Dear Dorothy,
I realize I didn't quite explain anything (at all) last time. I'm sorry about that; I was basically in ten different places at once. However, I'm here now to rectify this.
So where to begin? You're probably wondering "why?" I guess that's as good a place to start as any. I'm not one for the details, and here's to hoping you aren't either...
You ever put all your chickens in one basket? Don't. Don't think about it. Don't do it. Don't even think about thinking about doing it. Life is filled with lessons, just waiting to be learned. Sometimes the only way to learn (and I mean REALLY learn) is the hard way. You hear the same kinda message in today’s aphorisms: "Diversify your portfolio", "Don’t settle", “Better safe than sorry”, etc. Suffice to say; I LEARNED, and I’m happy I did now looking back.
So there you are a few bumps later, and you're basically on your own. You're totally cool with it too, but you've still got things you need to say and do. You're not done. Not even close. Before you know it, you're in an empty basement. A BIG, empty, basement. Dora, the next time you're in a vast empty space surrounded by walls, do me a favor: sing. Start singing whatever ditty comes to mind. Forget how your voice sounds, or what the words are if you have to. Just sing a melody. I guarantee you, everything will start making sense once you feel the natural reverberation of your own voice reflect off the walls and come crashing back against your body. It did for me, and that was the birth of the idea.
It wasn't novel by any means, but still pretty extraordinary, I thought:
What if I did it on my own?
Collaboration is what makes music awe-inspiring (more on that another time), but what if just this once, I tried putting all of myself into something tangible alone? Luckily for me, this ain't the 80's and there's more possibility now than ever. So if you're like me (and I know you are ;D), you buy all the recording gear you can afford. You take out, download, and buy every audio production textbook you can find. Most of all, you get yourself a DAMN comfortable chair (I went through about 3 because my ass is rather special). Those were the ingredients in addition to the guitars, pedals, amps, mics, blah blah blah.
Ahh! I'm losing you, I can tell. Allllriight, I'll skip past the technical mumbo-jumbo. Let me just finish by saying that once I got everything set up in front of me, that's when it became real. It was do or die. That's when the buck fell on me and I no longer had any more excuses. Looking back on the entire process, I realize it was more therapeutic for me than anything else. You go through the grinders enough, that eventually, you wanna regain the pieces of yourself that you've lost. I guess that's what I was trying to do then. Either that or just trying to find a way to accept it. Ha... wanna hear something funny? Despite "setting up shop" in that huge ass basement, I only really felt comfortable secluding myself off to a small corner of it. Wanna hear something crazy? I'd actually pray and speak with all my gear, asking them to work with me and not fuck me over, because it was my first time recording anything. I Coach Taylor'ed them good, I tell ya what. Actually, come to think of it, I think I might have taken a few pictures.... hold on lemme look...
Yeaa, I found one! How 'bout dem apples:
YES, that is a bathroom, and YES I did prefer the sound of my vocals there. Not sure I'd do it there again though... But that was it; humble gear, in a humble space, trying to capture something visceral. I spent the next 2.5 months recording what would later become the basic stems of SUADADE.
Hmm, this is probably where I should leave off for now. I gotta get going but I'll write again soon, I promise. I'll go into some of the deeper things about the album, later. We're just not there yet, Sweet D. But we will be. Soon.
Yours,
- The Rave
