Hello Record Executives!

I’m back in New York City this week.

Yesterday’s recording session got canceled because a manhole blew up on the street, and the power in the whole building went out.  Apparently there was much fire somewhere.  A little disappointing for us at the studio. (Probably not nearly as disappointing as it was for the man IN the hole.)

Ben and I were back in the studio today.

How to Be Real (in bullet points)

• We worked on the final song on the CD, “How to Be Real.”  I’ve posted the first rough of the song below. All that’s missing is bass and very light ticky-tocky drums.

•  Yes, I’m aware that there’s also a song on the CD called “How Not to Behave.” We songwriters OBSESS when stuff like this happens!

• This is the song that I wrote for Barbara Verba, who was the Be My Record Label contest winner.  There were 29 people entered in the contest to have the final song of the CD written for them.

• Barbara and I spoke on the phone in September. (Or was it August?)  We talked for about an hour, as I recall.

• The details of this song aren’t exactly Barbara’s story.  She has indeed made a big change in her life. She moved from Florida to Asheville. But she didn’t leave her job.  She just relocated. And she told me she loves living in Asheville - especially because it’s all about authenticity.

• (Either way, I had fun rhyming “cubicle” and “beautiful.”  It made me think of Pam Slim.)

• The most revealing thing about the conversation was what happened AFTER we hung up.  Barbara wrote to me and wanted sort of a “do over.”  She seemed to think she didn’t come across very well, and that I’d learn more about her if I could see her with her friends and in a more relaxed setting. (Barbara, I’m not sure exactly what you said. But it was something like that!)

• Anyway, I found this to be SO totally precious – especially since we had spent so much of the conversation talking about being real. I wrote her back and said that I had exactly what I needed to write a song for her.  I didn’t need anyone to help me see her more clearly!

• So the song became all about fully embracing the experience of learning to love every part of yourself and becoming real, like the Velveteen Rabbit.

Anyway, Barbara, here’s your song.

I hope it holds some piece of truth that is you. I’m so glad that you blog AND that you have a dog. That rhyme was just SCREAMING to happen one of these days!

As is always the case with creativity, I bumped into details that aren’t even yours.  One of the women at the November retreat was doing her vision board and she sighed and said, “Oh I just wish my life looked more like a Thomas Kinkade painting.”   Her thought became a part of your story too.

Enjoy!  I’m in the studio all week.

Does everyone understand what I mean by “mix?”

As any project is being made, the “mixes” - which is the mix of the instruments with the vocals and background vocals, and the EQ and the volume of EACH THING - are called “rough mixes.”

The mixes you’re listening to here aren’t AS rough as some mid-project mixes because Ben likes to mix as he goes.  Then he tweaks everything constantly.

(For instance - we’ll probably change the volume of things over and over again.  It can be pretty amazing how you’ll obsess with ONE little volume change for one guitar solo.)  Anyway, the FINAL mixes don’t happen until the whole CD has been recorded, and you’ve had time to listen. And you and the producer of your CD will listen in various locations - car, home, on bad speakers — so that you can make note of things that sound bad or good, etc.

Make sense?  I might write more about mixing cuz it’s a fascinating topic. Mixing is everything. Pulling stuff OUT is everything too!

So - this is Rough Mix #4 or 5. I can’t remember where we’re at with this!

Here’s what’s new:  Electric guitar and real drums.  There’s no bass yet. That bothers Ben a lot - because it makes it harder for him to add much real drum. (Since bass and drums kinda go together.)

Have at it!

And also because it’s one of the states that showed us last night that there’s no such thing as a red state or a blue state. That there’s just United States.

We’ve got real drums, real claps, electric guitar, mandolin - and a bass track played by the baritone guitar.

And we’ve got a new president!

So, I’ve noticed something.

You’ve been out of touch in the last month.

Okay. Okay. I know.

It was ME that was out of touch!

And actually, I planned it.

It was a gift to you.  Really!

Wanna know why?

Well, think about it.

