The Last Recording, The Mixing and The MagicThings seem to be moving pretty fast now. When I last wrote we had nearly completed all the recording. The next task caused a few days delay as were trying to book a different studio for one extra recording day (as we couldn’t get back into the studio we used for all the other recording days), but fortunately another great studio was available and we had a really productive and enjoyable day.
The Last Recording There were quite a few guitar parts still left to record, a couple of backing vocals and the lead vocal for Act of Defiance. I laid down the remaining acoustic guitar parts first and then I got to play an amazing Fender Telecaster through a good-sounding Vox AC30 amp, which was a real treat for me. I live in a flat with thin walls and I have never had the money or space to own and play these amazing things - so to be in a soundproof room and told to turn it up loud and play was great. I laid down a bit of electric guitar on Act of Defiance that in truth I had never previously envisaged being on the song, but I tried to make the guitar confidently call out the same way the vocals do and we will see how it sounds in the mix! From a vocal perspective I felt good throughout recording this album, as I finally felt like I knew how bits would turn out if I did them in certain ways. The last bit of the day, and indeed the final thing I had to record on the album was singing Act of Defiance. It was quite fitting really as this is often the final song in my live sets and I really have to, well, kind of trash my voice at the end of the song. Singing in a recording studio is a bit different to singing live – there is no sizeable audience, the microphone technique is a bit different and of course you know you can do most bits again if need be. When you combine all this with the fact you are surrounded by great equipment and a talented producer, it can sometimes make you feel too safe and lead to less-emotional delivery. I forced myself to be aware of that throughout the sessions and get myself up for every take – not like Rocky pacing up and down in the corner but just by remembering why each lyric was written and delivering the right emotion. You can sometimes forget that in the cold light of day, when someone plays it on their car stereo or a kitchen radio, it is only as good as the performance you give. In the last song, as my torn vocal chords delivered the last chorus, I remember thinking that I had given it all I had. I had only ever done 3 day recording sessions before and I was determined that I was going to enjoy the whole experience. Many people would wish to record an album of their own material and to work with Tony Platt and the musicians I had around me. When I write my songs, I have always thought about what would be suitable for second and third albums but the honest truth is that you never know if this is the last time I would get to do this, or if it would be the first album of many. It will all be tied to how this album does and who shows faith in me. The next day, Allan Burls, who some of you may know as the bass guitarist from Francis Rodino's band, came to the studio in Old Street. Happily for me, he had agreed to guest on three tracks where we wanted bass guitar to accompany the cello. He experty laid down the basslines and the final note on 'Until The Morning Light' had been struck. The Album Title The album will be called ‘Until The Morning Light’. It’s a lyric from Act of Defiance – which as the name suggests is a pretty defiant song born out of listening to a lot of opinions and also enjoying being a bit reckless and breaking the routine from time to time. I thought the name was fitting as I have kept on going through the night when I thought I would either get there or give up by nightfall. There is no rock ‘n roll story here, but I feel like I have lived, I have written, I have persevered and I have created. People have helped me to get it all put down on an album and I hope you can be the last part and enjoy the listening. The Mixing As I write this, I am listening to some clanging guitars on Flame. The mixing is going well. It is a process for the patient and part of the danger is that you just have so many choices you can make. There has probably never been a mixing session where every decision made were the right ones but you have just got to get as many right as you can, and make sure you get all the big ones right! I have had many users of Sellaband asking me about (and fascinated by) the process of recording the music. Many don’t understand what happens and many don’t understand what takes the time. All I can say is that even if you are trying, like we are, to capture performances rather than meticulously de-construct and re-construct songs, there is still a lot of stuff that happens between the recording and getting it on your mp3 player. Even altering the levels on one song can take a fair while... Anyway, I don’t want to take away any of the magic – as I don’t think we have. Paintings can be quite quick to paint at the beginning but the final detail can take a while. I don’t think we have replaced or detracted from what has been important from the start – the songs, the musicians and the performances. It is not too long now until you can judge for yourself! DWM SongPoint Empty – Ray LaMontagne Barfly – Ray LaMontagne Scenes From An Italian Restaurant – Billy Joel Elliot’s Song – Alex Joe Marczak Go listen! So anyway folks, that’s me for the day! I’ll be honest, I am shattered. It is 21.41 now, I am on a tube on the way home and I have to post this, listen to today’s a mix and do 45 mins of rehearsing (Jen is singing some of my songs at a private members club on Thursday – may be a weird gig) before sleep! I am not complaining by the way but you do get tough, tiring days! Take Care DWM Recording Nearly Done & The PerformancesThe whirlwind continues and after the initial 5 recording days, another 3 days in the studio have now come and gone. The first day of the three was a lot of fun as (after laying down some acoustic guitar) I got to play the amazing vintage guitars and amps in the studio on a couple of tracks where we have elected for a bit of electric guitar. My previous band had a specialist electric guitarist, so it really was a special for me to get a chance to play them and although there was a definite ‘less is more’ approach, it has really added to the songs.
