Come Together

Hey, it's been a while. I've made a little progress you know.
All songs are now recorded and completely mixed (save one). I spent a little time at my brother's place going through each song and tweaking (no nipples involved) here and there. My brother has a critical pair of ears and is not burdened by such extravagances as tact, so his comments were forthright and pretty constructive actually. He did suggest that the album needs an 'upbeat' song as it was sounding too depressing (does he not even know me?!) which initially I chaffed at. However, on reflection there was a need for a change of pace so I decided to resurrect a 'dance' song I had half-completed about a year ago. When I say 'dance,' it's really more Screamadelica inspired than influenced by the current flux of gym music. Anyway, this has led me to drop Into the Night from the album, as its overall feel is too similar to Acres and does drag the pace a little. I'm sure it will live on in another format though.

I've decided to send the tracks off to a mastering company, as I kept reading that mastering is an art of its own and as much as I have loved developing my production and mixing techniques over the last couple of years, I really don't have the patience to start again. The company I've gone with are an online outfit called www.audiomaster.co.uk and the process seems simple and reasonably priced. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm also in the middle of creating the artwork for the album. I'm using Photoshop Elements 9 (trial!) and it's quite frustrating as this software is FAR from intuitive for me. I shall persevere.

Laters Gators.

The horizon is always in view

This past weekend I spent four hours inside a 'proper' studio to record some vocals for Switchback and The Safest Place to be. One of the drawbacks of living in a flat is that the neighbours don't always love to hear my dulcet tones at full capacity. Honestly, some people.
So the studio accommodated the full wrath of my volume. One of the more annoying conclusions to this session was that my voice was not in great form due to a) the cold weather, b) the lack of ANY heating implement in said studio room, and c) I haven't sung in about a month. All in all, not the most productive day. I did salvage some of the recordings though, specifically the chorus to Safest Place. I've since been working on this song and think it's virtually finished. The verses were giving me problems initially as there was no great contrast between them and the chorus. After several unfruitful attempts at different phrasings I was contemplating putting the song in the 'almost but not quite' refuse receptacle, only for the Mrs to save its sorry hide with her keen ear. I was just sitting in my office, strumming the verse chords and singing along when she noted that I was singing in a much lower key, more naturally and fluid, so suggested I try this in the recording. Well, duh! It turned out to be quite the idea. The contrast is much more pleasing, to my ears at least and gives the song some dynamics of which it was definitely in want.

Also in the studio, I got a friend of mine to add a solo to a slightly reworked version of Tides. This is after my own attempts at soloing which are better left unheard. The solo is sounding great and gives a good edge to this song. I have a feeling that if anyone has favourites from this album, this is going to be it for most.

Switchback is getting there but needs some polishing up, particularly some guitar parts that need adding. In the studio session, I managed to add a very loud vocal part to the outro which has really added something. This one is next on my list to finish up. It's getting tight now, the date for the album is set at 1.1.11. Here goes nothing......

Tracklisting

Firing on All
The Safest Place to Be
Tides
Acres
Lights Out
Hey Sister
Into the Night
Glacier
Subterranean
Switchback
Nothing is Lost

Acres (part deux)

So after much re-engineering, i think I've pounded Acres into a structure that's half decent. I wanted it to be quite minimal, a rest stop between album tracks if you will. I did attempt a purely acoustic, picky version but instead of 'introspective' and 'minimalist' it just ended up boring. After seasoning it (I've been watching Masterchef A LOT) with a couple of electric guitars I think I've got it to where its still sparse but not dull. I think it's quite a nice little love song that will sit well amidst the album.
Have a taste (again with the Masterchef..)

Acres

Relieved in
seeing
the world for the first time
and washing the dust away
Reversing a yearning
we're putting in place
the blocks for building up
to break the sky above

Unburdened
in leaving
the past for the last time
and wishing the worst away
Immersed in
preserving
our path set in place
for reaching the clearest part
The furthest from the start

You gave me space
You gave me love
You gave me more than enough
All in acres

In the whites of your eyes I catch the light
You're turning blind to the lost and replayed pictures hung on our way from a nothing and nowhere place

You gave me space
You gave me love
You gave me more than enough
All in acres

Mixing Subterranean

Where to begin to end?

So they're are about four tracks that in my head are more or less complete (see this evidence). I say more or less, as it's been drawn to my attention that a couple of these could do with some humanised drums to bring out more dynamics. They're finished in as much as the melody and majority of the elements what do make a song are there. Now what do I do?

