Relativity

Let's talk about the speed of light.

how fast it that?

speed of light =

299,792,458 m / s

What about the speed of sound?

speed of sound at sea level =

340.29 m / s

And how fast does electricity travel?

Well, theoretically, electricity travels at the speed of light…  BUT! Physics insists that the wire through which it travels offers resistance, however slight…

You see, I’m having this issue in the studio…

Fearless Leader thinks I’m behind the beat.  I think I’m on top of the beat.  He thinks I need to be ahead of the beat…

So, we dialed in some new equipment.  Early on, Fearless leader set it up so that the final output feeds back into my headset and I could hear exactly what is recorded.  Yes, I could hear an echo, but even when the echo effect was removed, I heard a delay.  I failed to explain this clearly.

Later, I sang along with a pre-recorded song so he could dial the equipment in further and play with microphones.  With the final output coming back to my ear, I could adjust for the delay and sing ahead of the music so that my vocals ended up in the right spot rather than late.  I was coming in as much as 2 words early in some spots to compensate for the delay.  I also failed to explain this clearly.

This is what I *think* is happening…

1 - The music tracks are already recorded, so they are instantaneous.

2 – The music must travel from the computer to my headphones at “the speed of electricity” where it converts to sound than then travels from headphones to my ear at “the speed of sound”.

3 – I anticipate the beats and the music that I will hear and time my vocals to come in on the beat.

4 – the vocals travel at “the speed of sound” to the microphone where it converts to a digital signal and travels at “the speed of electricity” back to the processor, which then PROCESSES the vocals before RECORDING the final output.

Remember that delay I hear?

5 – Upon playback, the vocals sound delayed.  Late.  Behind the beat.

I continue to fail to explain this effect to Fearless leader.  Am I crazy?  Is this delay a common thing?  How am I supposed to sing at the right time?

He will be testing for latency...  Can't wait to hear what he finds out!

VIP!

Yes.  It's official.  I'll be attending Kamelot's performance with Delain and Eklipse.  And I will be VIP.

I might feel a little girlish for being excited about my VIP ticket, but Fearless leader is just as excited as I am with his own VIP tickets...

It's like getting published!

Thank you, Fearless Leader!

I learned this morning that we have been selected to be included on the ProgPower 2013 compilation CD.
http://www.progpowerusa.com/index.html

What a fantastic way to start the morning!

Will you be there?

Losing Time

So, I was hanging out in the studio and laying down some vocal tracks with Fearless Leader.  He was trying to refine the timing on a section I was trying to sing.  I could tell he was getting a little frustrated.  I just wasn’t producing the track that he wanted.  It was ever so slightly off.  So, we turned on the click track!  How can you miss the timing when you have a metronome tapping the top of your head?

Seriously, that is what the click track feels like in the vocal booth.  Back into the vocal booth I go!  Well, actually, I hadn’t left the booth yet, so I guess it was “so, in the vocal booth I remained.”

Again, and again, we tried to get it right.  Then, I was ready to come in on my cue, and the click track sped up!  It was as if it skipped a beat!  Things just unraveled from there.  The light-headedness never really went away...

We decided to take a break.  I sat next to the freshly opened window with a fan on me.  I started feeling a little more normal.  I just could not wrap my brain around the entire scenario.  I never made it back into the vocal booth…

Upon reflection, I think I was suffering from a little bit of oxygen deprivation.  The vocal booth is not well ventilated (that might let in extra noise we don’t want), and I *was* singing…  Have you heard of Soprano high?

I’m not doing THAT

You’ve said it, too, haven’t you?

I was watching some live performances on Youtube with Fearless Leader.  Suddenly, the singer just bends over and flings her hair up and down in traditional head banging fashion.  I have never been inspired to move in such a manner.  I looked at Fearless Leader and said those fateful words.  He smirked at me and replied, “Oh, yes, you will.  You’ll get caught up in the moment and you will.”

Fast forward.  My vocal coach had recommended that I sing in front of a mirror.  Now, sometimes, I deliberately stand in front of the mirror, analyzing every little thing as I warm up and sing.  Other times, I’m just rocking out with the music as I cook or clean or whatever.  During those episodes, I peek at the mirror occasionally to see if anything looks amiss.  Sometimes I see things that need fixed.  Sometimes I take a moment to sing to my reflection and work on a little bit of stage presence.  And, sometimes I totally forget that a mirror is there and jump because, out of the corner of my eye, it looks like someone is coming out of the hallway into my space!

Understand I have played in the orchestra.  I have sung with the choir.  I get into the music and nod my head, or even nod my entire body!  I understand that the heavier the beat, the more one is likely to move.  I really do get it.