The next day saw Milo, Helen and Pravin back in the studio. First of all, the most prominent violin/viola/cello parts on the album were recorded, as Milo and Helen sat side by side and filled the big live room with their beautiful playing. There is a definite grass-roots sound in the music that has been important to me from the start. I love some electronic stuff but you sometimes get a good feeling when you have a set of musicians who are playing age-old instruments, unamplified and captured simply by microphones. You can call it what you want, but at times I definitely get a sitting-round-a-campfire feeling or a travelling-from-town-to-town-wandering-minstrels feeling, and even sometimes a playing for an ancient royal court feeling! It’s not the most complicated stuff in the world, but it just kind of feels like music to me. After the string parts were all performed, Helen and Milo had finished their recording on the album and after the farewell Pravin set about recording his remaining percussion parts. Speaking to Pravin, you get the feeling he has enjoyed the freedom of playing in an unconventional way. Throughout the sessions he has used a mixture of sticks, brushes and hot rods (kind of half way in between sticks). On In This Fair City he plays the drum kit with his hands for part of the song and then in this session, he played an udu (an ancient clay drum) on another track. I think people associate rock and funk albums as those that are constantly built on rhythm, but even though there isn’t percussion of any kind on two of the album tracks, this album has so much rhythmic variety that listening to it in public without walking a bit erratically will be very hard! If the first two days were days of recording rhythmic and slightly more complicated string parts, day 3 was a day of simple musical beauty. The morning saw Rosabella Gregory come into the studio and guest on two songs. A bit of funky Wurlitzer was laid down on the first take for one song, but the main event was listening to Rosie caress the piano keys for of the more poignant songs. With all the best planning in the world (and believe me I have done more planning for this adventure than I have for most!) sometimes you can’t get everything in place and you need a good break. The one person I had in mind to play this piano part couldn’t do it and it needed a speculative message to a promoter I know, a recommendation and a brief meeting in a piano rehearsal room in North-West London before the session itself. I can get bored of my own voice but I think it will take me a million listens to get bored of the playing on this song. The afternoon was Delaney-time, as Jennifer sung one of her lead vocal parts and then sung some harmonies on a few tracks. Everyone picks out certain things in songs - for me there is nothing worse than a badly out of tune vocal harmony, and nothing better than an in tune vocal harmony performed with feeling. A couple of the latter sounded beautiful to me and I hope you all appreciate them when the album is out. So after these three days there is now just one more recording session required and then the mixing can commence! I hope the album updates hit the spot for you - I will sign out for now, but only after my song recommendations for those of you that enjoy them! DWM SongPoint 1000 Oceans – Tori Amos Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) – Billy Joel 1492 – Counting Crows Happy Listening! DWM Studio Video Diary, Recording Progress and the Artistic ChoicesI have just completed 5 full days in the studio which has gone fantastically well. I wanted everyone to be able to share the experience a little, so I took a video camera along and have just uploaded the studio diary to my website. Go to http://www.danielwm.com to see it and you can even learn a little about what tracks will be included…
So the foundation of the album is there now. We have developed a few of the tracks in our rehearsal sessions and we have now virtually recorded the main parts. It was never going to be a synthetic layer-by-layer recording and it was important that some great performances were captured. In some ways many of the more difficult decisions start now, as the little things are like the icing on the cake and can really make a positive or negative difference. I have to decide if some songs need to deviate a little from the live sound to be at their best in the recorded format - and then just what this should sound like. As I am writing this, it is 12.16am and this evening I travelled across London to meet a pianist who is probably going to guest on a song. When I wrote it I wanted piano to be a main component of the song and I think it is going to turn out to be one of my favourites. I have only performed the song once in public (at Songs from Soho) as it is the kind of song that needs an attentive crowd. In many ways the studio gives you the opportunity to do these sort of songs how you see fit and then when played aloud they can be just as powerful as the toe-tapping catchy tunes – they also normally stand up to many repeat listens. All this talk of alterations and the piano may scare some of you but don’t worry, I am not deviating too much from my sound. I said I would create an album that is real and true to my style but I also promised variety. Variety is part of our thing – different lead vocalists, different tempos, interesting and different fusions of genres and songs that feature different instruments. So anyway, more announcements will be coming soon – the name of the album, the number of tracks and the front cover – but for now, go and watch the video diary and we’ll catch up again later. I have 3 more days in the studio starting on Sunday and I have more work to do! Cheers DWM Recording Begins, Rehearsal Photos, Gig Cancelled and Other Thoughts - July 2008Hi folks – I hope you are well. It’s great to see more and more people subscribing to the website on a regular basis, especially as in this pre-recording phase I have had to be quieter than normal! Here’s a new update for you all.
