Every Song has a Story – Part 1: Her words sparked something deep in my heart.

Above – Dawn and I with our grandkids in November of 2021.Top to bottom left to right:
Dawn Gay, Greg Gay, Kaylee, Spencer and Camille.
(Photo ~ Tasha Chenard)

Feel free to check out my About Page for some of my general background, and my FAQ contains medical documentation and more.

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“Why don’t you see if you can finish recording those songs for our grandkids?”

It was September of 2021 and I guess I was a little bit sad to be honest. I felt like a ship that had been buffeted by a hurricane for the past 6 years. First there had been several operations on both of my eyes which would always start out as glimmers of hope, but due to complications from Stickler’s Syndrome, they ended in retinal detachment and almost all of my remaining vision had been stripped away. What had been my bad eye was now my good eye and I could only see just a little bit of motion.

As if that wasn’t enough, my hearing had gone from very bad to even worse. Now I was having terrible bouts of “audio induced vertigo” that had become so bad that sometimes just talking to someone else would make me sick and I would have to stop, take my hearing aid out and have a rest.

So, I suppose that you might imagine that involvement in music at any level was the furthest thing from my mind, and it was. Sort of!

You see, I was ok not being able to be involved in musical activities. I had had a good life full of all kinds of musical opportunities – but I wasn’t ok with my grandkids not having decent, recorded versions of the songs I had written for them.

Before our first grandchild, Camille was born, Dawn and I had decided one night that she would crochet blankets for our grandkids, and I would write and record each one a special song.

By this time, Dawn had put together three beautiful blankets that were loved and cherished, and I had only done one song.

I really wanted to leave my grandkids something special that would bring them love and encouragement for the rest of their lives.

I had written and recorded a song for our first granddaughter, Camille, in 2016. I could never hear well enough to do a good job of mixing my own songs, and I was fortunate to contract a local fellow, Daryl Wilson, to mix “Sweet Camille” for me and it turned out pretty good.

Kaylee joined our family in 2017 and I wrote a song for her called, “I Like the Way You Shine”. I started recording it and had completed the drums and bass, but at that time, it looked like I was going to end up with one good eye, so I started doing things that would allow me to start up my own software company and the song got put on the backburner.

Then Spencer came along in 2019, but by then I was having so much eye trouble, that doing any recording just didn’t seem possible. It is kind of ironic, but these days when everything is computer based, recording music is not just an audio-based process. The software that is used to create, edit, mix, and master todays music is also very visually demanding.

When Dawn talked to me about finishing up the songs for our grandkids, it just seemed to be totally out of the question – or was it? Her words sparked something deep in my heart.

I knew she believed in me.

We could not have known it at the time, but Dawn had just sown the seeds for the album, “Go and Make Heaven Proud”.

So many years of pain had left me with very low self-esteem and even though I could not see her face, I could tell that she believed in me.

I told her that if I could get someone to help me that maybe I could do a guitar track on Kaylee’s song and try to sing it. I was never a singer, but I had somehow managed to sing “Sweet Camille”, so I figured I could sing Kaylee’s song as well.

Just a few months earlier, I had given Daryl a call and asked him about maybe giving me a hand, but he didn’t have any time then, as he was working on an album of his own.

I just didn’t know anyone else that might have the time, inclination and the technical skills required to get a song done at a half decent level.

Then Dawn said something that changed everything.

“What about Corinna? You guys used to do a lot of recording. Maybe she could help you.”

Corinna Montgomery is a dear friend of ours and I had worked with her for years on worship teams and other projects as well, such as the Rock Musical I had written called, “Where is the Lamb?”. Corinna is a superbly talented pianist, singer, and songwriter. If you have ever been at a worship event that she led, you knew you had just taken part in something truly special.

I went on to explain to Dawn that while Corinna and I had done a lot of recording in the past, she had done very little of the actual technical end of things that I needed help with now. Most of the time I was recording her and then I would do my parts later.

I agreed though to give it a try. I was never one to easily give up, and if I could figure out ways to hear the music, see the recording software, get Corinna to come give me a hand, AND find someone to do the mixing, maybe I could finish Kaylee’s song. That would be it. Just finish one song that was already half completed.

