Marie-Anne Lagimodière CD Diary

original painting by Francis Hopkins

Index

1. April - July 2005 (Pre-production)
2. August 4 & 5, 2005 (In the studio)
3. August 6, 2005 (Editing)
4. August 12, 2005 (Editing)
5. August 15, 2005 (Editing and discussion)
6. August 31, 2005 (Recording the music)
7. September 12, 2005 (final stages)
8. September 20, 2005 (mastering)
9. October 18, 2005 (finished product delivered)

We did take photos of the project

Pre-production... April - July 2005

Ruth has decided to record the Marie-Anne Lagimodière story. The previous successes with this piece at the National Art Centre's Fourth Stage, and as part of the Ottawa Storytelling Festival performances encouraged Ruth to entice Charlie Sohmer to put the project down onto CD. They take submitted advice to use a female voice for the songs. Chris MacLean agrees to join the project. But Chris sings in a different key than Charlie. Charlie needs to transcribe all his work. Ruth records a working copy of the storytelling portion on our own system. This copy gets edited many times until she has a firmer idea of the words and phrasing she will use in the studio.

In the studio... August 4 & 5, 2005

Chris and Charlie are practicing the new arrangements. Charlie has agreed to write a new song highlighting the Jean Baptiste's incredible trip to save the Red River Settlement. It will be his voice singing Jean's trek. Ruth is fitting the new pieces into her story. Shane Simpson meets Ruth and I each morning at the studio with tea and water ready for us. These recording sessions are for the storytelling portions only. The songs will be added later. The studio is intimate. The weather outside is reaching into the high 30's (C). The fans, the air conditioner, and the phones are turned off. Ruth is telling the story from memory. I have the outline and a pen in front of me. Shane is using a lovely condenser microphone that picks up everything. He is recording in 24 bit resolution (for the tech minded). It is so sensitive we have to stop the recording and spend a few minutes chasing a fly out of the room. Ruth sits for part of the recording on day one, but switches to standing. This seems to help the recording. We get six sections of the story down on day one. We complete sections seven through eleven on day two. At the end of each session Shane gives us copies of the work for editing purposes. We will need to listen to them and chose the best takes.

Editing August 6, 2005

Ruth is listening to the various takes and deciding which goes into the CD. Her back is sore from sitting. She takes a break by grabbing up the book I've been reading.

Editing August 12, 2005

Paul Bourdeau calls editing working in "Tiny World". Shane listens for errant pops and hisses: Ruth listens for artistic merit; I grouch about how I am losing my hearing. Working in a small room with these two is both hard work and fun with breaks for tea. It looks as if the edits on the story portion of the project will be completed Monday morning.

Ruth has listened to Chris MacLean singing the Charlie Sohmer compositions, the songs for the CD. Chris's voice is crystalline, each word well defined and clear. Ruth needs to meet with Chris to go over the songs before Chris and Charlie go into the studio. Chris has a couple of gigs this weekend and Ruth and I are going canoeing, so it looks like the meeting will happen next week.

Editing and discussion August 15, 2005

The final sections of the story have been heard and refined. Sparrows warmed themselves on the brickwork outside the basement window where we working. We dashed from the recording studio back home to meet with Chris MacLean. Chris will be one of the two singers on this CD and Ruth wanted to discuss artistic interpretations with her before Chris and Charlie went into the studio. Now those two need to arrange studio time with Shane Simpson to record the lyrics and instruments.

Meanwhile Ruth is pulling together her notes for the CD inserts; the liner notes, credits, titles of each section, their time. Details, details, details. Target date for the release continues to be beginning of November, but there are no guarantees.

Recording the music August 31, 2005

Charlie Sohmer and Chris MacLean went into Shane's studio. They spent the day playing with arrangements, different emotional shadings, and whether to use the onstage technique of singing into the banjo. In answer to the latter question, Chris' voice was so clear and pure that Charlie opted for the untampered sound. We took a few photographs, and will take more tomorrow. The music recording is completed. Next the editing, the mastering, CD design, and such still to do.

Final stages September 12, 2005

The editing has been underway, and Shane's mix is sounding great. The music, songs, and the telling have been blended like a quilt with aural colours creating a seamless whole. Chris is preparing the graphics for the CD. On September 20 the project goes to Shark Fin to be mastered, which ensures that the sound levels are related to each other. They will also create the track separations that will make this CD not only pleasant to hear, but also CD player friendly. After listening to, and proofing the final production we will deliver the whole package to the manufacturer. Then we wait. The CDs should be delivered at the end of October.

Mastering September 20, 2005

Shane brought the CD down to Shark Fin to master the CD. This means that the levels between tracks are the same. That the overall sound levels will be more comfortable. We also wanted zero time between tracks to have a continuous. It is done, and next it gets sent off tomorrow to be manufactured!

Finished product delivered October 18, 2005

We got the call, and drove down to pick up the CDs. They looked good. We then opened one CD at random and listened to make sure that the sound was just right. And it was. We discovered one misspelling that somehow made it through the proofreading process. We will correct that in the next manufacturing run. In the meantime a number of CDs were hand delivered to the early supporters. A number of the CDs have been packaged for the schools in the Maritimes and they go out the last week in October.

And so ends this diary of how this project came to fruition. Hope you enjoyed the behind the scenes look at one team's project from pre-production to having the CD in our hands.

Thank-you.
Dean

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