Sunday, November 21, 2010

Lordy, lordy, lordy - Session 12

Loving these two songs at the moment, they were actually recommended to me as part of a Christmas party playlist I was working on & they ended up being my favourite tunes. I actually thought it was a pretty good playlist but it was dragged after three tunes! : ) Seems the Stones, Lou Reed & FoTC aren't what the people want. Bring on the Black eyed peas! Oh well.. fight the good fight I say.

Went to Allan's a couple of Sunday's back. Carly came & we got a 'final' mix of Jimmy Jones. She put some reverb on her vocals which I was dubious about at first as I thought it sounded great as is, but it turns out I was wrong. We also removed Mike's guide drumming which was keeping us in time & I added a whistle at the moment when the drums & bass kick in. It sounded amazing on the studio speakers but through headphones the reverb has made Carly's vocals sound like she's in a large room, there's a bit of echo going on. Regardless, I've sent through a copy to Active, will be interesting to see if I get any response. They were enthusiastic about the first version so hopefully they'll give it a whirl on one of their shows, it'll be great to finally hear one of my tunes on the wireless.

In other news I've started working on the fifth track, it's called 'Round & round' & is about just going through the motions. It's another 'nice' song, too pleasant for my liking but I'm trying not to question the songs I write. I want to play to my strengths & if that means playing these pleasant songs then that's what I'll do. I'm just trying to get better & continue growing as a singer, song writer & guitar player, there's just so much that's achievable, so much growth available, I can't ever imagine the time will come that I'll be satisfied. I've been listening to Neil Young's solo live recordings from '72 & '92. He's such a formidable player it's amazing. The things he can do are so inspiring, I look forward to the time when I can sit down with an acoustic guitar for an hour & a half & keep an audience entertained without the need for a band. Just vocal & guitar. It's going to take time but I know I have it in me.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Lordy, Lordy, Lordy - Session 11

Went to Allan's on Sunday to transfer the second tape to pro-tools. Fallen, Lover, Secret Garden & portrait. Fallen sounds great, I decided while I was there that I'm going to really try to get a string section for it. It sounds good but the rising & falling tempo of the track would benefit hugely from a string section. It could probably be covered by a synth/piano but for the recording I'll do my damndest to get the real thing. Lover sounds ok, I think everythings there but we'll have to do some magic in the mixing. Secret Garden's a bit too crunchy, I'm going to re-record the opening guitar part to get it a bit cleaner before the crunch of the chorus. On the plus, the middle section sounds great. Portrait is probably my favourite of the four tracks so far. The 12 string works beautifully, it was a god send to be able to use it for the recording. The harp, vocals & shaker all work as well. Adding the BV's will almost see the track done.

Am back there this Sunday to do some vocals, Carly's coming so we'll try to get her vocals mixed where she's happy then I'll send a copy away to Active. Sweet!