I’ve just finished recording my latest song which is a parody of a well-known pop classic but with a Stoke-on – Trent twist.
For the recording I use the Logic Pro software which I have installed on my iMac and here’s a screenshoot showing the various tracks. It’s great fun recording these tracks and gradually building up the song. I tend to start with the drum and other percussion tracks as these give me the tempo of the song and it’s something for me to lock into as I record the other tracks. On this song I’ve included a couple of ukuleles playing the rhythm tracks and used my bass ukulele for the bass track. With regard to the vocals, I’ve recorded a main vocal track (with some reverb for extra depth) which I’ve also doubled tracked for the choruses. To make it more interesting I’ve had a go at recording some backing vocals, some “oohs and aahs”, which I then had to transpose. Finally, for the instrumental verse I’ve included a piano effect from a keyboard. It’s been quite a production, very enjoyable to do and it seems to sound OK. Whilst I could continue with twiddling with mixing the various tracks, I’m getting to the stage where I think it’s about as good as it’s going to get – so perhaps it’s time to leave it.
Meanwhile for the video, I visited a location in the Stoke-in-Trent area to shoot some exterior scenes during the summer. For continuity reasons I wanted to film the scenes while the trees still had their leaves and the flowers were out in the sun. The next stage will be filming the interior shots of me singing the song and playing a ukulele. I’ll be doing this at home using a black back-cloth and a set of video lights. Hopefully this will done over the Christmas holiday as I rely upon the assistance of my younger son who lives on London and works as a film and photo editor – so I fit in with his work commitments. When we’ve finished the filming and edited the music video, my elder son who works as a communications officer will be assisting me to promote the video and upload it onto YouTube.
We produce these videos purely for fun and hope that people enjoy watching them. There’s no particular timescale involved but I expect that the final video of my new song will be finished early in the New Year.