DRATTED SWINE FLU. I feel like a sitting duck, waiting for it to hit, as most of my friends and their children have had it! It's like every morning I wake up and go: "still ok today...". I really hate having fever of any sort, let alone HIGH fever! And I cannot STAND seeing my little kids feeling sick! I am also scared the WHOLE household will get it all at once and then what do we do? I just wish they'd invent a cure for flu and all colds. That would be amazing! Imagine forgetting about those expected 3 or 4 colds per winter (and consequent voice drops that are deadly for singers!). Obviously there are more dangerous diseases that need to be cured but certainly eliminating all colds forever would be GLORIOUS!
Ok, now that I've gotten my useless protest against flu out of the way ;-))), back to Backing vocals: the plan was to have these done by Chris, Kate and myself. I booked Britannia Row Studios for 3 subsequent days and had arranged for Chris and Katy to come in and do their vocal magic. I would then do my own backing vocals the following week. The night before session 1 Katy sends me an email saying she had a family issue and cannot make the session the next day!On top of this Chris arrives with a massive cold (back to my rant above) but says he can still manage to sing...this is turning out to be a BAD day. Katy promised she would show up for session 2 the next day so we just worked with Chris (and his cold) all of day 1 hoping to make it up with Katy on day 2. Morning of day 2 she sends me another message saying she will not make it! At this point I am feeling pretty depressed as I can't seem to figure out how I'm going to get female backing vocals (other than my own) on the recordings.
Fortunately it turns out Chris has a friend, Kim, who not only is an amazing session singer but who just happens to be available for two half day sessions and can arrive within the hour! She arrived and did an amazing job almost recovering the time lost on day one completely. God provides.
Aside from the initial issues, It was great fun recording the backing vocals and cool to see how my vocal arrangements (jotted down in paper and dictaphone) actually sounded when recorded and stacked up! We made some last minute adjustments as Chris and Kate had a few good ideas they tried out and we liked so it paid to stay flexible and open to different ideas. The 3 days ended with 3 songs still missing female (non Odette) backing vocals which Katy ended up doing at Metropolis studios while we were mixing the album! Phwew!!
Here's a couple links that show some scenes from recording the backing vocals including the producer catching me out using the 'talk' button as if it were a microphone! Some of it is in Italian. Enjoy!!
Chris and Kim
Katy
Hugs and Kisses,
Odette
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Friday, 30 October 2009
Blog 6: September 2008. Now it was my big moment in the recording process
A few days ago I saw one of the best live gigs ever. Green Day completely exceeded my expectations. I now regard Billy joe Armstrong as one of the best musicians of today. Aside from what I already knew, i.e. Great songs, astounding production, and staying power (they played their first gig 21 years ago!), I now know that Billy Joe has also that rare ability to perform stupendously live both as a musician and as an entertainer. Initially I was a little skeptic as He pranced around on stage before the show started dressed as a drunk horny bunny rabbit. He more than once pulled up fans from the adoring crowd to come up on stage and sing with him or even instead Of him, shot tshirts to his fans with an airgun and expected a constant interactive participation Of The audience or would lie on The floor as if drained Of energy! Now if all' Of this had not been accompanied by the highest level of musical performance it would have seemed a bit gimmicky, but instead it just made it into a Master Performance. Would love to hear if any of you saw the concert and what you thought. Especially; was it billy joe in that rabbit costume? Now back to the recording of my album 'just me": the vocals.
September 2008. Now it was my big moment in the recording process! I was so hyped up at this point having been at Britannia Row for 2 months recording all the song tracks. It all was sounded amazing and I was literally DYING to put my vocals on it all. I was terrified (as all singers are I guess) of getting a cold and screwing it all up...and of course the first couple days of recording I felt like hell: massive headache, itchy dry throat, blocked nose! I couldn't believe it and put it all down to some psychosomatic illness that I just had to ignore so I got behind the mic and just sang my headaches away. It kinda worked as I felt better by day 3, but we ended up rerecording some of the stuff I had done the first 2 days (if I remember correctly I think these were the songs "breaking the rules", "just listen" "ride your bike" and "for me").