Recording Started! We have now completed 8 full-length rehearsals - a few of them were attended by producer Tony Platt - and we hit the recording studio on Monday (7th) to make the album. A lot of you have expressed interest in the logistics and the process so I will try and explain a bit about it.... We have 8 full days booked (split into 5 and 3) in our main studio and then will use a smaller studio for the rest of the time we require. The cost of a recording studio can vary according to equipment, the location, the quality of the live room, the reputation and to some extent who you know. So to make this budget stretch we will be using a great studio with a big live space for only the days we need it. Drums, cello and violin will only sound really nice reverberating around a nice, big live space, whereas acoustic guitar, vocals and any keys can be recorded just as well in a smaller studio space. People have asked if I am excited about the actual recording days. I definitely am, I always enjoy it a lot as long as good progress is made on the first couple of days and that nasty thing called time doesn’t keep showing its face... I feel at home in the studio and working on a long session with Tony and my band is an experience I am looking forward to and I am thankful to those who have put me there. Most band members will be present for about 5 full days of those 8 days. Long-time supporter Andy Wood won the competition to attend a studio session and he will be present on Thursday 10th July, which is unbelievably the only day when all 5 of the band will be there on the same day! Rehearsals As I mentioned in a previous blog, we held our rehearsals in Whitechapel with a fairly humble setup. They all went well, have hopefully stood us in good stead and you can see brand new photos from them by going to http://www.danielwm.com/pics.cfm Studio Updates I will be taking a video camera and stills camera to the studio, and competition winner Andy Wood will be interviewing the band when he is there, so I hope to be able to provide you with some updates after the first block of dates...! Gig Cancelled Unfortunately our drummer, Pravin, has to fly to India at fairly late notice, so we have had to cancel our gig that was scheduled for 29th July at the Bedford. It is disappointing and we have all missed playing live, but we couldn’t let any re-arrangements interfere with the recording and that has to take priority. Apologies for any inconvenience this causes anyone and we will be back on the stage in the not-too-distant future! Sellabration I have received many messages from people before and after the line-up was announced for the big annual Sellaband party in Amsterdam, so I didn’t feel I could avoid the subject (!). First of all thank you to all those who wished that I was playing, that is always nice to hear, especially from so many - so thanks. Many asked if I was bitter or disappointed not to be playing..... Well, I knew there were (at the time) 21 recording artists and not everyone could play. Sellaband came up with a set of criteria and selected the line up so I suppose that is fair enough. On the other hand though, with 23 artists now having reached $50k, Sellaband do have to start cherry-picking and you could argue that at present, I am not seen as one of the cherries. I would like to be a flagship Sellaband artist in the same way an artist would want to be a flagship artist of a major label, but more so because this would mean greater reward and vindication for my believers. So, on my part, I just have to work hard, make a great album and let the album sales make everyone sit up and take notice. On a purely personal level, I am very happy that Kane Sole is playing as I think his song-writing is fantastic and I am delighted for him to get the opportunity. I am disappointed not to be there in any capacity but I will be paying a bit on top of the $50,000 and I just can’t justify the flights/hotel expense. I have a ticket for a festival that weekend, so I will be thinking of all those there as I slowly get drunk in a field... ------------------------------------------------------- DWM Songpoint I know some of you like to listen to these songs, so I will let you know what songs are constantly playing on my iPod right now: Country Boy/City Boy - Chatham County Line Funnyman - KT Tunstall Who Knows Where The Time Goes - Sandy Denny Omaha - Counting Crows Code Red - Tori Amos Side Effects of Growing Up - Julia Marcell -------------------------------------------------------- Cheers and bye for now! DWM Recording Studio Chosen, New Gig Announced and Exclusive Album Track NewsHi - I just wanted to announce a couple of things as well as give you some insight into how preparations for the album are moving along.
