Grey's Recording Journal

Grey in the E-Town Magazine, June 2009 Issue

2009-06-21T21:54:11Z

Excerpt from the June 2009 E-Town Magazine

Local guitar heroes Michael Hedges, Brad Richter, Billy Beck, Donnie Record, and George Davis all were or are from Enid. Greg Perkins a.k.a. Grey is from El Reno, OK originally and has lived in Enid since 1998. Enid guitarist-singer-songwriter Grey seemingly lives up to his name. His name – though not him or his music – is very much in the grey area of musical notoriety. None of the other guitarist around town had ever heard of a guitarist named “Grey”. Grey is the musical nom de plume of Greg Perkins. As he rarely performs live this not knowing would seem normal. Greg, or Grey, is a guitarist-singer-songwriter who the public should and have taken notice of. In early April of this year, Grey released his eighth CD, “Ice World”. He and all his accompanists record all their tracks at Perkins’ home studio in Enid, dubbed “Grey Havens Studio” This commercial studio sits at the back of his one acre plus property and is a magnificent site to behold. It’s the full meal deal in recording music. “We had the studio built by Darrell Boyd Construction of Enid. It then took my wife and I about a year to finish the interior. We did most of the work ourselves, “ Grey said. Walking into Grey Havens Studio is a wonderment to see. Inside there is a high-tech mixing board, associated high-tech recording , mixing, and mastering equipment. Perkins named “Grey Havens Studio” from the elven port of Mithlond, “the Grey Havens,” in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. “The Grey Havens was a place of rest and reflection used by the elves before they left Middle Earth, “ Perkins said. It is also a play on words because it’s Grey’s haven, “my ultimate man-cave,” as Perkins described it. Perkins offers all musicians the use of his studio at “less-than-normal” studio rates. Additionally he offers it to the general public for family oral history projects, modeled on National Public Radio’s “Story Corps” project. “I’m passionate about music in general,” Perkins says. I’d like to write the best song I have in me. I don’t know if I’d ever know when I did however. It’s not the end; it’s the journey that makes the experience.”

Grey in the Enid News and Eagle on 7 May 09

2009-06-21T21:51:22Z

Published: May 07, 2009 10:14 pm

A new ‘Haven’ for local musicians

By Bridget Nash Staff Writer

Enid musician Greg “Grey” Perkins has put the finishing touches on his most recent album, “Ice World,” and now he’s ready to help others put together their own albums.

Perkins’ CD, his eighth, can be purchased at Enid’s local Hastings or at cdbaby.com. It was finished in his own studio, Grey Havens Studio.

“It’s probably along the lines of the Beatles-type style, into alternative,” said Perkins, with a laugh, as he tried to categorize his music. “It’s hard when it comes to labeling your own music.”

Perkins sings and plays several instruments and enjoys recording, mixing and mastering for others as well.

“I play the guitar and sing,” said Perkins. “The guitar is my first instrument. I do the keyboard, bass guitar and mandolin also.”

But for local musicians, Perkins is willing to lay his instruments aside and let each group work its own magic.

“I’m the engineer at that point,” said Perkins.

Perkins recently finished construction on his large music studio, which is comfortable and professional and perfect for recording clarity.

Perkins is looking for rock, pop and country music groups and is offering a reduced studio rate for those who want to rehearse and record at Grey Havens.

“You would get a final master CD,” said Perkins.

Perkins is not only interested in helping groups with their recording efforts. He is also interested in helping families preserve family history.

He calls it the Grey Havens History Project and for a fee of $25, a family could record an oral history, either by telling it themselves or bringing family members into the studio and interviewing them.

“What you get from listening and hearing is you get the inflection, you get the emotion,” said Perkins. “We could get that on a digital CD and you could pass it on to all your family.”

The $25 fee waives the studio rate and covers the cost of producing the CD for up to three hours of time.

Perkins began writing his own music in 1981, while he was still in high school, and has continued to develop as an artist since then. He teaches French at Enid High School and while French was his college major, he minored in history and always has had a passion for history.