We averaged 2 songs per day and it was the most exhausting but at the same time thrilling part of the recording process for me. Singing is a very physical thing combined with strange mix of needing 100% concentration while at the same time letting go and when you are doing all of this for 6-8 hours per day it takes up an incredible amount of energy! I would feel listless but satisfied at the end of each day. There were a couple songs that were a bit more difficult for me because of their topics.,To sing them with my heart I had to go back to the place where I was when I wrote them. "we will find a way" was really difficult as we had to stop a lot as I started crying in the middle of a verse or bridge. It was quite funny thinking back as the first time it happened the producer and engineers just heard me go quiet all of a sudden and thought the mic has gone dead so they went MAD trying to figure out what had happened to the technology while I was just in a corner having a quiet cry! After that they got used to it and would just wait patiently until I was ready to resume singing!
The other tough one was 'why do you hate me'. I sang it 3 Times in a row, sitting down, with the vocal booth completely dark and we took The last live take in full. I was trembling by then! There were other songs where I had to hype myself up as the song was very upbeat (like 'my friend') and I had had a bad day. I sang 'my friend' as if i was The 'friend' i was trying to' cheer up...it worked though...sometimes you need to trick your own mind to get the effect you are looking for. That's all for now. Next part is the last finishing touches of the recording process: backing vocals.
Stay tuned!
Kisses, Odette x
September 2008. Now it was my big moment in the recording process! I was so hyped up at this point having been at Britannia Row for 2 months recording all the song tracks. It all was sounded amazing and I was literally DYING to put my vocals on it all. I was terrified (as all singers are I guess) of getting a cold and screwing it all up...and of course the first couple days of recording I felt like hell: massive headache, itchy dry throat, blocked nose! I couldn't believe it and put it all down to some psychosomatic illness that I just had to ignore so I got behind the mic and just sang my headaches away. It kinda worked as I felt better by day 3, but we ended up rerecording some of the stuff I had done the first 2 days (if I remember correctly I think these were the songs "breaking the rules", "just listen" "ride your bike" and "for me").
We averaged 2 songs per day and it was the most exhausting but at the same time thrilling part of the recording process for me. Singing is a very physical thing combined with strange mix of needing 100% concentration while at the same time letting go and when you are doing all of this for 6-8 hours per day it takes up an incredible amount of energy! I would feel listless but satisfied at the end of each day. There were a couple songs that were a bit more difficult for me because of their topics.,To sing them with my heart I had to go back to the place where I was when I wrote them. "we will find a way" was really difficult as we had to stop a lot as I started crying in the middle of a verse or bridge. It was quite funny thinking back as the first time it happened the producer and engineers just heard me go quiet all of a sudden and thought the mic has gone dead so they went MAD trying to figure out what had happened to the technology while I was just in a corner having a quiet cry! After that they got used to it and would just wait patiently until I was ready to resume singing!
The other tough one was 'why do you hate me'. I sang it 3 Times in a row, sitting down, with the vocal booth completely dark and we took The last live take in full. I was trembling by then! There were other songs where I had to hype myself up as the song was very upbeat (like 'my friend') and I had had a bad day. I sang 'my friend' as if i was The 'friend' i was trying to' cheer up...it worked though...sometimes you need to trick your own mind to get the effect you are looking for. That's all for now. Next part is the last finishing touches of the recording process: backing vocals.
Stay tuned!
Kisses, Odette x
Friday, 2 October 2009
Blog 5: Recording ' Just Me' Album: Guitars, and Strings
Blog 5:
Hi Guys! I have been in awe of this 'second wave' of "BeatlesMania" that has come over the UK in the last month: Beatles TV shows airing for a whole week on BBC4...whole days on BBC Radio 2 dedicated to playing Beatles songs...people speaking about The Beatles everywhere it seems! Well I agree: even though there are and have been other GREAT bands, The Beatles were THE band. Their songwriting and arrangements are, to date, the most creative I have ever heard especially if you put them into the context of when they lived. All Hail!
Recording ' Just Me' Album, part 5: Guitars, and Strings
There are loads of guitars on my album (I luuuuv guitars!) to the point that we were jokingly thinking of calling my band "Odette and the 10 Guitarists" (who knows maybe I will! :-)). Anyway, during the first part of August Marco and I shipped ourselves off to Wandsworth where we recorded acoustic guitars at Vinilyzor, a music studio of a friend (Jay Glover). After that we "re-ampd" the electric guitars at Britannia Row (for those of you that are as clueless as I was when all this process started this means taking the guitar 'feed' that is pre-recorded and putting it through a really cool amplifier to make it sound more powerful and 'rockier'). This was pretty straightforward work as it was just Marco and myself and he knew what he was doing as he was also the producer!
