Studio Session

Studio Session: Backing vocals

Great to be back here after a busy few weeks. Performing at the Edinburgh Fringe festival was a great experience for me and alot of fun. I saw and met so many talented performers. The weather was kind to me, except for one day when i got seriously wet!. Then, it was back into the studio as we start to put the finishing touches to 'Somewhere New.'  Mandi, a brilliant backing vocalist popped in to help with four songs. What a difference and what a singer!



Mandi In the studio

I'll be back recording in a few weeks and the album should be completed by the end of the year. Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope it's sunny where you are!

 

Please look out for more posts,

Soph :)

 



Busking in Edinburgh

Rehearsing for Edinburgh Fringe Festival

So excited, arrived today in Edinburgh to rehearse for my performance at the Edinburgh Fringe festival 2012!

In at the deep end, and tuning up next to St.Gile's Cathedral.

First song was 'Falling lies' and my first member of the public stayed for two songs...

thank you!!!

Brilliant ! ... got my performer's pass ... ready for August !

Please watch this space for more updates

Sophie :)

Studio Session: Albert Lee!

Studio session with Albert Lee!

A really exiting session in the studio last week! Delighted to have the famous guitarist Albert Lee play lead on 'The Painter'!

When I composed 'The Painter' two years ago, I had no idea that I would have such an iconic guitarist play on the track! Thanks to Albert, and also Tom and John for bass and keyboards!

I am next in the studio on the 13th August and will have alot to do. We will start off by going through each song and seeing what needs doing. For example: It may need backing vocals or I may need to sing the song again.

I now have a website, so please feel free to take a look!

Link to website below:
http://www.sophiehoyle.co.uk/

Thanks for reading and please look out for more posts!

Sophie :)

Studio Session: Acoustic

Studio Session: 16th June - Times Gone & Searching

This session was an acoustic session, and in the 5 hours I spent in the studio Tom managed to produce 2 songs.

The songs I played and sang in this session were 'Times Gone' and 'Searching'.

Both these tracks had several acoustic guitars played to create the tune. One played by me and the others by Tom. The acoustic guitars all had different sounds but when put together created a sound which fit my songs. These two tracks were the last acoustic songs I recorded for the album.

Im back in the studio on Sunday 15th July to record my final song of the album! This will be a rock song like 'Stepping stones'. When that's recorded there will be alot of changes to most of the songs including backing vocals and added instruments. There's still quite a long way to go with the album ,this means a few more visits to the studio, but it's great seeing it all come together!

I had never been in a studio before I went to 'The music farm' and I have learnt so much about how songs come together and how much work goes into them! It has really helped me when writing my songs and I now know what to expect in a studio.

Thanks for reading and please look out for more posts :)

Sophie

Studio Session: Rockin' Out!!

Studio Session: 27th May - Stepping Stones

Bit of a delayed post, but I wanted to share some photos from my last recording session with you, as I will be back in there tomorrow!

Look out for another post and photos, coming next week, from my acoustic session tomorrow.

My last recording session was a bit different from usual - my quiet, acoustic ballad got into the studio and evolved into squealing guitars, pounding drums and that classic rock sound!

Tom Tyson, music producer and owner of 'The Music Farm' studios in Egremont, sat down with me and listened to my original version of the song - Stepping Stones.

I wanted to try something different and go for a rockier sound and his first advice was to speed up the song.

We ran through the song together at an increased speed, and then decided I needed to sing at a higher pitch.

Tom then made a note of the chords so that he could put together some guitar riffs, solos and a bass track. I recorded a rough vocal as a guide for the instruments to be recorded and then Tom's guitar pieces were recorded onto the mixer in layers for final mixing of the track.

Tom used a range of electric guitars and various effects.

Drums were added by  John Marcangelo, a local session musician who listened to the basic recording twice and then went into the drums booth and provided a drum track to fit the song.

Additional sound effects were added and then I recorded my final vocals. I may revisit the vocals however as I want to re-record vocals from previous songs.

Tom then mixed and rearranged the various layers of the song to create the finished track. All my recorded tracks so far still require additional mixing so may sound different yet!

My previous sessions have mostly been acoustic or accompanied by a piano, and the session tomorrow will hopefully be 2 acoustic tracks.

Look out for the next post next week about tomorrows session!

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to 'Follow' via email and Subscribe to my YouTube channel :)

Sophie