Recording and Production
Beck and his group of musicians entered the studio with intentions to make the record an acoustic-based offering, in the vein of those for his emotive 1998 disc Mutations. Early in the recording process, Beck told Godrich that he was hoping to record one track per day, similar to the process of Mutations. However, each song ended up taking at least two days to record, due to orchestral arrangements. Musical partners in the studio included multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, drummer James Gadson, and guitarist Jason Falkner, as well as longtime musical partners, keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr., bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, drummer Joey Waronker, guitarist Smokey Hormel, and cellist Suzie Katayama. In addition, Beck's father, David Campbell, provided string arrangements. Joey Waronker left mid-way through recording for Hawaii; James Gadson filled in for him the remaining days.
Recording began as soon as the band entered Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles on March 6, 2002. Much of Sea Change was recorded live, with extra effects (including bells and strings) added later. In order to capture the immediacy of the material, the artists worked quickly and spontaneously, frequently laying second takes of songs to disc. During production, Beck realized his singing voice had gotten significantly deeper. "Before we recorded," said Godrich, "We listened to Mutations, and his voice sounded like Mickey Mouse. His range has dropped. Now when he opens his mouth, a canyonesque vibration comes out. It's quite remarkable. He has amazing tone."
By the end of production, the group of musicians had to work faster than they intended. "We kind of ran out of time at the end," said Beck. "Joni Mitchell was coming in to do her record, but she works very civilized and she takes the weekend off, so we were sneaking in on the weekends and trying to finish." Eventually, recording lasted a little over three weeks and the album was mixed from there on, which was completed May 7. At one session, Hansen began strumming his 1995 single "It's All in Your Mind" randomly before beginning a new song, and Godrich became ecstatic, remarking "We have to do that." The strikingly different re-recorded version appears on Sea Change as an "evolved song", according to Hansen.
"Ship in a Bottle" was the only completed track left off the record. "That was the super-pop song of the record," said Beck in 2002 interview. "I think it was a little too corny. I mean, it was heartfelt, but since then people have been telling me they really liked it. I think we felt that the album was so long already. I don't know what the fate of that will be." Eventually, "Ship in a Bottle" was released on the Japanese version of Sea Change and later remasters.
Read more about this topic: Sea Change (album)
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