The Road to Recording my First Album

Hello Blog!!



I have been very busy as of late so I had to set aside SPECIFIC TIME to write this!
It has been a long time coming.

I kept using the excuse that I didn't have any photos to accompany this blog post so I couldn't do it til I had some.
Well I got some, thanks to my good friend Aimee.
She's a star


Recording my very first album has been such a great experience. I have been learning a lot about my songwriting, what works, what doesn't, and also how my voice works. I never realised that I slid off the notes when I hold them too long. I also have a tendancy to write songs that require me to hold the notes for a long time. WHY DO I DO THIS?!?! I will try to avoid that in the future.
A really good example is in my song 'Stars'. Every other word is held for aaaaaaages. Sheesh. That one was a tricky one to record.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.


I will start at the beginning.



As most of you know, I released an EP this year in April. I recorded it in November last year and it was quite a rough time. I was still dealing with a lot of stuff and wasn't in a good place emotionally. I had to basically sing about stuff that was still very raw and impacting me in my daily life. YEUGH!!!!
If I could have NOT done that I think I would have found it a lot more enjoyable.
But nevertheless it was still a GROWING experience if nothing else.
During the time I was recording the EP, and then even later on, I wrote a bunch of new songs.
'Eveything I Wanted' and 'The Last Song' were written during the recording of the EP. They are now some of my all-time favourites (for now at least). I thought it was a shame they wouldn't make it on the EP.

When the EP came out this year in April, I had a Release Party and it was AWESOME! Even though I wasn't 100% psyched about the way the EP turned out, the Release Party was sooooo much fun! I got to perform the songs on the EP as well as some of my new material, including 'The Hard Road' which I finished writing that very week.

You can listen to and/or download for free and/or help me not be broke by paying for the song on my Bandcamp page: http://martinette.bandcamp.com/


After the Release Party I did a few gigs with my friend Chris but then all this other intense stuff happened and I started questioning my future in music.
Was this really what I was cut out for?
A lot of people told me that I shouldn't waste my time. I wasn't good enough at singing. Yes, I was a gifted songwriter, but my singing was not up to scratch (at least from what they heard on the EP).

Yowzer!

So I stopped doing the music thing for a little while.

OUT OF THE BLUE I get a message from this guy I know, Josh, who asked me if I was interested in working with his friends' new recording company type thing who were producing one free single for musicians. I of course said YES!

I met up with these guys, who called themselves Dancing Fox Media (and have since become Dancing Fox Studios), and played them 'The Hard Road' and 'The Last Song'. They said they were keen to work with me, so we got right to it.

Recording 'The Hard Road' was very different from recording my EP. The guys let me play guitar in the track and didn't make me use click (metronome). It was very organic and fun.
Even though I found the vocals tricky at times, they were very patient with me and encouraging so I didn't feel pressured or bad about myself.

By the time the song was done, it was sounding INCREDIBLE and I was keen to do more. So I signed on to do an album.

Over the next few months I went to their makeshift studio every Monday and recorded guitar and vocals for various songs I've written over the last five years.
I always left feeling good.

Even though Joe, the head-honcho producer, sometimes asks me to change the melody or the way I breathe in the song, it is usually for a good reason. I have been known to be a wee bit moody when tired and asked to sing that part of the song AGAIN because I slid off the note AGAIN, but on the whole the entire recording process has been tons of fun and an invaluable experience.

I feel like I have grown as a musician since working with Dancing Fox.
They are honestly such great guys.

It was also cool to have Aimee come along and take photos of one of our recording sessions.
She got to witness my sulky behaviour when Joe told me I had to change the way I sung the chorus of 'Maybe', and how I eventually gave in because I do actually trust his judgement, haha.


I also ended up playing to a click track for every song on the album EXCEPT 'The Hard Road' and 'The Last Song'. Joe said I'm actually really good at playing with click, I just psyche myself out when I can't do it at first.


When you finally get to listen to the album you'll hopefully notice that all the instruments have been recorded by various people, such as the Dancing Fox guys Joe, Andrew and Josh, and my good friend Christopher. My friend and flatmate Xanda even has an appearance on one of the tracks where she does some super cool BV's. Woooooo!!!


I'm super excited about the album. I won't give too much else away about it, except that it should be coming out before the end of the year on Bandcamp.
Seriously you should check out my Bandcamp page if you haven't done so yet.
http://martinette.bandcamp.com/


If you're in Dunedin you should also come see me play at Samstock. There is more info on the Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/samstockfest

And you can keep up to date with what I'm up to with my music by liking my Artist page here: https://www.facebook.com/martinettemusic



Okay I'm done. Hopefully you've enjoyed my rambling. Here are some photos that Aimee took. I added captions ^_^

Joe setting up the mic, yo!

 

Joe and me practicising the new instrumental strum for 'Maybe'!

Jamming with the click

Standard Martz 'Not Sure' Face.

Singin' my wee heart out

The look I give Joe when he suggests a change

Who I sang my entire album to: the boys from The Strokes and Kings of Leon

If you are interested in working with or getting more info on Dancing Fox Studios visit their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/dancingfoxstudios?fref=ts




Thanks for reading :)