Anyway, I’m rocking out to some Within Temptation…  I’m unpacking groceries and putting them away, or sorting out what I need to make dinner…  Cats are watching with rapt attention…  And what did I see?  Someone in the hallway just did a full-out head banging thing!  It was only for one beat.  Did I really just do that?

Fearless Leader thinks I’m coming over to the dark side...  What makes him think I haven’t already been well on my way?

Audition

Have you ever walked into an audition with absolutely no idea how it might go?  I did.

I’m exploring my “rock voice.”  I’ve explored my “country voice” to the limits and back again.  I'm very comfortable with it.  I’ve trained my “theater voice”, and I continue to train the limits of my vocal range in both directions.

I auditioned with a band.  They have a set of music they want to perform and seek a vocalist that can deliver.  I have no idea if I am that vocalist, but it is yet another opportunity to explore and train more of my “rock voice.”  I learned three songs that were  released before I was born.  I’d never heard them in my life.  I showed up to sing them as well as I could.  One of these songs was 10 minutes long!  I can’t come in where I am supposed to if my life depends on it…

It’s funny.  You can listen to a song for several weeks and think that you know it.  You sing along with it on the radio (or mp3 player, or whatever).  Then, you try to perform it and realize you were just kidding yourself.

So, three hard rock songs.  Released before I was born.  Performed my male artists.  It was definitely an experiement!  It could have gone worse...  I saw the band members rocking out while we sang.  I saw smiles.  I saw some winces, but I got the impression that those were all self directed.  Lord knows, I winced myself many times...

When it comes to putting myself out there, this has to be the most vulnerable audition I've ever had!

It's like... well...

Do you remember when you discovered The Phantom of the Opera?

I’m talking Andrew Lloyd Weber, Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, and all the rest.  Perhaps that discovery was just a generational thing…

I remember.  I think I was a freshman in high school.  I don’t recall exactly what my first exposure was.  It might have been the excerpts we played in symphonic orchestra.  It might have been tidbits in the choir.  Eventually, I laid hands on the ENTIRE SOUNDTRACK!  I remember how the music resonated in my soul!  I remember how I wanted to be able to sing every note of each part.  I knew the soundtrack word for word.  I knew the timing.  I could pick out any of four parts going at the same time, all following a different musical tangent and combining to form a chaotic and frenzied whole that crashed to a dramatic climax!  I couldn’t just start wherever in the middle somewhere.  I mean, I could, but I desired the full experience.  I would start at the beginning of the first tape and make sure I had a full couple of hours to listen all the way through to the end.  I felt driven to listen to it over and over again.  The music MOVED me!

OK.  Fast forward.

Let’s not talk about how many years later it is now.

I have moved through all sorts of music in the interim.  I stumbled close to a particular genre when I ventured into listening to Evanescence.  Perhaps they were merely a gateway band?  Fearless Leader recruited me for a recording project.  I loved it.  Then, Fearless Leader recruited me for a full time singing position!  I’m beyond flattered, and thrilled.  He sends some music my way.  I eat it up.  He sends some more music my way.  I eat that up, too.  I find more music on my own, and I’m really digging it.

I quietly delighted in the Kamelot/Nightwish Concert at the end of September 2012.

Finally, the Silverthorn album is available in the United States, and I download it.  I listen to it once through, and import it into my Kamelot playlist.  I’d play the list on ‘shuffle’ and one of the new songs would randomly pop up from time to time.  But these new songs were different…

Whatever I was doing, I had to stop and savor the sound when one of these new songs popped up.  Once it was over and we moved onto something else, I felt a little emptier.  What was going on?

Aside:  I’m a Virgo.  I have to analyze EVERYTHING.  Why do I like this?  Why don’t I like this?  Why does this work?  Why does this not work?  What makes ‘this’ different from ‘that’?  How?  What?  Why?
You get the idea.

Back to the playlist.  The music is DARK.  I love it.  It resonates with me.  But Kamelot has always made dark music!  What’s the big deal?  Unable to take the emptiness, I pull up the Silverthorn album and play it from beginning to end.  The story is complete.  I can now move on.  Um, not so fast.  EMPTY!!!

“FINE!”  I shout to my soul.  “There you go!”
I set the album to ‘repeat all’.  Soul is now sitting back and nestling into its place the way one nestles into a cozy chair in front of a fire with a good book.  Lost in the story.  Lost in the music.  Lost in the DARKNESS.

Aside:  I **LOVE** dark music.

I have not felt this sort of musical obsession pull since my personal discovery of Phantom of the Opera.  Les Miserables came close.  Rent was catchy, as well.  And, of course, there was my general introduction to the world of Symphonic metal…

Thank you, Kamelot, for this musical ecstasy experience.  More, please?