RECORDING DAY

As I am drinking some delicious milk on my break before class, I though it'd be a good idea to tell you a little bit about recording day! I will write a summary of what happened during the day, then I will write down my thoughts and reactions to what happened. I will give you some pics from the day as well. Enjoy!

We left our house at ~ 6.30 am and arrived to Gothenburg at 9. There we met Eric, the guy who owns the studio and who we were going to work with during the day. The place was really nice, a little house located on a roof (!) with a studio in it. It was a really cool place.
We started with some piano recording, just to have something to go with when recording the other instruments and the song. Then we recorded the drums and the bass at the same time. Some retakes are always needed when recording, and it takes a lot of patience and time. After this is was time for lunch, so we all had some lasagne at a restaurant nearby. My drummer (my dad as well) knows Eric from before, and we all had a good time.Later, about when it was time to record the guitar, three people from LoveNepal arrived to take some photos and film some things for the musicvideo as we were recording. Since I know them all it was really nice to see them and to have them there; they were very supportive and I believe we all had a great time.
The song recordings took up most of the late afternoon and night. A lot of different voices were to be recorded and that took a while. But I had so much fun! We left Gothenburg at 9 pm, and I reunited with my bed at 12 pm. In other words, a great day.

I really enjoyed being in the studio, it was really interesting to see how Eric worked with the mixing and sound and such things. It is always fun to be "behind the scenes" on a recording like this one. And (of course) I felt a little bit like a rockstar as well! It is a special feeling, standing in a studio, recording a song that you have written all on your own, and step by step seeing it come together, exactly in the way you wanted it to! If I had the chance, I would not hesitate to do it again. I think I managed to sing quite good, even though my throat did not feel that good in the beginning of the day. That was what I was most worried about; the singing and the guitar playing. But those two parts almost worked best for me.
During the day I realized that practice pays off (big time). Especially concerning the bass playing. I think I mentioned before that I had to practice the bass a lot before recording. I did that. And it went great. It's nice when you get positive payback like that.
I have mostly discovered strenghts about myself from this experience, and I am glad for that! (since I am a person who usually just look at limitations).
I have probably forgot some things that I should mention, but I will write another reflection some other time this week, when I have though about this experience a bit more.

Here are a few pics from the day, thanks for reading!

The mixing room with a window in to the actual studio.

...and some more coffee.

Yes, we had some coffee...

Rehearsal two

Yesterday I had my second rehearsal. Since I play all instruments except the drums, we have to practice one at a time. But it feels good to always have the drums there, since the drums are the only part of the "band" that does not exist in my head. It is important that we are on the same track.

Sunday is two days away (and that feels craaazy). Tonight I will finish all arrangements, and tomorrow is practice practice and more pracice. Especially on the bass, since I am more confident in playing the piano and guitar. I will have to rest my voice for a while too, it has to be good on Sunday.

Right now, when thinking about it, this project actually seems manageable. It has not always been like that, sometimes I think and wonder what I have gotten myself into. But right now I think we will be able to do it, and to have fun as well!

/Paulina

Musical brainstorming

This sunday I had the first practice session with the drummer. It went really well, there is a lot of new ideas coming up as we are playing and I really enjoy that. The song will have a little bit of a different touch than the last recording. This time, it will be more based on guitar than on piano and synths. I think it will be really great.

I need to write a detailed arrangement of the song this week. Sunday is RECORDING DAY! I am so excited. And scared. But mostly excited. The biggest challenge right now is the time pressure. I have a lot of very important school work to do this week, but I need to get the arrangement done quite soon, I cannot wait until Saturday to do it. If only the day had more than 24 hours...

(not my picture)