Hey everybody!
The album is ready to be born, I'm maybe an hour away from saying goodbye to my new friends Max and Emily! This is by far the most progressive album ever released by a Yale group, and OOTB should be very proud of themselves as well as Max and Emily for all the hard work they have done. It's been a good week, and I hope you all enjoy the album!
-Bill Hare
Saturday, August 15, 2009
So close...
We're a couple of hours away from the end. Everything is sounding wonderful. We're about to go to dinner, then come back and finish. Holy moly.
Oh man
We're making our first bounce of a finalized mix (Between the Lines). This is exciting.
Won't be able to write much today, since we'll basically be making involved decisions the whole time. But then we'll have the finished album.
Good morning, though!
Won't be able to write much today, since we'll basically be making involved decisions the whole time. But then we'll have the finished album.
Good morning, though!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Cheesy is fun
Bill Hare just had me record this extra plucky rhythmic guitar part in the bridge of The Freshman, on syllables that I can only describe as "bng, bngk-a-dng-a-d-bng, bng, a dng-a dng-a." I love the way it sounds with the rest of the vocals there.
Joh Joh Noh Doh
Good morning good morning good morning. Today is exciting---we're doing drafts of the last two songs! We're starting with The Freshman and then doing Everytime We Touch, a fun arrangement that quotes a lot of other songs. (Not that quoting is particularly original. The arrangement is fun anyway.) After that, all that we still have to do is go back and take a second listen to our drafts, tweaking the mix based on things we hear now that we didn't hear before. Then Bill will master the album, using some extra compression and equalization to make sure the tracks come together to form a cohesive album.
Right now Bill is laying the groundwork for the Freshman. He just set basic compression and equalization levels for the Trio, which isn't in the original song--Steven added two extra lead vocals to form block chords with the solo in the last chorus. It rocks. (If you can't tell, I like writing about what Bill is doing. Gives me something to do between real paragraphs.)
(Now he's putting a filter on one of the snare tracks in the vocal percussion to make it sound scratchier.)
(Now he's letting it play and moving knobs and things on his mixing boards. Must be important.)
(Now Woodstock just jumped up on Emily's lap. He's the orange cat in the pictures that I'll put up in a couple of days when I have my camera cable.)
It feels crazy that we're wrapping things up, and that in less than 48 hours the album will be finished. It basically consumed the last six months for all of us, and it thoroughly consumed my summer since mid-June. I'm not complaining. I've learned a lot, and most of it has been very fun. And it's been really cool to see each song come together piece by piece.
Alright, we're getting into the fun stuff. Time to pay more attention.
Right now Bill is laying the groundwork for the Freshman. He just set basic compression and equalization levels for the Trio, which isn't in the original song--Steven added two extra lead vocals to form block chords with the solo in the last chorus. It rocks. (If you can't tell, I like writing about what Bill is doing. Gives me something to do between real paragraphs.)
(Now he's putting a filter on one of the snare tracks in the vocal percussion to make it sound scratchier.)
(Now he's letting it play and moving knobs and things on his mixing boards. Must be important.)
(Now Woodstock just jumped up on Emily's lap. He's the orange cat in the pictures that I'll put up in a couple of days when I have my camera cable.)
It feels crazy that we're wrapping things up, and that in less than 48 hours the album will be finished. It basically consumed the last six months for all of us, and it thoroughly consumed my summer since mid-June. I'm not complaining. I've learned a lot, and most of it has been very fun. And it's been really cool to see each song come together piece by piece.
Alright, we're getting into the fun stuff. Time to pay more attention.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Ah won't go home without you!
We're well into our third song of the day, Won't Go Home Without You, by Maroon 5. Matt Wade sings it. He's from Georgia. (Also, this song is fun. I keep wanting to bounce.)
(Also fun, this ridiculous video that Bill Hare wanted us to see.)
More musings... One of the more interesting parts of working with Bill has been getting his insight on our album-making process. He stopped working at one point to ask us whether we had only two people per voice part in our group, or if we had decided specifically to record that way. The latter is true--we're just under twenty people, but we have two people record each voice part on each song, and we rotate it so everyone records pretty evenly. And Bill thinks that works best---he thinks it's kind of ridiculous when a whole group records everyone on every song, leaving him with eight different bass tracks to mix together.
