Hello Record Producer Types!

Here’s another song in progress on the CD. It’s called “I’ll be Your Angel.”

Background:

1 - This song might not be on the CD.

Ben wanted to nix this song from the CD, stating that it’s not as strong as the others. A few conversations about it ensued. And we decided to work on it in the studio anyway. I think he likes it a little better now. Maybe a lot better. I’m not sure. Place your vote in the comments!

2 - “Last song” songs.

This is one of those “last song on the CD” songs. At least that’s what it sounds like to me. (I tend to write a few too many “last song” songs!) Of course, not many people listen to CD’s all the way through anymore - so it doesn’t really matter!

3 - It’s kind of old. But I’ve never played it live.

I wrote most of this five years ago while sitting on the floor of my friend Suzi’s house. She used to let me come over and write at her house. This helped give me a change of perspective. She really liked it while I was writing it. (She designs websites, and she’d shout out from her computer room…”Hey! I like that!” here and there.) However, it has changed dramatically since then.

4 - Open tuning shifted to standard tuning.

When I was first writing this, it was in an open tuning (DGDGAD) - and it kinda moved into a “march-y” beat in the chorus. But it never really did much for me.

5 - I don’t remember who I wrote it for.

But I do remember that at the time, I had gone through a painful personal situation. Some people I had thought were my friends had apparently said some horrible things about me to other people. There was betrayal and meanness involved, and I was crushed at the time. The whole second verse was about that incident. I was at a turning point in my life where gossip and cruelty were just plain old tiring to me, and such a waste of time. So, I think I was, in essence, writing the second verse to myself. (I have since set these friendships free - and I can honestly say that this kind of behavior is simply non-existent in my life now.)

6 - Steve Seskin to the rescue.

I played this song for Steve Seskin. He took it home with him, and tweaked the music a bit. And he played it in standard tuning and slowed it way down. Then he started playing it on the piano as he worked on the melody of the chorus. I liked how it sounded on the piano. He left my lyrics alone.

7 - There’s no bridge.

Steve and I tried to come up with a bridge - but it felt so forced. I think it says all I wanted to say. It’s simple, and it feels done to me. Every now and then Steve or I will say, “Do you think it needs a bridge?” And we’ll have the discussion all over again.

8 - There are no drum loops.

9 - I’ve never recorded a song with me and piano.

This is very different. Maybe not.

Your thoughts please….

Here’s the song.

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As most of you know, I’ve made two trips to New York City so far to record my new CD.

And I’ve learned something.

I’ve learned that there are lots of grouchy people in New York City. (I’ve been one of them from time to time.)

But you know what?

There are almost no grouchy dogs.

In fact, some of these dogs were hard to photograph because they simply wanted to wag tails and say hi.

As far as I can see, New York City dogs are doing big spiritual work keeping the humans sane.

Here’s a tribute to a few of them…


Phoebe


Timmie


Noa


Oliver


Isadora


Inky


Xiao


Nikita


Macy


Samba


Waverly


Mr. White


…and one cat who suggested that perhaps I was forgetting an entire segment of the pet population in the city.

Okay people, the song is below! Have at it!

But, first a few notes. And one warning.

1 - This is actually version #5 of “I am the Moon.”

As you remember there were two choruses at the end of the last version you heard.

I didn’t post the version before this current version because we cut the double chorus - and it just didn’t work. (We did that on the very first day back in the studio and we each listened to it on our own throughout the week. We did this version on the last day in the studio because we both realized that the song ended too abruptly with just one chorus at the end.)

2 - Double chorus compromise

This version is the compromise we reached. Ben wanted to cut the whole thing out and leave space for an instrumental part. I told him to try it with the end of the 1st chorus coming back in and leading straight into the second chorus.

The space after “…maybe I will find my way…” sounds a bit anti-climactic at this point - and will definitely have a bit more “build” to it as we work with other musicians.

3 - Change to the intro

The acoustic guitar comes in a little later. It isn’t the introductory instrument. I kinda like this.

4 - We added a synth pad just to see how it “felt.”

5 - There is a drum loop.

I’m responsible for the weird sound of it. I asked Ben to play with it a bit. My husband hates it. After he listened to it, (I email him mp3’s from the studio) he called me to tell me that the drum loop is too “masculine” and “automated” for a song all about nature and femininity.

After we hung up, he apparently threw up the rest of the evening.

Some might say that this was because of the Brown Recluse bite that he got a few days earlier.

But he thinks it was the drum loops. (He’s fully recovered now!)

As I said, we’re working with a fabulous drummer in our next session - so if it makes you puke, then there’s real drums around the bend. (And check your clothing for Brown Recluse spiders.)

