Naked Records Australia

Jackson Moon is eclectic creative in music, photography, video and writing. Other works can be found on YouTube (Jack's Place-Australian Music) and social media sites.

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