I warmed up my voice at home and ran through each of the songs before I left for Handwritten Recordings on Monday afternoon. The recording session went very well (eight songs in two hours, Tom L). I still felt nervous, but I was able to avoid the “Don’t blow it NOW!” thoughts while I was singing, which is an accomplishment for me. I was pleased with the takes we got, but also aware that I’m not Celine Dion or Selena. So I think it went well considering how little recording experience I have. Of course, I imagine that when I hear the takes again, I’ll hate many of them, but then I’ll just record the vocal tracks over again, which I can do at any time and as many times as I want as long as I have the money.
The most challenging song to get through was one I wrote in 2005, a couple of months before I started dating Bob. It’s called “Hold This” and it describes the fantasy physical encounter I was longing for at that time. In order to sing it, I needed to summon that kind of energy and it took me a couple of takes to get it. I finally sang the whole thing with my eyes closed half the time, imagining being with Bob, oh yeah, really imagining him, oh I’m there, not here. And it finally worked! That’s the take I’m using. I’d never had to do that before (and doubt I will again).
But it was a priority song because TAXI.com has a listing for a music library I want to submit to. A music library is basically a bunch of songs someone puts together (paying the songwriters for their contributions) and then makes available to people who are looking for songs. The music director of a weekly show might need a song that sounds just like Diana Ross and the Supremes, but they can’t afford to pay those licensing fees, so they find a music library of songs that sound just like girl groups of the 60’s. From that library they choose the song they want and that songwriter/artist/band gets lucky.
There’s a listing for a music library of songs about sex (but no profanity, etc.) and the deadline is TODAY. So I and Handwritten Recordings are scrambling to get “Hold This” ready to submit this afternoon. This is only possible because I submit online. If I mailed my submissions in on CD, as many musicians do, I’d have already missed the deadline. I’m also submitting one other song I’ve written that’s about sex, but that’s more of an introspective explanation of how I’ve done relationships in the past. “Song for Valentine’s Day” is about sex, but not in the same way as “Hold This.”
Yes, this is me becoming a songwriting musician who earns her living with tv/film placements and selling her songs to be recorded by other artists. If anyone else finds this information useful, great.