b u r z i n s k im u s i c

August 25, 2010Focusing on vocals

I’m into vocals recording since last week-end. And I’m quite confident, for I feel it’s easier for me to track them, comparing to what I did for Untimely Tales. The first takes were quite decent but I had to rehearse a little bit, in order to focus not only on the pitch, but also on the expression.

Because I’ve got extra time for the release date (more about this later), I’m doing lots of takes in order to get the best feeling I can. I’m alone at home, so the goal is to finish them on sunday. I still have a lot of spare time to work on them, when I’m home at night or during the week-end.

I’m also thinking about how to mix the songs, and how to track those vocals. I can choose simple tracks, or doubled tracks, either by sending the vocal to another track and add some EQ and delay, or by recording a second take. I could also work on vocal harmonies.

I guess I’m going to choose the simple path and focus on the main vocal expression and add a second track with delay. I listened to several tracks in order to analyse what I could do. Here is a tracklist with different options, only low vocals of course… Of course the vocal sounds are not the same, each voice is unique on its own. I also added one of my now former songs to that tracklist, The Narrow Road Home…

I enjoyed listening to those songs, of course, I’m not only into analysing every bit of detail.

At the same time, I’m on something else, cheers…

August 11, 2010The gothic game

Are my songs going to sound like a gothic soundtrack ? I’ve been told there is something romantic, slightly old-school gothic, or batcave sung by Stuart Staples from The Tindersticks in Untimely Tales. Well, maybe, considering I’m fond of old Cure’s albums such as Pornography or Faith. One of these new songs has some Velvet Underground, or The Jesus & Mary Chain spirit, actually… A song I started to write in… 2003 (!) and never finished… Now called “Broken Windows”.

But they’re not finished yet, so lets see later, then you tell me.

I told you I shot lots of pictures when on holidays. Here are some, and because they were shot at night, and because of the subjects, they could be considered as gothic, so I found it fun to publish these ones first.

This skull belongs to my girlfriend (relax, she’s alive, it’s not hers…) for a long time, as well as the type machine and the old telephone on the background.

This one was shot in south-west of France, in the country. This is quite curious to see some of those crosses when you don’t expect them. Just in front of two dead trees.

I wasn’t that lucky for it almost rained everyday there, but that sky is amazing… And this church, too… A scary movie could be shot there…

So, my songs are not finished, but I actually did what I wanted last week-end : Only vocals left before starting the mixes. All instrument tracks are recorded !

Fun, I’ve been listening to random songs yesterday, one I didn’t listened to for a long long time popped up and surprised me : “Always The Sun” by The Stranglers…

August 4, 2010I broke The River

Dwarves sometimes look at impressionist paintings… Somewhere in Paris in July… They dream of holidays and new places to visit whereas they’re trapped in some obscure shops…

I didn’t feel that way when I shot this picture, I was starting my holidays. Working on the EP. I actually roughly recorded all the 5 songs the first week, in order to get a good overview of the overall sound. I then put them into my iPod in order to listen to them the second week, when I was not home. It was wise, it allowed me to have feedback, and more ideas about what to do next.

Almost a fish in the sea, that third week. I properly recorded the good parts, in order to have solid drums / bass / guitars. Then I could start arranging the songs. Ghostly Female Faces is now done (except for the vocals, I keep them all for the next step), as well as Broken Windows. Still have to work on A Useless Tale and For Obscure Reasons, which are quite good already, I even wonder if there is much to do. Soft arrangements only.

The problem came with The River last sunday. I started arrangements and felt it didn’t work. I finally started to work on it all day long. I even considered a simple piano version. I actually broke it, shortened it, got rid of some part in the middle and in the end, programmed a new drum loop, got rid of the guitar and started with a mellotron track directly, just after I cut and pasted bass clips for a new bassline…

I’ve been afraid the song was lost, but I’m really satisfied with that new direction. It looks like I’ve got now a rough version of the final version to come, arrangements included…

Well, the release date is still planned for mid-november, and I still expect to finish the EP by the end of september…

Hey don’t you know I’m now on facebook ? well, I’ve got an active musician page, now, and a user profile page as well… I’d love to meet you there if by any chance you’ve got an account.

Talk to you soon… I actually shot lots of pictures when I was in south west of France… I keep them for the next posts… Cheers…

July 16, 2010Unlock the door

Every time I start a project I’m faced with issues. This time I quickly worked on the drums, then recorded guitars, basses, and even vocals on a track. Ghostly Female Faces. But for this one, I felt something was wrong. I finally had to rework on the drums, because something didn’t work…

Well, I even played new drums… A total different mood, but it was so low… So I kept the first idea, and worked on it again… And now it works. At one moment I added a mellotron track, and it sounded like a Cure track. From Pornography. Not a bad thing, but well, what about originality… Anyway…

I just finished recording that track, actually… Drums, bass, vocals, two guitar parts, two mellotrons… I’m shure I’m going to work on it again later, for at least one mellotron is not enough simple… and well, it might be a good idea to record some new vocal takes. The one I have is quite good, but recorded with old takes, so it doesn’t perfectly fit the arrangements I did after… well, on a tiny few parts of the song…

So that’s it. I think I unlocked the door for this EP project, Ghostly Female Faces is my leading track.
Two guitar parts with my new guitar. Look at the pic just before… A roaring Fender Jaguar… The sound is different from the one I used for Untimely Tales. It’s easier to record, easier to play. A pleasure, considering I spent so much time on the other one before finding a decent sound…

Two days left before I leave Paris for a week. Know what ? I’m going to see Uniform Motion live tomorrow. What a strange feeling, I talk with Andrew, the singer and composer, for a long time through the web. Maybe for six or seven years. And I’m going to see him live tomorrow night… Wow… For the first time in the real life…

One complete week left after this week holidays, then back to day job. Still confident with finishing the recordings by the end of July. Then mix for August, mastering at a later date. For some reasons I’ll explain later, the EP release date is scheduled for november, 15th…

But I unlocked the door… Cheers…