Painstaking Process, Part Five

What day is it? Oh yes, it's Friday. So, we were in the studio Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and will be back today, but without Wayne. Wednesday we did the lead and background vocals for Her Ways Wander, an original of mine. Wow, that sounds good. Very sweet and pretty, which contrasts the subject matter somewhat. I just love doing background vocals like this one, where I pretend to be someone else and do a breathy voice. It sounds really good and different, though Wayne said if we added any more it was going to start sounding very L.A. (Los Angeles). Have to remember to revisit the bell pads in this when we get to mixing. They're borderline cheesy.

I practiced feverishly Tuesday and it paid off: I spent hours toying with an Arabic scale for the outro to Ave Rara, and came up with something really good that Wayne did not want to alter!

We also finished the pregones for Habanera and recorded a four-part background vocal outro. "Is this starting to sound like Bohemian Rhapsody yet?" I asked Wayne. "Give me time, we'll get there," he joked.

Yesterday I made the mistake of starting with very harsh vocals for Goddess of War, which nearly fried my voice. However, I backed off as soon as I felt the strain and we switched gears and did background vocals for Ave Rara. It was nice to be able to read that, as Wayne had printed out sheet music for all the harmony lines. I had also practiced to a CD he'd made, so at least I had the top line somewhat memorized.