Rehearsals & Preparation The band and I have now had three rehearsals at our underground den in Whitechapel, London. We rehearsed there for our last couple of live gigs and I thought it make sense to rehearse for the album there. It's a bit of a 'tough-love' way to rehearse as the set up is pretty basic and the mixer can't even put reverb on the voices, but it gives us what we need and if you can make things sound really good in there then you know you are ready. Over the past few months I have been selecting a shortlist of songs, my thoughts of what should be on my debut album, but I wanted my producer to be at the first album rehearsal so we could hear all the material, select the songs and shape the songs together. Without sounding too much like a hippy, making the album is a journey that started when I wrote the first song but the band became involved when they played their first note in rehearsal and Tony became involved when we first planned the recording of the 3 tracks we did in the summer of 2006. Songs on the Album I announced a while back that I was going to put all of my best material on the album and make a commercially viable album., but I did take a bit of stick from some people for not confirming particular favourite tracks at that stage. I love the fact that Sellaband has enabled people to be involved in the process and be an active and appreciated part of my work - but I fought hard to keep the artistic process as I thought it should be. However, now this phase has been completed I am pleased to announce that She's a Knockout, Act of Defiance, The Queen of Something New and My Beautiful Predicament will all be on the album (unless things go drastically wrong in the studio!). I have been lucky enough to record in a few good studios in my time but I was happy to concentrate on the music and let Tony put what he saw as the studio options in front of me. He records the sound and knows all about equipment and after a bit of exploration and a short discussion, we have decided to record the album at Westpoint Recording Studios in West London. There will be then some final recording sessions and the mixing of the album at The Strongroom in East London. Back on the Stage It has been bit of a whirlwind since hitting the $50,000 and outside of the work that currently pays the bills, I have been working hard to get everything in place. My band members are busy people and I didn't want live rehearsals/live gigs getting in the way of the preparation for the recording, so we put that as a sole focus. However, I am pleased to announce that we will all be taking to the stage again, to properly celebrate the $50,000 and the end of our main recording sessions, with a full set at The Bedford, London, on Tuesday 29th July. This gig will be webcast live so those outside of London can see how the setlist and our playing emerges on the other side. Jennifer Delaney Last night, Jennifer played a short set at the Dex Club, Brixton, London. I played guitar/BVs as Jennifer performed stripped down versions of In This Fair City, The Sun Is In Your Eyes, Act of Defiance and the first live performance of The End of My Summers. It was a great performance from a great vocalist and you can keep in touch with all her future activity on http://www.myspace.com/jenniferdelaneymusic DWM SongPoint I received enough feedback to suggest some people were listening to my musical suggestions, so I will carry on! I am often diappointed with some of the performances on Jools Holland (a British live music show) but I was thrilled I managed to catch the fantastic Chatham County Line, a bluegrass act from America. Well 2 albums later I am loving it.. I am still listening to the excellent album Alas I Cannot Swim by Laura Marling so these two artists dominate it this time - invest your time! The Carolinian - Chatham County Line Sweet Eviction - Chatham County Line Old Stone - Laura Marling Tap At My Window - Laura Marling Birmingham Jail - Chatham County Line Well, happy listening and I will sign off for now - I need some zzzzzzzs. Cheers DWM $50,000 and beyond....Hi folks - I was asked the other day 'So how is life as a 50k artist??' (Note: For those of you who have been hiding under a rock, I hit $50,000 on Sellaband and now get to make my album). Well... first of all it's been a bit weird as a lot of my friends, who aren't that much live music/music type people have been congratulating me and seem genuinely pleased. I went out on the night the total was reached with a few friends (band members Jen and Helen could come out at late notice as well) and had a fair few drinks... - and then on Friday a fairly big gathering surprised me by all turning up in a local pub, which was nice. I have been a little uncomfortable with it all as I don't think I have achieved anything too great yet, and I have always been ambitious with how high I aim... - people have been asking about when a CD will be out though so I suppose it is all promotion!