I have 6 songs left to complete, that are in various stages of development/refining:

Tides - this is one of the oldest (see Lights Out and Glacier). My first encounter with recording in Logic and by 'eck does it show. Lots of overdone effects and the bridge/solo thing that is waaaaaaayyyy too long (and also a bit rubbish). It needs to be sliced and diced (maybe I can use this?). Having said that, I think it has one of the strongest melodies and the outro is pretty darn good if I say so myself (which I did in actual fact)


The Safest Place to Be - I have the music recorded for this which I'm pretty happy about. Needs the vocals recorded and some guitar parts, but not much more. It's turned into a little pop rock song, which is quite nice.

Switchback - the most recent song i've written. Needs major tidying up. The chorus is good though.

Into the Night - this is almost complete but need to tidy bits up here and there and possibly re-do the vocals as they do sound a bit 'strained' (no potty humour please)

Acres - by far the one with the most work needed. Just can't get my head around how to arrange it. Its a 'pretty' song I guess but can't quite get it to where I want it yet.

Glacier - this is a pretty old song. I have a completed version of this but I've picked up on things that need changing and the vocals need a do-over too.

Looking at the above, it seems I have a lot of work. The hardest part though is writing and arranging the songs, so in that context most of them are done (except Acres). I was a bit premature thinking about Album artwork though wasn't I?

My senses lied to keep hope alive...

Now adding some finishing touches to Nothing is Lost. Trying to arpeggiate the strings at certain points to give a different feel. Think I need to also add some percussion to give it a bit of flavour. However, it is intended to be a simple song so I don't want to lose that by over-flavouring, if you will (yah yah yah).
It's meant to be a hopeful ballad (did I just just use that word? urgh..). I think it might read as a straight break up song, and I guess it is a break up song sort of, in that it is a song of mourning.
But the straight up breakup song on the album is definitely Switchback.
And there's a straight-up love song on the album too, called Acres. Acres will be the last one I get to, so I hope I'm not too exhausted with this whole process to do it justice.

I need ideas for the album cover. Help?

Aaaaagggggghhhh ("isn't there a St Aaaarrgggh's in Cornwall?")

I'm down to the last couple of songs now, being Switchback and Acres. Some of these songs seem to have been written or recorded in pairs, Tides/Lights Out, Subterranean/Nothing is Lost etc, it seems to work to the benefit of the songs if you have another one to jump on and work with. But I digress.

Switchback started first as nothing but a title and a concept. The concept being a song that was not overly long, was a bit rockier to balance out the album's mix and one which would start with a verse and end with a verse. The latter conceit hasn't quite come off.
I'm deep in the midst of refining this one, (and not polishing the proverbial poo, I hope). It's a toughy though as I'm using more programmed drums (as opposed to loops) as a conscious effort for diversity (the quality, not the hip new dance troupe) and it's a steep learning curve. In fact, it's kind of doing my head in.
I'm also struggling to record this song with guitar tones that sound unique, not too processed and, you know, good.
I'm pretty much there with the song structure I think (verse 1 - chorus - verse 2 - chorus - middle 8 - chorus) as it works well for this kind of song, short and to the point. It's not coming easily this one though, so it's a similar effort to Into the Night, where a decent song was born out of an iterative process of chipping/remoulding/peeling the onion and any other bad metaphors you care to add.

I'm not sure why I've left Acres to last. I think it's a fairly decent "ballad" with a nice guitar chord refrain. I'm worried it's going to sound too similar to Subterranean as it appears to capture that same mood or atmosphere. But It's only a demo I have in place thus far, just something as a template for structure, so it's early days. Once Acres is done it's on to re-recording Tides and Safest Place to Be. Both of which need a decent middle 8.

On another note, I believe I have finally settled on a vocal mic that works in my humble bedroom studio set up. The winner being the Shure SM7B. A dynamic mic originally purposed to be a broadcasting mic, but which provides vocal clarity to LOUD singing without picking up bad room sound. Perfect for me really. Here's a pic -

Nice.

And here's a pick of me using it Bono stylie -


Byeeeeee

Nothing is Lost (acoustic)

Here's an initial version of 'Nothing is Lost' which I recorded today.  This is just an initial "template" for the song, if you will, but thought it might be interesting to throw it out there in it's barebones form for a change.

Let me know what you think it needs, apart from a decent singer/guitar player of course.