We then had a great string quartet come in to do their magic on 5 of the songs of the album: My Friend, We Will Find a Way, Do da Dee Da, Break Your Heart and I Needed You. This was for me an amazing experience as I realised how powerful strings can be on a rock song! Mixed with the guitar sounds it was just paradise! I, of course, now wished we had written absurd string parts for the whole album! I think you will hear a lot of these in my next album (the gods willing!). We spent a day with the quartet and I realised how what they (more classically trained and used to working in larger orchestras) do is so different to what pop/rock musicians do. At one point we had given them the wrong part by mistake and they just kept playing it, perfectly and completely in time, but to a base track that had nothing to do with the part they were playing! Quite extraordinary! I thought they were doing a super job most of the time but Marco kept on telling them: "it's ok, but not great". He was really tough with them but it really paid off as we got an amazing result (they on the other hand probably whave been put off working for an Italian producer again!) :-))
All instruments recorded, vocals next! That will be in part 6.
Love, Love, Love...
Odette
Hi Guys! I have been in awe of this 'second wave' of "BeatlesMania" that has come over the UK in the last month: Beatles TV shows airing for a whole week on BBC4...whole days on BBC Radio 2 dedicated to playing Beatles songs...people speaking about The Beatles everywhere it seems! Well I agree: even though there are and have been other GREAT bands, The Beatles were THE band. Their songwriting and arrangements are, to date, the most creative I have ever heard especially if you put them into the context of when they lived. All Hail!
Recording ' Just Me' Album, part 5: Guitars, and Strings
There are loads of guitars on my album (I luuuuv guitars!) to the point that we were jokingly thinking of calling my band "Odette and the 10 Guitarists" (who knows maybe I will! :-)). Anyway, during the first part of August Marco and I shipped ourselves off to Wandsworth where we recorded acoustic guitars at Vinilyzor, a music studio of a friend (Jay Glover). After that we "re-ampd" the electric guitars at Britannia Row (for those of you that are as clueless as I was when all this process started this means taking the guitar 'feed' that is pre-recorded and putting it through a really cool amplifier to make it sound more powerful and 'rockier'). This was pretty straightforward work as it was just Marco and myself and he knew what he was doing as he was also the producer!
We then had a great string quartet come in to do their magic on 5 of the songs of the album: My Friend, We Will Find a Way, Do da Dee Da, Break Your Heart and I Needed You. This was for me an amazing experience as I realised how powerful strings can be on a rock song! Mixed with the guitar sounds it was just paradise! I, of course, now wished we had written absurd string parts for the whole album! I think you will hear a lot of these in my next album (the gods willing!). We spent a day with the quartet and I realised how what they (more classically trained and used to working in larger orchestras) do is so different to what pop/rock musicians do. At one point we had given them the wrong part by mistake and they just kept playing it, perfectly and completely in time, but to a base track that had nothing to do with the part they were playing! Quite extraordinary! I thought they were doing a super job most of the time but Marco kept on telling them: "it's ok, but not great". He was really tough with them but it really paid off as we got an amazing result (they on the other hand probably whave been put off working for an Italian producer again!) :-))
All instruments recorded, vocals next! That will be in part 6.
Love, Love, Love...
Odette
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Blog 4: Recording drums and bass at Britannia Row:
So Pearl Jam blew me away. The 02 was completely full and buzzing. The fans were really dedicated, waving their arms in time with the songs and really interacting with the band. The atmosphere was tops. They started their first set and most of their songs gave me goose bumps. Ed started with the song 'Release' and I had a mystic experience. His voice sounds like one of those African air instruments that make your whole body vibrate. The slightly disconcerting thing was that the concert was also slightly skitso. Their magical reverberating music (and my mystic-like state) sometimes got interrupted by what seemed to me like a crazy rockabilly band crashing the show. Almost like the "real" band was replaced by a double every once and a while. It felt like an ad break during your favourite tv soap, the door bell ringing while you are making love, You know...that sort of feeling. What a pity as it seems like the band is heading off towards this new genre which just does no justice to Ed's voice. They must have become bored...hope they come back to their senses (and into that amazing creative vein that created songs like 'Even Flow' and 'Jeremy')!
