Charlie Peacock's recording studio is hard to miss. Although it sits several yards back from the winding West Nashville street on which it's located, the otherwise nondescript building sports a porch reminiscent of a fairy tale cottage, complete with periwinkle (violet-blue, for the paint chip impaired) trim. And then, there's the church next door, an old fashioned "little country church" structure, which Peacock and his family have called home for several years. That's where Switchfoot
--Chad Butler (drums and percussion), Tim Foreman (bass, vocals) and Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitars)--have been residing while working on their third album, Learning to Breathe, scheduled to release this month. Peacock is co-producing the disc along with Jacquire King, a noted mainstream engineer and re-mixer, whose credits include Smash Mouth and Third Eye Blind.
The studio's main control room is a cheerful working environment, not considerably larger than a typical suburban living room, with instruments scattered about the floor--always within arms' reach, should inspiration strike. At one end sits a leather sofa and iron coffee table. Piles of magazines (ranging from the recording industry trade, Mix, to Christianity Today) line its lower shelf; an open Bible sits atop, waiting for its owner to get back to its study.
At the opposite end is a large mixing console and its attendant outboard gear. Flanking that are two computers and several hard drives, on which the songs for Learning to Breathe are being stored. Peacock explains, "The band did a lot of great pre-production at home. We not only used those demos as a template for most of the arrangements; we kept some of the original elements from the demos for the master recordings. We then transferred those demos to an open reel 24-track machine. Then we replaced whatever rhythm guitar, bass and drum parts needed fixing and bounced those tracks to the computer hard drives."
I ask Peacock if this accomplished trio bears any resemblance to the green college kids he signed to his re:think label barely over three years ago. "Oh, there's no comparison," he says with a grin. "It's so rewarding because a part of my ministry and mission is identifying talent and building them and preparing them for works of service. They've come so far in three years. I have to say that the band's original demo (Ed. Note: when they were known as The Chins) was the worst sounding demo I've ever heard in my life. But the most musically interesting by far. That's what it's about. It's not about the sound of the demo; it's about ideas. And compelling ideas are what drive the world."
Peacock concedes that the laborious pre-production process that went into the band's first two records was far less crucial this time. "I think the purpose there was to set a benchmark. Then after they heard themselves reaching for that mark, they were able to listen objectively and go ‘Okay., we get it.' This time they were able to set the bar even higher with me having a lot less to do with the motivation. I think that's the role of a mentor. You live out something that you hope is worth emulating then you fade into the shadows."
Butler says Switchfoot took that work ethic to heart, investing a great deal of "sweat equity" in the new album. "This time we spent about three months at Jon's house, recording and polishing demos almost every day. We really focused on individual parts, writing and re-writing quite a bit more than we did for the last album. I think we had something like 60 songs by Christmas of last year, and we narrowed that down to the 15 that got serious consideration."
On the wall, a Dry Erase board hangs with the titles of the five songs Peacock is producing. You can tell that after three weeks of stretching themselves between recording in three different studios with two different producers, the guys are itching to erase those yet-to-be-completed tasks from the slate. Says Tim, "Today is probably the most stressful day of the project. We've only got one more day with Charlie, so we're trying to get everything finished. But we've still been trying to actively pursue enjoying the recording process. Because we know God's got a plan and He will bring to completion what He wants."
While Chad tends to band business, Jon and Tim gather around the computer set-up, exploring various percussion loop options for the opening few measures of "I Dare You to Move." Peacock spends his first few moments in the studio reviewing the haunting track and the brothers are eager to hear Charlie's feedback. Peacock acts as musical peer, brother and father figure, switching roles with ease as the moment dictates. "I go from peer to cranky old man in a matter of minutes," he chuckles. (As he says this, the Foremans mock their mentor with jibes of "You kids sit down and shut up! I'll give you something to cry about!" and "Where are my Altoids?")
Even though it only makes up a small portion of a song, Peacock's attention to the minutia will ultimately make for a better listening experience. After watching the three spend 30 minutes on a 30-second portion of the song, one begins to realize why an album does not just happen on its own. The various tweaks and edits safely stored on the hard drive, the three run down a rough mix from the top and enthusiastically approve the results.
Stepping next door into what used to be an office, Jon joins Jacquire to begin work on some vocal fixes for the driving rocker, "Erosion". It's clear that an easy banter has developed between the two over the past month, with incessant teasing taking place over the talkback system. The nimble fingered King manages to ramrod Jon through several takes while engaging me in conversation and attending to the necessary technical details. After about 20 minutes, Jon has successfully patched a few bum notes among the entire lead vocal performance.
Next, Jon and Tim listen down to a rough mix of the title song with Peacock to determine if they're happy with all the vocals. They decide to re-sing some parts, with Jon doing vocal improvisations over the final chorus of the song. But first, Jon decides he wants to try and re-do the lead vocals for the crisp pop tune "Playing for Keeps," and so he huddles with Jacquire in the adjoining studio. Keeping the ball rolling in the main room, Charlie and Tim begin adding a few vocal overdubs to the choruses of "Learning to Breathe."
Charlie's demeanor is somewhat different now. Focusing on Tim's performance, his comments are succinct: "pitchy…flat…rest a second…take a drink" and so forth. After Tim struggles for awhile on his own, Jon pops in to suggest they sing the chorus together. With Tim's confidence level bolstered, in no time they've got three different takes from which to choose.
So what drives a band to spend three months polishing songs before the "official" recording sessions start, and then another two months perfecting them? "We think these are the best songs we've ever written," says Jon. "We want to make sure they get on tape the way we've imagined they should sound." You can judge for yourself, but the initial opinion, based on hearing early demos as well as rough mixes of the masters, is that Learning to Breathe is not to be missed.
--Bruce A. Brown
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