Here is the running order for the album "Antipodes"
1. Anyway
2. Dreaming on the Night sky
3. Jazzman
4. The Last Goodbye
5. Inside Your Heart
6. Take Your Time
7. Demon
8. Only in Dreams
9. Because of You
10. If Love Is
11. Ordinary Man
12. I Believe in You
Available soon.
Tuesday 23 February 2010
Song 12 - "Dreaming on the Night Sky"
And so to the last one. The first demo of this song arrived on 30th January, although Rob had already mentioned that it was an existing lyric that perfectly fitted the new tune he had come up with.
The song was very REM sounding - we both thought so, and it was great to have a guitar based song that was going to be included. The trouble is, with the REM style strumming guitars, it didn't leave a lot of space for me to invent anything. Neither of us ever try to compete with the other. A lot of people in this business are just born show offs, and although there is nothing wrong with that (after all it is entertainment), I think Rob and I are past that stage, and wanted what is best for the songs. This, in my opinion, is why we have worked together so well and come up with 12 finished songs in 5 months.
With that in mind, I just recorded some simple piano chords along with the guitar, and added a flute on a couple of the fills. I sent the first mix through and Rob soon replied that he loved what I had added, but wanted it louder - so I duly obliged. He then wanted an atmospheric sound way back in the mix on the choruses, but, try as I might, these sections of the song were just too "busy" already to add anything to, but it needed something.
I eventually settled on a very simple string line behind Rob's guitar solo which I think has really worked well - see for yourself on the clip.
We were almost there, apart from waiting for Rob's additions to "Ordinary Man" at this stage - as previously mentioned, they have now come through. Rob spent a lot of time working on the running order of the songs for the album - this is a very important part of the process. The order he sent through looked good and I re-arranged all my copies of the songs into the suggested order on my Ipod and had quite a few listens - it was perfect, although I was surprised he left "I believe in you" until last.
Here is the clip of the 12th and final song. It is to be the 2nd on the finished album.
The song was very REM sounding - we both thought so, and it was great to have a guitar based song that was going to be included. The trouble is, with the REM style strumming guitars, it didn't leave a lot of space for me to invent anything. Neither of us ever try to compete with the other. A lot of people in this business are just born show offs, and although there is nothing wrong with that (after all it is entertainment), I think Rob and I are past that stage, and wanted what is best for the songs. This, in my opinion, is why we have worked together so well and come up with 12 finished songs in 5 months.
With that in mind, I just recorded some simple piano chords along with the guitar, and added a flute on a couple of the fills. I sent the first mix through and Rob soon replied that he loved what I had added, but wanted it louder - so I duly obliged. He then wanted an atmospheric sound way back in the mix on the choruses, but, try as I might, these sections of the song were just too "busy" already to add anything to, but it needed something.
I eventually settled on a very simple string line behind Rob's guitar solo which I think has really worked well - see for yourself on the clip.
We were almost there, apart from waiting for Rob's additions to "Ordinary Man" at this stage - as previously mentioned, they have now come through. Rob spent a lot of time working on the running order of the songs for the album - this is a very important part of the process. The order he sent through looked good and I re-arranged all my copies of the songs into the suggested order on my Ipod and had quite a few listens - it was perfect, although I was surprised he left "I believe in you" until last.
Here is the clip of the 12th and final song. It is to be the 2nd on the finished album.
Song 11 - "Jazzman"
Within 6 days of sending through "Ordinary Man", I had written and recorded my last contribution for the album (apart from adding to Rob's one to come). I was indeed enjoying quite a prolific couple of weeks. Sometimes, it just happens like that - other times you can go for months - in fact, until "Antipodes", I had been idle for some 8 or 9 years, so one is definately re-energised by having a goal to work towards.
"Jazzman" came about by just idly sitting at the keyboard and mucking about with the various drum sounds. I came across a drum kit sound called "brush kit" and played a few of the different jazz sounding drum and cymbal notes. That was it. Never having written a complete jazz number, I decided to give it a go.
I recorded a few simple bars of drums and added a double bass sound, and I was hooked. I started from scratch again with the piano. Wasn't too long before the entire "tune" was written and recorded on just the piano track. I added the complete drums and double bass which was enough of a basis for me to start writing the lyrics.
The first line of the song "I've always wanted to be a jazzman" is not necessarily true, although I do have a great admiration and sneaky desire to possess the skills of improvisation that comes with this particular blend of music. Once the first line was written, the rest came easy. I just imagined a laid back sax player, going to, playing at, and going home from a jazz gig in some little club somewhere - hopefully, I have managed to convey the atmosphere that such a place conjours up.
I added a sax sound on the two intro verses and originally, I left two instrumental verses in the middle for Rob to do his thing with some jazz guitar. I then recorded the vocal track and sent a demo through to Rob on 26th January. He was quite surprised that, yet again, I had deviated from our original plan, but I think he was quite pleased to have a different type of song to work on.
