Billy McBolan - Session 4 - 20th August 2012

Session times: 7:45pm-11:00pm

Billy brought his wife (Jacqueline) and daughter (Dael).  I think we've nearly had all of Billy's family at the studio now :-)

Strange Love

Dael was going to lay down the main vocal on this track over the backing we recorded in the previous sessions. I set up the mic and reduced the stand height a little (she's a bit shorter than her dad's 6ft6!) and started playing the track so I could get the levels.   I had heard her voice on a track recorded at another studio, so knew what she sounded like, but I still wasn't ready for the masterpiece she sang.  I could see Billy in the background grinning and nodding his head.

Billy had told me previously that he wrote the song in a key that was good for him to play and sing with, but we had to change the key for  Dael to sing it.  Unfortunately, the key he chose to record it in was just a little too low and the first line of each verse were right at the bottom of her range.  Now I thought she had a really sexy lower register, but  Dael wasn't happy with it.  She sang through the song a few times and we got some really good takes except for the first lines.

Although Dael has a really good voice, she doesn't seem to understand musical terms at all.  She's just one of those talented people who can sing but doesn't know when you say 'sing it an octave up', that that means the notes should be higher.  Billy joked, "she doesn't know a B flat from a flat tire" and I'm inclined to agree, but who cares when you've got a voice that sounds like that !

It is not really feasible to re-record the song in a slightly higher key, so we decided that we would use the guide vocal Billy recorded and turn it into a duet.

After a couple of hours, we agreed that  Dael's parts were as good as we were going to get, so she went home with her mum whilst Billy and I carried on with a few other guitar parts he wanted to put down.  Basically, the parts were a couple of guitar strums in each verse, that you probably wouldn't miss if you didn't hear them, but they really added to the sound of the song.

It was getting late when Billy left, so I didn't have time to make a mix and CD for him to take away.  Billy got in his car and took off.  About 20 minutes later, I got a call from Billy's wife saying he had left his prized guitar on the path outside the studio and could I go and retrieve it.  I rushed out of the studio and looked up and down the roadside but couldn't find the guitar anywhere!  Panic!  As I was outside looking, Billy turned up in a frantic state but I had to tell him his guitar was gone.  He drove off looking very dejected and I wandered back up to the studio and noticed, in the corner, was Billy's guitar.  He hadn't even taken it out of the room!