Project Summary:
For Asleep All Day, there was a preconceived plan for the entire piece. I gave myself specific goals, steps to complete and a process, such as writing and performing a somewhat repetitive, looping song for a vocalist and editing the vocal recordings into a cohesive rhythmic statement (irregardless of lyrical content or sense). This song was featured on The Mugs album Here Tomorrow.

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Full Project Description:
The song Asleep All Day appeared on the album Here Tomorrow by The Mugs.

The central ideas I used for this project were:

• Provide a somewhat repetitive, looping song to a vocalist.
• Have the vocalist listen through the song once, and then have the vocalist record 3 vocal passes while listening to the song.  No lyrics should be prepared.  A “stream-of-consciousness” performance is encouraged.
• Edit these vocal recordings into a cohesive rhythmic statement (irregardless of lyrical  content or sense).
• Have original vocalist perform the reinterpreted piece with an emphasis on rhythm as opposed to words.

I used ProTools to record and edit this piece, and I wrote and performed the majority of the instrumental tracks before the vocalist heard a single note of the song.  The vocalist, Jeremy Gough, was provided a brief listening session, and then was left alone to record 3 vocal passes.  Here is a sample of those recordings (this sample is from the 3rd pass):

Iteration 1

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The editing of the vocals took approximately 3 weeks.  My focus was on sound and rhythm, and I relied heavily on breathes and phrasing.  I refused to use any “time editing” tools because often times I would only listen to the vocals for portions of the editing process , treating them as if they were found sounds, and I would pull out portions that I felt fit the song as opposed to looking for traditional vocal elements, such as lyrics.

In the process of editing the vocals, I also reinterpreted the instrumental tracks.  I had not originally planned on making any changes to the instrumentals, but the edited vocals introduced new ideas on timing, phrasing, and orchestration, such as the J. Nicholas Moy contributions on guitar.  After the editing of these tracks was completed, I presented the following version to the vocalist:

Iteration 2

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The final iteration was to have the vocalist record a performance to match the new edited version.  What I found was that portions of the new vocal performance fit the song very well, but portions of the original, edited vocals held much more inspiration and emotional weight.  I decided to remix the vocals with portions of each.

Final Iteration

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