Ok... This is where we're at. First of all, if you're wondering where I've been and where's my annual Shocktober message...then I guess this will have to suffice.
Last week I went back in studio with Wonder Rob A.K.A. J.J. Flash. He's becoming the master of beats and samples. Like what they called "cut creators" in the 80's only not using turntables. Its all computer programs and edits now.
I went there this time to lay down the vocals on "Consecrate: Anthem of the athame". Now let me tell you where this became a Mission Impossible.
It started with the usual 2 hour drive there. Only it had been torrentially raining. SO much so, I heard that the weatherman said if this was snow, the precipitation would have added up to FIVE FEET of snow.Flooding. You don't see flooding like this that often. The kind of flooding that makes you think you'll need an Ark. In some area's it was a little like Hurricane Katrina hit again. So anyway...the 2 hour trip ended up more like FIVE hours.
So I'm frazzled...it was dark now and rainy. We get in and I kibutz a bit. Talk about the project and start laying out ideas for yet round III of Consecrate.
The first rule? Don't attempt the deep voice stuff with your night voice. You need the Barry White morning voice for that and will regret it later and have to re-record.As we went along we had disputes over my penchant for sound effects and drowning the ears with plans of sounds. He poo-poo'ed my ideas of the sounds of Wolverine claw blades clashing and Sabertooth roars sampled from X-Men. He poo-poo'ed the idea of a section where we put in sounds of soldiers marching. Come to think of it...he poo-poo's alot.
He restructured the inflection of words in my singing of lyrics. I should say "directed" rather. Like a director of a film. We took a shitload of takes in loops. Sometimes he found he had to scoop out the good shit and cut and paste and jink parts of takes closer or farther to make the line sound right.Now whenever you make an edit... It gets an ID tag, and there's apart in my lyrics that states: "No priest or exorcistic credo...could silence this mystic libido..." The tag number? "666". We found that extremely funny.
Ok...anyway. There's ALOT of work to do. Kinda like when you clean your room and you end up making it dirtier first. We added some more percussions, but in the end it's like a house 65% built using 75% or so of the building materials. 25% of the song is devoid of lyric tracks, not even guide ones. So it's kind of a mess at the moment.
Then the latest delimena. Mic-fright. I could run around the studio singing other peoples songs beautifully. And Flash said this to me: "Why can't you do that on mic? How is it, you can walk around here and sing so well then get up in front of the mic and choke?" I personally have no idea. Take the mic away and I'll do it perfectly. As soon as the red
light goes on, now begin the fuck ups. I lose vocal control... Range fails... I don't get pitchy, but I go flat. All I know is...by the time I return I need to have all this resolved.
At least he cares. Unlike Weapon who admits that since he "wasn't producing, he's not going to say anything", Flash will tell me what's wrong and we'll work out ideas. New ideas come up everytime we work together and the concept does more than come to life...it grows into something else. It's alive. It lives, it breathes... Currently, it's kinda hurtin'. That's to be expected. After two days, wanting to give me something to take home and work with he tried his best to put together a hurried mix. Now the only problem with that is that you are forced to use your
imagination and pretend the song is good. In essence, this song is going from being simply the "We will rock you" of the occult world to an ethereal anthem.
I'm trying to see over the "now it sucks" hump. That final phase to get the song is done is to get all the mixes and tracks and volumes levels perfect. All the effects must be in and the proper acoustic dynamics set. In other words... it must SOUND good and it must sound good BEFORE mixdown. Right now it's awreck. Vocals are far more difficult than just instruments. Too many things can go wrong and sound bad.So there it is in a really huge nutshell. I'm back in studio full tilt.
"So mote it be".
It will all come together. Have a little faith. The creative process can be a bit like giving birth. Very painful but well worth it. You are in the delivery room.
Supplicated by: Leyla at October 20, 2005 09:34 PM