Preproduction rehearsals were conducted at Angel’s Silverlake studio with him overseeing and directing the process. Although it’s only a short distance from downtown LA, the neighborhood vibe and relaxed atmosphere of the Silverlake studio felt like an oasis from the city, which was Angel’s intent for establishing a tone for the session. Because the goal was to mix this classic rock hit with a Middle Eastern vibe, Angel was highly discerning in regards to the musicians he chose for the recording. Marcus Nand (acoustic Guitar), Daniel Gonzalez (drums), Derrick Elliot (bass) and Angel himself (on electric guitar) supplied the “rock” core of the ensemble while Naseem Alatrash (cello), Shafik Bahou (percussion), and Afif Taian (oud), brought their authentic Middle Eastern/Arabic feel to the song; of course Scott Page and Mayssa were the focal point.
For Master Tracking, Angel took the session to the famous NRG studio in North Hollywood where artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Foo Fighters, Matchbox Twenty, The Monkees, Alicia Keys, and countless others have created some of the most popular recordings of the past sixty years. He explains, “Recording there is an incredible experience. They have any microphone you can think of and a beautiful Neve mixing console that makes anything that you run through it sound amazing. The energy at NRG is great. So many records that we have all listened to were made there. I wanted to capture the rock & roll vibe of the studio to convey a familiarity that fans of ‘Comfortably Numb’ would subconsciously recognize and also use production techniques to capitalize on the Middle Eastern take we had for the song.”
It is quite common for a recording engineer/producer to turn the tracks over to a mastering producer, similar to the way a director will work with a film editor who has specialized skills and training to achieve a final cut. Angel chose Tom Coyne was the mastering engineer on the track for Mayssa Karaa and Scott Page. Once the final mix wass done there was one more step in the record making process, the mastering. Tom’s credits include artists like Adele, Beyoncé, Quest love, The Weekend, etc. Angel felt that Coyne was the right mastering engineer for a project like this one. This project actually started a working relationship between Angel and Tom before Coyne’s passing a couple of months later. Angel notes, “It was an honor to work with a professional like Tom Coyne. His skill and talent added immensely to our recording and I am so thankful to have been associated with him.”
The recently released video for Mayssa Karaa Feat. Scott Page-Comfortably Numb (Arabic Adaptation) already has already 700,000 plays on Facebook and 114,000 plays on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxWviZN_NoU