Yes. It’s a little known fact that 2013 is the Chinese Year of the Crow.
I got back from New Year celebrations up in Scotland yesterday, and straight into getting a load of stuff recorded before the rest of the family return tomorrow. Our living room is a mad junkshop of all the drum machines and synths, mics, compressors, pedals and guitars lying waiting for their turn in the not-quite-so-grand scheme of things.
I managed to get all of the drum tracks done, bar a few minor changes and additions. Its amazing how quickly the track count stacks up when you separate out the various drum channels of a few machines… there are 17 tracks of drums on Time To Fly but its just because the snare sound is made up of 4 different snares, and the kick of five different kicks – each with their own little addition to the flavour. I could blend them all into one, but I don’t want the mix engineer scowling at me.
Annoyingly I think I may have tracked Riversong 2 bpm. too slow. The demo was at 122, but the vocals felt a little rushed at times, so I dropped it down a notch. Listening back now it feels different – a little sluggish or something. Subtley so, but different nonetheless. I’ll live with it for a couple of days and see what happens. It’s my daughter’s favourite track, so I’ll play her this version and see if she notices anything. I guess if a 4-year-old picks up on it, it’s not a good sign.
I’ve been loving working with the Juno. It truly is a magic synth. Funksome basslines and lush pads, dreamy arpeggios and glitchy little pips… it does everything with extreme grace and warmth. Tomorrow I have to get some guitars down to offset the synthiness of everything, but I restrung the Lowden and it sounds too bright at the moment. I hate new strings. I’m not normally one for sentimental hording of stuff, but I did keep the strings I took off yesterday, as they are the ones that have been on the guitar since day one of this project, and were there for all of the demos and writing process… it feels like they have a memory of this time. I’ll put them in a box along with the scraps of paper and lyrics on envelopes like I always do. So maybe I am a horder after all.