So here's part 4 of 'making of my album': Recording drums and bass at Britannia Row:
We were due to start recording drums on June 30 2008. Cristano Micalizzi was supposed to arrive the evening of the 29th from Rome , grab a drum set from his pal here in London and set up at Britannia Row so we are ready to rock straight away the next morning. About 1 week before this date I get a call from the Brit Row manager, Jamie, and we risked losing our slot to a well known band who's record label had decided LAST SECOND that they wanted to record at Brit Row THAT SPECIFIC WEEK! I was going to have a panic attack as Cristiano was booked up for the whole summer and the only time he could play on my album was that week! So I begged and pleaded and all but cried (Ok, maybe I even did that) and...we got to keep our slot. Drama. Phffeeeww!
Cristiano arrived on time on the right day and you could immediately tell that he is that mega humble, sweet, enthusiastic and colloborative sort of guy. Fortunately these qualities were (somehow surprisingly) also coupled with incredible talent. Cristiano immediately blew us away with his drumming. He wouldn't miss a beat (literally!). We'd tell him what we were looking for and he did it, making it even better with his own ideas and colours he would add. I was already hearing my songs very differently with these AMAZING live drums and the human touch of a talented musician replacing the 'perfect but souless' programmed drums we had been using to finalise the music arrangements. Then Emanuele arrived to play bass guitar on some of the songs (we wanted Cristiano and Emanuele to play together so they could feed off each other'ss ideas, vibes, groove etc..). I spent those days in the studio just BUZZING with energy and feeling unstoppable. I just wanted to run around kissing and hugging everyone (I did exercise some self control). I would arrive every day with a huge thermos of home made espresso coffee from my moka machine, a box of Green and Black chocoloates and that would keep our energy up for the day (yes, sorry if that is disappointing to the rock and roll crowd but caffeine and chocolate were all the 'drugs' we did I'm afraid!)
We had booked the studio for 5 days to record the 12 songs we had decided to put on the album, but by day 2 we realised we were going to be done in 3 days instead! So we had time to record another couple of songs (that's how " Why Did I" ended up on the album) and we managed to get credit for one day. Anyway, stage one of the recording process was done. Kerplunk.
More coming soon!
Odette Xx
So here's part 4 of 'making of my album': Recording drums and bass at Britannia Row:
We were due to start recording drums on June 30 2008. Cristano Micalizzi was supposed to arrive the evening of the 29th from Rome , grab a drum set from his pal here in London and set up at Britannia Row so we are ready to rock straight away the next morning. About 1 week before this date I get a call from the Brit Row manager, Jamie, and we risked losing our slot to a well known band who's record label had decided LAST SECOND that they wanted to record at Brit Row THAT SPECIFIC WEEK! I was going to have a panic attack as Cristiano was booked up for the whole summer and the only time he could play on my album was that week! So I begged and pleaded and all but cried (Ok, maybe I even did that) and...we got to keep our slot. Drama. Phffeeeww!
Cristiano arrived on time on the right day and you could immediately tell that he is that mega humble, sweet, enthusiastic and colloborative sort of guy. Fortunately these qualities were (somehow surprisingly) also coupled with incredible talent. Cristiano immediately blew us away with his drumming. He wouldn't miss a beat (literally!). We'd tell him what we were looking for and he did it, making it even better with his own ideas and colours he would add. I was already hearing my songs very differently with these AMAZING live drums and the human touch of a talented musician replacing the 'perfect but souless' programmed drums we had been using to finalise the music arrangements. Then Emanuele arrived to play bass guitar on some of the songs (we wanted Cristiano and Emanuele to play together so they could feed off each other'ss ideas, vibes, groove etc..). I spent those days in the studio just BUZZING with energy and feeling unstoppable. I just wanted to run around kissing and hugging everyone (I did exercise some self control). I would arrive every day with a huge thermos of home made espresso coffee from my moka machine, a box of Green and Black chocoloates and that would keep our energy up for the day (yes, sorry if that is disappointing to the rock and roll crowd but caffeine and chocolate were all the 'drugs' we did I'm afraid!)
