12 Jul 2008
by madeleinein In the Studio Tags: array mbira, Björk, Melt!, music producer, radiohead, recording studio, Sigur Rós, songs
This week I’ve arranged two songs for other people in the same project as me with the music producer. This time he’d given me great songs that I’d listen to anytime. So it was pretty easy to come up with something. As long as I can be passionate about something I can do it. Today I met up with him and he really loved my arrangements. If the girls who wrote the songs like them as well, they’re gonna be on the compilation like that. What a thought! I’d mentioned in an earlier blog that he’d done a radio edit of ‘Chaos & Order’ that I wasn’t too fond of. On Monday I’d finally gotten around to it and done it myself. The song is originally 5 minutes 30 long, but needed to be 4 minutes tops. I managed to get it down to 3’58” without feeling as if I’d cut out something important. All the parts are still present, some just shortened so people with a short attention span won’t lose interest. He loved it. There’s still a few little details to adjust and he wants to get me a trumpet player to add some nice bits here and there in a professional studio. He might use the song to get sponsors for the compilation, which boiled down to the essential means he thinks it’s one of the most promising songs so far. I also played him ‘The Tide’ and ‘Zero Tolerance’ as possibilities for the second song to go on the compilation. Initially I wanted to write a new song especially for it, but time’s running out. When he heard ‘The Tide’ he said he had whole movies running through his head which is such a huge compliment. I always try to tell stories with the music so that people understand the emotion even if they don’t get the words. I guess my songs are like short films without the pictures, where the score already tells the story and the pictures appear in your mind, everyone having their own personal movies.
When he heard ‘Zero Tolerance’ he instantly went for it. Not too surprising because even my parents favour it. So it’s gonna be song number two on the compilation. Kinda funny since it’s my reckoning with some people who’ve been treating me like shit (pardon my french) to let it all go and move on. A good way of self-therapy, I guess. In the beginning the music producer was like: ‘Yeah, that’s good.’ and after a couple more bars: ‘Really good.’ So that’s settled. I wasn’t too worried about the second song anyway. I already had the feeling it’d work itself out.
I must say I’ve been showered with compliments about my music lately. I’m not gonna let it go to my head, but I have to say it’s great to get some reassurance to go on on my path and after toiling in the studio for half a year. It might be a long way still till I can fund myself with music only and such nice words keep me right on track and working hard for my dream. The music producer said today that he believes I’m gonna be successful and find my niche. Also it looks like I’m gonna be one of a few chosen ones to play at a festival in late September with some big acts he organises. Furthermore he encouraged me to try and get work as a film score composer. Apparently a friend of his who had a new book published this spring is negotiating with some big film company and the music producer will then get the job to compose the score and wants me to collaborate with him on it. Sounds pretty exciting to me. It’s all a bit hush hush at the moment so I have to be so vague. Sorry about that, but I don’t want to trip myself up. More news once it’s official.
If you’re still reading on… either you’re really interested in what I have to say or really bored. Either way, thanks for being so patient. I’m sitting here typing for way more than two hours now.
Last, but not least, on June 28 I happened to come across the live webcast of the concerts of Sigur Rós and Björk that tried to achieve an awareness of environmental issues in Iceland. A good cause and great concerts. Absolutely amazing even through a screen. At the same time I was chatting to an Icelandic girl on the web who apparently is the youngest array mbira player in the world. I got to know her when I was asking around for advice on the purchase of an mbira. She’s been very helpful and since we’ve learned a bit more about each other. She even listened to my music on myspace and thought it was great and would do well in Iceland. So I got my first Icelandic fan while watching the concerts. Funny coincidence! Tomorrow I’m gonna meet up with a friend and we’re gonna plot how to get to the Melt! Festival on Sunday and back the same night. Björk’s playing the only gig in Germany there. After the webcast I really can’t miss that.
This Tuesday I got an email from a friend in London who still owes me saying I should try and get hold of a ticket to the Radiohead concert even though it was already sold out and he’d cover whatever the cost. I snatched the last one on Ebay and went. It was absolutely brilliant. Fantastic lightshow, great performance, the whole package. In fact, it was so good I didn’t mind the rain one bit. Thom Yorke apologised about it and said it was ‘a Radiohead thing’ and thanked all the musicians in Berlin for making ‘such great shit, especially Modeselektor’ who were opening for Radiohead. Thanks, Thom! And also thanks, Jon for giving me one of the best presents ever. Life’s sooo good!
Phew, this is me breaking a record. My longest blog so far. That might teach me to write more often. Four hours straight. Quite tipsy by now. Gonna cook a tasty dinner now and then a bit more of making music.
x
17 Jun 2008
by madeleinein accords, In the Studio, ramblings Tags: beats, Berlin, field recording, lyrics, MD recorder, music, music producer, twitter
As promised, here comes the sequel… So what else have I been up to lately…
Last Tuesday was the last hot day for a while and since I hadn’t had much time to enjoy the sun I’d decided to go to a lake to finish the lyrics for ‘The Tide’ there. Found a nice, secluded spot, went swimming – the water was still pretty cold, but lovely and refreshing – and then took out my notebook and pen. I got everything but the last verse. Not sure how to conclude the song, yet. I’ve got a couple of different scenarios and I guess I’m gonna leave that open until I’ve arranged the music. Very happy with what I’ve got so far.
