Here we go!

And so, it has begun. 

Lipa students Dan (Drumm; guitarist/drummer/bassist/singer/producer & musical genius), Caesar (Edmunds; a Singaporean, pipe smoking, engineer extraordinaire, who also happens to be a wizard on ProTools) and myself (Audrey Wilsen - as if you don´t already know ;-) : Singer/songwriter/wannabe pianist and guitarist) are now in the process of recording my EP, which we have cleaverly entitled "Just Press Play". Right now we´re working on the track "With You Gone" — and I literally mean RIGHT now, I´m watching Dan rock the crap out of a harmonica five feet in front of me here, and I hope my tapping on the keyboard isn´t gonna mess up the recording. I love how the song is turning out, it´s light hearted and fun and fast, and the guys are adding a lot to the table. I love hearing my songs evolve right in front of my... ears...?

I´m thinking back to the jam session with Tash (McCammon; An australian drummer/guitarist & all around sweet girl I met at the hostel in Liverpool when I was here for my audition in April), and I can´t help but smile. That was literally a 5 minute walk from where I am now recording my songs. I was so nervous about my audition at Lipa the next day, but meeting Tash and spitting this tune out in one night really highlighted the reason I wanted to be here in the first place. Well, I´m here now, months later, and it´s awesome! :-D

We started this snapshot project for Business Skills class two days ago, and we have already done A LOT. We basically got together in class on tuesday, formed the group, got the idea and started working on it right away. Our subject of choice is basically "How easy is it for unknown artists to record and release their music by themselves in 2009?" We are actually going the whole line by trying to release something. And even though we have access to high tech studios and professional sound technicians through LIPA, we decided to keep it entirely "in the bedroom," to see if we can really do this on our own. 

First we made a looong list of goals (Record a 4 track EP by ourselves, which we will then promote by a music video, podcasts, website, Myspace, Twitter etc). We did our SWAT and GANNT charts (and we were really proud we actually DID those — on the first day..!), and talked a lot about where we want to take this. Luckily we are all headed for the same place; at some point in near future, you will hopefully be able to purchase the Audrey Wilsen 4 track (or maybe more) EP "Just Press Play" on iTunes. And I hope you will! ;-)

I am finally doing this. It feels amazing. And the best part is; 
I´m with friends. 
I genuinely enjoy hanging out with these guys, and we work really well together. In the end (or rather the very beginning), this has become way more than a school project, and the reward can end up being so much more than a grade on whatever result we decide to hand in in four weeks time. Obviously we won´t be able to finish everything we have planned by the hand-in date, but that doesn´t matter. I think we are all motivated to make this happen anyway. If it goes on for longer than the duration of the project (which it will), I´m sure we´re gonna have a blast every step of the way.

I hope you will follow us on our way to wherever this road may lead. A video diary of our first days in the "studio" (i.e. Dan´s bedroom) is being edited by yours truly, and will be up within a couple of days, and we are posting updates on Twitter (http://twitter.com/Audreywilsen) all the time.

So stay tuned! :-D

Take care,

Audrey