We had booked the studio for 5 days to record the 12 songs we had decided to put on the album, but by day 2 we realised we were going to be done in 3 days instead! So we had time to record another couple of songs (that's how " Why Did I" ended up on the album) and we managed to get credit for one day. Anyway, stage one of the recording process was done. Kerplunk.
More coming soon!
Odette Xx
Monday, 17 August 2009
Blog 3: Finding a Recording Studio
Hi Guys,
My holiday has been and gone and although it was great to grab a bit of sunshine and real heat (and finally wear my summer clothes which tend to sit in my wardrobe accumulating dust in London!) I'm glad to be back at my base. I'm also looking forward to seeing Pearl Jam at the 02 tomorrow - I somehow managed to grab some great seats and am expecting an exciting concert! Here is part 3 of the journey of 'Just Me':
Blog 3: Finding a Recording Studio
While we were arranging the songs of the album, Marco and I started looking at recording studios. I find that's it's a bit like deciding which hotel to stay at. You know, you want the one that is on the beach, quiet when you want to sleep and happening when you want to party, with air conditioning, a spa, a gym, childcare if you have kids, near a cute town where you can escape in the evening, with tropical gardens but no insects, great food, etc. etc...and all of this has to be AFFORDABLE. Ooooppps.
Anyway, we made a shortlist based on technical criteria that Marco had (basically we wanted all the top stuff) then I mass emailed the 15 or so studios that would "fit the bill" (at least in terms of our needs, not necessarily our pockets!). Some of these were world reknown top studios but we were feeling brave. As expected, their 'published rates' were all way above my budget (yikes!) but I was hoping to convince them to give me their downtime for very cheap (like going to that great hotel described above in VERY low season and then changing rooms whenever a higher paying guest arrived and wanted yours :-))). Flexibility in exchange for rock bottom rates. After all, some money is better than none if your studio is empty no?
So Marco and I drove all around London for weeks looking at studios, talking to the owners negotiating rates like it's a souk. It's funny but after all of that we ended up choosing the studio (Britannia Row) I had picked from a website on pure gut feel! Aside from having everything we needed and agreeing to low prices it was a 15 minute walk from my place! The equipment it owned was top notch but a bit 'retro' (which suited us fine as it would work with the sound we were trying to achieve) . Marco was in awe as this was the studio previously owned by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and some of the instruments there were the ones that had been used to record "Dark Side of the Moon". I was worried he would spend the first couple days caressing and talking to the equipment. Fortunately my worries were unfounded (or maybe he just did that while I was not looking :-))). Arrangements done, drummer picked, recording studio booked. Next comes recording of the drums with a drummer god: Cristiano Micalizzi.
Love from me.
Odette xx
My holiday has been and gone and although it was great to grab a bit of sunshine and real heat (and finally wear my summer clothes which tend to sit in my wardrobe accumulating dust in London!) I'm glad to be back at my base. I'm also looking forward to seeing Pearl Jam at the 02 tomorrow - I somehow managed to grab some great seats and am expecting an exciting concert! Here is part 3 of the journey of 'Just Me':
Blog 3: Finding a Recording Studio
While we were arranging the songs of the album, Marco and I started looking at recording studios. I find that's it's a bit like deciding which hotel to stay at. You know, you want the one that is on the beach, quiet when you want to sleep and happening when you want to party, with air conditioning, a spa, a gym, childcare if you have kids, near a cute town where you can escape in the evening, with tropical gardens but no insects, great food, etc. etc...and all of this has to be AFFORDABLE. Ooooppps.
Anyway, we made a shortlist based on technical criteria that Marco had (basically we wanted all the top stuff) then I mass emailed the 15 or so studios that would "fit the bill" (at least in terms of our needs, not necessarily our pockets!). Some of these were world reknown top studios but we were feeling brave. As expected, their 'published rates' were all way above my budget (yikes!) but I was hoping to convince them to give me their downtime for very cheap (like going to that great hotel described above in VERY low season and then changing rooms whenever a higher paying guest arrived and wanted yours :-))). Flexibility in exchange for rock bottom rates. After all, some money is better than none if your studio is empty no?