He said it was a shame that his saxaphone playing friend (brilliant by Rob's reckoning) was not available to play on this one, but I must confess, although it would have sounded 1000% better than my effort, it would have for the first time involved someone else on the album - so I am glad of his unavailability really. I wanted this to be our project for the first album, and I think Rob did too to be honest.
A couple of days later, Rob suggested some sax fills and a piano solo for the second instrumental verse, leaving him with some guitar fills and the first inst. verse all to himself. Good idea, it certainly gave the song a better balance and I was quite proud of the jazz solo I managed to get done.
On 5th February, Rob sent through the completed track. His guitar was excellent - very BB King. The thing was, he had also put on some very good backing vocals, but after a few listens, we decided to ditch those as it made the song more 60's soul than 40's jazz. Anyhow the song was done, but during it's making, one of the greatest jazz saxophonists, Humphrey Littleton, died. Spooky.
Here is a sample of the finished product
"Jazzman" came about by just idly sitting at the keyboard and mucking about with the various drum sounds. I came across a drum kit sound called "brush kit" and played a few of the different jazz sounding drum and cymbal notes. That was it. Never having written a complete jazz number, I decided to give it a go.
I recorded a few simple bars of drums and added a double bass sound, and I was hooked. I started from scratch again with the piano. Wasn't too long before the entire "tune" was written and recorded on just the piano track. I added the complete drums and double bass which was enough of a basis for me to start writing the lyrics.
The first line of the song "I've always wanted to be a jazzman" is not necessarily true, although I do have a great admiration and sneaky desire to possess the skills of improvisation that comes with this particular blend of music. Once the first line was written, the rest came easy. I just imagined a laid back sax player, going to, playing at, and going home from a jazz gig in some little club somewhere - hopefully, I have managed to convey the atmosphere that such a place conjours up.
I added a sax sound on the two intro verses and originally, I left two instrumental verses in the middle for Rob to do his thing with some jazz guitar. I then recorded the vocal track and sent a demo through to Rob on 26th January. He was quite surprised that, yet again, I had deviated from our original plan, but I think he was quite pleased to have a different type of song to work on.
He said it was a shame that his saxaphone playing friend (brilliant by Rob's reckoning) was not available to play on this one, but I must confess, although it would have sounded 1000% better than my effort, it would have for the first time involved someone else on the album - so I am glad of his unavailability really. I wanted this to be our project for the first album, and I think Rob did too to be honest.
A couple of days later, Rob suggested some sax fills and a piano solo for the second instrumental verse, leaving him with some guitar fills and the first inst. verse all to himself. Good idea, it certainly gave the song a better balance and I was quite proud of the jazz solo I managed to get done.
On 5th February, Rob sent through the completed track. His guitar was excellent - very BB King. The thing was, he had also put on some very good backing vocals, but after a few listens, we decided to ditch those as it made the song more 60's soul than 40's jazz. Anyhow the song was done, but during it's making, one of the greatest jazz saxophonists, Humphrey Littleton, died. Spooky.
Here is a sample of the finished product
Thursday 18 February 2010
Song 10 - "Ordinary Man"
On the 15th January - I sent Rob a photograph of me for the album. If you are linking to this through Facebook, you already have seen the photo I am on about as it is my profile pic.
Quite a lot of snow had fallen in our county over the first couple of weeks of January, so my other passion - golf - had to be put on hold. As a result, I could spend a lot of time in the studio, and came up with my 5th and our 10th song - "Ordinary Man". I was going to call it "Ordinary World", but I think Duran Duran may have objected. Rob mentioned he had already written a song in the 90's called "Ordinary Man", but he didn't have as much clout as Simon Le Bon so I didn't care! Nor did he.
Fairly straightforward song about everyday life for me. I decided to put on some acoustic guitars myself on this one, just as backing, which would give Rob a free hand in putting some electric or acoustic fills plus some backing or harmony vocals. The other new addition was a tambourine track - not from the keyboard - but a real live Mick Jagger waving tambourine. The song is over 5 minutes long and that is a lot of arm waving for the tambourine track - needless to say, I did it in one take.
Rob has now sent through his additions to this song - the last one to be completed - so although the album (apart from the artwork) is completed as I write this, there are still two more songs to consider on the blog.
Here is a clip of the completed song
Quite a lot of snow had fallen in our county over the first couple of weeks of January, so my other passion - golf - had to be put on hold. As a result, I could spend a lot of time in the studio, and came up with my 5th and our 10th song - "Ordinary Man". I was going to call it "Ordinary World", but I think Duran Duran may have objected. Rob mentioned he had already written a song in the 90's called "Ordinary Man", but he didn't have as much clout as Simon Le Bon so I didn't care! Nor did he.
