Studio Update

Tuesday, June 30. Day 2 of my studio run to finish Overture.

Yesterday morning I woke up and put on a pot of coffee, anxious to get to work. Other committments have been swamping me for the last few weeks, leaving me unable to finish the last bits of Overture. Also, this last bit is the hardest; i'm a good guitarist and bassist, can program drums well, and am an adequate (for me) pianist. However, my vocals are tough. Along with her obvious talent, my wanting to avoid was a big reason for trying Kate as a vocalist on this album. Unfortunately, that didn't work out as well as we'd hoped.

So I was waiting for the coffee to brew, at around 8am on a Monday morning. It's not surprising that I just slumped in the chair, realizing that I had no inspiration or energy left. Maybe I should have slept in and waited? But no - while waiting for Mr.Coffee, I set up the first track, Don't Fall For Me. And by the time my first cup was brewed, I was excited again.

Monday covered DFFM, Let You Go, and Love Song, along with a bunch of "housekeeping" needed to clean up and streamline the projects. I was pleased and a little surprised to get through so much on Day One.
Day Two started slowly. Kate was here, and I'm way too self-concious of my singing to start tracking when there's such a talented vocalist within earshot. She left for work, and I jumped to it. No Fun, One Night Stand, Pop Song, and Porno are already completed.

This leaves Shadow, Stormy Weather, and Naive left. Hopefully they'll be done later today.

And did you notice that they're being tracked alphabetically? I had to do them in the order they appear in the Project Folder, otherwise I'll probably forget something. I had already planned out 'Overture: The Greatest Unheard Hits" as a 10-song collection, covering the favourites from my last 3 or 4 unrecorded projects. And on Monday I realized that I had miscounted, only including nine. Luckily I found a tenth that fits stylistically as well as just being a damn good song. That's 'Naive', and the reason it's out of order.

Well, that's enough of a break - back to work!

An Exciting One Night Stand

For those of you that don't know, my recording studio is in my home.
This morning while getting ready for work, I felt the need. I powered on my setup, and loaded One Night Stand (without any vocals yet).
I repeated it 5 or 6 times while brushing my teeth (etc.). I'm REALLY excited about this project...




ps. Don't try to sing along with ANYTHING when you've got an electric toothbrush and mouthful of paste...

Knowing When To Quit

One of the drawbacks to independently producing your own album is that there is nobody telling you when you’re done. A producer can work as both an editor and a boss, two things that can come in very handy in a project like this.

Since my studio is PC-based, I’m not limited to a certain number of tracks. I can record as many things as I like, and edit for content later when I’m mixing. The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” album was recorded with two 4-track machines. They recorded the drums on two (for stereo), the bass, a few guitars, vocal tracks, and the weird effects that they became famous for. For such an elaborate, intricate recording, it is incomprehensible to do it with only eight tracks. Most of the Overture songs are currently running between 15 and 24 tracks. Eight for the drums alone! Most songs have 4 or 5 guitars weaving in and out. And I haven’t even gotten to the vocals yet… Later, I’ll worry about editing; right now I’m just throwing ideas into the bowl with a basic recipe that I’ll let develop on it’s own. I already know that there are some parts that I'll omit from the mix completely - that's par for the course. The soft piano drifting along in 'One Night Stand' may not fit with the slidey gritty guitar. One will win, the other will be silenced until I find a reason to remix.

My other issue is schedule-based. As this isn’t being recorded for a record label, and is completely self-funded (thanks for buying Reflecting – you’re enabling me to do this one), there is no rush to complete. What could have been done in 2 weeks, originally planned as a bare acoustic-guitar-driven project, has now grown to 2 months. And the stripped-down theme has gone out the window too. It’s still based on acoustic guitar songs, but it’s much fuller. The are more guitars, the drums are bigger… there’s a lot of stuff that you might not notice when you first hear the songs.

