New Song: “Close Your Eyes” feat. Fiona McErlane and Keith Caffrey

Today I’m sharing my latest music production project “Close Your Eyes” which features my guest vocalists Fiona McErlane and Keith Caffrey.

I talked about the creative and recording process in my previous blog post.

I finished the mix last night and I’m delighted with the response already to the song. This was yet another very personal and emotional project. I hope you enjoy it!

“Close Your Eyes” was composed by Stephanie Caffrey and the lyrics and vocal were written by Keith Caffrey.

Female vocals: Fiona McErlane
Male vocals: Keith Caffrey
Acoustic drums: Craig Sullivan
Traditional harp: Fiona McErlane
Acoustic piano: Stephanie Caffrey
Electric guitars: Stephanie Caffrey
Synths: Stephanie Caffrey.

Recorded, produced and mixed by Stephanie Caffrey.
Special thanks to studio assistant Gavin Clarke.

Recorded in Dundalk Institute of Technology Feb-May 2013.
Copyright Stephanie Caffrey.

Another Music Production Project Tracking Completed!

It’s that busy time of the semester again! The time where time itself is running out and the assignments are piled high! Recording projects are wrapping up and are in the final mix stages, essays are full speed ahead and how I wish there were more hours in each day!

Tonight I finished tracking my Music Production Project for semester 4. I haven’t blogged about the production process like I did last semester, so apologies for that! This semester FLEW, I think the Erasmus trip to Norway accelerated that, where does time go when you’re having fun, eh?!

I have been working on one of my own songs for this semesters’ production project. It is a song I started working on over Christmas, inspired by Electronic/Dance music I had been listening to a lot (and still am- I’m also currently enjoying various Dubstep tracks while walking, the Sound City album while driving and Evanescence while running!). I have been writing New Age/Chilled Electronic for a few years now as I really have been enjoying creating music “in The Box”. Logic Pro 9 is my little getaway place!

While I was in Norway I continued working on the piece of music, structuring and shaping the sounds and taking deep inspiration from the emotions and experiences of the Erasmus Programme and the natural beauty of the cold, snowy, sunny, fjord and mountain landscape. The programme was very intense emotionally as I struggled with homesickness for my friends, college, home and family, I felt slightly lost at times as workshops made me close my eyes, look inside myself and think about sound, light and creativity in new ways.

Inspirational beauty in Norway which inspired me

Random sign on my long walk through a Norwegian wood

When I came home I had a draft mix of synths, beats and ambient nature recordings, which I was very happy with. There were only 2 lines of lyrics, which I tracked at home “Close your eyes/What can you see?”. I listened to my mix on the lovely Genelecs in the college studio just for fun and it was suggested that I make the the music into a song, go write lyrics and melodies and think about bringing the song to a whole new level, record acoustic drums and other instruments! Make it my production project! I was skeptical at first as I was rather attached to this piece of music (music for thinking to- as I saw it as), which I composed entirely by myself.

Enter Keith Caffrey. If you have been following my blog, you’ll already know that Keith is like the other musical half of me! He is my songwriting partner and close friend, the music I’ve written with Keith through the years has always had deep, personal meaning and a creative enjoyment I never experienced before. I sent Keith the draft mix and emotional ideas I would love to communicate through lyrics (closing of the eyes, looking inside myself and being more aware of myself yet still feeling slightly lost).

Very quickly the music turned into the song. Keith came down to my bedroom studio and we tracked the entire vocal idea. The lyrics were so deep, personal and emotional, Keith understood perfectly what I had been feeling (as spiritually close friends, there are few who understand me so well!). It was also as if Keith KNEW we had only been studying the art of vocal expression in college, he felt the song should have lots of aspirate on-sets and releases, creaks and shakes.

Keith writing lyrics in my bedroom studio during a late night recording session

With minor structure adjustments and a guide vocal done (and a huge migration into Pro Tools 10!), the song was ready for addition instrumentation. I’m not going into the nitty-gritty details of my sessions but I recorded drums in session 1, harp, piano and electric guitar in session 2 and female vocals in session 3.