6 - I ALMOST didn’t post this version.

But I figure we’re creating as we go. And the whole point is for you to follow along as a song takes shape.

More songs to come soon.

(This audio takes about 10 seconds before the song starts.)

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Lots of you have written to say you want to UPGRADE your previous pre-order selections.

Some of you have asked for t-shirts.

Some have written me to tell me to offer more pre-sale packages and options.

So, I need ideas about how (and maybe even why?) to do this.

I thought that six pre-order packages was enough. (After all, too many choices just gets confusing, no?)

And what exactly does “upgrade” mean?

Here’s one idea:

What if we added a place on the shopping cart where a customer could write “Referred by…” –

And what if we gave away some kind of incentives (say, t-shirts?) for anyone who referred, say, three people to BMRL?

We could make a t-shirt that says, “I voted against drum loops and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!”

All ideas are welcome! (Or - we could just leave things as they are and see how they progress!)

Many of you have already Pre-Ordered copies of this CD in one of the packages that are being offered on this site. (Click here to view packages.)

So, naturally, several of you have written me to ask how much it actually costs to make a record.

I get this question a lot.

Some people think it’s hundreds of thousands. Some think it’s about a thousand, and they have no idea why it would take much more than that record your stupid songs.

Really, though, there’s no single answer to this question. And there’s no reason why you (or I) couldn’t play our songs once into a microphone and call it a CD.

Low Budget Records

My first CD (This Time Last Year) cost me a total of about $1200 or so. (Not including the manufacturing costs.) It was a huge amount at the time. (My friends and I calculated that if I could just sell 100 CD’s, then I could pay it back.) I’m often told that This Time Last Year is a favorite of all of my CD’s. I think people love that innocent quality of a first project. It’s rare, and it’s fun.

Having a $1200 budget for your CD pretty much guarantees that you’re gonna be working in the basement of your friend’s house. Your musician friends will come play on the CD for about $50 each. And the guy who works with you at the coffeehouse will take your photos. It’s fun that way. And Garage Band makes it even easier and cheaper these days.

Increasing the Budget

Every indie musician I know reaches a point when they want to pay a little more for a CD. Not only does this say to the world, “I’m taking my work more seriously,” but it’s also just plain easier on the artist.

When you’re making a low budget CD, you have to contact each musician, schedule everything, and work with a lot of other artists. (Let’s face it, artists aren’t the easiest people to schedule things with.) If you’re on the road in between studio sessions, this can be quite difficult.

So, you pay a good producer not only to help make your music sound good on a record, but also to deal with all of this stuff. A good producer also provides other ears, some wisdom, and someone with whom to talk things over. If something doesn’t feel right after you listen to it a few times, you usually both know it. To me, this is worth the extra cost. There’s only so much any artist (or any person, for that matter) should try to master.

So, to give you some actual numbers here — my most recent studio CD’s have cost in the neighborhood of $25,000, not including manufacturing costs.

For some, this sounds like a lot. As an industry average, it’s actually pretty low.

So, what makes the big difference in these costs?

The difference is talent. And time.

Let’s talk about talent. So far, Ben and I have been the only two people involved in this CD. And Ben’s pretty remarkable. He’s a speed demon in ProTools, and can do things that simply blow me away on the computer.

Note: I’m obviously not including the element of fame/reputation/connection here. For instance, someone like Mutt Lange makes many hundreds of thousands of dollars or more per CD. (And what with a wife and a girlfriend, I imagine Mutt wants the extra bucks.)

Then, there’s the musicians.

You’re about to meet some pretty heavy-hitters in this production. And good musicians cost money. For one thing, they learn fast, they listen to a song once, they “chart” it, and then get their ideas going. With your friends in the basement, you might spend all day on one track trying to get one song right. Great studio musicians can burn through an entire batch of songs in one or two sessions. But most of them like to have some time to get the perfect tracks down – the tracks that make you go, “Holy shit” when they start playing. This is why I usually book them for two days.

Time and Creativity

The other thing is time. This is huge.

You’re joining in as Ben and I merrily play these songs, and then work on arrangements and play around with background vocals. THIS is a luxury. This is studio time with a producer/engineer. This is the creative stuff that I’m willing to pay extra for.

Think about an album of an indie artist that you love where the whole soul of the music was kind of gone. It’s tempting to think that the artist “can’t produce.” Or that they “overproduced.” But often, it’s about rushing in the studio. When you rush, the musicians all sit down and play the expected thing. There’s no time to think of creative ideas. Time is money, and everyone gets a little panicky in the studio. So, they settle.

Good production is a lot about spending the extra money and time, and asking for what you want. Then it’s about getting a lot of creative ideas going. Then it’s about being wise and brave enough to pull lots of those ideas way back when you’re mixing the CD.

