Well, the first string recording session was a success! It was very fulfilling to finally hear my arrangements come to life in the string players. A huge thanks to my musicians: Vivian Crosby and Alisha Beseth on violins, Anna Drexelius on Viola, and Amanda Pritchard on Cello.
(By the way, I decided to switch over to releasing my blog updates on Mondays. The week days have been busy lately, and usually I’ll have time each weekend to do something interesting with the music, therefore I’ll have something to write about.)
But I will say that I have not been quite so stressed in a long time. I think that part of it is the feeling of not having full control of my project once it’s in the hands of other musicians. I was surprised to feel that way, so the stress caught me off guard.
Another part of it was just the huge amount of multi-tasking I’m trying to do. I’m already building a list in my head of things I wish I had done differently, but a lot of things on that list involve paying more people more money. There were times when I was rehearsing, story-telling the music to communicate the feeling of it, conducting, playing piano parts along with them, all while trying to mind the position of the microphones, the recording software and other technical elements, edit punch ins, and make sure we had good takes. I really was overwhelmed.
In hindsight, I think I would have been more comfortable having done a rehearsal beforehand on a different day. That way I could split up my music-focused and audio-focused energies into separate times.
Afterwards, it all felt like a blur, and I was feeling apprehensive about how it all turned out while I was putting the kids to bed. So I went back and listened and was very happy with what we churned out in those 6 hours. The technical side of the process (my audio skills) was not 100% perfect like I had imagined, but I think it will end up just fine.
I forgot to take a picture!!! In the craziness of all the to-do’s, I forgot to take a picture for you. I did take some video footage at the end, so I’ll make a brief video out of it in a little while. But unfortunately, no picture for today.
I am exhausted. This weekend didn’t feel like a weekend. As much as I love doing what I love doing, love still takes a lot of work.
Have a good week and keep a lookout for a short video sometime soon.
Devin LaRue 