Tag Archive: Recording

Dawn Barrington > Recording

WAMFest and Recording

November 9, 2018 0 Comments

WAMFest (West Australian Music Industry)

I was lucky enough to be selected for WAMFest this year, so after a gig at Freehand Wines in downtown Denmark I then got myself organised for a some original sets, one in Albany at the White Star for Regional WAMFest and then 2 in Perth.  One was at the Perth Cultural Centre where I did a busking spot and the other was at Yagan Square which is an amphitheatre right in the centre of Perth which was amazing.  Something even more amazing happened and it was a total surprise to me and that is my song “Fly Free Little Bird” got chosen for the KISS MY WAMi Compilation CD. I didn’t even realise till I checked the program to see when and where I was playing and the songs that had been chose were on there. All in all it was a fantastic weekend and a great honour to be a part of such a big Western Australian Festival

It’s hard to believe that so much has happened in the past 7 years and to be a part of this festival was something I had never imagined would happen because I thought that the music industry only catered for people who were not in the 20s or 30s.  It has been a real slog being a woman and middle aged for that matter to get noticed and be treated as an equal. I  am not using age and gender as an excuse, it’s just a reality, and I think our culture really doesn’t take mature women seriously and it’s not easy for young women either because

 they have to deal with expectations placed on them. However, I have noticed that things are changing and gender equity is starting to happen so hopefully this will happen more and more.  I notice that when I play at venues where there are people from Europe or the Middle East or India they are always much more attentive and interested in listening, so maybe we need to learn something from those countries.

Recording

Since my last post I have finished two recording sessions. Al Smith from Bergerk Studio came down from Perth for the

weekend twice, once in September and again in October and we recorded 4 songs for my upcoming EP which I will probably be releasing in January.  Tony King is amazing and once again he offered to do my instrumentation and he also helps with production which is awesome! I love recording andI love how the songs evolve and it really is a collaboration because I never know where each one is going to go. We just start with my acoustic version which is literally lyrics and chords and then Tony adds his magic as he comes up with ideas throughout the process.  This was the first time working with in the studio with Al although he has mastered all my tracks since I started recording. Tony has known Al for 20 years and they worked brilliantly together and what I love the most about working with these guys is that there’s no inflated egos. It’s all pure fun and creativity. Luke Tulloch came in and did some violin tracks, he is an incredibly talented young man that I met at TAFE a number of years ago now and it didn’t take him long to find some lovely violin melodies to accompany my songs.

To top it all off I had a great gig at the Three Anchors in Albany with Tony King and it was the first time that I had done a three hour gig with him, and I was a bit nervous hoping that he would know how to play all my songs, but I realised very quickly that there was nothing to be concerned about, Tony is a legend when it comes to improvising, he really is an outstanding musician.  We had a great gig and he managed to compliment every song brilliantly and thanks to John King we got a photo to prove it. 

Albany Gigs, Gigs, Photos, Recording, Song writing

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Recording update – Part 2

March 8, 2017 0 Comments

Well at last I’ve come out of the studio and it was such a great 2 weeks. So starting where I finished on my last update we continued to work everyday and all the final tracks were put down. Luke did some wonderful violin work, Toby did some work on my ‘secret track’ and Jezz Moondog did some harmonica, Myles came in to do some vocals and I finished all the vocals. Finally Tony put down all the backing vocal harmonies.

I have taken video snippets of the tracks being done and for all those who aren’t aware of the recording process I’ll give you a bit of a run down of what I know about it. There are a couple of options when you decide to record a song or album. You can either do a live studio recording which is where the whole band set up and it is all recorded live and usually it takes a few takes or it could take heaps of takes. It’s a great way to do it because you can often catch the spirit of the song and the people involved in it but the down side is it can be really difficult to get a take that is perfect and you often get bleeding through the mic’s….so sound from the guitars might come through on the drum mic’s or sound from the vocals might come through on the guitar mic’s so it makes it very difficult to mix evenly.