Over the last few weeks, whenever I’ve thought I was almost finished, I’d hear something missing. Setting up to sing, I’d suddenly decide that I needed another guitar quietly whomp-whomping in the background. So I’m locking out the week of June 29 to finish recording. I promise to complete all tracking by Friday June 3, just in time to take Kate out for her birthday. Whatever doesn’t get done by then, won’t. Unless I get laryngitis or something, this promise isn’t absolute. But if I don’t set a schedule, I’ll twiddle forever and never finish.


As an aside, this guitar seems to be inspiring Overture. The songs are honest: not really pretty, but good. They were written by a man sometimes beaten down, but resolute. And those are all qualities I see in my '74 Telecaster.

Lara's Guitar

Since I started selling 'Reflecting The Broken Mirror' last year, I've had a few comments about one track not really fitting in with the rest. Lara's Guitar is the only instrumental, it's simply one acoustic guitar being strummed for around 3 minutes.

In 2007, my best friend got married. Along with being his best man, he asked me to write and record the music for his bride to walk down the aisle to. How's that for an honour??? I gladly accepted.
I instantly thought of using a half-written song I've had tucked away for a couple of years. It's a pretty piano-based melody, but still cool enough to not be cheesy wedding music. I adjusted it a bit, and gave him a quick test recording. "Pretty," he replied. "Get rid of that fucking piano - you're a guitarist!" They were having a Teddy-boy styled wedding, so I decided to make it really cool. Keeping the basic structure for the song, I added some simple drums, a swinging bassline and some twangy, tremolo guitar. Very cool, it made me think of Buddy Holly with a goth edge. I proudly sat him down and played him the track. He STILL didn't like it!
Back to the drawing board I went. I was unsure of where to go from there, and reminded of why I don't want to write music for a living: I do what I want, not what you want.

One night I stayed home to watch Apocalypto. As most musicians do (to the annoyance of our partners), I sat a guitar on my lap and plucked away absently while absorbed in the movie. During the rape/pillage of the Mayan village, I suddenly got distracted by the funny sounds coming from the box on my lap. Without realizing it, I had started to play the progression that would be perfect for my friend's wedding. Excitedly, I stopped the film and got to work.
Shane loved the music. It was simple, guitar-based, and just the right length. His bride, Lara, didn't even care to hear it beforehand. She said that her faith in me (she also begged me to not let her groom dress as Ziggy Stardust) was enough.
Instead of recording it for the ceremony, I was able to bring my guitar and play it live as she entered the room. That's when I realized how right it was for them, and made it actually mean something to me.
Shortly afterwards, my friend moved to Ireland to live with his new family. This songs is a connection between us (one of many) and it seemed important to be included in the collection of songs I was putting together.

I don't think I ever told them that it was inspired by a horrible scene in a movie about a nearly-extinct culture.

Tangent

A couple of weeks ago, I was having a Lush bubblebath, complete with Cuban cigar and a couple of beers, while watching Hard Core Logo on my laptop, the machine resting safely on my toilet lid. Yes, I’m THAT Rock N Roll.

Out of nowhere, I had a great idea. I have never really been happy with the kick drums in my recordings. They’re usually more of a ‘hit’ than a note. If you listen to some Detroit-era Motown, you can hear what I want: The Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself" is a perfect example. Phoom, ch, ba-boom ch… Not my ‘Thud, ch, thu-thud ch’.

So what if I tracked the kick-drum as I have done, but then mimic the beat with a really soft synthesizer, quietly following the chord progression? Even with the drums on their own, you’d still get the impression that you knew the basics. To make that 'Thud' a 'Phoom'...
I spent the last two weeks recreating the kick-drum patterns, making sure that the synthesized notes were subtle enough, and the right sound. I made sure each track followed the song’s chord progression perfectly.

And yesterday, I realized that it made absolutely no difference. Not a sausage. Nil. Once the other instruments are blended into the mix, the synth notes are either too subtle and unnecessary, or they’re too powerful and muddy up the track.

Oh well, when these ideas succeed they create the magic and innovation that IS music. Unfortunately, more often than not, they don’t.