In my last post I wrote about some of the challenges I have in songwriting and recording – in particular the situation where I write a song which I then struggle to sing in the studio when recording it.
As I mentioned, one of the last few songs I’m working on to finish my album – “Who’s been sleeping in my brain” – was presenting me with this problem and driving me crazy as I tried to record the verse vocals again and again, but still not liking what I heard. I realised that I was going to have to start thinking outside the box and this is where I left you in my last newsletter, promising that I’d let you know how I got on.
Well, I am really happy to tell you that I have finally succeeded in recording the vocals for the verses in a way I am really happy with (with a little help from Mike Raine who is producing the album for me).
The song (if you remember from reading the lyrics and listening to the bridge and final chorus – also shared with you in recent newsletters) is very weird and wonderful – inspired by a post by a member of my facebook group “Laini’s Beach Shack” who asked the group to list some of their favourite weird album titles.
Trouble is, I just wasn’t channeling the right voice for the character singing the verses and in hindsight I realise that it was because I didn’t have the right image in my head of that character. So much about singing for me is being able to have a clear image in my head of the “person” singing the song, whether it be someone in love or upset, a strong character or a weak character, someone vulnerable, contemplative, or angry etc. etc. and then being able to become that person with how I sing the song i.e. acting with my voice.
Sometimes, when I’m struggling with the image of the character I chat with Mike about how we each see that character. We did this before recording my cover of Bjork’s “Human Behaviour”. Mike said that he could see a person sitting, holding open a book and reading to the audience. This turned into the final image of a prim and proper teacher giving a lecture on Human Behaviour, which is how I portrayed one of the voices/characters. If you’ve not seen it before you can watch the music video to Human Behaviour by clicking on the link here:
Well, in the case of “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Brain” we did the same thing and it came as a surprise to me to hear Mike say that his image of the person singing the verses was of a Maleficent type character standing a-high in a huge cavernous area preaching to the masses! My voice image was of a sweet, ethereal character! Such a breakthrough! I went home, tried out a few ways of recording with this new image in mind and took my tracks along to Mike’s to slot into the recording last week. Bingo!
So, just a little bit of tidying up to do on this song now – minor stuff – and then it can be put in the album box. There’s only 4 tracks left now to tidy before I have all 11 tracks recorded, so it’s starting to feel as though I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
So, until next time when I hope to give your more news on my progress, take care
Laini xx
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Also, don’t forget you can stream my first album here on my website, and there is also an option to purchase if you want your own copy Laini Colman debut album