Blue Curtains and Ice is the song that kick-started my college collaboration with Peter Curtiss. And it has been our white whale of sorts in recent years -- this is our fourth attempt to record it in the past three years. More on that in a moment. BC&I started as Peter’s “signature riff” on the piano, which we developed into a song structure in 1982-3. A mutual friend suggested the change to C major in the chorus, which was a great idea (thanks Charlie!).
I eventually added some lyrics -- which remained unfinished for 38 years. Peter’s song title made me think about how much of a show life is most of the time, much of reality being hidden behind thick, elaborate curtains that we sometimes forget are there. And how different life becomes in those brief moments when we let light into our hearts and minds. Those can be challenging or enriching times – we all need to sort that out. That’s what the song is about. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Recording History
Our more recent work with the song started in 2018, when Peter created an orchestrated instrumental version. I didn’t have the time to add anything immediately, and Peter’s arrangement stood on its own anyway. But I was feeling the recording itch by the end of the 2020 pandemic year, So I organized a new recording around Peter’s effort, but with my guitar, bass & vocal parts added, and even some live drums from a friend (thanks Owen!).
Those two efforts were a good start, but, truth be told, I was just getting my feet wet with serious digital recording, and it wasn’t quite there yet. In 2023 we decided to start fresh with the song, and return to the original song structure. So we did a couple iterations on that version, and then set it aside again. The version we are releasing now is based on the 2023 effort, but with some new ideas in the arrangement and mix.
For this iteration, we decided to thin things out, dumping the rhythm guitar part entirely. It was too busy and was just getting in the way. Instead, we spiced up the drum part, which is now jazzier and more forward. The guitars now strictly add accents (some faint Allman Brothers influence goin’ on in there…). I also re-recorded the bass part through my Eden bass head, which has exceptional tone. I have no idea why I didn’t use it earlier in these and other sessions. Amazing what equipment you can forget you own… I also added a high vocal harmony accent in the verses, which adds some texture I think.
The result is a recording of this song that, maybe for the first time, I basically like. Oh, I’m sure we will get the itch again at some point and try again. Maybe bring back the live drums? Who knows. But for now, we will need to move on to the next project -- there are still plenty of songs from those days waiting for their first decent recording.
As always, thanks for listening. Enjoy.
Links to Other Songs I’ve Uploaded Here
P.S.: Tech Stuff for Recording Enthusiasts
This version is also a step forward for my mixing skills. I try to learn something new with each project, and this one yielded a couple important lessons. In recent recordings I learned to pay more attention to cleaning up the audio on individual tracks before mixing -- reducing noise, compensating for microphone deficiencies, etc. This time I learned to build on that, adding a dedicated, tailored compressor to most individual channels (as opposed to simply compressing the stereo mix). Professional recording engineers might say “well, duh”, but the art of mixing complicated digital projects is relatively new to me.
Varying frequency and dynamic range characteristics of a track via a truly “musical” sounding compression algorithm works much better that applying equalization (“EQ”) and limiters willy nilly. Applying independent EQs to individual tracks invariably produces harsh and unpleasant overtones in the final mix -- which then begs for even more tinkering and processing in the mastering stage. But strategic, per-track compression using a quality plug-in seems to put all that to bed. I did very little in the mastering stage on this one, other than the basic things that one always does to prepare a mixed recording for release (e.g., editing beginnings and endings, optimizing dynamic range via peak management, etc.). I did no frequency tinkering in the mastering stage, and felt no desire to run the mix through any kind of signal processor to remove “mud”. Best of all, the final master sounded fine across six very different output devices (three sets of headphones and three sets of speakers). That’s generally the mark of a decent mix – or, maybe more accurately, a major indicator of a bad mix is when it sounds “okay” on studio monitors but terrible on cheaper headphones or car speakers. I think I might have finally cracked the case on those mysteries. We’ll see what the next recording brings.
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