80%Rock, 20%Talk - A Radio Single Is Almost Done

Hello World,


A friend of mine asked me for an update about how much progress is being made now that recording sessions for the album are in full swing. I'm pleased to announce that the recording sessions have been going incredibly well, with two songs already around 80% recorded and ready.

What do I mean "80% done" you ask? Well it's like this. The lyrics and chord progressions are written by me before anyone else is involved. This is, after all, a solo album that is being produced and released independently in my own name (Jay V.Marshall). Once the basis for the songs is finished then it's time for me to bring in the rest of the crew to take things to another level.

So next I brought in Darryl G (drummer) to replace my computer synthesized beats with the actual drum tracks for the album. Darryl has a sweet 10-piece drum kit put together in my studio right now for recording. He and I spent a couple days together speeding things up and slowing parts down, plus adding and removing different drum rolls and fills. Definitely a lot of fun jamming in the studio.

Once that was done I had to take a couple more days isolating myself in the studio re-recording all of the rhythm guitar tracks and vocals I had previously layed out to match the new rhythm and pacing that we'd created. It was actually a couple weeks before I was satisfied with my vocals again.

Next came the background vocals. I brought in Christine F, an excellent singer who I've heard perform dozens of times in front of large crowds at bars and taverns all over. She's pretty much a "Karaoke Diva" but I think that's mostly because she's been too busy living her life to try to find a more serious venue to show her vocal talents in. Fortunately the background vocals for the first two songs have only involved some singing of key notes and a few lines of lyrics during the chorus' so there wasn't much in the way for her to stress about. A true professional, she was able to perform excellent takes again and again, right up to the point that I was certain she had nailed her parts exactly.

And so now I am at the point where I just need the bass guitar recorded and the songs will be done. But much the way that life always goes, my close friend Dave M who performed Bass for me the last time I was in a band has moved on in life and started a family with his (gorgeous) new wife Jennifer. Which brings me to my new bass guitarist Chris B who I have asked to finish up his tracks and bring these first two songs on the album to the finish line. I've given Chris a CD with the rest of our tracks mixed down already so that he can relax with it and get some practice in with the final recordings so that when he comes to record his tracks things should go extra smooth with no surprises.

So basically if you made of list of all the steps it takes to record music in a studio for an album like this, the checklist for my first two songs would look something like this:


Lyrics & Music: done
Lead Vocals: done
Rhythm Guitar: done
Drums: done
Backing Vocals: done
Bass guitar: pending


The goal by the way, is to record 15 songs in total and release the album using the top 12. Assuming that things get wrapped up with these songs in the next two weeks, I should be able to send out the first single as part of a promotional package to several radio stations sometime in early March. In the meantime I ask people to just keep checking in at www.reverbnation.com/jayvmarshall and at http://jayvmarshall.blogspot.com/ for the latest news.

Remember, I still have an old demo of Waiting available to listen to at reverbnation which was recorded using sythesized (fake) drums and bass. The music was created solely by myself as a preview copy which I gave to the rest of the group to familiarize themselves with the song before we got into the studio. If nothing else, it offers a chance for you to preview what kind of lyrics to expect from the CD later. But of course remember that the music you will hear on that cut is nothing like what you'll be hearing from me soon (after all, I'm no drummer or bassist!) and the vocals were not something I cared about at that point. I just like to let people see a little bit of the creative process as we go along, as a Back Stage Pass if you will.


Later World!