Perkins will officially begin business at Grey Havens Studio on May 23. Musical groups and those interested in the Grey Havens History Project can set up studio appointments by calling 242-4980.

ICE WORLD RELEASED

2009-04-08T21:08:31Z

The new Grey CD ICE WORLD was released the 7th April 2009. It is at the Hasting's store in Enid and will be available soon through CD Baby for purchase or download. Thanks to everyone involved in my lastest effort and special thanks to all my fans for listening and telling others to listen also. Grey

Ice World Finished

2009-03-13T23:23:10Z

The "Ice World" CD is finished. It has been recorded and mixed and mastered. There are just a few details to finish before it will be released. We have left to come up with the song order and then the copying of cd's and production of the art work and packaging. The art work was really just finding the right photos and then assembling the lyrics and liner notes to accompany it. Wappy and myself have done that. Dave Skinner, who mixed and mastered the project, will be doing the duplication services in his studio facility later this month. So it has taken once again 2 years plus some(Jan 2007 - March 2009) to come up with another Grey CD. However in the future, with the new Grey Havens Studio up and running, I hope to see the songs progress a little quicker. I'll post again when the CD is released on the various sites and locally also. Grey, 13 March 2009.

Mandolin part on "I'm Here" completed

2008-11-21T01:04:33Z

Grey always likes to have a mandolin part on his cd's and this cd will be no exception. Tonight he recorded that part on the song "I'm Here".

Lead Vocals for Ice World

2008-11-21T01:02:47Z

The lead vocals for the Ice World cd were completed tonight. Dave Skinner visited and worked as engineer. There will still be background vocals and acoustic instruments to record and even a few electric guitar parts to come yet. Keep yourself posted for more info.

Studio Completion

2008-11-21T00:59:25Z

The studio has finally been completed. We have heat and air and there is water to the studio. Now the job of putting in the final pieces of sound treatment has begun and getting the equipment set up has also begun. Grey Have's Studio only took a year but it has been worth it.

Grey Haven's Studio

2008-07-03T22:43:11Z

The studio is about finished. We have probably 2 months until it is finished. Most of July I'll be working on the keyboard and synth parts of the new CD "Ice World". Mikey Harbour and Steve Harwood are the usual suspects that will be helping me to accomplish those parts. Please be patient as I have no release date for the new CD yet. So much time has been put off from working on the CD to finish the new studio. It will be a commercial facility so it dwarfs all my other two smaller home studio sizes from the past. Enjoy music and life, Grey.

Grey Havens Studio

2007-11-17T02:49:57Z

The latest on the production of the Grey Havens Studios is that we are 4-5 months from completion however Grey is continuing on the new Grey CD entitled "Ice World" . There will be pictures of the new facility soon.

Grey sampler available on amiestreet.

2007-08-26T22:15:50Z

An acoustic history unfolds - Acoustic Grey is complete.

2007-07-18T18:42:33Z

An acoustic history unfolds - Acoustic Grey is complete.

(San Rafael, CA - July 19, 2007) Post-production is now complete on the Screaming Butterfly Productions music video project Acoustic Grey, an acoustic history of an indie artist.

On November 8th, 2006 Grey, Jason Harbour, and Mikey Harbour assembled in a dimly lit room at Db Studios in Enid, OK to record an acoustic history of Grey, an indie rock artist whose 2002 music video collection won Best Music Video at the 2003 Bare Bones Film Festival. In the next four hours, they would record 15 songs. "The songs range from me playing and singing on my own to just Jason and I playing together, to Jason, Mikey, and I playing together, "says Grey.

The songs featured in Acoustic Grey span from the early years of Faded Colours to Words & Music, Grey's 2006 release, described as a mix of "gospel backings, lush arrangements with an all American sound," by P.D. Stanley of the UK indie magazine, The Plastic Ashtray.

D. Lang (Editor, Liquid Wind, The Hebrew Project) took the 1,500 mile journey from San Francisco to Enid to document the occasion in a 72 minute film for Screaming Butterfly Productions."The idea was to create a video that would show my songs in their infant stages," says Grey.

