This session turned out to be the first of its kind in its umm.. vocaling intensivity.
As it turned out, the rest of the band weren't comfortable with the results of the previous vocal session with respect to Astray. It was a mixture of the nasal-ness caused by Matt's flu and several off-tune parts which somehow escaped us completely. We then decided to re-record Matt on Astray completely.
Before we got to that, however, Syafiq had to correct the opening riff for Astray, as the electric and acoustic elements were somehow out of sync in a few phases. After laying down our goals for the day, we were ready to get down and dirty and mean and filthy.
Song - Astray
Instruments - Guitar & Vocals
Recording Process
Things got started with Syafiq re-entering the electric guitar track for Astray's intro, using the Gibson Les Paul Supreme. He realised that he forgot exactly which guitar he used for this intro-into-verse part, and we decided to try with the Les Paul. After laying down the track, Nick noticed that the tone was different from that of the verse, and Syafiq had to play into the verse until the first chorus, to achieve uniformity in the tone. Still, there were slight discrepancies in the sound as compared to the overall rhythm guitar tone. But this was well taken care of when Nick, doing what he does best, cast some brilliant Magick to set everything straight. It sounded just like before, in under 5 mins.
This is the Gibson beauty that Syafiq used for his part:
[pic]
Hurrah! It was finally time to get da vox in da box. At this point, we could see Syafiq stepping up and assisting Matt greatly with the vocal parts. Matt stayed inside the recording booth, with Syafiq outside at the cockpit alternating between sitting, standing and jumping, all the time barking out comments and orders to Matt through the BattlestarScralachtica-esque microphone.
It was quite stressful at times, especially in some tense situations where I thought Matt's hand would just crash through the thick glass panel of the cockpit, grab Syafiq's head, and gobble it up. But luckily that didn't happen. If it did, i'd be the first to grab all the Gibsons and get the hell out of there.
So anyway, i have to point out that our revered Mr.Muon gave a lot of helpful tips, pointers and shared his personal opinions while we were somehow struggling with the vocal tracking. The adjustment of Matt's pitching here and there, the pronounciation and focus of certain words or syllables, it all helped us a whole lot. Nick also reminded us that over-directing and being too critical of Matt for some difficult parts of the song would make things worse, rather than improving his performance. I realised that this is quite true, from what my friend majoring in Film studies also informed me about. Some directors tend to over-direct their cast of actors, and point out their mistakes too much. Instead of acting from their inner selves with natural feel and passion, they tend to focus on their mistakes that have been pointed out, and this shift in perspective can affect the actor's performance greatly.
As the day drew to a close, Matt finally finished laying down his voxiness at about 10.15pm. It was then Syafiq's turn to churn out his backing vocal tracks. Well well well well well well well. It turned out that Syafiq had slight trouble voxing it out shagedalically too. There were a lot of harmonizing to be done, particularly at the choruses, and to follow the exact wavering and slurring of Matt's melodies was pretty tough. At one point, Syafiq commented that he felt like a 'goldfish' in that room.
Fin
Our long day finally drew to a close when Syafiq finished his backing vocals at around 11.45pm. This is the latest we've finished a session, if i'm not wrong. We were all tired and aching and sleepy and hungry. And the next day we would still have to head to work and school. How lovely. The things we go through for what we love. At times, we sacrifice a lot just to get our music heard. Just to reach out to people.
But at the end of it all, we realise that it's absolutely worth it.
As it turned out, the rest of the band weren't comfortable with the results of the previous vocal session with respect to Astray. It was a mixture of the nasal-ness caused by Matt's flu and several off-tune parts which somehow escaped us completely. We then decided to re-record Matt on Astray completely.
Before we got to that, however, Syafiq had to correct the opening riff for Astray, as the electric and acoustic elements were somehow out of sync in a few phases. After laying down our goals for the day, we were ready to get down and dirty and mean and filthy.
Song - Astray
Instruments - Guitar & Vocals
Recording Process
Things got started with Syafiq re-entering the electric guitar track for Astray's intro, using the Gibson Les Paul Supreme. He realised that he forgot exactly which guitar he used for this intro-into-verse part, and we decided to try with the Les Paul. After laying down the track, Nick noticed that the tone was different from that of the verse, and Syafiq had to play into the verse until the first chorus, to achieve uniformity in the tone. Still, there were slight discrepancies in the sound as compared to the overall rhythm guitar tone. But this was well taken care of when Nick, doing what he does best, cast some brilliant Magick to set everything straight. It sounded just like before, in under 5 mins.
This is the Gibson beauty that Syafiq used for his part:
[pic]
Hurrah! It was finally time to get da vox in da box. At this point, we could see Syafiq stepping up and assisting Matt greatly with the vocal parts. Matt stayed inside the recording booth, with Syafiq outside at the cockpit alternating between sitting, standing and jumping, all the time barking out comments and orders to Matt through the BattlestarScralachtica-esque microphone.
It was quite stressful at times, especially in some tense situations where I thought Matt's hand would just crash through the thick glass panel of the cockpit, grab Syafiq's head, and gobble it up. But luckily that didn't happen. If it did, i'd be the first to grab all the Gibsons and get the hell out of there.
So anyway, i have to point out that our revered Mr.Muon gave a lot of helpful tips, pointers and shared his personal opinions while we were somehow struggling with the vocal tracking. The adjustment of Matt's pitching here and there, the pronounciation and focus of certain words or syllables, it all helped us a whole lot. Nick also reminded us that over-directing and being too critical of Matt for some difficult parts of the song would make things worse, rather than improving his performance. I realised that this is quite true, from what my friend majoring in Film studies also informed me about. Some directors tend to over-direct their cast of actors, and point out their mistakes too much. Instead of acting from their inner selves with natural feel and passion, they tend to focus on their mistakes that have been pointed out, and this shift in perspective can affect the actor's performance greatly.
As the day drew to a close, Matt finally finished laying down his voxiness at about 10.15pm. It was then Syafiq's turn to churn out his backing vocal tracks. Well well well well well well well. It turned out that Syafiq had slight trouble voxing it out shagedalically too. There were a lot of harmonizing to be done, particularly at the choruses, and to follow the exact wavering and slurring of Matt's melodies was pretty tough. At one point, Syafiq commented that he felt like a 'goldfish' in that room.
Fin
Our long day finally drew to a close when Syafiq finished his backing vocals at around 11.45pm. This is the latest we've finished a session, if i'm not wrong. We were all tired and aching and sleepy and hungry. And the next day we would still have to head to work and school. How lovely. The things we go through for what we love. At times, we sacrifice a lot just to get our music heard. Just to reach out to people.
But at the end of it all, we realise that it's absolutely worth it.
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