(The songs you’re hearing on this site might get a little weighted down and “busy” as we try to figure out what works and what doesn’t. You can’t know what doesn’t work until you sit with it for a day or two. That is…except for when Ben cranks out his many harmonicas and goes nuts.)

Stay tuned! Part 2 will focus on the WHY’s of having a larger budget for a CD…

Hello Record Executives,

Thank you for your continued presence in this process – and for all of your comments and thoughts on the production! (And the kind words too!)

After the varied comments on yesterday’s posting of Virginia, I’ve decided to blog about some of the general thoughts out there, rather than write one ginormous comment on the last post.

So, in all, I’d say about 45 people are commenting regularly here. That’s 45 different opinions. Everyone has a different thought, idea or way they’d do it. There’s no one right way. And not everyone will like the final choices. That’s the risk one takes with a site like Be My Record Label! (Ben thinks I’m completely nuts. Every morning he says, “What are they saying today?” It freaks him out.)

What I do know is that things grow on you. Just like the few people who wrote that the drum loop has grown on them — that’s what happens. We get used to things.

I remember when Gordon Lightfoot re-released a bunch of his old songs with new production. In interviews, he said did it because he was now a better producer and that he didn’t like the way they sounded before. And I didn’t like his new “better” production of any of the songs. (Still don’t.)

Maybe it was better production. Maybe it was less cheesy. But the thing is that I love those old versions because those are what I got used to. As a kid, I didn’t think, “Well, now, why on earth did he use so much reverb?” No! I just loved the songs! Most people listen to songs without over-thinking it.

Now there are some songs that I’ve just never loved the production on and still mystify me. (The first thing that comes to mind is the oo-ga-chucka background vocal idea on “Hooked on a Feeling.”) But for every idea you don’t like, there are plenty of people who love it. This is the challenge of producing any song. All you can do is what feels best to you at the time.

On to the comments:

1 – To drum loop or not to drum loop

This seems to be the biggest issue.

One of the things Ben and I talked about on our first day was the issue of “Rain & Mud & Wild & Green.” That is still my best-selling CD – and is the favorite of many. Ben also gets lots of compliments on it in the industry as well. The temptation, of course, is to try to duplicate it just to please people again. (“Please approve of us! We so enjoyed it the first time!”) But we concluded that the reason that CD worked so well was because of who we were at the time, and how we worked together. We didn’t plan anything out. We let it evolve.

So, we’ve been playing with drum loops / programmed drums because I’ve brought them up in so many conversations. I love them when they’re done well. They’re more synthesized and contemporary, yes. But there’s also something fun about that to me. The drummer we’ll be working with is also a great drum loop creator (a drum loop will always be more synthetic, even if a real drummer programs it) – and I’m going to get him to try a few things with some of these tracks because I’m curious, and because it feels fun to me. It might not work, but then again, it might! (And of course, there will be those who can’t stand it!)

I do agree about the sound of the claps in the chorus. It’s a bit too synthetic. Mostly that’s because Ben just grabbed some pre-programmed loops. I go back and forth with the loop on the verses.

2 – Bridge Lyrics

Beth – it’s funny that you wrote that - because those were my original lyrics in the bridge. Steve Seskin (the co-writer) suggested changing them to what they are now because he thought it sounded too burdened with words. (He didn’t like that it had to have that extra “is to” before live out loud.) I tend to write things that are rhythmically the same every time (as you are suggesting). Steve likes to vary the meter more. I understand both sides. And like you said, either way, you’ll get used to it!

Steve H. – I don’t usually eliminate lyrics I’ve written unless someone offers compelling reasons why something doesn’t work. For instance, Ben and I are going back and forth with the double chorus at the end of “I am the Moon,” and also eliminating a chorus on a song called “Break.” But I don’t see a reason to eliminate the bridge on “Virginia.” There’s a whole instrumental break after the bridge for a lead. So, we’ve got you covered!

3 – Double CD

I’m nixing the idea of a double CD right off the bat. It’s going to cost extra to have Ben make a second round of kitchen-table mixes. It also cranks up the manufacturing costs. The kitchen table version of the CD will have to be a digital download. (Also – some of the songs aren’t going to need a kitchen table version – because there will be very little stuff on them anyway. Virginia – being a pop-ish song – is one of those that’ll be more produced.) Also – if the CD is in Borders and other record stores – it’s harder to sell a double CD for extra money these days. (Especially since so much of music out there is free.)