Grey teamed up with Dave Skinner, of the group 3 Legged Monkey, to record, mix, and master the music at Db Studios. Lang, who has previously featured the musician in her projects, spent the next several months perfecting the videos, and releasing individual videos to youtube.com, the most popular of which is "Story Book Love," from Grey's 2000 release, Colours. The video project also features audio commentary by Grey, explaining the history behind the featured songs. The audio commentary was recorded at Grey Havens Studios.

"In the end we were left with 15 songs that went well and represented a 20 year period of songwriting," said Grey.

All videos are currently available on youtube.com. The project is expected to hit the festival circuit in 2008.

Listen to Grey explaining how the project itself came about:
http://www.archive.org/details/GreyIntroductiontoAcousticGrey/

View the videos on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F47CDA3606E81DCA

Find out more about Grey:
http://greycolours.hypermart.net

View other projects by D. Lang:
http://www.youtube.com/dinahlang

(Text may be reprinted without permission.)

New Grey CD entitled "Ice World"

2007-07-16T04:02:52Z

Hello again to all following Grey and his works. I have moved homes and am readying to build my own commercial studio. Grey Havens was my own private place but I am now wanting to venture into doing it for others as well as myself. Lately the videos have been completed by Wappy from the Nov 2006 sessions held at Dave Skinner's studio. Dave is one of the Three Legged Monkey group which is more than worth a listen but a CD purchase. You can't go wrong with TLM. The Grey session on video will soon be available to all as a DVD purchase on the main site. Currently I am laying down the rest of the bass tracks for the new CD. I will then begin the guitar tracks. Stay tuned for more info concerning the new studio, new CD and new DVD. Grey says, "No more war". Grey out.

The acoustic video project so far.

2007-04-03T20:40:35Z

New Grey CD(yet untitled) and drum parts

2006-12-19T03:16:31Z

Drum parts for the my new CD are beginning. Patrick Costello joined myself and Dave Skinner on 11 Dec 06 to record 4 of 6 songs for which he is doing the drums for and Mikey Harbour on 12 Dec 06 recorded 4 songs. There is one more song that Dave will be laying in percussion for at a later time. Also Patrick will return in Jan 07 to record 2 more songs for. As of now there are 11 songs slated for the new CD but there may be a few more added. I am really excited about the parts we've laid down so far.

Grey, 18 Dec 06

Acoustic Grey Mixed and Mastered

2006-12-02T05:04:37Z

The audio of the recently recorded and filmed project "Acoustic Grey" has been mixed and mastered. Dave Skinner and myself got together to discuss and go over the mixing of the project and I finished the mastering in a two-day span. The audio will now be sent to Wappy in San Francisco to be added to the video coverage she made on 8 Nov 06. I have also recorded in my studio a commentary track to go with each song. It is basically an oral history of each song featured on the CD/DVD. It is still uncertain whether a CD or DVD will result from this but it is certain that videos of all or most of the 15 songs will make it to the website for visual consumption. Stay tuned for more. Keep watching and listening. Thanks, Grey.

Acoustic Grey

2006-11-12T04:09:12Z

Acoustic Grey

On the evening of the 8th of November 2006 Grey(myself), Mikey Harbour, Jason Harbour, Wappy, and Dave Skinner all assembled at Dave’s studio to film and record 19 songs. We only managed 15 but that was just as well given the 4 hour time frame we had. The songs range from me playing and singing on my own to, me and Jason playing together, to me and Jason and Mikey playing together. The idea was to create a video that would show my songs in their infant stages. The idea was to make something that could then be turned into a CD and a DVD and something that could be shown online. There were many problems that one will never hear or see. We forgot to bring lighting. Not good for a video. We found lighting after about 30 minutes. We dealt with the heat of the lighting and the strain it puts on one as you play your heart out. We dealt with the “Ventura” 12 string guitar Jason played. It played okay but struggled to keep up with the Taylor that Dave had loaned me. And to top it all off I couldn’t seem to get “Empty Souls” together lyrically and guitar-wise. We finally got a version that is alright but still not the best. Oh woe is me and such is trying to do a live performance sometimes. ! In the end we were left with 15 songs that went well and represented a 20 year period of songwriting. This compilation will reach the stores and the internet hopefully before Christmas. Many thanks to all involved.

