audiot

sheesh! I wonder if i can ever get back to a regular blogging routine. but right now there’s at least a bit of good news…..or actually, that depends, i guess. anyway, here’s the new album called “studded for pleasure”. once again it was part of the rpm-challenge and once again, time ran out on me so i had to whip it together really fast in the end. it’s probably not as weird as the last one but still raw, edgy and dirty. enjoy

studded for pleasure by audiot.eu

now here is a little more detail and insight from the singer’s point of view. the following thoughts were triggered by this article i linked to 2 days ago.

first, i’d like to say that i fully agree with those 8 points and think that they’re a good help in preparing for a vocal recording session. however, there are a few things that need to be added. memorizing lyrics is absolutely crucial, at least in my book. there’s nothing more lame than a singer who doesn’t know her/his words inside and out. i never went to a recording session without being perfectly prepared. and that’s simply because i believe one of the most important things about recording is being as professional as possible. that alone could be an entry in itself and i believe i already wrote a little about this every now and then. let’s just mention two things here: 1. you’re not alone in this world. so being professional is showing respect to the people who work with you (and not only because you want them to hire you again…). and 2. not being professional means a waste of the currency time and this will result in less motivation and higher costs. that being said, this depends of course on the fact that you need the lyrics and the song itself in advance with enough time to prepare yourself. but, as harsh as this may sound, being a singer not only means hookers & booze but also being able to get into a song really fast, being able to memorize lyrics really fast and being able to come up with some melody really fast. that doesn’t necessarily apply if you’re just some kind of a backyard screamer – but even then i would expect a certain amount of professionalism from you. if you don’t take yourself seriously – why should i? now, it still is important to have the lyrics printed out and there (plus an adequate stand to hold them in place where the singer can see them without turning around. i always go the extra mile and set this up, even if i do not look at it once. it’s just part of the deal and who knows, maybe you’re giving the performance of a lifetime and then being carried away so far that you lost the first word of the 3rd verse… so just have the lyrics there, will ya? and do not count on others to bring them for you. take care of everything that involves you yourself – well, at least of the things you’re able to take care of. by the way, if you like to make notes on your lyrics or wherever, bring a pen and some paper yourself. they should have it there, but bring it anyway – it’s not that much to ask, now is it?

now, the second point in the article is about setting the microphone up (including the rest of you signal chain) and have it all ready and working before the actual session starts. there’s not that much more to say about this except how important this is! remember the part about being professional? as much as i ask this from myself, i ask this from others as well. it sucks big time to show up on time and then sitting around for an hour or so waiting until everything’s ready. huge motivation-killer. and although i believe in being able to give a good performance anytime, the vibes just suffer from something like this. if i’m recording myself i usually set everything up the evening before, tweak all the knobs and run a quick test or two. then i go home and have a good night sleep, knowing that there won’t be any technical issues spoiling the performance to come. of course, there is another quick test necessary right before the actual recording, but it’s just a great feeling to go there, knowing everything’s ready to go. if you’re recording somewhere else, but with your gear, be sure to plan enough time for the setting up and a short break. i don’t need to mention that you should be able to set up your own equipment even in your sleep, do i? now, if you have nothing to do with the setting up, it’s really not up to you. so the only thing you can do here is being prepared to wait. or better: count on it and then be surprised positively if it’s not necessary…

wow, it seems this makes for at least one more part – so check back tomorrow…

nope, this did not evolve into a fruitblog – still the same ole music crap…

this is about genres…kind of. there is this saying, that goes something like this: if you have nothing but a hammer, everything looks like a nail to you. i love this metaphor, because it hits the issue on the head (punny, now isn’t it?). we often become the hammerguy, even if we have other tools available – sometimes we just don’t see or use them. recently i stumbled across some people who tried to solve a rock-problem by using classical methods. when i mentioned this, they denied, and who’s to say who’s wrong? but here’s my thoughts on that:

the first step in doing something is to think appropriately. you want to speak portuguese? think portuguese! (note: this works for other languages as well ;-)  ). don’t think english (or wherever else you’re from) and then translate, this won’t work at all. the same goes for music. you want to make jazz? think jazz. don’t try to translate classic into funk or reggae – it will sound horrible!

that being said, i’m not talking about creative ways to come up with something new. i’m talking about ignoring the big picture by using only above mentioned hammer because you’re too comfortable with it or simply too lazy to really get into something else.

maybe i’ll write more about this someday. right now, that’s all i have in me and it should be enough to provoke some thoughts – at least i hope so…

yep, i know i still owe you descriptions of 7 more songs from the album “corner”, but right now i’m throwing together kind of a demo for the boss of a music school who offered me a job as a jazz-vocal-teacher. i can’t post the tunes because they weren’t written and recorded by me (except the vocals of course). but it still was an interesting experience – the most interesting thing about it was the speed…

after quite a while of studio-abstinence i felt like a hired gun again. go there – do your job – get out. i always loved this kind of work, even if you have no real control over what’s happening or what’s being done with your tracks afterwards. what i like about it is the efficiency, the professionalism – dig it! so i thought of this as a studio gig and approached it that way. i went to my recording room, set up the laptop, the audio interface and a tube-mic – did some gain-staging (i wanted to link this to some nice article that explains gain-staging in an understandable way but couldn’t find one! maybe you’ll have more luck, i’m simply not able to explain technical stuff with my crappy english. in a nutshell, it’s about setting the gain right in every part of your signal chain, so you have a loud and clear signal without noise or clipping in the end…) and had a go!

i then recorded vocals for 12 songs in about 3.5 hours – two takes for each track and one take of backing vocals for one song. that makes 26 takes total (incl. the first one i did as a test) + setting up the gear in less than 4 hours. i don’t know about your experiences but i’d say this is pretty fast – and a whole lotta fun it was. it just feels great to be productive like that, to spend 4 hours and then go home with an usb-stick full of decent material. although i haven’t done such vocal recording sessions in a while, and therefore felt a bit rusty, it turned out very well. i picked 6 of the 12 tunes to be on the demo, but they’re all good enough – it was more about having different things to offer.

so i dare you to go out and speedcord (just made this term up :-) ) something, anything, just like that. instead of sitting around and complaining about that one missing piece of equipment or about whatever it is you’re complaining about. once i was in a band with a guitarplayer who was not able to record anything in over six months! not a single note. we wanted to make an album, did some test-tracks and when it came to the real thing, he took the DAW home to do this (so noone else could do anything…) and that was about it. six months later i dared to ask how it’s going, only to hear that not one single note has been recorded by him – he was still trying to find the right sound! maybe he still is – come to think of it, i’m pretty sure about that. so the only thing that happened quickly with this band was me packing my stuff… nothing worse than time-thieves and the world is full of them!

go speedcord!