Soul Density & 4ZZZ Radio Appearance.
1.
Creating Soul Density
Soul Density entered my life one night after work. I was tired, sleepy and just over it. My mind was swimming with insecurities: How will I ever survive in this increasingly expensive world? How can I continue to be creative and also make enough money for my future?
As usual, I felt the tug towards my guitar. I picked it up and just let what I was feeling come out. Of course, I try not to take myself too seriously, so there’s a playfulness in the way I express myself through the guitar, even as I work through the myriad of emotions I was feeling that night.
There are two voices within the song: the physically burdened Chrissy, struggling with the realities of life, and the Higher Self version of Chrissy, who always sends messages of encouragement and peace to my heart.
At first, these two voices are at odds, but eventually Chrissy makes peace and allows the magic to begin seeping into the mundane world. She acknowledges her higher calling and the magic within herself, allowing it in without the fear and anxiety.
Recording Soul Density
Soul Density was a DIY recording, recorded at home by Johan in our small home studio. The song has two elements, acoustic guitar and vocals, but those elements change dramatically throughout the song. There are two distinct vocal voices, one soft and the other more energetic and aggressive, and this is reflected in the guitar rhythm.
The guitar bounces from a bouncy, jazz-esque riff to a more mellow singer-songwriter, campfire kind of vibe. Capturing this dynamic proved to be challenging, but we got there in the end.
We settled on a direct input from the guitar and, for vocals, a condenser mic. One of the most challenging aspects of recording for me is performing the guitar and vocals separately. When I perform, I'm playing both. The guitar is there as a guide for my vocals, but because we wanted clean, isolated vox and guitar, we needed to record them separately.
Once we laid down the guitar, I was ready to sing along with it. Golly gosh, did it teach me a lesson in timing and consistency in my performance! Once both raw tracks were recorded separately and in sync, it was time for Johan to begin crafting and shaping the sound with EQ, selective compression and delays to create space and atmosphere.
The Making of Soul Density & the Birth of Sisters In Arms Productions
I've been yearning to create visual accompaniments to my music. In the past, I have experimented myself with simple textures and storylines. I thought it was time to approach my incredibly arty sister, Julie, and say,
“Hey, wanna make a film clip?”
My question was met with eagerness and excitement!
“This is going to be fun!”
And Sisters In Arms Productions was born.
We have a motto: the point of creating is to have fun, explore and experiment. At the end of the day, it’s more about the experience of creating the project rather than the end goal. The end goal is important, but the joy of creation is what’s at the core of our creative process.
We sat down and discussed the themes of Soul Density, the elements we wanted to bring to life and how we’d creatively do that with a minimal budget. We had one week, not much wiggle room.
Soul Density – Between Two Worlds
The story takes place between two worlds (Night and Day). The Night world, or Red World, is the realm where the battle takes place between Chrissy and the “menacing hands.” These hands are a representation of the struggles and “battles” which take place between our minds and reality.
In contrast to this is the Day sequence, the “Everyday Scenario.” It’s during the everyday that messages of hope and encouragement begin to bleed through, giving Chrissy the faith to truly embrace her creativity in all aspects of “everyday” life.
Even in the Red World, Chrissy eventually makes friends with the menacing hands and finds balance.
The Creative Process
Two locations were decided: the kitchen, our “Everyday Scenario,” and the “Battle World,” which would be depicted using an old-school projector that projected our “menacing hands.”
Julie was truly the mastermind behind bringing the elements and scenes of the song to life.
We quickly moved on to establishing a shot list, shooting schedule and wardrobe checklist. The kitchen scenes were shot first in one afternoon. Julie used two GoPros to capture different angles. My favourite was the “bird’s-eye view.”
Julie used some highly sophisticated filming gear to achieve this, sticky tape! Haha!!
We wrapped up the project within one week, and uploaded Bandcamp and YouTube. Just in time for the next part of the Soul Density journey, 4ZZZ radio!
Be sure to check it out, and don’t forget to like and subscribe for more creations!
Soul Density Goes to 4zzz Comic Gravy
Next, I took Soul Density to 4ZZZ and had the privilege of experiencing my first radio interview on Cosmic Gravy with Cosmo and Jaylee. Being in the 4ZZZ studio felt slightly surreal a bit of a milestone, if I’m honest.
I got to talk about the Soul Density project, its themes and how it all came together. And to cap it all off, I got to perform DarkNight live on radio, another great achievement and experience!
What’s Next? DarkNight
And so, one creative project naturally rolled into the next. DarkNight was already waiting in the wings, ready to be brought to life. Once again, Julie and I joined forces as Sisters In Arms Productions, this time stepping into a much darker, stranger and slightly more twisted world.
But that’s a story for another blog… 🎬
Stay tuned...
o →ally sharing it with a wider audience
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