RECORDING IN PROGRESS
by October 24, 2024I’m sure you would like to know, what will be the name of this album.. Am I right? 🙂
Yet, I’m keeping it a secret for now. I want to share that I was never as excited about recording a new album. It will be my 9th original album, 5th from Pianotron. And do you know what’s the most interesting thing about this album? On my phone I have almost 100 recorded song ideas.. demos. From that number, I have chosen around the top 30 songs. It was hard to make that decision because there were so many great ideas.. But, I believe that songs that were meant to be on this album – will find their way.
I feel so good because I still don’t know which of them I’m going to record- maybe all of them. In the past, I always planned everything carefully, preparing every detail.. Because – ‘It is an official document. It stays forever.’ But, on this particular album, even though I care about my music more than ever, I am relaxed more than ever. Do you know why? Because, this time, for the first time in my life – I am letting my best friend- music, guide me through the whole process. I was always ‘smart’, I always knew what I wanted to do, what kind of sound I wanted to have etc. But, later I realised, that I was too controlling over every part of my creation.
And now, I changed a bit, I became tired of all that control, and with that – my music finally got the freedom to become a true creation. The only thing I want to have on this album is as much fun and as many creative, spontaneous moments of music as possible. I want to create songs through the recording process. If you look back, all the legendary bands composed their songs in the studio. Not at home.. In the studio, you have that momentum, where there is no space to overthink. At home, you have all the time, and all the freedom to create, but again – with all that freedom to overthink details in song, it can so easily lose fun, and destroy the magic of creation.
Music doesn’t come from the mind
For my previous albums, before the recording process, I used to practice every part of the song, every detail. Then, when the recording day is there, there is already too much brain included in every note, and the magic fades away. First kiss, first touch.. It is always special.. First demo.. The first touch of that melody – for so many times it stayed the best version of the song, but unfortunately in my telephone recorder. That’s why, I am recording this album completely differently than before. I practise classical piano every day, I am diving into music, practising my songs just a little bit. Because I want to have that excitement on the day when we will come into the studio to record Pianotron. I want to have that imperfection, that momentum, what will make me excited to play. Because, if I am excited to play – then you will have that excitement to listen. 🙂
NEW CHAPTER
For this album, I decided to create everything entirely on my own, every sound and effect will be designed in a real acoustic hall. It will be played by me, fulfilling my vision of that sound, as I hear it in my head.I rented all the orchestral percussion instruments, from timpani, grande casa, snares, timbales, gong, cymbals etc. And I decided to go to one amazing church, to record it all by myself, not entirely on my own, but in a collaboration with my co-producer, Marin Kereša. We spent 5 inspiring days in St. Andrija’s church, where the acoustic is beyond amazing. Marin was responsible for all the microphones, preamps etc., and I was focused only on creation. I will tell you that I have more than 12 hours of percussion samples on my computer, with so many microphones catching all the ambient sounds. Later in the process, I had the vision to produce all those sounds through guitar amps, distortion and fuzz pedals, and to produce those saturated sounds in the church ambience. To get that extra layer in my sounds, and to do everything – naturally. And we did it! It was so fun; Marin was distorting one guitar amp, while I was distorting another one at the same time. We got some crazy reflections in the church ambience microphones. And we did it in an old-school way like people used to do it before. What you record – you will hear on the recording. Simple as that. And that makes me so happy. No extra plugins, no extra thinking – but instead, pure emotion of the moment.
Album? How is it going to sound? What style? It is film music, fresh sound, much different than anything I have done before! Piano will be the main act. Vintage mellotron and all those orchestral sounds will be just a piano support. But, what will be different in the songs? In the past, I used to tell stories about other people’s lives, and other people’s characters. On this album, I will tell you a story about my life. That is the puzzle I missed all the time to complete Pianotron. It was a challenging journey, and I started to lead this project with my battles to become independent, and to stay on my own. I did that step, but probably, subconsciously, I was still shy, afraid in some part of myself, to step out completely. To show the world: this is me. To be ready to truly not care about other people’s opinions. To love myself, and accept myself, but truly. To have that self-confidence. To truly know who I am. Not for Instagram posts, but deep in my heart. So, yes.. It was a long, exciting journey, and I am going to tell you more about it through the songs.
Do you know what’s funny? That was just our first session! 🙂 In December we will have two more sessions, than in the January final.. Can you imagine how many good and creative days are in front of me?! But I will write to you more about that later. Now I want to completely concentrate on creation! Let the music speak. Have a good day my friends!!