Building the Lineup...

Now that we’ve got Steve Turner’s string arrangement completed for “If You Won’t Stay”, it’s time to begin working out the rest of the lineup.

I haven’t yet decided which of the musicians who performed on “Brave New World” and “Farewell Mr. Lynne” I’ll be asking back for this next album, if any.  They are all phenomenal performers – but they were all brought on board by Matt Wallace, who produced “Brave New World”.  Matt’s curtailed the production aspect of his professional endeavors for now, in favor of focusing on mixing legacy recordings for the relatively new “Atmos” surround-sound platform for major record labels.

While that may seem like a bit of a setback, I see it as an opportunity to personally take on the full-time role of producing this project going forward.  Having an experienced producer was essential the first time around – as I’d never previously worked with musicians with such lofty credentials.  (The list of bands these guys have performed with can be a bit intimidating.  I mean, one of the two drummers on “Brave New World” is now a fulltime Foo Fighter!)

Matt and I had a great working relationship – but there were definitely some aspects of the process where I was a bit more deferential than I would have ideally liked to be.  That’s understandable, given the experience and capabilities of everyone involved in the project – but now that I’ve been through the entire process from start to finish, I feel like I’m in a much better position to exert more definitive control over the project’s direction.

That direction begins with putting the lineup together.  To restate things, everyone who performed on “BNW” was exceptional – but there was an aspect of the process where it kind of felt like all of the performers were pretty much acting as session players.  They didn’t know me coming in; rather, they were essentially working on the project due to their existing relationships with Matt.

The one performer who I personally found was Steve Turner, the string arranger.  Over time, we’ve developed an exceptionally collaborative relationship, to the extent that he is an undoubtedly integral part of the project, as opposed to a hired hand.  I believe that developing similar relationships with the rest of the lineup will be of tremendous benefit going forward…    

To VST or Not to VST...

After a few revisions, we’ve got the string arrangement completed for “If You Won’t Stay”.  It remains to be determined whether or not we’ll have an actual orchestra perform the arrangement (as well as the arrangements for the rest of the tracks on the album), or if Steve will perform the arrangements using what is referred to as “VST” (or “Virtual Studio Technology”). 

That technology allows for performance of the parts via a keyboard, which controls digital software “samples” that emulate the target instrumentation.  The realism of this technology is fairly stunning… I would venture a guess that the vast majority of listeners would not be able to tell the difference between the emulated performance and the actual performance of an orchestra (at least, when the person responsible for the keyboard performance possesses the necessary qualifications).

Although the idea of recording a live orchestra (as we did with “Brave New World”) is ideal from a purist’s perspective, the costs of doing so are exorbitant – particularly given the budget constraints of independent projects.  But, there’s another potentially more compelling reason why I’m very much leaning towards the VST route…

If you were a fan of the string arrangements incorporated in ELOs classic mid-70s albums, you’ll note that those arrangements were complex and intricate – with an infinitely greater level of dynamics than you usually hear with the orchestra “pad” arrangements typically associated with popular music.  In a situation like that, recording with a very low amount of reverb is important – lest most of the intricacies of those types of arrangement will end up lost in the “soup”.

We recorded the orchestra for “Brave New World” in a cavernous room (actually an old converted church) – and while those performances (and the recording thereof) were excellent, I felt that we lost a bit of the impact of the strings due to those room dynamics.  When recording using VST technology, we have the ability to simulate virtually any level of room dynamics that would be appropriate for the project – and make nondestructive adjustments and edits on the fly.

I want the strings on this record to sound like they were recorded by a 32-piece section in a 10x10 room.  Not something that can be easily achieved live, but – with digital technology, anything is possible!

"Tilting At Windmills" - Recording Underway...

We just started officially recording the first song from “Tilting at Windmills” last week. I sent the demo track off to Steve (our phenomenal string arranger), and we’ve worked up the arrangement through the first two choruses, up until the bridge.

