We knew we would have to work really hard while we were here before we got here, but I don’t think we could fully grasp how exactly that would be.
This morning, all of us were awake well before six o’clock. There are two young kids in the house and when they wake up they are fully awake and energetic. During the day the house is empty, but mornings are a bit madness…
We stepped into the studio in the basement around 8:30. The purpose of the first couple of days is to prepare all the songs as well as we can. We go over all the songs one by one. We go over the key of the song (it might need to be a bit higher or lower), then we play around with the tempo and feel (we might try it faster or slower, or not as a waltz, or feel a Motown feel to see if that might work better). Then we play around with bass lines, chords and vocals (including backing vocals). Francis dances around in the Ajax shirt we brought from Holland, adding some instant backing vocal ideas and patterns. And then we try to find the proper outline for the song (How many verses? When are we playing the bridge? Are all the transitions from one part to the next good?). Then we quickly record a version of what we have just thought of on our phone or iPad. After each song we step out of the studio and have coffee while we’re listening back to the song and discuss if something is missing and if we think it is indeed better than our demo versions were.
Our first break was at 9:30 this morning. We had a very productive hour; it almost felt like we had already had a full working day. And we kept the energy going until about 4:30PM. At that point, we had already done five songs and had discussed about a million things, and we needed to take a proper break to not drive ourselves insane. I had already been at the point where I was stuck earlier in the afternoon; it is quite challenging to be creative and energetic and keep working at such a high pace.
We went to the community pool around the corner to unwind for about 30 minutes, and enjoyed a home-made pizza afterwards. Around 8PM it was time for today’s night session. We evaluated our progress and discussed some marketing ideas sitting outside on the porch. We then returned to the studio to listen to everything we have recorded today.
We had a long day and we’re knackered, but we’re doing great!
