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recorded:
November through January 2002-2003
location:
Stonewall Studios  Nashville,Tennessee
engineer:
Matt Johnson
About the Release
During The Family Secret's hiatus Robert H.Hoffman took time to write and record with friend and fellow songwriter Jerry Hughes from Yankee Grey. Hoffman had attended several of the YG II sessions at the Stonewall Music Studios before he met SM President Buddy Butts. The two became immediate friends. They shared music biz philosophies, direction, and the same passion for the indy music industry. It was at that point Hoffman decided to approach Stonewall with a business model for The Family Secret's new release. The ink wasn't even dry on the deal when TFS entered the Stonewall Studio complex in Nashville and began recording sessions. The band both lived and recorded in the studio over six weekends. The communal setting allowed for an intimacy that The Family Secret had never experienced musically. The environment was magical!
The Recording Schedule

An average recording weekend in Nashville consisted of the following: 
  
FRIDAY 
  • 1:00 p.m. - R.H.Hoffman would pick up the SUV in Dayton
  • 6:00 p.m. - TFS members R.H.Hoffman, M.D.Myers, and Dave Buchanan would meet at the Brookwood Garage in Trenton,Ohio
  • 6:30 p.m. - The group would leave for Covington,Kentucky
  • 7:00 p.m. - TFS would pickup JW Laswell in Covington,Ky....as well as a case of Coors Light and assorted party supplies. Ask Mike about the Bean Dip story!!! Leave for Nashville
  • 12:00 a.m. - Arrive in Nashville and start the party
  • 12 - 4 a.m. - Relax, party, and work on material
 SATURDAY 
  • 10:00 a.m. - Usually greeted by Buddy with a bag of morning treats from a local fast food restaraunt and the workday begins
  • 10 - 11:00 a.m. - Breakfast, showers, and discussion about the days session
  • 11:30 a.m. - Engineer M. Johnson would arrive (usually) and after a quick run through of the days events the session begins
  • 12:00 p.m. - Sessions would usually start with R.H.Hoffman, M. Johnson, and D. Buchanan working on the song arrangement and jamming through the days cuts. Once the cuts were ready they'd record the basic tracks (drums, bass) on two songs and move on.
  • 1:00 p.m. - Basic tracks drums and bass finished and the rest of the band begins adding their individual tracks
  • 3:00 - 3:30 p.m. - Lunch
  • 3:30 - 6:00 p.m. - More additional tracking and recording and prep for the evenings sessions
  • 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. - Dinner Break and time to relax
  • 8:30 - 11:00 p.m. - Recording background and overdub vocals
  • 11:30 p.m. - Done for the night and the party starts
  • 12:00 - 3:00 a.m. - Relax, chat, jam, and assorted fun
SUNDAY 
  • 10:00 a.m. - Buddy shows up with breakfast
  • 10:30 - 11:00 a.m. - Prep for the days session and review of the previous nights work
  • 11:00 a.m. - Engineer arrives and after short prep session begins
  • 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Begin recording new basic tracks or finishing previous days overdubs
  • 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. - Packing, rehashing the weekend and strategizing for next sessions
  • 4:00 p.m. - Leave Nashville for Cincinnati
  • 9:00 p.m. - Arrive in Cincinnati and drop off JW
  • 9:30 p.m. - Arrive in Trenton and drop off Mike and Dave
  • 9:45 p.m. - Les arrives home, unpacks the SUV and then returns it to Dayton
  • 10:30 p.m. - Arrives home and the week begins
The Material
The bulk of the material was written over the last year with the exception of two cuts, "Time Ain't Nothing" [originally from HOWuALLAR?] and "Dear Catherine" [originally from Magical Meat Seeds]. Two of the ten cuts almost didn't make the release at all. Tracks "21st Century" and "Ten Minutes To Go" were written during the holiday break and the entire band had to reschedule studio time and postpone post production in order for the tracks to make it onto So Far from the Moon
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