Craig Sullivan on drums

During my time in Norway I made lots of new friends and valuable contacts, Fiona McErlane being one of them. We met in the airport and sat next to each other on the plane from Dublin to London and hit it off straight away with giggles over drinks! I heard her singing in the music performance workshops in Norway and was blown away by her pure, crystal clear, angelic voice. I knew back then I wanted to work with her in the future but didn’t know for what project!

Having the craic with Fiona in Norway!

I asked her to sing on the project and play a little bit of traditional harp. She was excited about the song and the inspiration of the music and lyrics (she was actually present when I made the recording of the fjord shore in Norway).

So tonight was our final recording session, we tracked lots of vocals and had a very productive session. I was so happy with her performance, she gave it 110% emotionally and technically, she jumped right in with suggestions and gave it her all. I was also happy that I got to finally track using the Distressor compressor (gentle 2:1 ratio) and got to try out the Rode K2 valve mic, it sounded sweet!

Our session was the first official night time recording session in DkIT 6pm-9pm. Yes! Finally! A night time recording session!!! I’m a big fan of working in the evenings/nights (last semesters’ Monday 9am-12pm were not to my liking!). Energies are high, vocals are warm, people tend to be more relaxed in the evenings I find! So please, for next semester, more night time sessions please!

I better go to bed, it is 12:30am now and tomorrow is a new day of vocal editing! I will of course share the song “Close Your Eyes” when it’s mixed. Special thanks to Keith Caffrey, Fiona McErlane, Craig Sullivan, Gavin Clarke for their creative input and help and to my friends for their support!

I’ll leave you with this fun snap from tonights session!

Fiona gave it socks!

SoundCloud; Here’s the Drop… April Fool’s Joke or Hack?

I logged into my SoundCloud account this evening to find my stream plastered in “Here’s the Drop” graphics on waveforms [insert mega-surprised vinyl rip here!]. Like every other SoundCloud user right now, I’m totally baffled!

Here’s the WHAT?! My SoundCloud stream a moment ago.

And it’s not just on other users waveforms, there’s plenty of these ugly graphics on my own tracks!

My own tracks have also been hit….

A quick scan through forums and Twitter, users are noticing and there’s mixed feelings. Some believe it’s an early April Fool’s joke SoundCloud is playing on their users and find it funny… some feel like their creative work has been defiled and are furious… there’s plenty of talk about a possible hack and of course, there’s uproar that a term normally associated with Dubstep music is getting plastered on metal, rock, live recordings, video game music, etc!

The Drop meaning in terms of music…Urbandictionary.com

My favourite “drop” meme…young master Skrillex

At first glance I thought it was a clever new gimmick SoundCloud were testing, the arrows seemingly did point to spikes in waveforms but after closer inspection I did realise it was all completely random.

Personally I believe SoundCloud has been hacked this weekend. Did anyone else notice on Facebook that their newsfeed activity was completely random? My newsfeed was chocablock with bizarre memes and what not. Of course, this has all disappeared from their App page now.

I tend to take SoundCloud a bit seriously, I use it every day and I prefer it to other social media music platforms (MySpace is dead! Reverbnation never appealed to me as much as I tried! Twitmusic doesn’t cut it either) and I take pride in my profile. For me SoundCloud is the cleanest, easiest and most efficient means of putting my music out there and keeping track of my stats!

Maybe it’s all one big marketing move to get us talking about SoundCloud?

I hope it’s not an early April Fool’s joke, would SoundCloud really do that to us? (but maybe the fact it’s premature is part of the joke?!)

Stephanie Caffrey’s stream on SoundCloud – Hear the world’s sounds.

UPDATE: It’s called the Dropometer and it SEEMS to be a gimmick! read about it here (I just hope we can remove it from our tunes cos not everyone uploads Dubstep to Soundcloud… though I still think it’s an April Fool’s joke, haha!) : SoundCloud » Debuting Today: The Dropometer.

Hitchhiking the Galaxy For The First Time!

If you’ve been following my tweets or been in my presence at all since January, then you’re more than aware of my new-found hoopy obsession with the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy!

