This is the first song for my second project in 2017: The remake of my 2017 album „Many directions“. First I am not satisfied with the production of the original album, though I still think, that the songs are really good. Second the whole album sounds not as lively as I would like to have it because of the use of Midi-instruments. So my remake has the following goals
- Only real musicians, no Midi-instruments except the orchestra in „The Miller’s wife“
- Raising the accessibility and achieve a more polished sound
- Minor corrections of the arrangements and the song-structures
- Making decisions for every single song, not for the complete album to get the best result for every song
- Different singers choosen for the style and the atmosphere of every single song
„What lips“ was originally intended for a female singer, but in 2007 I had no access to a decent singer, so I modified the poem of Edna St. Vincent Millay (lads to ladies) and sang it myself. Therefore the first decision I made for the remake was to look for a female singer to preserve the original meaning of the poem.
If you want to learn more about the brave life of Edna:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_St._Vincent_Millay
I found a wonderful singer called „Sarah“ at
studiopros.com. She adds a touch of Country to the song and a timbre, which is as polished as I could wish for. The song gets even radio-friendly. Next I searched for a dedicated bass-player. Though I can play myself bass with a plectrum (like every other guitar-player), the sound of a bass played with fingers and with the specialized dedication and technique of a pure bass-player is different. When I looked again on the arrangement the idea for a fretless bass popped up in my mind. The rest of the arrangement is busy with the syncopated guitars and the drums, so the fretless bass with its long sustain and authority sets a nice contrast of calm and relaxation and supports the ballad-character. I asked my old school-mate Axel Voss. Twenty years ago I played with him in a Led Zeppelin Cover band and he was also a part of a classical Youth orchestra, where I played violin. Axel is a wonderful and very experienced bass-player and handles the part with authority. The drums were taken over by Jonas Schütz, a german session-player, very skilled and professional. Normally he plays Metal, but you will hear, that he is also able to play with great sensibility. I can announce in advance, that I will work with Axel and Jonas also for the other songs of the album. The guitar- and violin-stems are the original parts from the 2007 album, which I just inserted in the Logic-Project. I had liked to invest in a professional mixing and mastering, but the project had become too expensive. In my opinion the impact of the musicians is much more important than the Mix. Therefore I drop this idea and save the money.