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Lovestruck - Wrestling's No. 1 Fan consists of 6 themes based around a bass, drums and guitar trio (Bill, Philip & Dan). After inital composing of the tracks, rehearsals with the trio were scheduled over two days. A test recording was done of the trio set-up live, to determing microphone placement so as to focus on a breathing spatial sound (in stereo) in the room with the trio. A mix of omnis and cardioids were configured so as to capture as much of the spatial diffusion as of the direct sound of the instruments. No baffling or separation was employed.
Overdubs were then done on a separate day with Dan on 4 tracks, using the same room-tone set-up, then on another day Garret came in to do pedal-steel overdubs on 2 of the tracks. His overdubbing was done in single live takes. Sianna then came on the final day to multi-track 4-part harmonies on 1 of the tracks. Again, her performance for each part was done in complete live takes so as to retain the original dynamic shaping of the trio's tracks.
The tracks were then mixed with no fader riding or movement: all levels were completely controlled by the trio's live playing in the studio. This was the key experiment undertaken in this score - to shape dynamics completely through intergrated performer dynamics. This is something central to the work of Jack Nitzsche who pioneered this technique of allowing the studio set-up of rock musicians to become a fundamental of the film compositional process.
The 6 themes/tracks were then handed over to Megan who solely decided on the placement of the tracks in readying for the final mix. The floating development of the themes, plus the light and airy spatialization of the recording were designed to allow voice/speech/dialogue to float over the top while the instrumentation rolls along underneath.
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