Bankesters Recording Blog – Day 6

Phil Bankester, peré of the lovely and talented Bankester family, has agreed to provide a running blogumentary of their home recording sessions this week. In this final episode, we hear from two of the ladies.

Melissa Triplett, here: We’re done! The past 6 days have been fun, intense, and incredibly rewarding. There’ s nothing like recording an album to push you and help you grow as a musician. On this project, we were able to grow so much as a cohesive band unit, as well as individually, thanks to the keen insights of our producer, Stephen Mougin.Having an outside ear to listen to what you’re doing objectively, and push you past what you think your limits are, has proven to be an invaluable experience. It feels great to have put so much time and energy into a project, and finally be able to see (or rather hear) how everyone’s efforts have paid off.It’s also a cool thing to be a in a family that’s also a band, and realize that after spending so much intense time together (and yes, personalities do rub up against each other sometimes), that you still really love doing music together. We were talking a little bit ago about what the theme of this record was, and decided that it’s really all about life: the ups and downs, loves and losses, the fun to be had, and beauty to be seen along the way.

I’m excited to have had a part in creating this album, and can’t wait until we release it later this spring. I really hope that it’s something people will want to listen to because they find it to be encouraging and relatable to every day life.

Dorene Bankester, here: Well, it’s the final day of our recording project and it all seems like a whirlwind of sorts. The days have flown by with many smiles, a few tears (the good kind), and a feeling of great accomplishment in the end.

We had so many well-crafted songs to select from this time; it made this project such a joy to work on. The pieces have meaning and message, which is an aspect we care deeply about.

We were excited to have Stephen Mougin as our producer and engineer. He did such a great job helping each one of us to “get inside” our songs and tell the stories. It was so comforting to have his input each step of the way. He believed in us and would not let us off with less than our best.

Since this happened in our home there were many facets of daily living, food, child-care, errands, etc., that had to be done. I feel so grateful that we all work together as a team and have a great time while doing it.

A key point to consider to anyone else who would choose to do things this way is that the dear doggies should have been kenneled. Hard to keep all the footsteps and excited barking contained, as well as time required for walking and loving.