4 – CD Title

Thanks for the title suggestions. I suggest keeping a little running notation of ideas for titles. I don’t have a title for this CD yet. (I have one idea at this point that I like a lot.) And we’ll get there – but you’ll need to hear other lyrics. This is how people come up with titles. They think about the lyrics. And see what strikes them. As with everything, hold on loosely – cuz you’ll think of something better about 30 minutes later!

If there are other ideas that I missed, it’s most likely because I’ve already got them covered or have been thinking of them.

Thanks again for your thoughts and remarks!

Christine

What’s different about this version?

- The opening is edited.

- There’s a back beat in the chorus.

- We tweaked harmonies and vocal doubles. Added another octave vocal on the very last line.

- Some guitar tweaks.

- The ending is different. (A very cool idea from Ben.)

- And ohmigod, it actually has WORDS in the bridge! (Apologies to everyone who got used to “da da da da live out loud.”)

What to remember:

- The drums/drum loop stuff is only a test run. Whether we choose to go with this more contemporary idea (drum loops add that feel), or a real drum kit, we’ll be working with an actual drummer who does this stuff better than we can.

- Most likely the only other instruments we’ll be adding is another acoustic guitar and a bass. And they’ll be pretty sparse.

- There will be a “kitchen table” version of this CD for those of you who want the pared down acoustic rendition of the song and feel that we’ve ruined the whole thing.

- Ben saw all of your comments after the last postings of these songs. So every time we played around with drum loops or added new textures, Ben would say, “I’m telling you. They’re gonna be out in the street holding up signs with red lines painted through your face!”

I told him you’d never do that.

So, enjoy the listen…

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Hello Record Executives!

Welcome to our new virtual boardroom.

Please be patient as we fix the little issues that come with a new design — and, I am told, Mercury in retrograde. Things will begin to function normally in the next few hours or days. Who knows?

(That’s me being nonchalant and artist-like as I hang out here in my Greenwich Village apartment before heading back home on Saturday.)

In the meantime, let me explain the choice to do the re-design lest you begin to think that at the slightest suggestion, I’ll rush off to the studio to add penny whistle parts to all of my songs or something.

The design suggestions I received were well-thought-out. They were big-thinking suggestions. The suggestions were all about attracting new visitors, who would mostly be confused upon coming to the old design. Though I know lots of people liked the home-grown feel of the last design, I really understood the point the commentators made. People are mostly too busy to spend lots of time figuring out the purpose of a website. So, hopefully, this design comes closer to that goal.

Also, as I read the various comments and emails, some of the thoughts just “felt right.” It wasn’t just mental.

It’s like when I play a brand new song for my husband to see if it works, and he pauses and says, “Hmm. Well. You know. I just don’t know if I understand what you’re doing there…” My first reaction is always this sort of bitchy what-the-hells-wrong-with-you response as I defend my song. But usually, he is right and I know it. So, then I take the time to work on it again and return with a better song. Eventually, I just KNOW it works. And at that point, he never disagrees.

So, it’s the same thing here. I just knew some of those comments were in alignment with the purpose of this site. So, now, as a special bonus - each of those commentators gets to pay for the re-design! Congratulations to you all!

Anyway, if anyone has a better idea for the tagline up there (”Where YOU make music happen”) — have at it. Or if you like that one, I’ll keep it. I’m not much of a tagline writing gal.

And stay tuned - because we have version THREE of “Virginia” coming up this weekend!

Yesterday we hit the wall.

Actually, I hit the wall.

And Ben said that my wall was so big that he couldn’t help but run into it.

I think we’re ready for the next round of recording - when other musicians join in on the fun.

Meanwhile we spent most of the time yesterday being frustrated.

Here’s a 23 second snippet of when things started going bad. I had just played the guitar, and sung the final vocals on “The Real World.”

This is me trying to sing harmony with myself standing in the vocal booth. At the same time, Ben is trying to get inspired on the Wurlitzer.

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Be My Record Label was launched three weeks ago today.

I’ve flown to NYC twice, and I’m still there on the second visit.

We’ve spent 8 days in the studio.

And the total amount we’ve created for our budget?

$5915.00

(Yes, we’ve already spent that!)

I was TOTALLY hoping to report an even $6000 today as a great new victory… so if you know anyone who is on the fence and wants to push the total up, you know where to send them! (Hint: Click on the button that says “Order Now.”)

Thank you for all of this, of course. And thanks for all of the comments on each post. I’ve slapped Ben around a bit, telling him that no one wants to cut the second chorus on “I am the Moon.” (Beth - I mentioned your comment about being interested in hearing what it would sound like to have just one chorus at the end. This made his day and he said, “Give me her email. She’s my girl!”)

Lastly –

You might visit here towards the end of the week to find that the site has a different look.

Just a little heads up, and an acknowledgment that I’m listening to your suggestions!