I can’t believe I’ve only just discovered this absolute treasure at this point in my life! My little sister urged me to read the books years ago but I shrugged her off, thinking she was a mad hippy but it was in a moment of sheer assignment-induced-panic before Christmas that a question was put to me in a calm, softly spoken voice; “What is the one thing we never, ever do according to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?”…. “DON’T PANIC!”. Okay, seeing as it was mentioned that I should probably check it out (following my embarrassed, sheepish grin), I went and bought The Trilogy of Four in my local Waterstones the next day as a Christmas present to myself!

I’ve lost myself in the universe! (what a wonderful feeling!)

Hitchhiker’s is exactly what my life has been missing this whole time! It took an ultra-cool, hoopy frood to make me realise that!

Don’t you just hate it when younger siblings turn out to be right?!

I haven’t finished reading it yet, I’ve been pacing myself! I have a track record of racing through books and repeat-reading old ones over and over! (I also have an insane amount of books I’m dipping in and out of!)

I just love this zany universe Douglas Adams has created. I love the various worlds, the peoples, the histories attached to them, the technologies! I particularly love Zaphod Beeblebrox, he’s such a larger than life character, he’s pretty much been my hero from the first moment I laid eyes on him!

I’m crazy to have a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and have a conversation about life, the universe and everything with any like-minded frood!

I’ll have one please!

And after we’re done drinking (I’m sure we’ll have done 6 impossible things due to the fact our brains have been smashed out!), we can head off to Milliways for a bite to eat at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe and continue the madness!

Let’s go!

I’m also interested to hear the sonic greatness of the loudest band in the Galaxy- Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones… \m/

I’ve also been reading The Salmon of Doubt, the little stories are tying in nicely with HHGTTG (Like “Tipples” where Adams tells of his favourite drinks, G+T being his overall favourite nicely coincides with the curious fact that something like 85 percent of all known worlds in the Galaxy, be they primitive or highly advanced, have invented a drink called jynnan tonnyx, or gee-N-N-T’N-ix, or jinnond-o-nicks, or any one of a thousand or more variations on the same phonetic theme, according to the Guide.)

The Salmon of Doubt is an excellent read…

I have watched the latest film version of HHGTTG, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen and to be honest, I expected it to be a lot worse! I really liked Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent and Alan Rickman (Marvin) was truly wonderful Of course my heart goes to Sam Rockwell (Beeblebrox), how could one not adore him?! It’s that winning smile!

Zaphod Beeblebrox serves up Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters with Ford Prefect in the movie

My newfound obsession has of course sparked a renewed interest in the Guide in my family, I never knew my mother was so cool and actually read the books before I was even born! My sister has loaned me the original tv series on DVD to watch which I must get round to!

I’ve been chasing up the original radio series after reading stories on the BBC website about how the sound effects were created and the larks that were had during recording. For the life of me, I can’t find that link now! I was going to purchase the BBC box set on Amazon (it’s selling for a froody price at the moment!) but someone is going to loan me the original series on vinyl after Easter!

The Guide has really given me a new outlook on life, the universe and everything, if you haven’t read it and you’re partial to quirkyness, insanity and larger than life characters, I suggest you get yourself a copy, stick out your thumb and start hitchhiking on the nearest spaceship you find!

DON’T PANIC!

Fighting the Loudness War: Dynamic Range Day 2013

Dynamic Range Day 2013 is nearly upon us! On Friday March 22nd audiophiles around the world will turn their sound systems up to 11 to raise awareness that overly-compressed music does not sound better than dynamic music just because it’s louder.

Louder? Isn’t louder music better? Ah well now, we all enjoy loud music… but the point is: make the music louder by turning up the volume on the car stereo (or whatever music reproduction medium you enjoy listening to- mind your ears though peeps, for God’s sake!) and not through heavy mastering compression, etc!

According to dynamicrangeday.co.uk, music has been getting more and more crushed through the use of heavy compression in recent years, for fear of not being “competitive” – and in the process removing all the contrast, all the light, shade and depth – ruining the sound.

Dynamic Range Day supporters want to trade the “louder is better” concept for an alternative message: “Dynamic music sounds better”.

http://www.dynamicrangeday.co.uk/

There are some very interesting articles on the official Dynamic Range Day website including, What is the Loudness War ? and links to other interesting stuff: Winning the Loudness Wars | Stereophile.com.