More interesting: So last album, we recorded two people at a time, in the same room, on separate microphones. I had us record one person at a time, hoping that we'd have better quality control and actually take less time in the end, but recording background vocals actually took a really long time---about 40-45 minutes per person per song, on average, with 8-10 people per song. But Bill says he actually tends to record four people at a time, all on the same voice part on different microphones. The big difference is that while we would have each person record about 4-8 measures in a row, stop, talk about it, and do it again, he tends to take a very small chunk and loop it over and over again, and the four people will sing it more and more comfortably and more and more together, and eventually the timing and the tuning and the energy just lock. And he gets a voice part recorded in around 45 minutes, all four people. We must try this.
Alright, I'm going to stop writing. Won't Go Home is almost done. Looks like we might start a fourth song today.
(Also fun, this ridiculous video that Bill Hare wanted us to see.)
More musings... One of the more interesting parts of working with Bill has been getting his insight on our album-making process. He stopped working at one point to ask us whether we had only two people per voice part in our group, or if we had decided specifically to record that way. The latter is true--we're just under twenty people, but we have two people record each voice part on each song, and we rotate it so everyone records pretty evenly. And Bill thinks that works best---he thinks it's kind of ridiculous when a whole group records everyone on every song, leaving him with eight different bass tracks to mix together.
More interesting: So last album, we recorded two people at a time, in the same room, on separate microphones. I had us record one person at a time, hoping that we'd have better quality control and actually take less time in the end, but recording background vocals actually took a really long time---about 40-45 minutes per person per song, on average, with 8-10 people per song. But Bill says he actually tends to record four people at a time, all on the same voice part on different microphones. The big difference is that while we would have each person record about 4-8 measures in a row, stop, talk about it, and do it again, he tends to take a very small chunk and loop it over and over again, and the four people will sing it more and more comfortably and more and more together, and eventually the timing and the tuning and the energy just lock. And he gets a voice part recorded in around 45 minutes, all four people. We must try this.
Alright, I'm going to stop writing. Won't Go Home is almost done. Looks like we might start a fourth song today.
I use fewer exclamation points than Emily
Hello again! Another productive day so far---we've only been at it for a little over three hours and we've already finished one song (Fix You) and we're probably about half an hour away from finishing a second (Between the Lines).
I guess this is kind of a shameless plug for the album, but what strikes more and more is that every song ends up being far better than I'd imagined it would be. And I'd already thought our album tracks were very strong, so that's saying a lot. Everything just seems to end up sounding really appealing and exciting---Bill is great at bringing out the energy and motion in our arrangements.
Also, I don't mind making a shameless plug. I'm really excited. That's what I want to talk about.
Emily is making fun of me by writing "blog blog blog blog" on a sticky note on her laptop. I do not know what she's getting at.
Ahhh fun! He just made Rachel LaViola's "wih-nih-nih"s do crazy stuff---they sound really distant and echoey and they're moving back and forth from left to right. And all the while they're going through some kind of distortion.
The above will probably sound pretty normal to members of pop/rock a cappella groups at other schools, but it's still a pretty new thing for us, so you'll have to forgive my giddyness. Our first album to have lots of effects and production on it was our previous album, just two years ago, so we're still basically in uncharted territory. I wonder if Yale will end up going in this direction en masse... I really like how our songs sound this way, so I hope we keep making albums like this.
Alright, about to go to lunch. Two songs finished and it isn't even 1:00 yet. Sweet. Four to go.
I guess this is kind of a shameless plug for the album, but what strikes more and more is that every song ends up being far better than I'd imagined it would be. And I'd already thought our album tracks were very strong, so that's saying a lot. Everything just seems to end up sounding really appealing and exciting---Bill is great at bringing out the energy and motion in our arrangements.
Also, I don't mind making a shameless plug. I'm really excited. That's what I want to talk about.
Emily is making fun of me by writing "blog blog blog blog" on a sticky note on her laptop. I do not know what she's getting at.
Ahhh fun! He just made Rachel LaViola's "wih-nih-nih"s do crazy stuff---they sound really distant and echoey and they're moving back and forth from left to right. And all the while they're going through some kind of distortion.
The above will probably sound pretty normal to members of pop/rock a cappella groups at other schools, but it's still a pretty new thing for us, so you'll have to forgive my giddyness. Our first album to have lots of effects and production on it was our previous album, just two years ago, so we're still basically in uncharted territory. I wonder if Yale will end up going in this direction en masse... I really like how our songs sound this way, so I hope we keep making albums like this.
