The Rocking Dodars

I ended up doing eight vocal tracks for Kim and none of them sounded right or good enough for the final edit.  It was obvious to us all that I needed a decent mic to record. The problem is we're doing all of this on a shoestring budget as none of us the money to splurge.

So, since Kim is the one that is good at knowing what we need, she started to research and found what I needed from Thomann.de, which included a decent mic, headphones, pop filter and many other things that I had no idea would be needed! Thank goodness for the internet and sites that allow you to bundle it all together.

So, it's time for me to find the money - thinking my Dad will be buying me an early Christmas/birthday present in the form of this bundle, a Technica (Audio Technica ;) - Kim) AT2020 microphone, cables, mic stand, a T-bone MS80 (MS180, but it doesn't matter - Kim) pop filter and Behringer Xenyx 302 USB which will power it all. Obviously, until I have these and am able to set them all up, the vocal track won't happen.

The good thing is we're in no rush and with ten other songs ready to work on, it won't delay us any. I can add the vocal track when I have the things I need, now to convince my Dad (and bank!) I really need this stuff...

I'll keep you updated with how they work out (oh, and how my pelvis is doing too!)

I started out this morning with one aim - get at least ONE useable vocal track recorded. I had to get some revision for uni work done and finish setting up my main PC since it went through a format recently. I tried to record to vocal track on my laptop but because of a lack of RAM, it kept skipping and jumping while I recorded so I had to wait to do it on the main PC.

I was a good girl, I did my uni work and installed the files and did all but one other thing on my to-do list for the day and so far I have two tracks recorded, both of which I feel could be better in some way so now I'm aiming for a third which takes the best of both and sounds fucking awesome!

I might as well have asked my body to poop out hard lumps of solid gold, because it just ain't happening the way I want it to. Either I do fine all the way and then at a high bit, BAM, voice cracks, or I do fine all the way and then FUCK, I mess up the ending. This is hard!

I'm starting to remember why I struggled so much and had so many skype practice sessions and discussions with Kim - it takes me a while to get to that point where I belt it out strongly and sound good (and as a perfectionist I will only ever say good, whereas Kim would say it fucking rocked!)

Still, I WILL get this third track done and sent off to Kim in dropbox before I can do the last thing on my list, which is more to do with books than bands, but still...the other demos sound perfect and I don't want to mess them up with bad singing. Why am I the lead singer? My singing SUCKS?!

Right, my tea will be ready to drink to give my voice that UMPH is needs so off I go to swear and hammer out this tune some more!

Joey is 30, disabled with a number of things, including Fibromyalgia and M.E and lives in the UK. She plays Ukulele and has for almost two years, she is self taught and is also a published writer. She spends her days writing books, getting a degree in Health and Social Care and plunking away at one of her eight Ukuleles. She writes the lyrics and then hands the words over to be turned into a song by Kim and Anders.

Kim is 37 and originally from the Charleston, South Carolina, but moved to Finland to marry Anders a number of years ago. She plays Ukulele and has done since 2007. She also plays other instruments, such as the Keyboard and has been doing so for fifteen years. She takes the lyrics from Joey and turns them into music.

Anders is 45, from Finland, married to Kim and what you would call the "silent" partner! He's been playing Bass, Guitar, Keyboard and Drums since he was about ten and has an extensive knowledge of the music world. He helps Kim to make the lyrics into songs. It's not his first time in a band, and adds his know-how to the group.

Typically, Kim and Anders will play their respective instruments and Joey sings, but occasionally she'll play her Ukulele too. The fact that one of them is in a different country hasn't stopped them yet and I doubt it ever will!

My only pedal thus far is the mxr Analog Chorus. Yeah, I paid a little more to NOT have Zack Wylde on it. Because hey, we're children of the 80s over here.

The thing we'll probably be using less now is the Blue Snowball mic. It's clean and honest-ish, but it's levels are ridiculously unusably low. And that's without needing the firmware update and Blue ignores emails about it, so yeah, frak them. We've got a few dynamic mics that aren't worth mentioning really.

For headphone monitoring we've got the ignored, unknown, unloved Audio Technica ep700s (Note, check for a better price first). They're open, supra-aural, and allow us to hear acoustic instruments while recording. PS - to you headphone audiophiles, these cans kill the ms-1s for the same price.

The most useful small amp in the world is the Roland Mobile Cube. It takes stereo pedals and instruments, it can be used as speakers or as an amp, fits on a mic stand, is fairly honest and built like a tank.

Speaking of mic stands, I got this cheap little €11 deal over at Thomann, and that paired with a K&K ipad clip... is the most useful thing we have. I'm sure at €11 it's going to give out eventually but that little thing can hold the heavy mobile cube and the ipad. When it gives out, we will bow our heads and have a moment of silence.