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......