So Marco and I drove all around London for weeks looking at studios, talking to the owners negotiating rates like it's a souk. It's funny but after all of that we ended up choosing the studio (Britannia Row) I had picked from a website on pure gut feel! Aside from having everything we needed and agreeing to low prices it was a 15 minute walk from my place! The equipment it owned was top notch but a bit 'retro' (which suited us fine as it would work with the sound we were trying to achieve) . Marco was in awe as this was the studio previously owned by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and some of the instruments there were the ones that had been used to record "Dark Side of the Moon". I was worried he would spend the first couple days caressing and talking to the equipment. Fortunately my worries were unfounded (or maybe he just did that while I was not looking :-))). Arrangements done, drummer picked, recording studio booked. Next comes recording of the drums with a drummer god: Cristiano Micalizzi.
Love from me.
Odette xx
Thursday, 6 August 2009
hey guys, I've just launched my Bebo profile. In fact I've launched two! One is for Marbles Records and the other is my artist profile.
You can check them out here: http://www.bebo.com/MarblesRecords and http://www.bebo.com/odettemusic
Visit my profiles now and if you are a Bebo user – become a friend/ fan!
Also - I have updated my tune widget to include clips of two more songs - ‘For Me’ and ‘Do Da Dee Da’ – and don’t forget I am still giving away a high quality download of my track 'My Friend' (click the little arrow to the right side of the song to download) . If you get a minute – ‘Grab’ the Tunewidget code and paste into your social networking sites or you can also email it to a Friend.
Better still, Join my Street team and be in with a chance of winning an iPod personalized by me! It’s really easy – for all of this just go here and take a look http://www.reverbnation.com/odette
Odette xx
You can check them out here: http://www.bebo.com/MarblesRecords and http://www.bebo.com/odettemusic
Visit my profiles now and if you are a Bebo user – become a friend/ fan!
Also - I have updated my tune widget to include clips of two more songs - ‘For Me’ and ‘Do Da Dee Da’ – and don’t forget I am still giving away a high quality download of my track 'My Friend' (click the little arrow to the right side of the song to download) . If you get a minute – ‘Grab’ the Tunewidget code and paste into your social networking sites or you can also email it to a Friend.
Better still, Join my Street team and be in with a chance of winning an iPod personalized by me! It’s really easy – for all of this just go here and take a look http://www.reverbnation.com/odette
Odette xx
Friday, 31 July 2009
Blog 2: Arranging the songs and finding the 'sound' for the album
I just got the great news that 2 of the songs from my album will be played across all the 'Cafe Nero' locations starting August 1!!! For those of you from outside the UK, Cafe Nero is the National equivalent of Starbucks. I am therefore mega thrilled!
Also- I have updated my album widget here: http://www.reverbnation.com/odette or just check previous blog!) with two more tracks: 'Just A Kiss' and 'We Will Find A Way'. Check them out and let me know what you think!
Here comes Part 2 of the making of my "Just Me" album. Arranging the songs and finding the 'sound' for the album:
Enter stage left: Marco. Marco was the guitarist in the first ever band I played in. I was about 16 and the band's name was 'Puzzle'. We played on stages in high school festivals across Rome doing Pink Floyd covers and original music inspired by Pink Floyd. You can just picture me standing on a stage pointing my finger to a bunch of Italian high school students with a serious face singing "so ya, thought ya would like to...go to the show...!" Ha ha!
Anyway, Marco and I got back in touch 2 years ago thanks to the miracle of Myspace. Aside from remaining a great guitarist, Marco had also become a successful producer and sound engineer in Rome. He loved the songs I had posted there and wanted to help me produce my album. A few months later, in April 2008, he moved to London from Rome and we started the 3 month long creative process of selecting the songs for the album, auditioning musicians, and finding the right sound/dimension for each song. I would give Marco indications of how I felt the songs needed to sound, how I had imagined them as I was writing them on my piano and he would perform the magic of taking my (sometimes vague and contradictory!) indications and make it happen. I think he came close to strangling me a couple times when i had changed my mind one too many times so I am lucky to be here all on one piece!
The collaboration made it so that I tempered his psychedelic rock tendency (he's still a Pink Floyd head) and he softened my country rock inclination and resulted in the unique sound that is "Just Me". So this is now June 2008 and the next step is starting the recording!
Stay posted for part 3!!
Kisses from me.