Fairly straightforward song about everyday life for me. I decided to put on some acoustic guitars myself on this one, just as backing, which would give Rob a free hand in putting some electric or acoustic fills plus some backing or harmony vocals. The other new addition was a tambourine track - not from the keyboard - but a real live Mick Jagger waving tambourine. The song is over 5 minutes long and that is a lot of arm waving for the tambourine track - needless to say, I did it in one take.
Rob has now sent through his additions to this song - the last one to be completed - so although the album (apart from the artwork) is completed as I write this, there are still two more songs to consider on the blog.
Here is a clip of the completed song
Song 9 - "Inside Your Heart"
Over the Christmas period I had a bit of a scare with my 12-track digital master recorder. Halfway through transferring something from it to the computer on Cool Edit, an error message came up on the 12-track that (a) made no sense and as a result (b) scared the living daylights out of me.
I took the most technical of routes - I turned it off and turned it on again and the thing behaved itself for the rest of the evening. Turned out it was probably too full of data, so I got rid of a lot of master material that I had saved as an mp3 and (touch wood) to date - no more error messages. "Antipodes" could continue.
Rob had sent some artwork through that he found on the net that would be perfect for our album cover - so it was all coming together nicely. He also sent through a new mix for "Only in Dreams" with extra percussion - but for me, it really spoiled the song, so he agreed to ditch the additions - he pretty much thought the same anyway.
So into the new year. I was now lagging a couple of songs behind - but I needn't have worried. I feel the next two of mine were the best of my own efforts (with the possible exception of "Anyway"). It's hard to describe what inspires you to write any song. The melody (or tune if you like) is very important, as it is normally the music that first grabs the listeners attention. But I also try and write decent lyrics when I can, because this is the part of the song that normally grows on people after a few plays and turns a good song into a long lasting song.
I decided to write a song to my son Marc who is due to be married this year. I know that his sister Leisa will understand that it would have seemed trite to also compose one for her on the same album - it will happen - as I think the world of them equally - but it will be on a future compilation.
For the first verse and chorus, I decided on no drums at all. Just a piano, oboe and some strings. Rob later added some chorus guitar to this which sounded brilliant. He also puts harmony vocals on the first chorus - equally excellent.
For the second verse and chorus the drums come in - sounding military style with a lot of emphasis on the snare. Along with Rob's harmony - the song draws to a finish with the intro repeated on the oboe and piano and Rob throwing in some great final notes using a swell pedal - very Mark Knopfler.
Rob really liked the song. He asked my permission to sing harmonies as the subject matter was personal. "Of course" I told him "This is our project - not just mine" He did a first rate job of the harmonies too.
There were a lot of problems with a particular note towards the end of the song, but thanks to some pretty neat editing on Rob's part, we ended up with the finish we wanted.
Here is the extract
I took the most technical of routes - I turned it off and turned it on again and the thing behaved itself for the rest of the evening. Turned out it was probably too full of data, so I got rid of a lot of master material that I had saved as an mp3 and (touch wood) to date - no more error messages. "Antipodes" could continue.
Rob had sent some artwork through that he found on the net that would be perfect for our album cover - so it was all coming together nicely. He also sent through a new mix for "Only in Dreams" with extra percussion - but for me, it really spoiled the song, so he agreed to ditch the additions - he pretty much thought the same anyway.
So into the new year. I was now lagging a couple of songs behind - but I needn't have worried. I feel the next two of mine were the best of my own efforts (with the possible exception of "Anyway"). It's hard to describe what inspires you to write any song. The melody (or tune if you like) is very important, as it is normally the music that first grabs the listeners attention. But I also try and write decent lyrics when I can, because this is the part of the song that normally grows on people after a few plays and turns a good song into a long lasting song.
I decided to write a song to my son Marc who is due to be married this year. I know that his sister Leisa will understand that it would have seemed trite to also compose one for her on the same album - it will happen - as I think the world of them equally - but it will be on a future compilation.
For the first verse and chorus, I decided on no drums at all. Just a piano, oboe and some strings. Rob later added some chorus guitar to this which sounded brilliant. He also puts harmony vocals on the first chorus - equally excellent.
For the second verse and chorus the drums come in - sounding military style with a lot of emphasis on the snare. Along with Rob's harmony - the song draws to a finish with the intro repeated on the oboe and piano and Rob throwing in some great final notes using a swell pedal - very Mark Knopfler.
Rob really liked the song. He asked my permission to sing harmonies as the subject matter was personal. "Of course" I told him "This is our project - not just mine" He did a first rate job of the harmonies too.
There were a lot of problems with a particular note towards the end of the song, but thanks to some pretty neat editing on Rob's part, we ended up with the finish we wanted.
Here is the extract
Song 8 - " If Love Is"
This should have been the point at which I was telling you about the next number from me - but as previously explained, Rob sent through 2 songs within a day of one another, the second one being this one "If Love Is".
