Both of these songs were recorded at Mark Studios, Clarence NY, in March of 2006. They were mixed at Chaffee productions, Lancaster NY, in March as well. David tracked everything with his modded Strat plus, G&L S-500, (both equipped with Dimarzio stacked humbuckers) Roland JC 120, a borrowed Fender Twin reissue (the custom purple amp in the photos had technical problems and ended up not being used) and his arsenal of effects seen in the pictures.(For more info, see GEAR.) The amps had a total of 5 mics on them: 1 on each grill, 2 room mics, and 1 on the JC 120’s open back. “I don’t remember what any of the mics were,” says David with a laugh, “except for the SM ‘57 on one of the grills of course.” The amps were run clean, and all distortion/ overdrive sounds were produced with a Visual Sound Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pedal run into both amps simultaneously. Good friend and amp tech Frank Reno played bass for the sessions. Chris Chaffee both engineered and played drums. The rhythm section was tracked in the 1st 6 hour session, and the guitars in the 2nd. Mixing took a 3rd, yet shorter session. 

In addition to being an all around demo, this recording was also used as David’s submission to the North American Guitar Competition. Here are his own words on both the writing and recording process for these songs:

“The first track, ‘The Ponderous Stone of Frustration’ is a tune I’ve had kicking around for probably 5 years. Although it has been well rehearsed over all that time, it lived up to its name in being the more frustrating piece out of the two to prepare. At about every step of the way, from pre-production all the way through to mixing, the song plodded along with the heaviness of it’s diminished chord riffs! Playing it and listening to it serve as a constant reminder to me that the issues of life are indeed back breaking if we do not let Christ shoulder the burden in our place.

Jesus Himself said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.’(Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)

“As far as the mechanics of the song, the intro/ interlude riff are the foundation of the whole piece that got me inspired in the first place. One day I was fooling around with a two hand tapping line, (a technique I rarely use) and decided randomly to throw in some wah pedal. That was it! The combination of tapping with wah created this great tone texture that just totally did it for me! The rest soon came together, and then was finely honed over time. The tapping riffs where tracked with my G&L, as well as the 1st improv solo (the action, neck radius and jumbo frets are the perfect combo for the more shred based stuff). The 2nd improv solo was tracked with my Fender, which for whatever reason has the bluesier, more soulful tone, even with both guitars using the same exact pickups. It must be the wood.”

“The 2nd track, ‘Lightning flashes East to West (The Second Coming)’ came about in quite the opposite manner. About two weeks before going into the studio, I was rehearsing many of my well established songs, like ‘Ponderous Stone’, and trying to decide which ones to do a pre-production demo of in order to prep the studio musicians. Out of no where the main theme to ‘Lightning’ popped out, and forced me to pursue this new creative direction until 2 in the morning. Most of it was complete by that point. The next day, while driving to work, I heard the super fast arpeggio line in my head (which appears after my improv solo at the song’s climax). I began figuring it out when I arrived at the guitar store, before my students got there. (See the LESSONS section) It was really hard to play then, and it’s still hard now! For whatever insane reason, I decided that I had to record this song on my demo. It wasn’t as honed by time as the others, and yet it seemed to be one of my best compositions yet. It had both a fresh energy, and a mature completeness. It’s certainly the more epic, complex song of the two, but in contrast to ‘Ponderous Stone’ was easier to do every step of the way! (except for that super fast arpeggio section of course. I vow, someday I shall return to fix thee when faster fingers I posses!!!!)

“In the process of writing the song, I envisioned lightning, and heard thunder in my mind. I remembered Jesus’ words once again: ‘For as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.’ (Matthew 24:27 NKJ)  Although there is a certain sweetness to the notion of Christ’s return, as depicted by the mellow section of this song, the 2nd coming sticks in my mind as a pre-dominantly intense and explosive situation, which is emulated by the rest of the piece.”   

“The other thing I should mention about both of these songs is that I was able to make use of a wonderful scale in my solos: the beautifully tense and enigmatic melodic minor. The trusty blues scale does get used in the 1st tune, but I was able to intermingle it with some diminished lines. It is so satisfying to create melodies with less conventional scales!”