My drummer (Pravin) was in NYC for a bit and my violinist (Helen) had a couple of gigs, so I couldn't get cracking too much straight away, but it's been quite a useful bit of time - as I have been working on my most recent track The End Of My Summers, which is one I have shoehorned into the shortlist. The band haven't really heard it yet but its my latest baby and it's given me time to work on it a bit and I think it sounds good! I need to write some strings for it and I am giving it the thought and attention it deserves. Regardless of whether or not it makes it, it will be another song, developed and up my sleeve! So the end of May is when things will really kick off - the first couple of sessions will see the decisions on the tracks we will record and then there will be a period of writing any unwritten strings parts and intensively rehearsing the tracks. We need to be really tight musically when we go into the studio as this means we can make the budget stretch to record the number of tracks we want to. The performance standard will also mean we have the option to use some live recordings if we wish (rather than layering one instrument at a time)... So there are songs I'd love to record that I won't get to record this time around but its a good situation to be in - I am really looking forward to working with Tony, really looking forward to working with Jen in the vocal booth, and looking forward to seeing Pravin, Milo and Helen knitting together even tighter. The communication frenzy continues. Keeping in touch with believers, fans, general music lovers and friends of friends and all the time gearing up the PR drive to kick in when there is an album to promote.... Well anyway, I am off to work on The End Of My Summers again now.... Cheers and have a good day! DWM New Website, the Music and the Long Road to $50,000I have gone global! This blog is being written for my new website, my Sellaband site, Hyves, Facebook and MySpace - so wherever you are reading it - hello!
The new website is something that has taken some time putting together but I thought it was important to do at this stage. I get the odd request to put certain songs up on various profiles and 'where can I find the lyrics for...' - so it's nice to have 8 songs on the player and the lyrics for most of my recent songwriting. From a more strategic perspective, it was important to have the capability to have a 'STORE' and a 'FORUM' when they become necessary. So I hope you enjoy the site and hang around from time to time! Communicating with the people who listen to my music is important to me, so feel free to get in touch. My 20-month journey on Sellaband, to find enough people who believe in my music and raise $50,000 to record my debut solo album, looks like it may be coming towards a happy end! I am extremely grateful for all the verbal and financial support I have been given this far and I look forward to getting over the line and starting the real creative work. It had been a long journey with lots of ups and downs. Many of the regulars on the Sellaband site are very passionate people, so supportive, and I have received lots of 'advice' along the way - some of it great, some of it less than great (!) - but I just tried to concentrate on the music and it looks to have served me ok in the end. I feel privileged to have signed up Tony Platt to produce my album. I have recorded 3 studio tracks with Tony previously, as well as a seperate 17-song live session, so I know who I am working with and I assure you his presence will result in a better DWM album. The core members of my band - Jennifer Delaney, Milo Bird, Helen Twomey and Pravin Mukhi - are all nice people to hang around with and of course great musicians who I enjoy playing with, so there are a lot of reasons to feel excited at the moment. (I am sitting here with an excited expression on my face - it is a bit like when you are asked to hold a smile for a long time and in the end you just look a bit scary...!) Over the last ten years I suppose I have gone through times where you almost fall out of love with music - or you are so sick of trying that watching gigs or listening to music becomes a bit frustrating - but over the last year or so me and music have been getting on like a house on fire. We are planning to move in together soon but I don't want to rush things.... So just because I can, I will be pointing you in the direction of songs that I am currently plumbing into my brain and getting a kick out of. So no drama, but if you do wanna look these songs up I think you will be doing yourself a favour. To be grand I am going to call this 'DWM SongPoint' and I am making the 'P' big just to look cool... - so here we go... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DWM SongPoint Dogs - Damien Rice Miami 2017 - Billy Joel Rosalie Come and Go - Ryan Adams Jolene - Ray LaMontagne Night Terror - Laura Marling ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There you go, that wasn't too bad! I hope you enjoy. Outside of music, I am obsessed with football (or soccer for those west of me) and my beloved football team, Reading FC, are threatened with relegation from the English Premiership. There are three games left so I will soon be either bouncing down the street or looking like someone has just slapped me in the face.... - I am getting nervous just talking about it... Anyway, I am going to have a stiff whisky (actually a cup of tea - so British...) sign off for now and get on with life - but do come back from time to time as I will be writing regular blogs and updating the site, so don't be a stranger! Respect DWM All Posts
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