Miriam Speyer Tells Us About the "Sweet Life"

https://soundcloud.com/user-705071862/sweet-life

 

Miriam Speyer is a singer/songwriter/producer from San Francisco who recently relocated to Nashville, TN. Her new environment is inspiring her to share her last full length album "All of the Time" with the broader audience it deserves. "Sweet Life" Is the first song on the album.

“All of The Time” began as a loose collection of songs and a deep desire to record them. After a successful kickstarter campaign, Miriam Speyer reached out to several San Francisco Bay Area musicians and discovered an amazing chemistry with Patrick Korte (drums), Tommy Folen (bass), Max Miller-Loren (keyboards), and engineer/producer Mike Walti (of Wyldwood Studios). Vibraphonist Dan Neville also joined in on a few of the songs.

Going into the studio, Miriam was most adamant about one thing: Keeping a warm, natural approach...An approach where vibe was given precedence over perfection. As much as possible, she wanted the rhythm tracking to be done live, with all the musicians in the same room, and no click track.  Mike Walti's fully analog studio (complete with a MCI 416B recording console, once belonging to Muscle Shoals studio) was the perfect setting.

In March 2015, the band hit the studio and completed all of the rhythm section tracking in just 3 days. Things were moving along quickly and sounding good. Then something very unexpected and tragic happened. On March 21st, 2015 there was a big fire in the artist collective/wear house space which housed Wyldwood Studios.  2 lives were lost in the fire, and Wyldwood Studios sustained major water damage.  The community was completely heart-broken and unsure of what the future held for Mike and for Wyldwood Studios.  As for the record?....Thankfully all the files were safe.

After Taking a couple of months off, Miriam and Mike re-approached the album. The process of adding overdubs and mixing happened slowly and nomadically, as space and time allowed for it. Some of Mike’s friends and keyboardist Max Miller-Loren graciously allowed the use of their home studios so the recording process could continue.  Eventually (and against some serious odds) the album was finished and ready to be mastered!