More work yesterday and today on the new re-recording of A Walk in the Countryside. Completed all tracks except We All Have Hope yesterday, though I recorded the vocals for that song. My voice is now so different compared to 2018 that the low notes are nearly too low, the low A is right at the bottom of my range, and singing each track an octave higher feels more natural.
We All Have Hope needed the most work. The backing was a little too sparse, and I wanted to do more than add a new vocal, so I've made some of the instruments 'sing' to the melody more, as is my contemporary practice, but not too much... the content of the songs stem from 2018, after all. The bass was a struggle with this one, partly because it's not there for large stretches of the song, and also because it's plucked. Percussive, fading bass sounds hinder mixing. Bass should be constant in volume, it's one of only two things I compress (the other being voice), because a bass can easily change dramatically in volume just by changing note. Bass that fades can easily sound muddy, so it usually mixes best as a solid 'block' of sound, with no reverb. Of course, perfecting mixing isn't everything. The expression, the final emotional conveyance, is the most important factor.
The vocals for this song are plain, one single line, but are very difficult to sing because of the charge of complex words and melody. There is barely room to breathe, and the tight timing means that it really needs to be all done in one take. Any edits would show up. After about 3 run-throughs, I managed it well enough. It was great fun actually, and great training of course, like a vocal run along one of those 'Stunt Car Racer' tracks.
Also today, lots of work on the Snow Business album. The tracks are now uploaded and the album is just about ready. I'm now finalising details like credits, lyrics, and other optional material with the artists.
Countryside and Cycles need plans for release. I'd rather do it quick and get it over with, but some aspects need planning because there's a 4-week wait to list music, and a new release of this old material now may obscure the important new album that is We Robot.
Working on these old tracks reminded me that I should be working on new ones. These re-recordings are both certainly better in quality than before, and for the short time spent on them, worth doing, but with each re-recording, the difference between older and new albums grows smaller and smaller.
