Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Yay for percussion!

Hello again, my friends.
Today was by far my most productive day since I went to the studio months ago. Perhaps the common denominator here is Ashley Baier, the fabulous percussionist who paid me a visit today to add percussion tracks and listen through to my drum edits. After she left, I did a ton of editing work and am getting VERY VERY close to being done recording these songs!

The first song we tackled together is one that I only began recording YESTERDAY. I had been wanting to add another track to the album the whole time, but hadn't gotten time to sit down and finish writing. Once I actually sat down and worked on it, this song came out in about an hour - not bad considering how long I had been thinking about writing it. Here's a sample of the beginning of the song, complete with Ashley's expert tinkering on various percussionary instruments. (DISCLAIMER: When I recorded the vocal for this yesterday, I was very stuffed up. Sorry!):

Happy Song Sample

I haven't yet posted anything from last weekend when Nancy and Liz were here to record backing vocals. We didn't get through all of the tracks I was hoping to have them sing on, but we did get through several songs in our limited time. Today I had time to sort through those tracks and edit them together. Here's a sample of So Long with backing vocals (and perhaps too many guitars). (DISCLAIMER: STILL not the finished lead vocal. Don't mind the squirreliness of my part):

So Long Sample


The major stumbling block now may be that all I have left to do for most of the songs are the LEAD vocals, and obviously I want those to sound good. So I need to be over my current cold, I need my girlfriend to be done with finals for law school, AND I need tiiiime to record. When the stars align, I'll finish the vocals and move on to mixing. From there, it should be a QUICK snowball to completion.

Happy spring,
Mara

Monday, April 12, 2010

Almost done!

Helloooo, world. Once again, I have been working furiously to make incremental progress for weeks now, but after yesterday I had no excuse - I HAD to post my progress. For the last few weeks I've been editing parts, adding little electric guitars here and there, and doing a lot of planning for backing vocals. Yesterday, the Pushovers came to Brooklyn and we spent all day recording backing vocals. Nancy and Liz started out the day with Is This My Life, singing the parts we always sing live. We then moved on to Sing So Loud and Tired Lonely Fools, both of which involved adding new parts to the existing vocals they were familiar with.

In the afternoon, several of our friends and girlfriends were able to join us for two group-vocal sessions. Jessie, Mandy, Zena, and Meredith all joined in for Tired Lonely Fools and Gotta Get Out (a-woah!), both of which sound fantastic now.

After the band left, I got to editing, and then had a very special treat - our two 10-year-old neighbors came down to the studio and added their expert voices to Tired Lonely Fools!

Because I haven't finished editing yet, I'm posting a sample of Is This My Life today. As soon as I have another few minutes, I'll post a sample of Tired Lonely Fools so you can start practicing to sing along with the final version.

IS THIS MY LIFE SAMPLE

In OTHER news, I have gotten some samples of logo designs from MY DESIGNER, and I'm really excited about the direction that's taking.

Love to everyone and happy spring!
Mara