Music in the Studio

Hi, Everybody!!

Just a quick update on my song lyric writing activities. When I got to Paris this time, we worked in the studio for days, recording our songs for 'demos' (CD's that play our songs). We recorded 9 songs, mostly ballads, and we've written 11 more than that. It was a fascinating experience, and soooooo much fun for me. The technical aspects are very complicated and I'm learning a lot about music, recording, composing, and writing lyrics. I am thoroughly loving the experience, and I'm working with a wonderful team, of 3 composers, 7 musicians, and a young French singer, who is bi-lingual. So we are recording songs in English and French, and I've written the lyrics to each song in both languages, so we have options.

We've been working 12 and 14 hours in the studio. The musicians recorded their 'tracks' of the music before I got there. And my work is with the singer, to make sure that the lyrics are sung and recorded as I wrote them. The songs are in many ways similar to my poems, although more complicated to write, since you have to be aware of the beat and tempo of the music, and the lyrics have to fit!! It's not free form like writing poetry. Sometimes I write the lyrics first, and they compose the music to it, and sometimes I write lyrics to the music they've written. And often we work together in brainstorming sessions, where we come up with the songs together and try different things. By the time we get to the studio to record the songs, they are very polished, and we've worked hard on them. Often we don't even stop for meals while we work.

I'm often reminded of the atmosphere of camaraderie that I loved when I went to a co-ed French school as a kid. We just have a good time together, no one has an axe to grind, and we work hard and have fun. Everyone has been a good sport and easy going and incredibly dedicated. I hope that eventually you will hear the result of our work. Stay tuned for that. Many are love songs, and some tell a story. We even wrote one inspired by my late son Nick. I often wish that I could tell him what I'm doing since he was such a passionate musician and singer, and he wrote lyrics too. I think he'd be proud of what we're doing. And it's so exciting to be learning something new, and working as a team—which is very different from the solitary work of writing a book alone.

I recently finished a new book, and will be starting on another one soon. And between the two books, I'm working on the songs, so I'm keeping busy these days!!!! I'll keep you posted on all these activities!!!

Love, Danielle