The next time you’re at one of those froo-froo music biz cocktail parties, you can hang out with all of the artist management types and record producer types, and say things like:

“Geez. ‘Artist Management.’ Now THERE’S an oxymoron.”

And you can join in on all the stories about all the artists who just kind of disappear in the midst of important projects and the like.

Here’s what you can say:

“I’m producing this one chick? And we were in the thick of a pre-launch campaign. We’d given her close to FIFTEEEN THOUSAND BUCKS.  We flew her to New York City three times. She SEEMED like she was into it.  And then?”

(And here you take a swig of your Grey Goose dirty martini. And you shrug.)

“Nothin’! She just DISAPPEARS.”

(Pause to wipe your mouth with your sleeve.)

“What the f-?”

And someone else will pick up the story with, “Oh, that’s nothing.  I was working with Boy George once…”

See what I’m saying here?

I’m giving you the TOTAL UNEDITED experience of working with an artist.

PLUS, the added bonus of getting some dirt about other artists in the process!

Cuz let’s face it…

The fact is this:

Artists are flakey sometimes.  We’re downright divas at other times.

And I have given you full-on membership benefits – the right to roll your eyes whenever you’re in a discussion about artists. (You can thank me at one of the CD release shows. Or in the comments section below.)

Seriously though…

There are five things that have kept me away from this project.

Here they are in no particular order:

1 – After my three days at the studio in September, I got very sick.

I think it was lack of sleep.  The West Village apartment I’m staying at is very loud. (One night I woke up to the sound of one of the patrons of The Monster vomiting exuberantly onto the street below me.)

2 – I got well. But then I got sick again two weeks later.

(Probably from remembering the vomit episode.)

So, Ben and I cancelled our October AND November studio times so that my voice would mend thoroughly before I hit the studio again.

3 – I’m not exactly loving the current mixes of the songs. (Sorry, Ben!)

I’ll post these next rounds of mixes, and I’ll write about my hesitations. But it’s taken some listening for me to be able to articulate what I’m hearing.  This is one of the things I forgot about when I started this site.  You always end up getting one round of mixes that doesn’t quite feel right.

4 – I’m a little stuck on the song-contest song for Barbara!

The song is called “How to Be Real.”  And I’ve written and re-written. And I’m a hyper-critical writer.   But it has to be done before I go back to the studio!

5 – The U.S. Elections.

I’m mostly not political.  But in the past year, I’ve become passionately political. I’ve turned into a Rachel Maddow fanatic. And I have no fingernails left.

Now, I don’t expect you to believe the same things I believe. But I also am not a big fan of the Shut up and Sing campaign.  I do think our whole planet is at a crucial tipping point, and that politics is reflecting it.

So, before I post another song –

(Tomorrow, if I’m in a good mood. Thursday, if I’m not.)

go vote today!!!!

I know there are lots of artists following BeMyRecordLabel - and it’s these kinds of talks that artists love to listen in on. (I know because I’m one of them!)

Anyway, this is a clip of when I actually did turn the camera on. This discussion started with the topic of fans complaining about overproduction of CD’s.

I asked Ben Wisch (and Ben Wittman, who passed the question to the other Ben) how you walk the line between producing and overproducing a CD project. How do you know you’re doing it right?

This is his answer.

Ben also addresses an earlier discussion topic which was about BeMyRecordLabel — how much does the listener of a CD actually need to know about this behind-the-scenes stuff?

Last week I was back in the studio for just three days.  I flew into New York after a weekend performing and teaching in Augusta, GA. And I flew out at 5am on Thursday to do a Creativity Training and performance in Washington D.C. (I had one of those nights where I didn’t sleep at all because I kept jumping up thinking it was time to leave. Do you ever have those nights before early flights?)

My schedule is so busy right now that I was only able to fit this one small session in.

It’s interesting to do it this way.  A little unusual for sure.  (Many artists make a CD in one condensed block of time.) But this is working. The time off in between sessions seems to be giving Ben and I some space to live with our choices in the last session.  It creates a healthy detachment for each of us. We’re both relaxed and completely trusting of each others’ choices. Kinda sweet actually.