Here's the words for your consumption (mmm, yum yum, words...) -

Everything seems lost so completely

It's weighing on my mind

Everything has moved so discretely

There's nothing left to find

So I hold my head up high

& wait for a time

Until my senses lie 

and I'm fooled I'm fine

Everything seems lost so completely

In a way so undefined

Everyone has gone so discretely 

I'm broken up inside

But I hold my head up high

for i know

that my senses lied

to keep hope alive

I'll hold my head up high

And you'll know

when my senses aright

and my hope is revived

Nothing is lost

Spontaneity Strikes!

So I was adding some technical touches to Subterranean late yesterday and whilst in the process of procrastinating with the guitar I happened upon a nice little chord progression. Nothing outstanding there I hear you say (or am I hearing voices again?) but I also simultaneously thought of an accompanying vocal melody. This is a rare thing for me, as when writing I almost always think of the chords first and then spend the next few weeks/months/year trying to get the right vocal melody. Not so this time. So, without a second to spare I quickly set up the ol' Mac and recorded the guitar together with the tune what was in my 'ed. It's just a 2 minute demo so far (gimmeabreakwillya, I only thought of it yesterday) but I can hear a lot of potential and kind of know where it should be taken. It's most likely to be the closing song of the album, if I can get that 12-piece choir that is (I am semi-joking...see, only one side of my face is smiling and I haven't had a stroke or nuffink).

I'm enjoying the fact that my creative juices seem to be splurging all over the shop lately. You best mind your step....

The song is most likely to be definitely called maybe possibly "Nothing is Lost."  It starts off a bit melancholic (is that depression for babies?  "ooh little Tommy's very down about his windy pops lately, he hasn't even touched his milk today, he's really not himself") and the aim is to lift the whole song up in the 2nd half with rousing strings and a euphoric chorus.  We'll see whether it get's there.
Peace out.

There's nothing to show for the light inside.

I'm quite excited. I've just finished polishing vocals for the title track and I feel like it's the best song I've written for a while. Your confidence in your own ability can get knocked around a bit sometimes, particularly when going through a creatively arid spell. This one is coming together quite nicely though and I'm juiced up with some other song ideas too. Good stuff. I think Subterranean (the song) has the best bridge I've written. I normally struggle with the middle 8 part of a song so this is quite some progress. The structure of the song starts out quite delicately but morphs into a kind of verve-esque outro. No bad thing I say (well, I would say that).
If I were to sum up the theme of the song in one word I would have to say "introverts." Luckily I don't have to, so will probably post again soon with a clip from the song with the lyrics. The song contains the line "comes alive in the sound" from which the more astute of you will recognise as this blog address. Fascinating trivia!

Lights Out

The first song I wrote for the album.

Into the Night

Into the Night I need to re-record to give some more headroom. I didn't realise at the time that I was seriously peaking on the vocals by having the interface input up way too high. Oh well, it's been a MASSIVE learning curve so far. I will post soon with nerdy details and photos of my set up. To give a brief summary though, I'm doing all this on a Mac using Logic 9. Logic is the way forward my friends, you know it....

This was originally going to be the album title but seemed a bit too generic, but the title fit this song perfectly. A song about escape. Aren't they all?

Here's a clip (the "too little headroom version") -

And in your arms, is the safest place to be...

The Safest Place to Be is the one tune on Subterranean that has caused the most frustration, disillusionment, general dissatisfaction thus far in my writing/recording process. It's never sounded quite right. There's a chorus there, there's a verse there but there's never been a song quite there. I've considered scrapping it entirely but I'm told it is worth keeping, so therefore I keep trying. I need to get round to writing a new bridge, but other songs keep coming up and I easily procrastinate.

The lyrics are the most complete, cohesive part of the sum and they motivate my continual efforts of delivering a chord or two worthy of them. The message is, in a general sense, about putting way too much faith in one man/person. They were written around the time of the US elections and are a comment on the hype of those times. Not that there is a particularly political point being made, just that there are really only a few things in this world we can/should entrust our complete confidence in, and it's usually not wise for it to be a governmental representative, whoever they may be.

Here's the words:

In the garden we will walk

circling trees to distract from the thought

In this honesty undone,

holding anything back for too long

Wait & see where this one goes

No where new and no where soon

And in your arms is the safest place to be

And in your arms I keep the closest thing to me

Won't hold on to this much more

the sunlight breaking like boots through the door

Hope in anyone so hard

There comes a truth that will burn up the heart

Wait & see when this one starts

No where soon and no where fast

And in your arms is the safest place to be

And in your arms I keep the closest thing to me

Comes alive, carried along in sound

This blog is now created. It's time to get creative. More soon.