And in this Hottest of Hot Places
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Ah, back on track, keeping up with it. Posting the day after a session is just the way it should be. We're now 4 proper songs into the album, and 28 minutes. If we keep going like this we only need another 2 songs and it will be finished. Considering my fondness for long songs and 40-something minute albums that would suit me, but not Vanessa. She wants 11 songs on Hollows. It's going to be a long album.
The 36 degree heat of the day got to me and I had to comment on it in the lyrics of the new song. I tried to write this song on Tuesday but in 8 studio hours acheived nothing. To cope with the pain of non-productivity I drank bourbon with my brother and recorded the storm that tried to break the heat. (What's better than the sound of thunder is the sound of cars driving the wet road outside the studio.) Elisha Sando came and recorded in the late evening with a new guitar and a bottle of red and I thought to myself, "Well, I didn't do anything today, but there's always tomorrow." Have a sense of humour.
Vanessa and I have continued our 80's theme with Always Tomorrow, another we composed and recorded in the one long 15 hour session. It started with a little dirty guitar riff on the Epiphone and grew into something of a cross between dark Peter Gabriel and The Rasmus. My head is already hung in shame. I worked through most of the day, but the heat finally got to me at 4:30 and I fell asleep in the studio. Evidently the 'cool change' that came through at lunch time skipped the Ugly World. Vanessa arrived as usual about 7:30 and we had a listen to the song.
Always Tomorrow Sample (Chorus 1, Verse 3) 952kb
Neither of us feel quite as inspired about this one as many of our others, but agree that it will brush up fine with some more work. What you hear in that sample is chorus 1 and verse 3. What you don't hear is verse 1 which is my current favourite bit. After the introduction (which builds with percussion, the Estey bellow organ, beats and bass) everything drops away to Vanessa's voice, some whirly, a ticking-clicking type loop and far off crash cymbals. Without any effort at all I am transported to a small dark place, and it's very very hot there.
Without writing in any logical order, jump back to 7:30. After listening to the song and having a chat about what to do with it (Vanessa: "Yes, I'm hearing some big notes in that chorus. It's a big chorus.") we again sat with a verse and chorus looped while Ness wrote notes and I wrote words. We jammed the two together and off we went to record many many vocal tracks. The mix on this was fast and will need to be done again (as will all of these samples you get to hear). It's always a bad idea to mix after recording for 15 hours.
Just to touch quickly on the overall progress of Hollows, a comment was made in the car last night about the new stuff having a lot more balls than Serpent. We're having more fun with sounds of a less-typically perfect nature. Do you agree? It's okay to leave a comment if you bother to read this. We like comments, yes.
The Always Tomorrow Perculiarity List:
(1) As I mentioned just then, we've used the Estey (See insert photo with insert)! At long last! So far it's been used almost exclusively by Moscowine, and on my Old Wood project (which for anyone interested is still happening, albeit slowly). Its presence will be more apparent when I've mixed the song properly. (2) There are 9 vocal tracks on this song. You wouldn't pick it, but with all the overlap we could do it no other way (3) For the most part, the lyrics on this song actually mean something. What that is I doubt you'll ever know. (4) During the instrumental section Vanessa was compelled to show off her traditional eastern-style vocalising, of which two snippets have been kept. Okay, that's not the entire truth. I convinced her to give it a go. We removed the giggles either side.
The 36 degree heat of the day got to me and I had to comment on it in the lyrics of the new song. I tried to write this song on Tuesday but in 8 studio hours acheived nothing. To cope with the pain of non-productivity I drank bourbon with my brother and recorded the storm that tried to break the heat. (What's better than the sound of thunder is the sound of cars driving the wet road outside the studio.) Elisha Sando came and recorded in the late evening with a new guitar and a bottle of red and I thought to myself, "Well, I didn't do anything today, but there's always tomorrow." Have a sense of humour.Vanessa and I have continued our 80's theme with Always Tomorrow, another we composed and recorded in the one long 15 hour session. It started with a little dirty guitar riff on the Epiphone and grew into something of a cross between dark Peter Gabriel and The Rasmus. My head is already hung in shame. I worked through most of the day, but the heat finally got to me at 4:30 and I fell asleep in the studio. Evidently the 'cool change' that came through at lunch time skipped the Ugly World. Vanessa arrived as usual about 7:30 and we had a listen to the song.
Always Tomorrow Sample (Chorus 1, Verse 3) 952kbNeither of us feel quite as inspired about this one as many of our others, but agree that it will brush up fine with some more work. What you hear in that sample is chorus 1 and verse 3. What you don't hear is verse 1 which is my current favourite bit. After the introduction (which builds with percussion, the Estey bellow organ, beats and bass) everything drops away to Vanessa's voice, some whirly, a ticking-clicking type loop and far off crash cymbals. Without any effort at all I am transported to a small dark place, and it's very very hot there.
Without writing in any logical order, jump back to 7:30. After listening to the song and having a chat about what to do with it (Vanessa: "Yes, I'm hearing some big notes in that chorus. It's a big chorus.") we again sat with a verse and chorus looped while Ness wrote notes and I wrote words. We jammed the two together and off we went to record many many vocal tracks. The mix on this was fast and will need to be done again (as will all of these samples you get to hear). It's always a bad idea to mix after recording for 15 hours.
Just to touch quickly on the overall progress of Hollows, a comment was made in the car last night about the new stuff having a lot more balls than Serpent. We're having more fun with sounds of a less-typically perfect nature. Do you agree? It's okay to leave a comment if you bother to read this. We like comments, yes.
The Always Tomorrow Perculiarity List:
(1) As I mentioned just then, we've used the Estey (See insert photo with insert)! At long last! So far it's been used almost exclusively by Moscowine, and on my Old Wood project (which for anyone interested is still happening, albeit slowly). Its presence will be more apparent when I've mixed the song properly. (2) There are 9 vocal tracks on this song. You wouldn't pick it, but with all the overlap we could do it no other way (3) For the most part, the lyrics on this song actually mean something. What that is I doubt you'll ever know. (4) During the instrumental section Vanessa was compelled to show off her traditional eastern-style vocalising, of which two snippets have been kept. Okay, that's not the entire truth. I convinced her to give it a go. We removed the giggles either side.
- posted by Tim at 2:08 PM -
I have listened to your samples and they sound magnifique! i also find them quite inspiring! - Rach :)
By 
, at
December 22, 2005 3:47 PM
Thank you Rachel! Happy to be of service. And thank you for the pinkandwhite wallet attachment.
By 
Tim, at
January 27, 2006 9:27 PM
Leave a comment of your very own