Alright, about to go to lunch. Two songs finished and it isn't even 1:00 yet. Sweet. Four to go.
My First Post!
Hi! This is Emily, stealing the blog from Max for a quick post. Working with Bill Hare is absolutely amazing. It feels like everything about mixing this album has been the coolest thing ever. But I have to say that one of the most fun parts of the whole process is recording new little background parts for the songs.
For example, we worked on My Moon My Man (featuring the wonderful Rachel LaViola and Lauren Provini, both '12) on Monday. After listening through the breakdown, Bill decided something was missing. So he turned to Max and said "Air guitar." He had Max go into his studio and record his best guitar impression, rock out air guitar dance and all (full disclosure: I laughed A LOT), and that's now layered behind the shoe parts!
While working on Never There on Tuesday (solo: Justin Lowenthal, '11), Bill liked the way the arrangement imitated a dial tone. To amp up the effect, he had me sing a really nasal "eeeeeeeeeeeee," which he then broke up and layered behind the shoe's "bih bih bih" line. And it didn't stop there -- the song has some fun shouting: "Hey!", "Baby!", "You're never there!", etc. So Bill, Max, and I made our own angry crowd by recording ourselves shouting into the microphone. Over and over and over again. SO MUCH FUN! I realized that in high school one of my life goals was to be in a Cake backing shouty section -- mission accomplished!
Today we're going to work on three more songs: Between the Lines, Fix You, and Won't Go Home Without You. We'll let you know how they're coming along!
For example, we worked on My Moon My Man (featuring the wonderful Rachel LaViola and Lauren Provini, both '12) on Monday. After listening through the breakdown, Bill decided something was missing. So he turned to Max and said "Air guitar." He had Max go into his studio and record his best guitar impression, rock out air guitar dance and all (full disclosure: I laughed A LOT), and that's now layered behind the shoe parts!
While working on Never There on Tuesday (solo: Justin Lowenthal, '11), Bill liked the way the arrangement imitated a dial tone. To amp up the effect, he had me sing a really nasal "eeeeeeeeeeeee," which he then broke up and layered behind the shoe's "bih bih bih" line. And it didn't stop there -- the song has some fun shouting: "Hey!", "Baby!", "You're never there!", etc. So Bill, Max, and I made our own angry crowd by recording ourselves shouting into the microphone. Over and over and over again. SO MUCH FUN! I realized that in high school one of my life goals was to be in a Cake backing shouty section -- mission accomplished!
Today we're going to work on three more songs: Between the Lines, Fix You, and Won't Go Home Without You. We'll let you know how they're coming along!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Dangerous Obsession
We're now starting our fourth song of the day, Ring Ring, this totally insane bonus track from Mika's album. (Also happens to be my solo.) I don't know whether we'll finish it tonight, but this has certainly turned out to be a long and productive day. We're taking a break in about 45 minutes, though, to watch the sunset. (Bill Hare lives in the hills surrounding the bay area in California, and the view is spectacular---you can see right out over the bay.)
Higher Love was a blast. We did end up recording all the stuff we thought we would, as well as another part we'd forgotten about in which the whole group is supposed to yell together. So Bill started looping that measure of the song and having me and Emily record it over and over again, and a few times in he told us to start imitating other people in the group. I don't know just how many we covered, but Justin Quam and Hannah both made it in there. So did Kermit.
Love Begins was also really fun. We didn't record anything for it, and we didn't really have anything to tell him---all the existing recordings (the original Trevor recording, a couple of album versions and several live versions) have been pretty straightforward and acoustic, so we didn't know what direction to take it in. That was okay, though, because Bill just engrossed himself in it and had lots of great ideas of his own. He has a fantastic instinct for what to do with an a cappella arrangement and a computer.
Of Ring Ring, he's just announced that we are inside a cuckoo clock. Hmm.
Well, I can't think of too much more to report right now, and Misch keeps looking over my shoulder expectantly. I'd better cut this off before the situation gets worse. ("It just got worse," she says.) We'll keep you updated.
