Tag: album

Today was the last day of recording.  I methodically went through each song, checking to see whether there was anything else that needed recording or re-recording, and generally listening to the result of my hard work this past week.  I re-did the vocal part for Jesus your name is higher, and put some solo guitar bits into Father God you reign – that was the hardest part actually, since solo electric guitar is arguably the musical discipline I’m least proficient at, that being the most recent string added to my already-brimming bow.  As a result, I had to do a lot of practice to get a solo riff I was happy with, and even then it took at least 4 takes to get a clean recording of it.  A little frustrating, to be honest, and clearly the area I need to work on most.

Once that was done, it was time to pack up camp.  To start with, everything was unplugged.  Then cables were coiled and separated into groups depending on which part of the house they needed to end up in.  Then the computer was taken upstairs, followed by all its related peripherals and cabling.  The guitars and keyboard were put back in their corner, in cases where appropriate.  The microphone was put back in its case, the pre-amp was put back in its bag, and all the remaining cables put back in their respective homes.

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First up today was the re-recording of Father God you reign, which actually appeared on the Rooted album In the beginning.  I remember being pretty pleased with the original recording back when I did it, but the more I listened to it the more I thought there was more that could have be done with it.  It needed to be louder.  It needed to be more rocky.  It needed better electric guitar sounds.  It needed better guitar solos.  So I decided to re-record the song from scratch to appear on this album as well.

I started off with a drum track, using drum loops, and then added guitars, bass and vocals.  I’ve given it a slightly edgier feel, and hopefully a more mature interpretation too.  It took a while to get right though.  A younger version of myself would have dismissed most rock music as being unsophisticated and requiring very little intelligence – after all, it’s just a case of turning the guitars up too loud and playing three chords…  But I’ve learnt in recent years that there is a definite art to creating a convincing ‘rock’ sound, and getting just the right sound from the guitar and amp combination is tricky stuff.  And of course if you then add in complex guitar solos as well, you can take it to a whole new level again.

Now, I’m not saying that my recording of Father God you reign would compare to a version recorded by Brian May, for instance, but it is pretty rocky, and I reckon it’s much better than the version I did for the Rooted album.  We’ll see once it’s been edited.

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I’ve done quite a bit of recording today, although in fact I’ve only recorded one new song.  Now that I’m in full swing, I’ve been able to go back to some of the songs I recorded earlier in the week and re-record bits that aren’t quite the same quality as what I’m up to now.  It’s the perfectionist in me.  If I didn’t have to work full time, I’d spend all day every day working on this, recording and re-recording until I was absolutely satisfied.  But I don’t have that luxury, so I’ll have to live with making several takes of everything and then mixing in the best bits in an effort to cobble together something decent.

The new song for today was On a hill far away which, contrary to what the title may suggest, is not a rewrite of the old hymn of the same name.  This is a completely new song.  I say completely new, it does draw on a Biblical theme, so I can’t exactly claim complete creative copyright on it!  It focuses on the shepherds looking after their sheep, being told by the angels that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  A nice Christmas theme.  But not at all Christmassy in its musical style, you’ll be glad to hear.

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I began today by picking up where I’d left off yesterday with Stranger than fiction, having had to leave it where it was to go and play badminton.  Turns out this song is a lot of fun indeed, with plenty of scope for some quirky and funny moments in the music.  I got a pretty groovy bass riff going, which sounds pretty awesome played on my custom Aria recorded clean so you just get the natural tone of the instrument, which I absolutely love.  I also put in some electric guitar solo riffs too, and some vocal effects (and even a bit of scat singing…).  And once again I recorded the drums by hitting my keyboard and using a software instrument, and I’m pretty pleased with the results.  Far better, in fact, than if I had found myself a real drum kit and recorded myself playing that, if only because I could go in and adjust the timing and edit out the mistakes!  It still needs a lot of work to edit it into something decent, but it’s a promising start.

I spent a fair amount of time on that, so it was a while before I got to start on the second song of the day, which was Too tired.  This song is written from the perspective of someone who has become disillusioned with the church, who has maybe been when they were younger but stopped going in their teens.  It tells a story of how the church doesn’t seem to hold anything of interest for them, and that God in general doesn’t seem to make much sense, so why bother believing at all.  I guess that’s something a lot of people can relate to.  However it then goes on to talk about how empty their life actually is, that something is missing, and finishes with an element of wonder and guilt that despite all the running, God is still there waiting.

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Today’s recording went pretty well.  First up was Come holy fire, which is a song I wrote last year and introduced at camp.  It’s a fairly reflective, quiet song, so it was a good opportunity for some ethereal guitar and piano bits.  I even recorded a drum track, which actually sounds pretty decent – playing on a keyboard isn’t quite ‘natural’ in terms of drumming position, but using the Jazz Kit software instrument in Logic actually sounds very realistic in this case, and I was very pleased with the result.  I have yet to quantise the MIDI track, and if I have time later in the week I’ll probably re-record a few other bits as well, but this is a good start.

The ‘ethereal’ aspect was provided mainly by the piano, with the sustain pedal held down the whole time.  That adds a very interesting suspended sound to the notes, with them all merging into one another, but it works well in this case.  I also recorded some solo guitar bits too, which with the right settings sounds a bit like the music Marks & Spencer used in their sexy food adverts!

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Yesterday I felt like listening to some Christmas music, and had a hazy memory of having a CD of the All Souls Orchestra somewhere.  I had a flick through my CD folder but couldn’t find it, and then remembered that I’d looked for it last year and found it to be broken – CDs, it appears, are not 100% bullet-proof after all, and this one had decided that the silvery backing wanted to peel off, rendering it well and truly dead.  So, that CD had ended up in the bin about this time last year.  So long All Souls Orchestra.

At least, that was until I noticed I had a backup CD in my folder that I had created way back in 2002, on which I had crammed 9 music albums, some of them 2-disc albums, in MP3 format.  Lo and behold, there was the All Souls Orchestra album!  So I got to listen to the Christmas music after all.

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On sale now – only £5!!

Rooted is a band I set up at Orchard Baptist Church a couple of years ago, mostly playing completely original songs written by members of the band.  After almost a year and a half in the making, our debut album is now finished and available for you to buy.  At the moment there are limited copies available, so get your bookings in now to ensure you don’t miss out!

In the beginning features 7 songs, including one bonus track at the end, and covers a range of musical styles, from rock to reflective, with the aim of stimulating worship in a variety of ways.  From the loud and rocky “Father God you reign” to the softer “I draw near” featuring a cello trio, there is something for everyone in this concise album of original Christian music.

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