So how does it work? Here's an idea of what goes into recording a song.

1. THE CLICK TRACK... John and I figure out the pace of the song - how fast it is. From that, we make what's called a "click track". It's like a metronome - a steady clicking that keeps everyone on track.

2. THE DRUMS... The drummer comes in and lays down a drum track on top of the click, to make sure the drum pace stays steady. While the drums are going, ideally the vocals, bass, and the rhythm instrument (usually piano or guitar) also plays, which keeps everything cohesive. These additional tracks are discarded later - they're just to keep the drums going.

3. BASS, VOCALS, AND RHYTHMS... After the drums are laid down, the bass, and piano / guitar come back in separately and lay down their tracks over the already finished drum track.

4. VOCALS... This is where I usually start to hate the song I wrote! The reason why - this is where you sing over and over (and over) until you get it right. I typically sing through the whole song a few times, then go back and record line by line until it's right. THEN I go back and lay down harmony tracks (sometimes 2 or 3 of them). What fun!

5. MIXING... There are two different rooms in the studio - the control room, and the live room, connected by a large window. John sits in the control room and talks to us recording in the live room through headphones. The mixing process can be quite time consuming - i.e. the drums are not just one track - there can easily be 10 tracks that are just different drums.