What happened to Louie?

[SamScales]

Hey brent,

Is this the recording he had in Tulsa, OK that Penny told me about??
I was so excited for Louie to get this gig! I can imagine that the recording was fun and I just know Louie must have had a blast!

[brent]

Hey brent,

Is this the recording he had in Tulsa, OK that Penny told me about??
I was so excited for Louie to get this gig! I can imagine that the recording was fun and I just know Louie must have had a blast!

Yes ma'am. Project: Damage Control, HA! Label.

It was great. I knew that Louie had drums/parts mapped/MIDI'd out for him in the past by producers and/or sessions were long and tedious. So we wanted to have him come in and have free reign, playing as if he were playing live/impromptu. He listened to the songs three or four times, wrote a chart and then recorded the tracks in no more than two takes. Many songs were just one take. On the songs that were two takes, he laid down a different groove or fills. What used to take a week or two took hours.

We had some down time while the hard drives were being backed up. That allowed for some very nice conversations about Louie's life, ministry goals, Christian music industry insight, etc. That was the best part for me. 25 years of experience is priceless.

What we realized and recorded were some deeper, tasty, musical licks not heard on previous Petra records. The casual listener may not notice, but drummers today are compressed so much that they appear to be slamming the skins at all times. Every hit has the same volume. There are no dynamics anymore. I am letting the drums breathe on this record. Louie's dynamics will be heard. You will hear subtle things, climactic builds, etc. What you'll hear is what he played. No sampled sound overlayed like on 99% of the garbage that's out there today.

We will have Louie back again for the next one. Should we do some live/promotional shows for this record and should his schedule with Viktor permit, we will have him play those dates as well.

Thanks.

Brent Handy
HA! Recording LLC

[Michael]

What we realized and recorded were some deeper, tasty, musical licks not heard on previous Petra records. The casual listener may not notice, but drummers today are compressed so much that they appear to be slamming the skins at all times. Every hit has the same volume. There are no dynamics anymore. I am letting the drums breathe on this record. Louie's dynamics will be heard. You will hear subtle things, climactic builds, etc. What you'll hear is what he played.

I'm so glad to hear this! One of the things I appreciate about Wake-Up Call is that the drums sound much more alive than on the other CDs. To my ears (not a drummer, but a musician and avid music listener) the drums sound much more natural on that CD, and you are able to hear some of the subtle things about the performances. This one will be great to hear. Make sure you let us know when we can pick up a copy!