At one point in mid-September I got panicky about the deadline for getting the CD done.  Pressure started building up in my head. But after one of my nail-bitey days, my husband reminded me that there is no deadline.  BeMyRecordLabel is, after all, a very relaxed setting. (You are the only ones who even know I’m making a CD!)  When I let that sink in, I felt instant relief.

The worst thing some indie musicians do is that they begin recording, and then they book all of their CD release parties and performances in advance because they’re so excited about having a new CD.  When the recording takes longer than expected (surprise surprise), they ruin the last month of the process by rushing to get the CD done, rather than rescheduling the CD release shows!  (Yes, I’ve been one of those very indie musicians!)

So, this week I’ll give you a few peeks in the studio with Ben Wittman and Duke Levine.  By the end of the week, I should have a few new mixes for you to hear. (The new versions of the songs take a little longer because Ben has to take more time with all the new tracks - now that they’re blending with the earlier stuff that we did.)

Stay tuned!

Most of our time was spent finding the non-predictable percussion and drum parts for the songs while leaving enough space so that the song didn’t get lost. (He loves the drum loops on these songs, by the way! )

Here’s a brief Christine-stalks-the-studio-with-her-crappy-camera video just to show you a brief moment of Ben Wisch at the computer recording onto ProTools — and Ben Wittman doing his first pass at “Wide Awake.”

BeMyRecordLabel has now surpassed the 10K mark in CD pre-sales - partly because of people who were willing to take a fun little chance on having a song written about them.

And the winner of the contest is from my own town!

Barbara Verba, from ASHEVILLE, NC!! Come on DOWN!!!

(And I definitely gotta get writing on this one! NYC is a week away! So, Barbara - let’s talk soon!)

Thanks to everyone who entered! If I had the time, I’d write a song for each of you!

As for the writing of this song and what it’s about:

It’s the first song I wrote for this CD. I hadn’t sat down to write in a while. And I felt - like I always do - like such a beginner. I’ve performed this song live throughout the last year - so it has changed here and there as the audience became a part of the experience. I’ve attempted several re-writes of this song as we worked on it in the studio (as it has a few flaws in my mind) - but nothing has worked. So I’m leaving it alone!

The big question is this:

Should the title be “How Not to Behave” ??

Or the more Prince-like:

“How Not 2 Behave” ??

Here’s a total of the Pre-Orders sold so far on my new CD since the July 21 launch of Be My Record Label. (Exactly six weeks ago.)

But first –

The Big Ticket Items

People want to know about the two big ticket items on the Pre-Order packages. (”The Executive Producer” and the “Private Concert” options.)

So far, no one has purchased the big ticket items.

With the exception of two purchases of the #4 packages — all of our sales so far have been purchases of the 1, 2 or 3 packages. Musicians, artists, and marketers are always curious about those big ticket items - and they write to ask me if anyone has bought them. So, with that out of the way…

Current Pre-Order Total:

$9625.00

Now — $10,000 is my first big milestone for this CD. (That’s a good budget for many indie songwriters.) The last time I posted the numbers just short of a big goal - Beth jumped in first thing in the morning and pushed the total up to $6000. (Then Anna and a few others jumped in as well! Thank you all ever so much!)

So for the Beth’s and Anna’s of the world — here’s a quick deadline reminder:

The big drawing for the chance to have a song written for you, about you, around you — or for, about, around someone you love — is going to happen NEXT WEEK. The drawing happens on September 8. I’m going to put each person’s name on a piece of paper and put those names into a hat. (If you entered twice - then your name will be in the hat twice.) A few more people getting into the drawing will push this number up to the $10,000 milestone.

Just know this…

If I post your song after writing it — you might have all kinds of people writing in about how lame your drum loops and Wurlitzer are!

Again, thanks for your continued participation in this strange little experiment!