We’re doing this first track a little differently, as I haven’t yet settled on the full musician lineup for the record. Steve would normally work from a finished rhythm track (drums, bass and possible rhythm guitar), but I’m going to try out a group of musicians who record with a drummer friend of mine over in the UK. He’s got access to a studio and wants to work on this album, so we’re going to see how his lineup works. Because he’s currently on a tour that’s ending at the end of April, I have to wait a couple of weeks until he’s back home before starting on the main tracks, so… we’ll wrap up the orchestration for this one first.

Once we’ve gotten some headway on the meat of the track, I’ll post a clip so you can hear where we’re going with it ;)

My best,

-Eddie

Random Chrustmas song thought...

Has there ever been a more throwaway lyric in a holiday song than "Christmas comes this time each year"?

I think that same thing each time I hear that song... this time each year lol

Stay Tuned...

Haven’t posted here in awhile, but I’m going to do so on a much more regular basis going forward, considering blog content is now going to be an offering for Inner Circle subscribers. 

Huh?

Yeah, I know.  Part of the reason I haven’t been posting is because I’ve been caught up in developing a marketing campaign strategy for Interstate Island, through a stellar program developed by the guys at “Modern Musician” for, well, modern musicians.  I thought it interesting that Sheryl Crow posted something recently complaining that no-one buys music anymore… yes Sheryl, in this age of streaming, that’s what life will be like in the 21^st century and beyond.

Recording artists now need to get very creative when it comes to developing pathways to sustain careers in this industry.  And that’s extremely important, because without those pathways to support the development of new music, there will be no more new music.  It ultimately comes down to the establishment of a new covenant between artists and listeners… artists will do their best to continue creating the kind of music listeners want to hear, and listeners will do what they can in order to support those efforts.

That new bond can manifest itself in a variety of different ways, but where I think it significantly benefits listeners is that they will now have access to artists in ways that were simply never possible before.  In the 70s, Elton John would release a new album, and within a few weeks, millions of people paid roughly $10 for the right to hear it whenever they wished.  But… if you could go back to that time and ask a fan what it was like to connect with Elton on an internet livestream, or spend a week with him on a luxury cruise – what would that fan say?  (Spoiler alert: she’d say, “what’s the internet”?)

So, yes, as everyone knows, times have changed dramatically – in some ways that have presented a great many challenges for creators, but also in others that present amazing opportunities for artists and listeners to connect in ways that were never possible before.

Stay tuned, my friends...

Miscellaneous Thoughts on a Monday Morning…

 The Islanders have a .650 points percentage ten games into the season, which looks decent on paper – but they are not playing well. Still not convinced Lane Lambert is the right coach for this team.

Returned a week ago from a blackjack trip to the heartland during which I was backed off from three straight sessions – which I’m sure was the result of a local flyer.  So, I played poker the last couple of days, along with catching an Isles’ road game, which they won with a shutout.  Always nice to experience a win in the opponent’s barn.  Heading to the PNW Friday, where I will catch yet another Isles’ road game…

Found an interesting poker “home” game this past week… was looking for something closer to home so that I don’t have to travel as far to the local poker room to get some hours in.  It’s an interesting setup, with two full tables and professional dealers.  A bit like Molly’s game, which makes me wonder if they are somehow compensating the local authorities to keep themselves in action…

On the music side of things, the album was officially released a couple of weeks ago.  We’re apparently getting some play at college radio at various locales throughout the country (and even some spots in Canada), which I thought was pretty cool.  The reality is, in this day and age, any chance for real success will have to come from licensing revenue derived from film/tv/ad sources.  The marketing guys in London are working on that; fingers crossed… 

Preparing For Social Media....

The whole social media concept is very new to me - but the reality in today's age is if you want to build a career for yourself as an artist, you've got to do a lot more than just record and release songs.  Particularly if it takes four years to record an album.  (Well, hopefully that was just for the first one... lol)

Discovered a website that allows for things like the recording of splitscreen interviews; I've reached out to Matt to set aside some time where we can both chat about the recording of this record and related topics... should be a cool item for the facebook group, and make for some nice additional shorts on youtube.

The video for "Requiem" is coming out Friday; I'm hoping it comes across as a fitting tribute to 9/11s heroic first responders.  Filming the final video for the album on Sunday, for the "All Of Our Lives" ballad.  That'll be the the most introspective track of all for which we've created and released videos...