Everything but the plums.

Thanks to original Riot Grrrl Steph for these photos.

Sometimes music making seems as easy as the proverbial falling off a log (a true proverb I can attest to, by the way) and so it was today.
I was though, just playing a small part in a big project. Jose is making an album of 'caravan sessions' consisting of recorded songs, all or many of which he is co-writing.

Jose is a super-talented producer as well as musician,  better known back in Spain where he has won awards in short films for soundtracks he has composed and recorded. He sent me a song a few days ago, one that has a long history in fact (which I may go into when it comes out), perhaps three quarters written. I added some lyrics and a 'bridgey part' and today we met up, in said caravan, to record.
Super-smoothly it did go: After a bit of working out who would do what and how we would transition from one part of the song to another we went for 4 takes in all, and now left him and Steph to work out where it goes from here. Steph had already started experimenting with her backing vocals on this track before I left, she is also playing a major part in terms of writing and recording on this whole project/album and I can't wait to hear it in it's entirety when it's all done.

So, a brilliant afternoon, the only downside being some offered, but forgotten plums! They have a tree for which our rainy/sunny August has worked wonders, resulting in a ... swarm(?) of plums... a plumage(?)... I'm sure one of you will provide the collective name, anyway, more than can be consumed by a household alone, but I sadly forgot to remind them about some of the offered surplus!
Thanks, you two, for having me along for the ride on this part of the journey, it was a great experience today!

Getting in Key. Recording with The Blue Yellows; Session 2.

Em had been absent from the 1st recording session with the band for the current record we (The Blue Yellows) are working on, as she was really quite busy with her newborn baby, Heidi! Now, she was ready though, and her keyboard sounds were the main thing yet to be recorded on the tracks we're laying down with our production maestro, Tim Lee.
It all took place in very domestic, relaxed surroundings and went really smoothly. 

Em at the Keys, Tim at mission control.

Em worked quickly, not needing to go over anything too much on keys, pretty impressive really, given how much time she has been out of the band lately. I was there to do some backing vocals with her; she used to work really well together with Hayley when Hayley was in the band and I thought it might help if we were both there to help sort backing vocal harmonies out, in the end, for technical reasons we recorded one at a time on vocals and it wasn't a problem. A really quick, productive session, and two tracks are now sounding really promising. Exciting stuff, we can't than Mr Lee enough for all his hard work!

There wasn't as much waiting around as usual in recording, but I just had time to see some niceness outside.

Recording  doobries.

Recording Diary Day 3: "Widget Poobid Fapside"

"Widget Poobid Fapside" is a possible working title for the EP which Hayley came up with based on something her laptop “said” to her. Perhaps it makes sense to someone out there, perhaps it’s some sort of computerspeak/code. It won’t get past the status of working title though so don’t go looking for an album of this name!

So day 3 was really a Thursday evening session, I got lead vocals down for 2 songs and quite a lot a backing vocal work went on. In fact one song could just about work A Cappella when we heard all the vocal parts played back at once. Emma also put some extra keyboard parts down on a couple of tracks. Dayve Dean, who has done so much for us before, continued the tradition by adding his emotive vocal sound onto a backing track too. Dayve had been working in another room at Orchard, while we worked with Dan, preparing his new radio show The Cat Sessions (& you can "listen again" of course)which featured us “live” from a gig the weekend before – weirdness squared.

A relaxed atmosphere while Dan, our sound wizz beavers away at the desk.

So another evening session beckons with more lead and backing vocals to do this week, stay tuned.

Dayve Dean, putting a show for "The Cat Sessions" together.

Nice things to look at and play :)



Dayve giving it some backing vox