C. L ynne Smith
Making Real
Where did it all begin?
Well... it was a dark and stormy night...oh wait, wrong story. Ok, let's try again ... around 2003 in an attempt to conquer stage fright, I began playing and singing at open mics. People started coming up to me asking if I had a CD of my original songs. All I had were demo tapes so I had to figure out how to go about making a CD that would be good enough for those who wanted it. Long story shorter, after an attempt in a start-up studio (argggg), and low finances (sigh), I decided to do it on my own.
Not many people were making their own CD's in 2006 especially women. It was my vision to have this CD be as real at its title and the music on it.
I started with what I had at the time: an old karaoke tape machine, 2 cheap microphones that came with it, the acoustic guitar that my Dad gave me when I was 10, keyboards, an old banjitar that my Gram handed down to me that never stays in tune (which I kinda like), recorders, percussion stuff, and most importantly cough drops. Taped the microphone to the ceiling (didn't have a mic stand yet), stuck tapes into my old machine, sucked down a cough drop and started recording. Oh, just a note to anyone trying this at home ...be prepared to lose some paint from your ceiling if you tape the mics up there cause they inevitably do fall down. Using whatever I had and rigging it however it had to be, the process of creating Real began.
Along the way I upgraded to a Tascam 4 track tape machine, wish it still worked, and some music software so I could get the songs onto a CD. Had worked in the computer field in the past before becoming a nurse so I did have some technical skills that came in handy for this HUGE learning curve. Ok, HUGE is an understatement. Eventually got all the music into the computer ... learning much about sound levels, pops, clicks, hisses and some sounds I've never heard before in my life. Finally, after much work Real was born.
What I really like about this creation is that the songs are a combination of old and new. Some of the audio is actually from old demos that I never intended to use on the final CD ... but they had such a unique quality to them that doing them over just wasn't going to cut it. The first song 'Real' is completely from the demo. just cleaned up a little with some added crackles to go with the already present retro/old vinyl warm sound that was naturally created on input. A few songs are a combination of the original demo and new input. Only 2 songs were completely done over just because I couldn't clean up the demo enough.
This CD truly represents the process, from inception to completion. From demo to master. from not knowing a thing about what I was doing, winging it by the seat of my pants to actually creating decent recordings. It is Real.
Releasing Real brought up a few insecurities, of course. Being home grown, would the quality be any good? Would it even play in most CD players? Would it be good enough for people to enjoy listening to it? How long is a piece of string? Ok, just threw that in there. Wasn't even sure how to begin the mastering process I heard so much about, or exactly what that was. With the help of my loyal companion, many hours were spent burning and listening the songs on whatever players we could find. Adjusting levels, editing, burning again ... didn't even have a decent stereo to play it back on just an old boom box with a cracked speaker. To hear it on a decent system we had to test it out on my best friend's car stereo just to get a better idea of the sound. later we learned that there is mastering software available that simulates all kinds of players from crappy to best. The way I figured it ...we already had crappy players so if it sounded good on those it would probably work on just about anything. There's our mastering in a nutshell!
Was quite blessed to have my loyal partner, who is very creative, working along with me on this project. Designing, creating the website, cds packaging, cover, inserts, labels etc... The packaging very much represents the music, feel and vision of Real ...right down to the groovy retro vinyl cds we used. A few years ago this didn't even seem within reach. Now it exists in a from that we can share with others. It's really exciting and rewarding to be able to turn this dream into reality! That in and of itself is the true reward of doing something like this. We are looking forward to the life Real live and we continue to live life in music.
Update on Real ... All five songs on Real have been played on radio stations in the US and Europe!
Real is still going strong.
P.S Another 10 plus years later, much, learning, growing and new equipment another album is being born. Stay tuned for 2023!!!!