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The piano version of the finished song was already sent to the sound engineer and ready for his mixing when he came back because of the vocal records. You need to know, I produced Alive In Me with the equipment I already possess. In a studio they don’t use wireless microphones, they even use another type of microphone. This is how we get to talk about and try out condenser microphones instead. The greatest challenge is the fact that my living room is not a studio room. Condenser micros are very sensitive and right that is the beauty in it: This type records more facets and more precise than the dynamic ones. Well, I have a heating in the living room, the ticking of a clock and some more sounds that bother the recordings of the voice, you wouldn’t guess it! In future, I’m going to have a lot more to think about before start recording but I know it’s worth it! Of course, I could record in a studio but I’m more flexible at home. The record tests were a dreamy compared to the previous ones. You will get to enjoy it soon as well and I’m very happy about my new companion!

I sing my songs spontaneous one after another from time to time. Especially the songs that are not already produced. The music sheets are okay for the most part, however I still find small mistakes in the voice melody or chords. Often times the songs continue to grow like variations in melody so there’s always something to correct in the music sheets. A friend of mine told me this procedure would be totally normal so I’m more reassured. I really like to get into something and have it done so it doesn’t bother me any longer. Unfortunately, it’s not possible in this case. Well, I just get over the fact that the sheet won’t be perfect but at least I want it to be as good as possible so everyone can work with it.

Here you can have a look at how one of the music sessions look like at my home. Besides correcting the sheets it’s a great way for me to get more creative. Finding ideas to modify existing melodies, creating background vocals or just singing for fun. Sometimes it doesn’t sound the best in that moment but it could turn into something brilliant later.

You know, I searched and found a nice piano sound. It was necessary to do so, because I have a song here where I only want my voice and a piano. My plan is to put this song into a little bigger project, you get to know more about it when the topic is more nearby.  Well, I can tell I’m a lot in music production these days.

After the finished production of Alive In Me I think more about the sounds of instruments. Like you already know, I don’t record the songs with a band but program all instruments in the studio software (DAW). The software has a big sound library already, a lot of it electronic sounds. It’s not set that there’s the sound I’m looking for. So, I go and search for realistic sounds of acoustic instruments on the internet. There are a ton of companies offering their products, it’s about what fits my songs. I think for the piano I already found a nice one. The guitar plugin is something else just because of the system using six strings. After some back and forth I made a decision here, too. I’m excited to hear these new sounds in the finished song Kindly Smiling Disappointment.

Currently, the line-up includes acoustic guitars, piano, presumably an electronic bass, drums and another electronic synth sound for more fullness of sound. While production I had the vision of the acoustic guitars playing a main role but I always had the feeling of something missing. Then the sound engineer heard something else. He made the suggestion to take the bass to the front instead. Maybe this could be a solution, let’s see. If everything goes well, I possibly get a version in the end of next week.

Why don’t I just tell the title right away because you get the core topic with it. ‘Kindly smiling disappointment’ was written in June 2024. First of all: The whole story has a Happy End! My husband had times when he had quiet a few hobbies. My time alone at home and me waiting for him to come home were hard to take for me. On the other hand, I was happy that he had fun being out. Well, when he would arrive late in the evening, I didn’t say anything and just smiled even though I was disappointed. By the time the song was ready to play, we were already through this dilemma. Communication in relationships is important and yes, sometimes it’s hard work to keep it going. I’m no different there. I want to pick up all the people who experience or experienced something similar. During a small garden concert at my place a like-minded woman came up to me to talk about that specific topic because of ‘kindly smiling disappointment’. Thank you for all your return messages, doesn’t matter when or according to which song!

