So many songs, so little time…!

Puh. The first week since we started on this project is over, and what a week it has been! We have already dived into the deep end, and I must say I am very pleased with the results we have so far. The first song is almost finished – all that´s left is the vocals and tambourine. Oh, and possibly some of Dan & Caesar´s amazing clapping…! *lol*

Editing the first video diary was great fun, and I´m looking forward to finishing Episode 2. Can´t really say I´m extremely excited about starting the editing of it right now, after spending all day Sunday until 6:30 Monday morning on the first one… Don´t get me wrong, I am enjoying it, I just need a little break… 😉

Last night Dan and I spent a lot of time working on the final track on the EP. I didn´t really have a fourth track yet, so Dan offered me to use one of his songs. I have always been skeptical about singing other people´s songs, because songwriting to me is so personal. I always had my doubts that I would be able to relate to something someone else wrote. But as it turned out, I could very much relate to this song – actually, it could very well have been written for me! Plus, it´s not completely finished yet, so I will actually have been a part of writing it in the end. We nearly finished a verse together last night, and we will write another one, as well as rewriting some of the lyrics to make it work for a girl to sing. I love the feeling and the lyrics of the song, and I can´t wait to start recording it! =)
Again, I feel so privileged to be working with such amazing and talented people, and it really inspires me to be better at, well, everything! We were super creative last night, and I feel like I have about 7 songs in my head, all struggling to get out. It´s lovely, but well frustrating…!!

Anyway, I am going to bed now, gotta get up early tomorrow to meet the others at Dan´s and get some work done before our Business Skills Lecture in the afternoon. It´s gonna be about the Record Industry, which will be very interesting – and relevant.
Hopefully tomorrow we will finish “With You Gone”, and get started on the EP cover. Maybe even start recording “Just Press Play” and get some more work done on the new song! We need to take some photos soon as well, to be able to get started on the Myspace and Facebook sites. We just need to decide on a theme and location for the shoot! I´m thinking outside, trees, me and the guitar. I love my guitar.

So much to do, but every little entry on my to-do-list is equally fun and I am enjoying every second of it! 😀

Good night everybody, hope you are living high and mighty!

Just press play – and put the remote down…

Audrey=)

Just Press Play; The Video Diaries, Episode 1

Here we go!

And so, it has begun. 

Lipa students Dan (Drumm; guitarist/drummer/bassist/singer/producer & musical genius), Caesar (Edmunds; a Singaporean, pipe smoking, engineer extraordinaire, who also happens to be a wizard on ProTools) and myself (Audrey Wilsen – as if you don´t already know 😉 : Singer/songwriter/wannabe pianist and guitarist) are now in the process of recording my EP, which we have cleaverly entitled “Just Press Play”. Right now we´re working on the track “With You Gone” — and I literally mean RIGHT now, I´m watching Dan rock the crap out of a harmonica five feet in front of me here, and I hope my tapping on the keyboard isn´t gonna mess up the recording. I love how the song is turning out, it´s light hearted and fun and fast, and the guys are adding a lot to the table. I love hearing my songs evolve right in front of my… ears…?

I´m thinking back to the jam session with Tash (McCammon; An australian drummer/guitarist & all around sweet girl I met at the hostel in Liverpool when I was here for my audition in April), and I can´t help but smile. That was literally a 5 minute walk from where I am now recording my songs. I was so nervous about my audition at Lipa the next day, but meeting Tash and spitting this tune out in one night really highlighted the reason I wanted to be here in the first place. Well, I´m here now, months later, and it´s awesome! 😀

We started this snapshot project for Business Skills class two days ago, and we have already done A LOT. We basically got together in class on tuesday, formed the group, got the idea and started working on it right away. Our subject of choice is basically “How easy is it for unknown artists to record and release their music by themselves in 2009?” We are actually going the whole line by trying to release something. And even though we have access to high tech studios and professional sound technicians through LIPA, we decided to keep it entirely “in the bedroom,” to see if we can really do this on our own. 

First we made a looong list of goals (Record a 4 track EP by ourselves, which we will then promote by a music video, podcasts, website, Myspace, Twitter etc). We did our SWAT and GANNT charts (and we were really proud we actually DID those — on the first day..!), and talked a lot about where we want to take this. Luckily we are all headed for the same place; at some point in near future, you will hopefully be able to purchase the Audrey Wilsen 4 track (or maybe more) EP “Just Press Play” on iTunes. And I hope you will! 😉

I am finally doing this. It feels amazing. And the best part is; 
I´m with friends. 
I genuinely enjoy hanging out with these guys, and we work really well together. In the end (or rather the very beginning), this has become way more than a school project, and the reward can end up being so much more than a grade on whatever result we decide to hand in in four weeks time. Obviously we won´t be able to finish everything we have planned by the hand-in date, but that doesn´t matter. I think we are all motivated to make this happen anyway. If it goes on for longer than the duration of the project (which it will), I´m sure we´re gonna have a blast every step of the way.

I hope you will follow us on our way to wherever this road may lead. A video diary of our first days in the “studio” (i.e. Dan´s bedroom) is being edited by yours truly, and will be up within a couple of days, and we are posting updates on Twitter (http://twitter.com/Audreywilsen) all the time.

So stay tuned! 😀

Take care,

Audrey