Back in April I shot some stills over 2 days for the recording of Asaf Avidan’s latest album “The Study on Falling” produced by Mark Howard (which is out now, listen here on Spotify) in Malibu. The album was recorded at 2 different mansions in Malibu, the bulk of it was done at the Harry Gesner masterpiece ‘Raven’s Eye’, with sweeping, un-obstructed views of the Pacific ocean.
There were 5 or 6 musicians swirling about when I arrived, along with a chef (my friend Maggie), and a few other people.
After catching up with Maggie, I wandered around the stunning house, and found my friend Brady Blade (who is one of the best drummers in the world) asleep on the sofa. This is a very typical place to find Brady. Some of the other amazing musicians on the album were Chris Masterson on guitar and Hal Cragin on bass.
I floated around like a fly on the wall the rest of the day, taking photos of the session and of the house. Maggie cooked a killer dinner that we all devoured, and then I went home through the gorgeous canyon roads back to Topanga.
The last day of tracking was done at a different Harry Gesner mansion, Eagle’s Watch, which is within view of Raven’s Eye. This house is even more visually stunning, as it’s perched high up on it’s own little outcropping looking over the ocean, and the shape of the house is like a yacht pointed out towards the sea.
Mark knows how to pick inspiring places to make albums. This time Mark was just tracking vocals for Asaf and a background vocalist, Justine Bennett. It was far more intimate than the previous day, with only the four of us in the house. The sunset wrapped all around the glass-walled living room was spectacular.
Asaf and Justine were magic together, the vocal tracking was wonderful to be a witness too. Everything was perfect, except when I got trapped outside on the balcony. Oops.
Asaf’s album is out now and you should go listen on Spotify or iTunes!