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......

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