Record delete record delete

AAAAARGH! I am driving myself insane. This really seemed like a good idea at the time, (and I know...it still is..) but I'm driving myself crazy with my vocal recordings. If I was in a studio, the first take would be it, I'd be happy and let the chips fall where they may. Studio time (AKA money) is a very good motivator in getting things right first time. I've been recording take after take. If I stood back logically, each one is good in its own right, but I'm getting a perfection syndrome and nothing seems to be good enough. I just bit the inside of my cheek by accident singing something with passion, and now I'm all miserable. Best to call it a night methinks.

Vocal freakouts!

I've just started seriously looking at the vocals on these recordings. Once the basic track is down, I put a vocal line which is a roughly recorded vocal track to show me just where everything is put together in the song. It's like a tracing line that I can work around.

The tragic thing is, because I'm so relaxed when I'm doing those temporary vocal guides, they're some of my best singing, but generally, they can't be used because I haven't recorded them properly.

Now I'm beginning the the real vocal line recording process, & I'm stuffing everything up as I go along, a plane goes over, the dog comes in and trips over a lead, not to mention my having a coughing fit from my nervous dry throat..yikes. It's a mess. The pressure I tells ya is getting to me!

5 string bass

I'm using 5 string bass for this whole CD. The one good thing I took away from the Ayelle experience, was Paul's 5 string bass. It really opened a whole new world to me as far as bass sounds go. I never realised how having that extra string could sound so good, so heavy and earth shuddering. Having an extra 4th to play around with adds a new flexibility in arrangements and let me tell you, being able to go down to even just the low Eb without down tuning is an arranger's dream.

I love bass

Just been working on "Cold Cold City" again tonight and I've decided that I just couldn't live life without a good punchy bass line. I have to declare my bass love for all the world. I don't care who knows about it. This little track is turning into a real pearler the more I work on it and along with Seize the Day could be one of the cd highlights. Of course, they're all highlights for me...lol.

Doing this CD by myself is definitely challenging my creative abilities (in a very good way!). One of the most enjoyable, and at the same time difficult things, is to come up with a bass line that is interesting, gives a great groove, holds the song together as a foundation, but isn't overbearing. I'm having such fun building bass lines for these songs -- most of my time is spent on getting the bass right, as without it, it's like building a house on sand. You can mess up anything else, but without good bass, you're nuthin!

Cold Cold City

The latest starter is a song I've called Cold Cold City. It's an odd little number, quite a soul/r&b verse, which leads into a somewhat rock influenced chorus. I'm still deciding on whether or not to include this on the new cd. Despite getting the track to sound exactly as I want it, I'm not sure about the lyrics. These lyrics leave me completely exposed. Am I ready to let you know all about me? Hmmm.