Voice/Music/nearly there

At last, some more movement on the voice/music project. I’ve chosen a (ridiculously simple) name for it and recorded all the music. There’s one contribution that might still come in and I’ve prepared a piece for that.

The various parts of the album are now in sequence and just need to see some mixing and mastering before I release it later this month. Edits have been minimal, which has kept the thing sounding (to me at least) like one piece of work, not a hotch-potch.

This has been a rewarding album to make. The responses to my requests were almost completely favourable; the stories themselves were illuminating and have survived the repeated listening I’ve given them. As well as this it has been fascinating to hear how my request (“recall an early memory”) has been interpreted and how thematic links have appeared.

Composing and recording music and sound to go with the voices has also been a treat. I’ve been going out and about with my hand-held digital recorder to get atmospheres and recording such things as a semi-broken wind-up radio in order to provide sounds that work along side the voices and music. Much of the actual music was played on Warr Guitar. As usual this marvellous instrument has proved extremely versatile. I’ve played it straight, through amps, with no processing and in ways that make it almost unrecognisable as a guitar. There’s a bit of bass playing too.

All in all, a great project which I’ve enjoyed immensely. Whether anyone else likes it… well, we’ll find out later this month.