I felt sorrowful though. Even if this worked, I knew I would never be able to do a song for Spencer. That would require drum sequencing and other things that just sounded impossible. How was I going to explain to Spencer that Grandpa did a song for his sisters, but not him? I just couldn’t bear the thought.

The next morning, I got up and got to work trying to find ways to solve the 4 problems that would enable me to finish Kaylee’s song.

It would be simple, right?

Ummm… yeah, sure!!

Problem #1 – How was I going to hear the music?

I was thinking that I might not be able to solve this one and that it might just be the showstopper that would bring the whole idea to a grinding halt before I even got started. I really needed nothing short of a miracle, so I asked God for one.

I mean, if I could hear well, I would have found a way to do all kinds of musical things, but that part of my life had seemingly come to an end.

I had been having ear infections and my good, right ear was filled with fluid. I had barely even picked up a guitar for a year or more, and when I did, it sounded terrible and not at all doable.

Maxine, my hearing aid practitioner had been incredibly kind, patient and generous in doing her best to find something that could help me, but the new crop of hearing aids just seemed to cause me more problems and agony.

Then out of desperation, I tried an old hearing aid, and it sounded warm and clear compared to everything else I had. I picked up a guitar and it sounded plausible!!

We were never able to really explain this, but that is what happened, and it totally felt like a miracle to me. It was out with the new and in with the old! (Maxine was able to find me something that helped months later, but that is a story for another day!)

This was the moment when doing just this one song started to sound like it just might be possible. I was starting to get excited

Problem #2 – How was I going to see the recording software?

I can’t see anything on a computer screen unless the colors are “inverted”. For me, this means a black background with white or yellow or orange text.

I also use software that magnifies everything on my screen by about 1000%. Yes, that is not a typo. One thousand percent.

Working with high magnification on a computer is like trying to bump your way around town while only looking through high powered binoculars. It is a daunting, exhausting task and it is really easy to get lost!!

It can literally take hours for me to do what took just a few minutes a few years ago.

I have a background as a programmer, so in about two weeks I had hacked my recording software (Reaper for all you techie’s out there) into submission so I could see it at least a little bit.

Reaper is designed to easily allow you to do this, however it had changed a lot since 2017 when I had last used it. I could not see to read the documentation, but I kept at it and finally figured it out.

Ok, two down, two to go!

Problem #3 – Who would help me?

It didn’t seem possible to record alone, by myself. One thing I needed to do was record an acoustic guitar track for Kaylee’s song and I tried this, but it posed all kinds of problems. I would get tangled up in mic cords and I couldn’t even see where the mic was, let alone be able to simultaneously run the recording software.

So, as Dawn suggested, I called up Corinna.

I really didn’t think she was going to have the time to come over and give me a hand, but she said, “Ok, let’s give it a try!”

Problem #4 – Who would mix and master the song?

I could record a song that might be done well, but a good song that is mixed poorly doesn’t sound like a good song at all. If you want to get professional results, you have to have a good mixing and mastering engineer. This is a job that requires high end skills and years of experience to get right. Even though I had wanted to be a sound engineer when I was young, I only had one very broken ear and so I had to find someone else. I wanted to get results at least as good as Daryl had achieved with “Sweet Camille”.

It was like I could make a beautiful piece of pottery, but I had no way to put it in a kiln, and without that, it would only end up being just a shadow of what it could be.

I already knew Daryl was not available, and I had exhausted every other option I could think of. I came up empty handed.

Although a few months had gone by since I had last talked to Daryl, I decided to ask him again anyway. I knew I would likely just annoy him since he had already told me he just couldn’t, but I decided to try one more time.

I sent him a text and he replied, “Yeah man, I am TOTALLY down to do that for you!”

I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that! You see, my kids had grown up and left home, so I wasn’t really up on all the new ways of speaking when your kids are home to tutor you in such things. Corinna had a couple of her daughters living at home during this time, so I sent her a quick message asking her if down meant up.

She told me that yes, if Daryl had said that he was totally “down for it” it meant that he was “up for it”!!!

I was ecstatic! This was huge and I couldn’t wait to get started, so, we did!

Every Song Has a Story – Part 2: Sweet Camille >>