He called it my early Christmas present and said it was one for me to work on over the holiday. Little did he know that it was the day before my birthday that it arrived and I liked it so much, it turned into my birthday present as I worked on it during that day - 19th December.
Rob had left this one wide open for me to experiment with. His comment was that he was not sure it was one for the album but wanted to wait and see what I did with it first. To go alongside the opening acoustic guitar chords, I chose a rock organ sound that I could put a lot of tremelo on whenever I wanted (thats where the note starts in a straight line, but then begins to waver - very effective. I had that on the intro and on the first instrumental.
I then found a lovely flute sound on the keyboard which I tacked on to the end of the song as it faded out. Otherwise, it was just piano chords in addition to the guitar, bass and drums Rob had recorded. It was then on to some harmony vocals. I decided to just add an answering line of lyric for the last line before the final chorus and then sing 3-part harmony on the final chorus. As Rob had also harmonised with himself on each chorus, the last one was going to have a lot of voices going on, but it turned out better than I could have hoped - sounded really full and not jumbled at all (which can sometimes happen).
Sent all my additions through on 21st December. Rob replied overnight stating how much he loved what I had added. So much so that he wanted more flute on the second instrumental break instead of the intended guitar. I managed to get this done after Christmas, and sent through the results on 2nd January 2010 which were received very well by the New Zealand half of this partnership.
A clip of this song features on Rob's website (which is www.myspace.com/robsmithmuso)
Here is another
He called it my early Christmas present and said it was one for me to work on over the holiday. Little did he know that it was the day before my birthday that it arrived and I liked it so much, it turned into my birthday present as I worked on it during that day - 19th December.
Rob had left this one wide open for me to experiment with. His comment was that he was not sure it was one for the album but wanted to wait and see what I did with it first. To go alongside the opening acoustic guitar chords, I chose a rock organ sound that I could put a lot of tremelo on whenever I wanted (thats where the note starts in a straight line, but then begins to waver - very effective. I had that on the intro and on the first instrumental.
I then found a lovely flute sound on the keyboard which I tacked on to the end of the song as it faded out. Otherwise, it was just piano chords in addition to the guitar, bass and drums Rob had recorded. It was then on to some harmony vocals. I decided to just add an answering line of lyric for the last line before the final chorus and then sing 3-part harmony on the final chorus. As Rob had also harmonised with himself on each chorus, the last one was going to have a lot of voices going on, but it turned out better than I could have hoped - sounded really full and not jumbled at all (which can sometimes happen).
Sent all my additions through on 21st December. Rob replied overnight stating how much he loved what I had added. So much so that he wanted more flute on the second instrumental break instead of the intended guitar. I managed to get this done after Christmas, and sent through the results on 2nd January 2010 which were received very well by the New Zealand half of this partnership.
A clip of this song features on Rob's website (which is www.myspace.com/robsmithmuso)
Here is another
Song 7 - "I Believe in You"
So - into the second half. The next song of Rob's was received on 17th December - just 4 days after completing "Demon", but before I could even get started on it - yet another one arrived from the other side of the world. We were on a roll obviously (especially Rob) and we were both enjoying ourselves. I actually worked on the second song first - but more on that later. He really wasn't sure about this first one though - but I was.
Straightaway, I liked the song - "I Believe in You", as it had strong possibilities on the chorus for some vocal harmonies from me - something I had not really managed up until now. This was due to the different way Rob and I phrase things - we would sing exactly the same song in two very different ways.
But this was an exception- the chorus has a very strong melody line and once I got used to the phrasing, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. The verse was very different - probably the weakest point of the song and probably the reason for Rob's doubts. Having said that, the song opens with a nice piece of picking on acoustic guitar and after a bit of experimentation, I settled on a piano in the higher register, plus a harmonica sound which complimented it nicely. The sound of the harmonica was so authentic, that Rob stated in his next e-mail that he didn't know I played one! (I can get a tune out of a real one but not as good as what I can do with the keyboard).
After the first chorus (where I had added 3 part harmony vocals) the drums kick in and the song bowls along nicely. We then get to the guitar solo - Rob called it "another rock ballad lead section" and added it was something he intended to get away from for a while. Not because it didn't sound great, but......well...too much of a good thing and all that.
The song finishes with another bit of guitar lead over Rob's repetition of the title - together with some harmony oohs and ahhs from me to a faded end. One of my favourite songs to work on (although I have loved them all).
Here is a clip
Straightaway, I liked the song - "I Believe in You", as it had strong possibilities on the chorus for some vocal harmonies from me - something I had not really managed up until now. This was due to the different way Rob and I phrase things - we would sing exactly the same song in two very different ways.
But this was an exception- the chorus has a very strong melody line and once I got used to the phrasing, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. The verse was very different - probably the weakest point of the song and probably the reason for Rob's doubts. Having said that, the song opens with a nice piece of picking on acoustic guitar and after a bit of experimentation, I settled on a piano in the higher register, plus a harmonica sound which complimented it nicely. The sound of the harmonica was so authentic, that Rob stated in his next e-mail that he didn't know I played one! (I can get a tune out of a real one but not as good as what I can do with the keyboard).
