Restless Heart - album-making diary #2 (Nov 18th, 2014)

FB entry on November 18th, 2014

[debut-album-making-diary] Vocal recording for one song down! "Molihua" (Jasmine Flower) recording done last night at close to midnight! 9 more songs to go!  

I recorded half the song back in early September and then everyone got absolutely swamped by other projects and gigs so there was a void of two months. The singing in September was beautiful and polished, with Cecilia Yap with me in the studio then, pulling me up to my maximum in the bel-canto and folk-singing department. When we got back to the studio last week for Molihua, we decided to start afresh from the top.

And what a gruelling session it was in the first two hours! With just me and the 'fat mic' (our nick for this studio mic - sE Gemini) in the dark recording room - I faced my worst enemy: the voice that talk down at me in my head. Put me on stage to face thousands of people and it's a breeze...but in that darkened studio with me and 'fat mic' - I couldn't quite shake off the nerves that haunt my singing, not until at least 90 mins later after we started the recording.

So when the whole song was done after 4 hours, I called it a miracle. The two men who help me give birth to the miracle, Song-fan Seah 谢松汎 Link and Alex Ls Tan coaxed, cajoled, adjusted and edited here and there to produce a recording of me singing Molihua from beginning to end - you dudes rock my world. Mind you, it's not a short song either, 5:45 mins.

Last night we had Miss Cecilia Yap back in the studio after two long months, this time not to coach me - but to sing on the track. The clip below is a tiny snippet of her gold on this song. Song-fan and her put together vocal parts that elevate my song to high heavens of....Machu Picchu and beyond (that was my mental picture/journey when I recorded the song). To have a recording of Cecilia's voice next to mine has got to be a thrilling milestone for me - a teacher who not only never gives up on correcting my stubborn bad habits, also a generous musician.

After we see Cecilia off where she rushed home to three `waiting tenors/baritones' for a rehearsal and class, we sat down and had some birthday cake - specially hand-delivered by Selina Kok at the studio for birthday Song-fan. We worked from 1030pm to midnight, re-recorded my vocals that needed fixing. Pitching, colour, adding stories...pitching! At the moment, auto tune is not an option on this album...why? That requires a separate entry on that, technical explanation.

The most valuable lesson I've learnt from this outing: Confidence is the next most important thing you need after talent and training. The one thing I lack in the studio now, but am working on it and I am CONFIDENT that I will only get better with each recording.

I have a good feeling about this album. The songs need wings 
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