24/03/2009

a vs b

ok
what about 'dance in tune'?


yep - i'd still love to get whatever you've done to it to put into my computer - i know you said you haven't done much, but you've at least structured it a bit more, which will be the starting point we will work from. if you could possibly get those files to me before saturday, i can load them in and get them ready before we start. would it be easiest to send a usb stick over to your place via jenna to get them?

i also have the other song i was talking to you about on sunday. i will e-mail you a copy later tonight. i've now got an actual song for the music, and bec is going to play bass for it when we do it live. i need you to learn some singing and make up some guitar for it. i'm wanting the guitar to be a bit more rock than we've used so far, a bit more direct, a bit more like lava fuzz rather than gentle atmospherics and interjections. anyway, i'll mail it once i've recorded some rough singing.

i just had a chat to tim about our (telafonica) chemistry, musically and visually...
a couple of points, that i mostly agree with:

-the guitar and real instruments did contrast the laptop 'sound' a bit
................i will try going through the laptop again, that helps matching the laptop's synthetic sound...


not sure i'd agree with that completely. for all our joking, tim is definitely listening from the point of view of someone steeped in guitar/bass/drums music, so it sounds foreign to him to a fair degree. it's kind of like saying the white stripes don't sound right because there's no bass. well, there isn't, but that's the point. likewise the contrast between 'real' and synthetic that we have.

i have also been thinking that i would like to implement more live percussion.... (ESPECIALLY after seeing sherlock's daughter) i also think that it is a great source of energy.... that i am not finding all the time

yeah, i definitely agree with this one. i found, particularly with the set list we played on saturday, that it was difficult to generate energy. a few songs did - this is the new thing, one and one (which is why i kind of played it out a bit longer than usual, it finally felt like a bit of excitement. but, yes, banging things is always a good way of generating something. to that end, the new song mentioned above includes some tom tom banging, and a live percussion outro. so we're definitely thinking along the same lines there.

on the flipside, i thought saturday night was excellent in terms of singing, especially as i thought it was the first set we've played where eliza's voice was probably the dominant one instead of mine. and the harmonies were great all through - i've had a few people comment on that, especially the sherlock's daughter folk. i think it was just a pretty mellow set which, if considered from that point of view, was good. you don't go to a joanna newsom concert, for example, to dance in the aisles.

-(this is my one) its hard to communicate when we are all in a line, on stage... i don't really have any specific solutions but i think i would really like to be more of a unit on stage... eg/ i don't know what you are doing half the time... i only know what bec OR ellie is doing

yeah, i think that's a good point too. i think it comes from an initial desire not to create a heirarchy on stage. i also feel that we are behind too many stands, but i'm not quite sure how to overcome that without doing things side on. if you have any ideas about how to go about shifting that, declare them!

5 comments:

Blake said...

Uh huh
I think that I would like to hear the mix between the laptop and other instrments... By our various sound peoples
That makes sense (re: your comment about tim’s musical roots)

I am glad that you agree with my points
Because they are things that I love about watching other bands
I have some little ideas

Bec said...

I am happy with all ideas discussed but thought it worthwhile to mention that someone from one of the other bands (can't remember which band it was) made a comment that they liked the way that we were all at the front of the stage.

Blake said...

yeh sure,
send a stick over with jenna

remember... i lost some of your key files
they just disappeared... which was weird
you had a chorus or something for it
which we need to fit in
and i have a set of lyrics that we can through and see if we like and how we can fit it in
(i have not looked at them for a while)

i had some ideas about not being strangled by music stands and mics and instruments at the front of stage: we put a couple of stands behind us... ie. bec and ellie's stands... and that will leave more room for comfort and for seeing each other!
i also thought that perhaps ellie and bec could stand a couple of feet deeper in the stage... thoughts? that way i can see all of you... and vice versa for all of us.

ajebec said...

the issue with putting stands behind is that they often need to sing and play simultaneously, so that would involve facing the back of the stage to sing.

the stand issue wasn't so big on saturday as we used one less than normal since we disn't use the glockenspiel.

moving bec and ellie back is a good move, i think, especially if blake and i on the outsides then faced inwards slightly. the main issue with that, though, is that most of the time when we play, there is a drum kit in the way.

another option could be to swap bec and i over. i need to be next to ellie as we both play the keyboard. ellie and bec often need to be together as they share glock etc. but if bec and i were swapped over, then i would be more in contact with everyone for the cues. i do, however, like the balance of the two girls in between the two guys - makes me feel like i'm in abba.

Blake said...

yehhh
i understand that the drums are a pain sometimes
i was thinking about that as well

maybe just turning stands to the side, here and there?

i considered the possibility of you moving... but then i thought that you needed the side, so your laptop and stand doesn't have to face the front
hm