Now it’s the time for me to get more into guitar picking patterns. Sooner or later, I would have done it anyway but now I’ve got a good reason to start: The production of a new song is at the door and the guitar will play a bigger role than in the former songs. I can strum the guitar quite well but my picking still needs training. Because of that and also for flexibility I learn how to play a guitar on the piano. For basics training I grabbed an external genius who lives in this house, too and it’s even for free! Short summary: While you can play all keys of a piano at once there’s only six strings on the six-string guitar. Therefore, you can play there only six notes at the same time. Also, one string can only take one note from time to time and lastly, it should be physically possible for a guitar player to finger the chords. On Instagram you can see my self-made assistance at the piano.

This year I want to release some singles. For that I currently work on more than one song parallel. I hope to get more time between production and release. Furthermore, there’s this bigger music project of mine and I’m excited how this will proceed by time. I talk more about the project when it’s ready.

I had several ideas how to take photos. One of them was to give this picture not a plain background but something else. Not that the AMG had been standing out but it would have been a peak performance in creativity. Well, it failed because of lack of resource. For me, it was not worth enough to lease one, just because of the fact that you wouldn’t have recognized it in its full size. So, there was one more possibility: I only know one friend who drives this kind of nice one. Unfortunately, it was not possible for him to be there at the time of shooting. I had the thought to just use some car, no matter which one, but I discarded it. It would have been only ‘almost’ and I wanted it to be right that or not at all!

On the way to the location the rain was quite strong, why I had some doubt if the shooting outdoors would work. Maybe we’re going to be forced to use the breaks of rain or we would have to think about using the rain for the pictures. The location in a new development area was already chosen by our photographer Alisa von Lichtfunke. There is the benefit of several background colours, we only needed to choose one of the painted walls. While planning the date I already knew this would be a cold session and it turned out just like that. Of course you can’t see the boots I wore in the picture, as well as the winter jacket my arms were in. Some of you may question how I chose exactly this necklace. That’s simple: I looked through my small jewellery box and picked out a silver one. Of course I like all my necklaces. I just chose according to my gut feeling which one of them would look the best on the photo.

Yippie! Now it all came together: audio file and cover photo. The song is at the distributor. For me, this is a reason to celebrate! The time in-between until the release date I will use for the production of the next song and giving small hints for you. I kept you on a short leash for so long, I’m going to change that.

My first task this year is submitting the upcoming single at GEMA. Afterwards, I have a cozy cup of tea and take a short breath before I sign in at the music distributor and prepare everything for the release.

This Christmas, I will surely get one or two gifts from my family. This time, I will get myself a present, too. It’s the Mixing & Mastering result of the upcoming single from the sound engineer. I’m exited about the photoshooting with Alisa of Lichtfunke tomorrow.
Wish you all a peaceful Christmas!

The first single is almost ready. What’s missing is a cover photo for this one. Right now, I’m thinking about the vibe of the photo, accessories and what I want to convey. I search my wardrobe for a suitable black dress to wear. 

With my ideas I will take creative pictures with Alisa from Lichtfunke. It’s another step towards the release of the single and I’m looking forward to the beginning of 2025.

Recently I created the instruments by using software for my first single. I chose drums, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, and a little bit of synthesizer. The combination leads to indie-pop style.

Afterwards, I mixed the song so that it gets depth. I didn’t study audio engineering, nevertheless I was surprised about how my knowledge led to a nice result. Even at this point I watched the song coming alive in me again. It’s completely fascinating what happened since the very beginning of this single – with the song and with myself. Yes, the song got more and more facets with instruments, backing vocals or mixing. Still, I do not just see the product but also my tremendous process of learning which is not over yet: Soon I’ll meet an audio engineer to have a look at the mixed single. Firstly, I want to get the best possible result and secondly, it’s nice to get some more skills in mixing technique for the next time.

The first song is almost ready for you guys and I can hardly wait until I finally get to share it with you!

Pack your slippers and get a sneak peak into my debut album in my living room! Contact me via Instagram and have your slipper in the door on November 30^th 2024 starting 7pm.

When I played this guitar once, I knew it would be one of my companions. Since then, it’s a beloved tool of mine from finding chords to play along to my songs. This guitar you can see at some slippers concert that take place in my living room.