Perhaps one of the most enjoyable musical recording experiences I've ever been a part of began in June 2009, when friend and former bandmate Christopher Bunn emailed me to say that he had an opportunity to contribute a song for an independent film project to which he had personal connections and wanted to rope me into the process. Naturally, I was all in!
We started with his demo of a song he'd written called "Feel Just Fine", and then iterated lyrically and musically across the miles (me in North Carolina, he in California, and the Internet in between) for about three months, passing around emailed suggestions and audio files and such. I held the master recordings (as a Cakewalk Sonar project), and tracked all the instruments plus my own and my wife's background vocals. Christopher was taking drops of the backing stuff from me, tracking his own lead vocals atop them, and then sending me back the vocal tracks. All in all, the process ran incredibly smoothly, even for a time when "broadband Internet" wasn't anything like the blazing speeds we enjoy today. We ended up keeping most of Christopher's original song, but dropped a verse that didn't fit as well thematically with the film and introduced a new bridge section that I wrote.
As I review my email history, it looks like it was December 2009 when we learned that the filmmakers were interested in our song, but it wouldn't be until several years later that we finally got to see the finished film, Rise of the Fellowship, and hear our song playing in full during the credit roll. Some time after the film itself released, the producers released the film's soundtrack, and now you, too, can hear "Feel Just Fine".
We started with his demo of a song he'd written called "Feel Just Fine", and then iterated lyrically and musically across the miles (me in North Carolina, he in California, and the Internet in between) for about three months, passing around emailed suggestions and audio files and such. I held the master recordings (as a Cakewalk Sonar project), and tracked all the instruments plus my own and my wife's background vocals. Christopher was taking drops of the backing stuff from me, tracking his own lead vocals atop them, and then sending me back the vocal tracks. All in all, the process ran incredibly smoothly, even for a time when "broadband Internet" wasn't anything like the blazing speeds we enjoy today. We ended up keeping most of Christopher's original song, but dropped a verse that didn't fit as well thematically with the film and introduced a new bridge section that I wrote.
As I review my email history, it looks like it was December 2009 when we learned that the filmmakers were interested in our song, but it wouldn't be until several years later that we finally got to see the finished film, Rise of the Fellowship, and hear our song playing in full during the credit roll. Some time after the film itself released, the producers released the film's soundtrack, and now you, too, can hear "Feel Just Fine".
Credits:Christopher has his original demo of the song posted online, too. Check it out at http://christopherbunn.com/my-music/feel-just-fine/.
Christopher Bunn - original song concept, lead vocals
C. Michael Pilato - arrangement, all instruments, background vocals
Amy Pilato - angelic background vocals
No comments:
Post a Comment