Higher Love was a blast. We did end up recording all the stuff we thought we would, as well as another part we'd forgotten about in which the whole group is supposed to yell together. So Bill started looping that measure of the song and having me and Emily record it over and over again, and a few times in he told us to start imitating other people in the group. I don't know just how many we covered, but Justin Quam and Hannah both made it in there. So did Kermit.
Love Begins was also really fun. We didn't record anything for it, and we didn't really have anything to tell him---all the existing recordings (the original Trevor recording, a couple of album versions and several live versions) have been pretty straightforward and acoustic, so we didn't know what direction to take it in. That was okay, though, because Bill just engrossed himself in it and had lots of great ideas of his own. He has a fantastic instinct for what to do with an a cappella arrangement and a computer.
Of Ring Ring, he's just announced that we are inside a cuckoo clock. Hmm.
Well, I can't think of too much more to report right now, and Misch keeps looking over my shoulder expectantly. I'd better cut this off before the situation gets worse. ("It just got worse," she says.) We'll keep you updated.
Hello from Milpitas!
Hello from Milpitas, CA! Emily Misch and I are sitting in the recording studio/basement of Bill Hare, a cappella recording producer extraordinaire. It's an exciting day in the mixing process---today we're doing:
Happier (originally by Guster), a particularly nice and creative arrangement from OOTB alum Sean Pool '08 (and featuring Ryan, who sounds fantastic on it);
Higher Love (originally by Steve Winwood), our group's closing song, always really fun (and thanks to Maryellen for nailing the solo);
and Love Begins, an original song by OOTB alum/pirate Trevor Hochman, sung by three lovely members of the class of 2012.
We're nearing the end of mixing Happier, and it's sounding very cool. (Bill just pumped up Ryan's cheesy/charming riff at the very end of the song. I am happy.) He has some nice distortion effects on some of the background vocals here and there, but it's actually one of the more natural-sounding mixes he's done for us so far. I think that works well for the arrangement, though. It's pretty mellow, and it sounds good that way.
Next will be Higher Love---it should be a lot of fun to mix, though it'll be a big undertaking. There are a few things we forgot to record earlier in the semester, so Emily and I will record them here with Bill (some clapping stuff in the beginning, some soprano-riffing near the end, and maybe some extra layers of vocal percussion where the background drops out)... Aside from that, it'll just be a balance between making it sound cool and modern and also capturing the natural energy of the end of a concert. (Rather than using the original song as a reference, which we do for most songs, we're using our live recording from Jam 2008 as our point of comparison.)
After that, Love Begins should also be a lot of fun. We can get pretty creative with it, since there isn't really a definitive recording of it. (Though there is one that Trevor recorded himself something like a decade ago, and that's fun to listen to... but the song has also evolved a lot since then, so this recording will probably sound pretty different.)
We're about to go to lunch---just finished Happier! We'll report back later.
Happier (originally by Guster), a particularly nice and creative arrangement from OOTB alum Sean Pool '08 (and featuring Ryan, who sounds fantastic on it);
Higher Love (originally by Steve Winwood), our group's closing song, always really fun (and thanks to Maryellen for nailing the solo);
and Love Begins, an original song by OOTB alum/pirate Trevor Hochman, sung by three lovely members of the class of 2012.
We're nearing the end of mixing Happier, and it's sounding very cool. (Bill just pumped up Ryan's cheesy/charming riff at the very end of the song. I am happy.) He has some nice distortion effects on some of the background vocals here and there, but it's actually one of the more natural-sounding mixes he's done for us so far. I think that works well for the arrangement, though. It's pretty mellow, and it sounds good that way.
Next will be Higher Love---it should be a lot of fun to mix, though it'll be a big undertaking. There are a few things we forgot to record earlier in the semester, so Emily and I will record them here with Bill (some clapping stuff in the beginning, some soprano-riffing near the end, and maybe some extra layers of vocal percussion where the background drops out)... Aside from that, it'll just be a balance between making it sound cool and modern and also capturing the natural energy of the end of a concert. (Rather than using the original song as a reference, which we do for most songs, we're using our live recording from Jam 2008 as our point of comparison.)
After that, Love Begins should also be a lot of fun. We can get pretty creative with it, since there isn't really a definitive recording of it. (Though there is one that Trevor recorded himself something like a decade ago, and that's fun to listen to... but the song has also evolved a lot since then, so this recording will probably sound pretty different.)
We're about to go to lunch---just finished Happier! We'll report back later.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)