After the first chorus (where I had added 3 part harmony vocals) the drums kick in and the song bowls along nicely. We then get to the guitar solo - Rob called it "another rock ballad lead section" and added it was something he intended to get away from for a while. Not because it didn't sound great, but......well...too much of a good thing and all that.
The song finishes with another bit of guitar lead over Rob's repetition of the title - together with some harmony oohs and ahhs from me to a faded end. One of my favourite songs to work on (although I have loved them all).
Here is a clip
Sunday 7 February 2010
Song 6 - "Demon"
On 3rd December 2009, my third and our sixth song "Demon" was sent as a demo to New Zealand - only 67 days after first suggesting the idea to Rob, and this was going to be the song that would bring us to the half way point of completing the project.
The song itself is one I had worked on previously but wanted to re-record the piano part as it was originally conceived on my older keyboard (a Yamaha PSR 8000 for anyone who is interested). The piano sound on the Roland Fantom is far superior - as is the entire keyboard. I also was not pleased with the first vocal track I had attempted and so wanted to re-do that too, plus get a decent guitarist playing along with the song as my original efforts fell about 2 light years short of Hendrix, although I am playing the acoustic guitars on this one.
The song is a personal one for me - and I am not going to broadcast the reasons why in this forum - you can guess at those yourselves - either from the clip or the full track if you get the complete album. It is basically a 12-bar but in a minor key which puts a different twist on it.
Rob thought I had just sent through a track called Demo as all previous ones had been given that tag - e.g. "The Last Goodbye- demo". I just thought calling the first attempt of this one "Demon demo" lookied a bit silly but it would seem that for the benefit of those on the other side of the world, I should have done!!
Apart from wanting the snare drum louder, more effects on the vocal, a faded ending and pointing out 2 duff notes on the piano track - Rob loved it!! I stuck to my guns about not wanting a faded end. I think Rob only wanted it to fade as the ending as it is sounds a bit scrappy - but I had got used to it and wanted to keep it that way. That boy has ears like a hawk - it was pointless sending him a "that will do" effort, because if a bird tweeted outside in the middle of my recording, he heard it.
So the very next day, vocal effects were added and the piano corrected, but the snare volume I could do nothing about as it was recorded on a previous keyboard (as mentioned). We settled on just raising the level of the entire rhythm track. Nine days later on 13th December, Rob sent the additions through. He had added a really good rocky guitar chord pattern and, as ever, the lead guitar was spot on. I was very pleased with the result.
It was when I was replying to tell him so that I first suggested the title of the album "Antipodes" - meaning an opposite point on the globe - appropriate. Rob loved it and found some artwork for the album cover - things were indeed progressing.
Here is the clip of "Demon".
The song itself is one I had worked on previously but wanted to re-record the piano part as it was originally conceived on my older keyboard (a Yamaha PSR 8000 for anyone who is interested). The piano sound on the Roland Fantom is far superior - as is the entire keyboard. I also was not pleased with the first vocal track I had attempted and so wanted to re-do that too, plus get a decent guitarist playing along with the song as my original efforts fell about 2 light years short of Hendrix, although I am playing the acoustic guitars on this one.
The song is a personal one for me - and I am not going to broadcast the reasons why in this forum - you can guess at those yourselves - either from the clip or the full track if you get the complete album. It is basically a 12-bar but in a minor key which puts a different twist on it.
Rob thought I had just sent through a track called Demo as all previous ones had been given that tag - e.g. "The Last Goodbye- demo". I just thought calling the first attempt of this one "Demon demo" lookied a bit silly but it would seem that for the benefit of those on the other side of the world, I should have done!!
Apart from wanting the snare drum louder, more effects on the vocal, a faded ending and pointing out 2 duff notes on the piano track - Rob loved it!! I stuck to my guns about not wanting a faded end. I think Rob only wanted it to fade as the ending as it is sounds a bit scrappy - but I had got used to it and wanted to keep it that way. That boy has ears like a hawk - it was pointless sending him a "that will do" effort, because if a bird tweeted outside in the middle of my recording, he heard it.
So the very next day, vocal effects were added and the piano corrected, but the snare volume I could do nothing about as it was recorded on a previous keyboard (as mentioned). We settled on just raising the level of the entire rhythm track. Nine days later on 13th December, Rob sent the additions through. He had added a really good rocky guitar chord pattern and, as ever, the lead guitar was spot on. I was very pleased with the result.
It was when I was replying to tell him so that I first suggested the title of the album "Antipodes" - meaning an opposite point on the globe - appropriate. Rob loved it and found some artwork for the album cover - things were indeed progressing.
Here is the clip of "Demon".
