It is 27 June 2021.
Euro 2020 is in full swing, a year late. Like that tournament, the Rockets in the Trees project could also be seen as a year late. A year ago this week I wrote what became ‘Kite In A Tree’ (see https://alan-neilson.wixsite.com/rocketsinthetrees/post/a-new-song) and that song is still not completed yet; either version of it!
I have written before on this blog about the reasons this album has taken so long: mainly because I am working on all the musical parts in between my full time job and family duties, this sometimes amounts to just a few hours a week writing or recording. Added to that is my constant issues with confidence in my work on it, wavering between thinking everything is poo, to believing no one has written anything better, ever!
The last few months have found me working on ‘Be Brave’ and two versions of ‘Kite In A Tree’. I also found new love for ‘I Feel’ - Kevan never understood why I hated the original rock version of the song, as he actually liked it a lot, but it got him thinking if he were to do a cover version of it, what would he do… when I visited him to discuss progress, he just played his version to me with no introduction just to see what I felt about it; well, I was blown away because I immediately saw there was another way to do the song that removed the guitar riffs and crass-ness of my arrangement - I was blind to it before Kevan’s arrangement, but took his idea and re-did the song absolutely from scratch. It went from being something of an embarrassment to a really important part of the final running order of the album, which I think will go like this now:
Focussing the Light
I Feel
Jimmy & Jolie
Kite In A Tree
Learning To Lie
A Child's Tale
Be Brave
Into the Spirit
Flares From the Sun
What If What Now What Next
Focussing On Life
It is really strange that the most recent tracks I have worked on (Be Brave and I Feel particularly) are really upbeat and poppy productions, sounding really contemporary and youthful, compared to the earlier tracks that have a 1970’s AOR inspired quality (this could be because those early tracks were built on me singing with just guitar, whereas the later tracks were conceived as a band arrangement from the word go). The album really sounds like a melting pot of styles, which I love.
I did get a bit stuck with Kite In A Tree last week, as I ended up with two versions (a slow one and a fast one!) and couldn’t decide which one worked. I reached a real block and so stopped altogether and went back to Jimmy & Jolie. I was just going to check the mix so I could pass it for mastering, but ended up redoing the main vocal, adding backing vocals, trumpet and trombone! At the end of that work I said to Kevan it is now ready and he agreed.
I forgot to mention that as a test of my mixing skills I did a version of Into the Spirit and passed it for mastering with the legendary Pete Maher. I expected him to come back to me and tell me there were massive problems with my mix, but he said it was great and mastered it - his mastered version bought me to tears as I heard all the work I had put into the song come out crystal clear and sound great on every system I have played it on.
So now we will shortly have two completed tracks ready to go on the album.
I am now working my way through the remaining tracks to correct and improve anything on them. I also mentioned to Kevan that we should try and get real drums on Learning To Lie and What If What Now What Next as they would sound more how I always imagined them to be with a real drummer playing. He agreed and we have asked Chris Reed to provide this - he has a studio where he records his parts and then sends them to me to add to our arrangement. It means we don’t have to book a studio ourselves to do this. I can’t wait to hear what Chris adds to these two songs.
By the way, I know you are thinking that the last entry was all about us going to get the album mixed at a professional studio by an independent engineer… well, as soon as I was confident in my own skills as producer/mixer and this was confirmed by master engineer Pete Maher, I thought it is better to pay for mastering to add the final sheen on my mixes, rather than the expense of hiring a studio to do every track… I also admittedly was reticent to release all my hard work to another engineer - I never saw myself as a control freak, but this album I have spent two years recording feels like my baby and you will have to tear it from my cold dead hand!
And there it is, still no idea when this will be finished, but it will be, that is the main thing. Keep on checking in people - it will be worth it.
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