Swan Song Diary 3

The recording of the project is coming to an ending very quickly, thanks to the abundance of research I had done, which helped me realise the intentions and timbre I wanted for the project.

After finishing the skeleton of the piece, I went into each track and listen to them back to back, I finally decided that I need one choir piece towards the end as a post-war hymn. The melody very quickly came to me, very standard musically but it actually works so well within the context. I then wrote the Cantonese lyrics which took me a while (if you know how difficult it is), and then recorded it on the balcony of the hall. I had a mid-side set up downstairs in the middle, pointing at the circle upwards. I repeated singing for a few times to make it sound like a choir with more than one person. Then I recorded a very simple piano to accompany the choir. The whole sounds like a church just singing a hymn on a Sunday, someone is off, someone sang some words wrong, the piano is not quite on beat. Which is absolutely perfect.

Now I will have to go and edit each track very carefully to mix it. Also have a broadcast and a photo shoot tomorrow so it is nice that I finished the recording today to focus on wrapping up the residency.