Grey

Words and Music CD finished !

2006-07-28T18:49:09Z

W&M CD finished 27 July 06 exactly two years to the month after it was started. It has been a long two years but I have gotten everything to the way I wanted it. I hope to have the CD for sale within the next two weeks. Fans can of course email and reserve a copy. I will be releasing a limited number of CD's this time around. I hope you will all enjoy it. Grey.

Mixing

2006-07-12T04:09:41Z

Mixing has finished except for one song. Dave Skinner and I are working on what we want to hear for the beginning of the song. It is a hard leaf/rain/priest sound at the beginning we are working on. I hope to be finished by the end of July and make this whole project a truly 2 year event. Thanks for listening. More later, Grey.

Vocals Finished & Mixing

2006-06-20T23:29:58Z

Vocals are finished on the Words and Music project. Kelsey Stark has worked on three songs. She brings an excellently trained voice into the project with the background vocal parts she has added. The mixing will also begin today and hopefully by July we will see a finished project. One must remember that this album started two years ago in July so it is about time.

Grey

W&M Vocals Finished

2006-06-12T04:25:41Z

Vocals for the Words and Music project are finished and next week Dave Skinner and I will begin the task of mixing and then mastering of this project. Hopefully by the end of June or beginning of July 2006 this project will be finally finished. Grey

3 Vocal Tracks Finished

2006-05-31T01:30:49Z

Today 3 vocal tracks for "Words and Music" were completed at Skinner Audio with Dave Skinner. He is engineering so I don't have to do it here at my studio on my own. I want to concentrate on the vocal and not the two tasks at once.More to be done tomorrow there also.

Vocals and on to mixing !

2006-05-19T02:40:25Z

"Words and Music" will soon be finished, well by the end of June 2006. I will be laying down the vocals soon and then on to the mixing and mastering. I will be going to Dave Skinner's studio here in Enid to do that. Dave is also helping me to then mix and master this CD. While I like the idea of being able to do it all by myself I cannot without losing focus at some point I believe. One gets to the point of not being able to be objective about the songs one has written and recorded. So in comes Dave to help. In other news the cover art is now in the hands of Wappy. I passed on to her what I'd like to see and she takes it from there. She always surprises me and comes up with more than I imagined so I am very excited about that being finished soon, certainly before the CD is finished. Grey

K-Pak Radio The Rock 97.5

2006-04-11T23:53:53Z

I had a great time performing with Jason Harbour and doing the interview with Clint and Will at "The Rock" 97.5 Alva/Kiowa classic rock radio station. We played several songs from Anamnesis and Rock and Pop. I will hopefully get the performances and interview up on the website soon, so stay tuned. I will return when the "Words and Music" CD is released to have some more fun ! Thanks K-PAK, Grey.

K-PAK 97.5 Welcomes Grey

2006-03-25T03:31:15Z

Hey Grey fans, 97.5 Classic Rock in Alva,Oklahoma is going to welcome Grey and Jason & Mikey Harbour to its'studios on 7 April 2006. "The DJ Clint Claypool is the man", says Grey. As usual Grey welcomes the opportunity and thanks the radio station that welcomes him and his music. Jason Harbour and Mikey Harbour will be along and new songs and old songs will be played and heard on this evening. Again 97.5 RULES !!!

Grey in 2006

2006-01-07T05:12:22Z

The New Year begins with Grey recording a project for Kevin Bunch. Grey also has a few other groups and individuals interested in coming in to record at the Grey Havens studio. Grey is hoping to move into the commercial realm with his studio in this year. He wants to buy a few more pieces yet before he makes that move. The Words and Music project will start up again this month. Grey will begin recording the final tracks and he plans on taking several months then to tweak and mix the tracks. More time than has previously been spent on Grey projects. Wappy, the web genius and video extrordinaress, has moved to the San Francisco area but will still be involved with all things Grey. Stay tuned for more about Grey and his music.