In the studio…

In the past couple of weeks I have been in the studio working on my new single “Forgiveness.”

It has been an amazing experience and I have had a lot of fun working with Walter Afanasieff.   I have mentioned in my Blog in November that we are trying to find a new sound.  This sound I called Pop-Ra.  It can be compared to modern classical yet you will also hear the pop sound.  Its great to be able to deliver such a heart felt song.  The song is still in the making process. I recently went back in to the studio to record couple of more takes.  So far I have had 3 days in the studio.

Before I went into the studio I did a lot of work on my own and some with my vocal teacher Vladimir Chernov.  It’s great to hear another interpretation of lyrics and music.  The coaching helped me greatly with understanding the song on a much deeper level then my interpretation.  I had to go back home and re learn my dynamics and cadences.  I took at least three weeks on memorizing the lyric, living the words and understanding the melody, and the emotion that is portrayed behind it all.  I had to develop that Pop-ra sound that mix between the old and the new.  I practiced a lot just singing the melody on vowels.  Then I took one word at a time and dissected each sentence by melodic phrase.  There is a section in the song that is most unique.  The Bridge is built 2 against 3.  It’s so Rachmaninoff like, very dramatic melody scaling down word against this double meter.  It brings a lot of tension.

On the first day of recording we decided to change the tempo.

We thought that the original tempo was too slow and was dragging.  At this point I was in the vocal booth for about an hour or two.  I enjoyed working with Walter because he is so detailed with his direction and clear with his vision.  It was also great to have a conductor again.  It’s been a long time since i have been conducted and it was a lot of fun!

We bumped up the tempo just a bit.  I recorded for couple of more hours at the new tempo.  And we finished on that note.

On the second day we decided that the original tempo was the correct one.  So we re recorded the song several more times.  This time  though we started making melodic changes as we went a long.  It’s hard to do things on a spot.  To be able to deliver the words with passion and enough dramatics and be able to nail the new melody.  Its hard because your muscle memory and your ear remember a certain thing that you have been training over and over.  So when a new little change comes in to play it can throw things off.  And the performance can be weaker then usual.  But I love that type of challenge and I pick up things fast and it fun to me.

Two days ago I went back in to the studio after getting my “rough vocal”.

I have to be honest some things had to grow on me.  Because it is so unusual what we are trying to do but it is so beautiful at the same time.  I had to go back because there are things that were a bit bothersome to me.  I’m such a picky perfectionist that I have to neat pick every little thing.  Of course it was also good for me to hear the “rough” because it gave me an over al idea of the song.  It’s one thing when you record it and you sing it.  It’s very different when you hear your self sing.  I was super happy with what I was hearing and I really wanted to perfect just couple of small things.  I had couple of days to practice and get comfortable with the new melodic changes.  So when I came in to the studio I was ready to perform.

I also came in with some ideas for back up vocals.  Those were really fun to do because they were so unusual and kind of new but old reminded me of something Elvis would do.

Now I’m waiting to hear the finished product…