Thursday 4 February 2010
Song 5 - "Only in Dreams"
I had a long overdue holiday in Tenerife between the 15th and 22nd November - much needed and enjoyed with temperatures reaching 30 deg C (90F) so no recording for me over this period.
Got back refreshed to find Rob had sent through his 3rd (our 5th) song on 18th November - and what a beaut it was (already I am beginning to sound like a New Zealander).
The song "Only in Dreams" reminded me of something George Michael might have recorded in his time. The chord sequence is fantastic - very hard to do on a guitar - and it is really the only one I had to write out the complete sequence of chords in order to play along with them.
I experimented with a few sounds, but it was crying out for an electric piano to go along with the guitar in order to retain the "smooth" sound the song generated. Rob had put a Spanish guitar in the instrumental break and originally wanted me to play over the top of this with grand piano, the guitar would then be deleted later. I e-mailed him back insisting that the guitar solo be kept in and I could do mine on the second insrumental section. I am glad he agreed as it is one of my favourite parts of the song.
On 25th November, I recorded and sent off the track with my parts added. The grand piano solo was fairly high and Rob persuaded me to re-record it an octave lower which is the version you can hear. He was quite impressed I had managed to work out all the chords for the electric piano, as there was quite a fair few in there (what did he expect from a fellow pro?).
I played the finished version to our youngest daughter, Rachel who,at 25, certainly listens, in the main, to a very different sort of music than Rob or I produce - and she loved it. Straightaway - she commented on how nice she thought the song was - superb - a breakthrough into the generation that likes staying out until four in the morning listening to brain damage - a bit of street cred for the old boys. Actually, Rachel has a very varied taste in music, and she would not say she liked something if she didn't - I took it as a real compliment.
Here is the clip
Got back refreshed to find Rob had sent through his 3rd (our 5th) song on 18th November - and what a beaut it was (already I am beginning to sound like a New Zealander).
The song "Only in Dreams" reminded me of something George Michael might have recorded in his time. The chord sequence is fantastic - very hard to do on a guitar - and it is really the only one I had to write out the complete sequence of chords in order to play along with them.
I experimented with a few sounds, but it was crying out for an electric piano to go along with the guitar in order to retain the "smooth" sound the song generated. Rob had put a Spanish guitar in the instrumental break and originally wanted me to play over the top of this with grand piano, the guitar would then be deleted later. I e-mailed him back insisting that the guitar solo be kept in and I could do mine on the second insrumental section. I am glad he agreed as it is one of my favourite parts of the song.
On 25th November, I recorded and sent off the track with my parts added. The grand piano solo was fairly high and Rob persuaded me to re-record it an octave lower which is the version you can hear. He was quite impressed I had managed to work out all the chords for the electric piano, as there was quite a fair few in there (what did he expect from a fellow pro?).
I played the finished version to our youngest daughter, Rachel who,at 25, certainly listens, in the main, to a very different sort of music than Rob or I produce - and she loved it. Straightaway - she commented on how nice she thought the song was - superb - a breakthrough into the generation that likes staying out until four in the morning listening to brain damage - a bit of street cred for the old boys. Actually, Rachel has a very varied taste in music, and she would not say she liked something if she didn't - I took it as a real compliment.
Here is the clip
Thursday 28 January 2010
Song 4 - "Because of You"
Only 2 days after "Take your Time" winged it's way back to New Zealand on 27th October 2009, I finished my second song and sent it through for Rob's additions. This year (2010), I will have known my wife Gail for 10 years, but in all that time I had never written a song for her - about her - and although I never set out to make it so, this was to be it.
It's funny, but quite a lot of times, the strongest sounding line of lyric becomes the title to the song - and when writing this one, I found myself putting the words "because of you" at the end of each line, so the subject matter really wrote itself around that line.
The song has a bit of a latin beat - and is probably the most commercial sounding song on the whole album - something which gave me doubts once it was recorded. In fact, I am still not sure about this one even now - it just does not seem to sit in the same bracket as the others. When I first suggested the project to Rob, my very words were "we could produce songs in say the style of the Eagles" i.e. easy listening country type stuff - but this was the first time we had strayed completely away from that concept (we did with later songs too but this was the first).
Rob too, thought it was commercial but wanted to stick with the song to see what he could do with it. I was all for ditching it at this stage and would not learn what Rob would add for a few days, as this was the Melbourne Cup (horse race) weekend in Oz and it's a ritual of his to sit down with a few beers and not get involved in doing anything else. He picked the winner too, and no doubt sank a few on the proceeds.
I had to wait until the 8th November before I could send him the separate tracks for him to mix and add acoustic guitar, lead guitar and harmonies to. These eventually arrived on 28th November - mainly because Rob's third song had by now been written, recorded and sent to me for working on - but that is for the next chapter.