Odette Xx
Also- I have updated my album widget here: http://www.reverbnation.com/odette or just check previous blog!) with two more tracks: 'Just A Kiss' and 'We Will Find A Way'. Check them out and let me know what you think!
Here comes Part 2 of the making of my "Just Me" album. Arranging the songs and finding the 'sound' for the album:
Enter stage left: Marco. Marco was the guitarist in the first ever band I played in. I was about 16 and the band's name was 'Puzzle'. We played on stages in high school festivals across Rome doing Pink Floyd covers and original music inspired by Pink Floyd. You can just picture me standing on a stage pointing my finger to a bunch of Italian high school students with a serious face singing "so ya, thought ya would like to...go to the show...!" Ha ha!
Anyway, Marco and I got back in touch 2 years ago thanks to the miracle of Myspace. Aside from remaining a great guitarist, Marco had also become a successful producer and sound engineer in Rome. He loved the songs I had posted there and wanted to help me produce my album. A few months later, in April 2008, he moved to London from Rome and we started the 3 month long creative process of selecting the songs for the album, auditioning musicians, and finding the right sound/dimension for each song. I would give Marco indications of how I felt the songs needed to sound, how I had imagined them as I was writing them on my piano and he would perform the magic of taking my (sometimes vague and contradictory!) indications and make it happen. I think he came close to strangling me a couple times when i had changed my mind one too many times so I am lucky to be here all on one piece!
The collaboration made it so that I tempered his psychedelic rock tendency (he's still a Pink Floyd head) and he softened my country rock inclination and resulted in the unique sound that is "Just Me". So this is now June 2008 and the next step is starting the recording!
Stay posted for part 3!!
Kisses from me.
Odette Xx
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Widget updated with 2 more tracks!
Hi guys – still in Italy but just wanted to let you know I have updated by album widget with 2 NEW songs: ‘Ride Your Bike’ and ‘Break Your Heart’, plus don’t forget the free download Mp3 of ‘My Friend’.
Please enjoy them all and let me know what you think! Also, do join my official mailing list (and if you want to get more involved, join my Street Team as its all going off this week!) All can be found on the widget below.
Odette X
Please enjoy them all and let me know what you think! Also, do join my official mailing list (and if you want to get more involved, join my Street Team as its all going off this week!) All can be found on the widget below.
Odette X
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Blog 1 : the Songs and Writing them
Hi! I’m still feeling mesmerised by the psychedelic performance by Oasis at Wembley of ‘I Am The Walrus’! What an incredible song by The Beatles and what an amazing cover by Oasis!
As the launch of the first single (music authorities have determined this will be ‘Just Listen! Check it out on my widget (please see my previous blog post!) nears and I’m out here enjoying the sun in
The Songs:
I wrote the 14 songs on the album over 15 years more or less in this order (although some songs were on the go at the same time): I Needed You, For You, Here We Go, Ride Your Bike, Why Did I, Breaking The Rules, Break Your Heart, We Will Find A Way, Just Listen, Just A Kiss, Weaker Side Of Me, My Friend, Do Da Dee Da, Why Do You Hate Me.
The last eight I wrote in the last 3 years when I returned to music full time. Of all the songs I wrote, about one third made the final cut to go on my album. Initially we were thinking of having 12 songs on there but we just couldn’t decide which two we were going to cut!
On Writing:
Writing for me is the most incredible experience… it is the most intense and fulfilling process. I can spend weeks not writing a note or a word and then all of a sudden, I’ll find myself gravitating towards the piano and I’ll lose myself for hours there going through a rainbow of emotions, sometimes sobbing, sometimes feeling as gleeful as a kid, angry, lustful, hopeless, powerful, then eventually, empty. But in a good way. Like I poured all this stuff that was inside me of me out and I feel calm and rooted. I often feel like my emotions act like a lightening rod which is catching all these bits of energy that are flying around in the form of notes and words that I then have to reorder into songs
Enough for now. I’d love to answer any questions on my songs or the process of writing them so ask away!
Love and kisses
Odette X
FREE Download of 'My Friend' !
Hi Guys,
You can now get a FREE download of the summery track 'My Friend' via the widget on this very blog! Just click on the little arrow pointing downwards to download it. It's absolutely free - and for you to enjoy. :)
The widget is here:
Thanks for all your support!
Odette x
Friday, 6 March 2009
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