After that I had another appointment with the music producer. I gave him the soul song I wrote for someone else in a rough outlined version so she can sing on top of it. He really liked it. Last time I’d been there he’d given me two songs that needed beats, but I disliked the songs so much that with each listening I felt more like getting sick. Sooo not my cup of tea. This time he’d considered my taste and given me a couple of songs that I really like and that inspired some ideas already during listening for the first time. Also I can try whatever I like. It seems to let me work to my strength means not to put me on a short leash. The music producer agreed that I do the radio edit for ‘Chaos & Order’. I understand that he wants to make the song interesting even to people who have the attention span of a mayfly. That’s fine, but I’d rather do it my way. There are supposed to be two songs on the compilation and I’m gonna write a new song specifically for it.
It’s funny how the music producer treats me now. In the beginning he found my music interesting, but he was slightly reserved. I reckon because he thought it too weird. He seems to play everyone’s music to all kinds of people to see how they react. Well, each time I go there I meet someone new. And the introduction goes like that most of the time: ‘Hi, I’m Madeleine.’ ‘Oh, hi. Love your music!’ This resulted in the music producer calling me his shooting star now, which seems a bit like piling it on too much. But it’s nice realising that you can do your own thing and people aren’t only interested in the same old, same old.
A couple of days ago I sat down and made a plan what’s left to do to finish the album. Time’s running out, it’s coming to a close that I can blissfully make music and nothing else. By the end of July I probably have to seriously start looking for a part time job. The good thing is it appears feasible that I’ll be finished with my 12 songs, preparing all songs for the stage and writing another one for the compilation till then. So the timing is right, but I’ll have to work quite a bit in these weeks. I tried to apply proper time management methods where you calculate how long you think things will take and then multiply that by two for unexpected and unknowable delays. Still I’d love to continue just making music, because the learning curve in the last couple of months has been so steep for me and there are so many more songs left in me. That’s why I only want a part time job. At least then I’ll have quite some time left each week for music. I might even have something already. The music producer asked me if I was interested in doing the event management for the huge gig at the end of the year. If the hourly rate is right, gladly. Well, we’ll see.
Thursday night I took my MD recorder and my new Sony stereo mic and went around Berlin recording all kinds of sounds for my song ‘Euphoria’. I’m really happy with the quality of the recordings I got. The next day I edited all of it and replaced the old sounds with the new ones. The basic rhythm is made of a woman walking in high heels and the clicking noise of a traffic light near where I live. The song starts with an S-Bahn arriving and the amazing thing is when I put the sound in I discovered that the rumbling on the tracks is completely in sync with the tempo of the song. In the refrain there’s gonna be more sounds of the S- and U-Bahn. I still have to refine the sound of the beats and put little details in.
On Saturday I packed up my Mac, my little keyboard and some clothes and went to visit family and friends in my hometown. The first few days I was busy catching up with all of them. I hadn’t seen most of them for months. Especially my brother including his little family. My nephew is very musical and we already played a bit together and we’ll continue this afternoon when he’s coming from kindergarten. It’s a lot of fun seeing him eyes aglow when he tried out playing a keyboard for the first time. And it’s great to get a change of scenery from time to time. I felt like a holiday, but I’ve got no time for it and neither the money – I’m buying the array mbira instead. I feel much more relaxed and ready to keep working and pulling all bits together to get the album finished.
One more thing… lately I’ve worked till early in the morning quite often and ended up being too tired to write the blog. So I thought I’d join twitter, because that way I can keep you posted about what I’m up to in no time. So if you want to know what I’m working on and there’s no update in this blog, you can check here.
Phew, what a writing marathon. Guess I’ve mentioned everything. And now back to rehearsing.
x
06 May 2008
by madeleinein accords, In the Studio Tags: glass harp, kalimba, lyrics, music, music producer, recording studio
Today has been an amazing day. Early on I had to run a few errands and it was such great weather outside. I all of a sudden felt really inspired. Saturday I was in such a strange mood. Everything seemed to go wrong. I got completely stuck with ‘Celeste’. It’s never a good thing too feel defeated creatively so I always make it a point to end the day with a good feeling. I trailed through my song ideas and kinda rediscovered ‘Endless’. Before I thought I had messed up the song, but I figured out pretty quickly what was wrong. And on Sunday and today I’ve been working on this song and trying to get my voice into shape again.
Today I finally sat down and finished the lyrics for it. It’s called ‘Euphoria’ now. The title came to me a couple of days ago when I walked through my quarter and saw the sign for a bar named ‘Euphoria’ and thought what a great title it would make. I already sorta had lyrics for the song formerly called ‘Endless’, but I wasn’t too happy with them overall. Now I am though. The rough idea for verse and refrain are all there, chords, vocals, bass, beats. The main sound is the glass harp. When cut up and made into a loop played as an instrument it makes a nice upbeat skeleton. The kalimba and the bass round the whole thing off. Sounds almost caribbean, especially the refrain. A very happy song (as could be expected from the title). Very fitting to the season.
Yesterday I got a call from a music producer that I met up with about three weeks ago. He’s trying to put together a project of promising Berlin-based musicians. If things go right there’s gonna be one or two compilation CDs and a huge event in autumn… and this might prove to be exactly what I still need. Loads of media coverage and therefore attention from hopefully the right people. When I was contacted I was at first pretty sceptical and didn’t expect much, but it does sound great. Anyway, let’s not get too far ahead. Next week I’m gonna go to his studio and play him my own favourite songs… I’ll keep you posted.
Off to bed now. So excited about continuing work on ‘Euphoria’.
x