When the additions came through, they had certainly beefed up the song, so I was a little happier. Rob had worked hard on this one which made me a little less keen just to ditch it now. The one thing Rob had done was to soften each beat of the rim shot on the rhythm track - it was a little too prominent. He had to take each one (and there must have been over 100) and change the volume individually - something you can at least achieve with "Cool Edit" - the computer program that we were both using.
If only I had known - what had taken him ages I could have done in the flick of a switch on my keyboard (which also included the rhythm track). I can change the parameters for any one or group of notes in an instant this way and could have saved Rob a lot of hard work - I definately could not discard the song now.
The harmonies were very well done and fitted in nicely with the little bit of harmonising I had done on the song myself, and has he had heard the song so many times while working on it himself, Rob found that it had grown on him and he was even more happy to add it to the album.
Gail loved it too!! Here is a clip
It's funny, but quite a lot of times, the strongest sounding line of lyric becomes the title to the song - and when writing this one, I found myself putting the words "because of you" at the end of each line, so the subject matter really wrote itself around that line.
The song has a bit of a latin beat - and is probably the most commercial sounding song on the whole album - something which gave me doubts once it was recorded. In fact, I am still not sure about this one even now - it just does not seem to sit in the same bracket as the others. When I first suggested the project to Rob, my very words were "we could produce songs in say the style of the Eagles" i.e. easy listening country type stuff - but this was the first time we had strayed completely away from that concept (we did with later songs too but this was the first).
Rob too, thought it was commercial but wanted to stick with the song to see what he could do with it. I was all for ditching it at this stage and would not learn what Rob would add for a few days, as this was the Melbourne Cup (horse race) weekend in Oz and it's a ritual of his to sit down with a few beers and not get involved in doing anything else. He picked the winner too, and no doubt sank a few on the proceeds.
I had to wait until the 8th November before I could send him the separate tracks for him to mix and add acoustic guitar, lead guitar and harmonies to. These eventually arrived on 28th November - mainly because Rob's third song had by now been written, recorded and sent to me for working on - but that is for the next chapter.
When the additions came through, they had certainly beefed up the song, so I was a little happier. Rob had worked hard on this one which made me a little less keen just to ditch it now. The one thing Rob had done was to soften each beat of the rim shot on the rhythm track - it was a little too prominent. He had to take each one (and there must have been over 100) and change the volume individually - something you can at least achieve with "Cool Edit" - the computer program that we were both using.
If only I had known - what had taken him ages I could have done in the flick of a switch on my keyboard (which also included the rhythm track). I can change the parameters for any one or group of notes in an instant this way and could have saved Rob a lot of hard work - I definately could not discard the song now.
The harmonies were very well done and fitted in nicely with the little bit of harmonising I had done on the song myself, and has he had heard the song so many times while working on it himself, Rob found that it had grown on him and he was even more happy to add it to the album.
Gail loved it too!! Here is a clip
Thursday 21 January 2010
Song 3 - "Take Your Time"
On 23rd October 2009, Rob's second song arrived (wish he would get on this blog and tell you a bit about the song from his perspective).
It's called "Take Your Time" - aptly named, because I wasn't too sure about this one when I first heard it, but the fact that I find myself whistling it now and then proves it has grown on me. It's a personal song about when he first moved to New Zealand in '73, the advice given to him by his Grandfather at the time still holds good today as Rob finds himself giving the same advice to his own family.
Again, I did not feel I would benefit the song by adding any harmonies (especially as I found Rob's phrasing on this one a little difficult to sing along with). So, I just added a piano track to the vocals, guitars and bass already laid down by Rob. A gentle song that obviously means a lot to him - hope you like it too.
It's called "Take Your Time" - aptly named, because I wasn't too sure about this one when I first heard it, but the fact that I find myself whistling it now and then proves it has grown on me. It's a personal song about when he first moved to New Zealand in '73, the advice given to him by his Grandfather at the time still holds good today as Rob finds himself giving the same advice to his own family.
Again, I did not feel I would benefit the song by adding any harmonies (especially as I found Rob's phrasing on this one a little difficult to sing along with). So, I just added a piano track to the vocals, guitars and bass already laid down by Rob. A gentle song that obviously means a lot to him - hope you like it too.
Saturday 16 January 2010
Song 2 - "Anyway"
The first number was just feeling our way really. I simply added a piano track to Rob's mix and that was it. A bit more was going to happen in the next song - "Anyway", the first of my efforts.
"Anyway" was written on 7th October 2009. I had first intended to make it about the two of us, but soon discovered, much to my shame, that I knew so little about my own Nephew, that I was struggling with the lyrics.
Instead, I just imagined a couple of guys the wrong side of 50 or 60, sitting on a park bench and having the "Where have our lives gone" conversation. The rest came easy.