A cool competition one may like to enter (if you’re not in you can’t win, right?!) can be found at Dynamic Range Day Competition 2013. Cool gear such as an SSL Bus Compressor (in a SuperAnalogue Mynx mini X-rack) and Bowers & Wilkins CM-1 speakers are such prizes. It’s well worth entering!

What can we do in the meantime? Read and share this: The Loudness War – An open letter to the music industry… Use the free dynamic range meter plug-in on your master track when mixing (download it here: tt_dynamic_range_meter_mac_1_0.dmg.)… get involved, support Dynamic Range Day on Facebook, Twitter etc. Wear a t-shirt!

http://masteringmedia.spreadshirt.co.uk/

http://www.dynamicrangeday.co.uk/

“Every playback device in the world has an output gain control on it. Record and master the music at musical levels and allow the listener to play it as they wish. Do not fall slave to making all music sound equally loud on iPod Shuffles or the iTunes program itself !” - Bob Ludwig. (http://dynamicrangeday.co.uk/supporters/)

Getting Ready for the Flora Women’s Mini Marathon 2013 :)

I have just registered to run my 9th Flora Women’s Mini Marathon which takes place in Dublin on June 3rd! Anyone who knows me at all, knows I love running and especially love the buzz of the Mini Marathon every year!

FWMM

In the past I’ve run for many causes including the Gary Kelly Cancer Support Centre, Irish Lung Foundation, Irish Deaf Youth Association and more recently Irish Autism Action.

This year I’m running for the Sunni Mae Trust. Lily-Mae Morrison is 4 years old, she likes dinosaurs and dancing, she lives in Claregalway with her parents Jude and Leighton (who also like dancing). Lily-Mae also likes her little brother Evan, she is very sick at the moment but hopes with your help to be dancing again soon. The Sunni Mae Trust was founded in June 2012 shortly after Lily-Mae’s diagnosis. Any money I raise through kind donations will go directly to Lily-Mae’s family to help them during this extremely difficult time.

Donations can be made at my fundraiser page below, absolutely every penny counts! If you see me in college or out and about, don’t be afraid to stop me either, I can take donations in person as well

iDonate.ie | Support Stephanie Caffrey’s fundrasing page | iDonate.ie – Online Fundraising and SMS Donation

Thank you so much in advance! As well as fundraising I will be training hard, I’m really looking forward to this year’s event!

Don’t forget ladies, this year the Mini Marathon starts at 2pm, not 3pm like previous years! See you all then!

Want to register for the event? You can do so at this link: Flora Women’s Mini Marathon.

FWMM 2012. Photo by the Irish Times.

More info about the Sunni-Mae Trust: FrontPage » The Sunni Mae Trust.

The Sunni Mae Trust

Thank you

My Pinhole Photograph of Norway

One of our workshops on the Erasmus Intensive Programme was pinhole photography. I found this extremely interesting!

After a talk about the history of pinhole photography and what it actually is, we were given little tins with a pinhole in them, in the darkroom we slipped our special photography paper inside carefully and covered the top with black paper and tin foil and covered the pinhole with one finger before emerging into the light. It’s important not to let the light through at any point before you decide to take your photograph because it will ruin the paper.

We were invited to step outside and take a photo of something we liked. It could be a building on the campus, a tree, the water, a person, a self portrait…

The photo below is my second attempt (I overexposed the first photo and shook the tin slightly first time around!). I found this lovely spot after crossing a little wooden bridge in the forest, I placed the tin on a rock, sat beside it and enjoyed 2 and a half minutes of stillness, peace and serenity. The only sound was the lapping of the water on the shore. I’m pleased with the photo, it looks kind of spooky which is cool because the earlier workshop that morning was the ghost/sound massage workshop!

We were allowed to dip the photograph in the 3 trays in the darkroom ourselves after been shown how to let the fluid wash over the paper in the first tray etc. This was really cool!!! The photos were hung to dry, put through a machine after that… When they were fully dried, we scanned them, popped them into Photoshop and inverted the colours.

Hope you enjoy my pinhole photograph!

Pinhole photography by me