The more standard form of recording is in the studio one track at a time. So this means putting down a guide track first to a click (metronome). The next stage depends on the producer everyone has their own way of doing it and some would say do drum track first and others would say guitar and so on. We put down the guitar tracks first, then the drums and when Tony did guitar and drums he either used my guide vocal track to get the essence of the melody and song or I just sat and sang it in front of him but of course I could only do that when he was doing the electric guitar and bass not drums and acoustic guitar. The bass and electric guitar are plugged in so we can talk and make noise when recording is happening but when the drums and acoustic guitar are being recorded we have to be super quite because a condenser mic’s is being used.

I thought I was just going to give a simple explanation but it’s got a bit lengthy so if you already know all this sorry ;o) I also have to reiterate that everyone has their own way of doing things so this is just the way we did it and I quite like this process. In the videos you can see that each person is doing their take and they have either very small ear plugs in or headphones. They can hear the guitar and vocals through the headphones so they just play along…..it always sounds a bit funny when you hear the other instruments separately but once it’s mixed it sounds awesome. I didn’t manage to get Jezz on harp unfortunately but I got everyone else.

Here’s Jezz putting down harp track and Myles doing some vocals and Luke putting a violin track down

I have put these on youtube and they are unlisted which means not open to public and only available if you click on the link here. So you should be able to access them.


The next stage of the process is for Toby to edit and mix all the tracks and then they will go for mastering. Claire has already done the artwork and Peter Caron is going to photoshop the album cover which I need to write all the words for.  Then once I get back from my Sydney tour in April I will get them cut and send out a pre release to a bunch of allocated Radio presenters.

The next exciting thing happening is my NSW tour so I’ll give you an update on that very soon.

 

Recording, Videos

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Recording progress

February 21, 2017 2 Comments

Well it’s been an incredibly busy week. Toby my producer arrived last Wednesday and we set up the studio, I know it’s a bit ‘rock n rol’l calling Toby “MY producer” but he did produce my EP and did such an awesome job that I wanted him to do this album and he actually came down for 10 days and set up home here, so I hope that qualifies ;o).  On Thursday we got straight into putting down all the guide tracks. So that means me playing each new song so that Toby can record them and use them as a guide. But the tricky thing is that I have to play to a click track which is like having a metronome stuck in your ear as you play, so you have to stay on the beat. Well you can only imagine how many takes that took!  We were both feeling quite tired and even a bit overwhelmed at the end of that, there were so many new songs and so much to do. Then Tony King arrived and helped us do a table to map out what needed doing on each song which was very helpful. Sometimes it’s just a case of getting it all out of your head and onto paper to lighten the load.
We worked from 10am to 10pm each day to get as much done as possible. Tony is an incredible musician and fantastic mentor and he has had a huge input into my musical journey. He did a lot of the instrumentation on my EP four years ago and I love working with him because he really knows how I work as a songwriter and musician so it’s wonderful to have his input again.

If you would like to keep in touch with me  and keep up to date with what I’m doing and where I’m touring next please subscribe to my webpage …. just on the right there  ♥♥♥

Recording in the studio from left to right, Me and Toby, Tony and Toby, then Tony on drums, then Peter on electric guitar

Tony and Toby got all the guitar, drum and bass tracks down Friday and Saturday and Sunday morning I put down most of the vocal tracks and then Sunday afternoon Peter Caron (my duo partner) came in and put down some 2nd guitar tracks and a couple of solo’s. I love his work!  Then Tony arrived at 3.30pm on Sunday to put down some slide guitar and some great harmonies over my vocals. We finished at 10pm Sunday and it was such an incredibly productive weekend that we decided to have a break Monday morning.  Then Monday evening we got some more vocals done and today we have been working on a very special song.  Toby and I will be doing all the work for that because it is a thank you song to Tony that I wrote 4 years ago now and I never intended to record it but I think it’s an important one to document.  Recording my songs is one of the most exciting things that I have ever done, it’s an incredible feeling to be with such creative and passionate people and then come out with the end product.

We have a few more days to go yet and tonight a local young man Luke Tulloch will be putting down some violin tracks and my favourite man of blues Jeremy Moondog will be coming to put down some harp.  It just so happens that he is in town this weekend so when he offered to do some harp I almost died….with joy of course!!! Myles Mitchell will be coming to put down some vocals as well which I’m very excited because Myles and I often share gigs and he’s a great local musician and an all round great guy.

From left to right top: Peter and Toby, then me doing vocals. Bottom left: Tony and Toby and Me and Toby

Recording

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