Another song in the can. This song really came together for me with Morgan’s contributions, not the least of which was singing backup. A lot of differences from the last attempt: I redid the main guitar line because I didn’t like the sound of the earlier recording, even though the playing was fine. The bass is also Morgan, and it just fills out the song for me. I added some little solo acoustic licks here and there, but I particularly enjoy the line over the second part of the chorus, where we sing “It’s alriiiiight, everything’s alriiiiieeiiyaiyaiaiighhht…” (and that is the correct spelling, incidentally). There are also subtle synthesizer bits scattered throughout.
So much fun to restructure a song. Remember that this used to be a very hard driving electric piece, but with the help of friends it was able to find itself.
I’m moving again this coming week, so I’m taking another short break. But I’ll be back recording another song in a week or so, in a brand new studio in a new house. Photos to come.
Another song in the can. The most notable part of this one is the chorus of voices at my traditional grand ending fadeout, which was probably the most fun I’ve had in the studio. Recording like I do can be a lonely endeavor, so it was utterly refreshing to have a group of friends in my room, all happy and singing. A lovely moment.
As I hoped, things began to come into focus once I started over. In this, ostensibly the final cut, I’ve totally rerecorded everything from scratch. I eliminated the screaming middle bit and found the song a lot gentler and sadder, sort of more faithful to the original emotion behind its creation. I kept the idea, though, and transformed it into a sad, singing middle section played only once in the song. I also rewrote some lines, which changes the song significantly in my eyes. To wit:
You are never alone, that’s what you say to the empty hallway, I am always here, listening to voices in my head, You know nothing about the meaning of the words never and always, And I am already dust, everyone’s already dead.
Severely edited, became:
You are never alone, that’s what you say to your pale reflection, And I am always here, listening to voices in my head, We are nothing but the product of late night introspection, And I am already gone, who can remember what you said?
I hope this makes it kind of sadder, less angry, more thoughtful. I’ve also added a new section at the end, typically finishing my songs with this grand orgy of overdubbing. I’m a little worried that maybe all my songs tend to do this, but it just seems so perfect to me almost all the time. I think about half of the songs sketched out for this album have some grand ending like this. Maybe that’s too much, or maybe it’s just my style. I find it’s hard to tell with these things when you’re in the middle of it.
I like this song, but it was not anywhere as quick or easy to record as I’d hoped. It was in fact a brutal process, and in all honesty I’m not even fully satisfied with some parts. Who knows what I’ll think next week, though. I’m crossing my fingers that the next song will go more smoothly.
Done! Very happy with this now, and looking forward to getting the album itself done sometime soon. I went through quite a few changes to get here, though, and I admit it took a bit longer than I wanted. First I redid the vocal tracks entirely, nailing the main part in a few tries, and then endlessly recording and rerecording the backup voices. I also chopped out the lines “I’m outside, I see the stars” from the end, on Nastja’s recommendation, who found it incongruous with the rest of the song.
Next I added just a few more guitar licks, but still something seemed missing to me. Can’t bring back the synthesizer, so on a whim I whipped out a harmonica and threw that on. I am certain that real harmonica players will frown on my performance, but all the same I’m pretty happy with it. Never tried that before, and the song seemed to need it.
Finally, mixing and effects. I shoved various elements around in the stereo field until they started fitting where I wanted them, and then I dabbed some reverb here and there. I had to compress the bass to keep it from getting lost in the mix, and I lowered the volume of most of the guitar fills, to keep them from distracting attention from the lyrics. In the end I’m still not quite sure if there’s something left to do, but I’m calling this one done for now and am starting on the next song hasta pronto.
Done! Hard to tell sometimes when you get here, but all of a sudden you’re finished. To do it, I polished and rerecorded some of the guitar riffs, and then totally redid the ending guitar overdub fadeout extravaganza. That final part has four guitars coming in at different times, all panned to different locations, playing simple, repetitive lines. I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved this kind of thing. I try not to overdo it (kind of a once-an-album sort of trick, when you think about it) but jeez, the effect on me is uplifting and marvelous. I dunno - it just sorta gets me right there.
After I completed the recording, I messed around with the placement of each instrument or element. This is a lot of fun for me. You can really change a song drastically with panning. There is a profound difference between a guitar sound sitting solidly in one place versus a guitar whooshing from one ear to the other. Rabinal isn’t really a whooshing guitar song, but it’s still important that all the pieces fit in the right places, so I spent quite a bit of time panning around and getting everything to lock in how I like it. I also find that getting everything in its place makes for less EQ, which is sort of what I’m trying to do with this album: less of everything. Almost minimalist.
Finally, I piped most of the tracks through one of three different reverbs I set up. Again, I don’t want to overdo it: reverb on a track is like salt or vinegar - a dash can really bring out the flavor, but too much and you’ve ruined it. And no amount of salt will hide bad cooking! So I’m trying to do my work on the front end - good performance, good recording, and just a touch of reverb at the end.
Now I’m shelving this song and off to the next one down the list. Recording is wonderful! Download Free