I recorded all my tracks and emailed them to Rob for his additions. As you will see from part of the song extract, we harmonise together for the first time in our lives (weird). Rob added some nice acoustic guitar and in the space I had left him, he put a superb guitar solo - some of which you can hear. Can you believe that Rob could not use the amps to get the effect he wanted on the guitar because the electric fences over there interfere and make the amps crackle. I never even knew he was in prison! I reckon he did a pretty good job just using the guitar effects pedal.
When replying, Rob suggested a string track added in the last verse which I subsequently recorded - (you'll have to buy the track or, better still, the full album to hear that though - details will appear on Rob's website once the whole thing is finished).
One of the obstacles we discovered that we were going to face when we did this song was the difference in our accents. For example - I sang the word "fast" as any true Englishman would - i.e. "farst" whereas Rob sang it as "faast". We agreed that on my songs he would be English, and on his, I would be a Kiwi.
"Anyway" was written on 7th October 2009. I had first intended to make it about the two of us, but soon discovered, much to my shame, that I knew so little about my own Nephew, that I was struggling with the lyrics.
Instead, I just imagined a couple of guys the wrong side of 50 or 60, sitting on a park bench and having the "Where have our lives gone" conversation. The rest came easy.
I recorded all my tracks and emailed them to Rob for his additions. As you will see from part of the song extract, we harmonise together for the first time in our lives (weird). Rob added some nice acoustic guitar and in the space I had left him, he put a superb guitar solo - some of which you can hear. Can you believe that Rob could not use the amps to get the effect he wanted on the guitar because the electric fences over there interfere and make the amps crackle. I never even knew he was in prison! I reckon he did a pretty good job just using the guitar effects pedal.
When replying, Rob suggested a string track added in the last verse which I subsequently recorded - (you'll have to buy the track or, better still, the full album to hear that though - details will appear on Rob's website once the whole thing is finished).
One of the obstacles we discovered that we were going to face when we did this song was the difference in our accents. For example - I sang the word "fast" as any true Englishman would - i.e. "farst" whereas Rob sang it as "faast". We agreed that on my songs he would be English, and on his, I would be a Kiwi.
Thursday 14 January 2010
The start of it all - Song 1 "The Last Goodbye"
Rob Smith and I (Paul Jolley) are both the same age - somewhere between one zero and another - despite me being his uncle (he is actually 6 months older than me and I will never let him forget it).
We are both self taught musicians and have both earned our living from music for over 30 years. Rob is a guitarist mainly, while I am predominantly a keyboard player, although we can both play a fair few instruments between us. We both write, record and produce songs of our own. Why, you may ask, have we never worked together? Our problem is that Rob is in New Zealand, while I am in England - 12000 reasons why we cannot get together - that is, until now.
Despite our advancing years (he will love me for that) we can both fumble our way around a computer and so the miracle of technology has bought us together - working on our own album of 12 original songs - 6 written by each of us - and produced via emails.
Because of the distance involved, Rob and I had not really kept in touch, apart from news via my sister Jean (Rob's mum). In September 2009, Jean played me some extracts from an album Rob had recorded with a girl singer (Hayley). I liked what I heard and obtained Rob's e-mail address to request a copy of the album. Whilst writing to him on 28th September 09 - I hit on the idea of perhaps doing an album between us via the internet if we could. Rob replied the next day saying we could certainly give it a go.
Neither of us knew what capability each other had for home recording, but as it transpired, we both had the same Cool Edit program on our systems and also both used a master recorder - we were in business.
As a try out, I added a piano track to one of Rob's songs recorded with Hayley. Rob responded the next day with a demo of our very first song - one he had written the day before called "The Last Goodbye". We were off.
Click on the play button of the player below for an extract of our first number.
We are both self taught musicians and have both earned our living from music for over 30 years. Rob is a guitarist mainly, while I am predominantly a keyboard player, although we can both play a fair few instruments between us. We both write, record and produce songs of our own. Why, you may ask, have we never worked together? Our problem is that Rob is in New Zealand, while I am in England - 12000 reasons why we cannot get together - that is, until now.
Despite our advancing years (he will love me for that) we can both fumble our way around a computer and so the miracle of technology has bought us together - working on our own album of 12 original songs - 6 written by each of us - and produced via emails.
Because of the distance involved, Rob and I had not really kept in touch, apart from news via my sister Jean (Rob's mum). In September 2009, Jean played me some extracts from an album Rob had recorded with a girl singer (Hayley). I liked what I heard and obtained Rob's e-mail address to request a copy of the album. Whilst writing to him on 28th September 09 - I hit on the idea of perhaps doing an album between us via the internet if we could. Rob replied the next day saying we could certainly give it a go.
Neither of us knew what capability each other had for home recording, but as it transpired, we both had the same Cool Edit program on our systems and also both used a master recorder - we were in business.
As a try out, I added a piano track to one of Rob's songs recorded with Hayley. Rob responded the next day with a demo of our very first song - one he had written the day before called "The Last Goodbye". We were off.
Click on the play button of the player below for an extract of our first number.
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