Purva

A Music Student's Profoundly Imperfect & Inconsistent Digital Journal

[purvajoshimusic]

First time using an Analog Synth.

I have always been inching away from the idea of using synths. I suspect that it stems from my snobby musical upbringing. Nevertheless, after coming to the UK for my Master’s degree in music, I was introduced to this wicked sorcery that is synthesisers. Now, I CANNOT imagine my life without synths. Not to say that I am an expert in synths, but I have been  loving using them. And I have actually been experimenting with different types of synths to create different sounds and even emulate foley sounds like Rain. 

But recently, I have been working on an ambient techno remix of one of my songs. And that song had a synth bass from logic, but I sincerely wanted an analog sound. So, thanks to one of my engineer and producer friend/classmate who made it possible. He owns a bass station, and we were able to record a clean and gritty version of the bass line from my remix. This bass line will be paired with a beat from a vintage 808 machine. Good stuff. 

until my next time, 

P. 

[purvajoshimusic]

My Singing is Deteriorating.

Is my vocal range gone, or is this the lack of practice? For the first time in 8 years of being a vocalist, I had severe difficulty singing this one part of my composition. It was painful beyond explanation. I thought it was the consciousness of working with new engineers and their presence in the control room. But I had the studio by myself for about 3 hours to sit and practice with the piano. But it kept on getting worse. I feel utterly disheartened. It’s one of those days again when I miss having my vocal coach a call or a car ride away. Having her by my side has done wonders in the past. But I cannot give excuses for my failure. I just wished that I had a surefire answer to what this was. Is it my lack of practice and dedication to vocals screwing it? Or is it something else?

with a fleet of Self-Doubt Demons,

P. 

[purvajoshimusic]

Musicians

Musicians are pretentious. We all know that. But I believe that it is a necessary to be that to a certain extent in order to write music. But what to do when you have sincere self-doubt over your own lyrics. And what to do when this self-doubt come when you are tracking your vocals of a crucial and difficult song from the album?

[purvajoshimusic]

Neumann U87 + LA2A Compressor = Chef's kiss

We experimented while recording vocals for my song "Anne". The signal chain was a Neumann U87 into an analog emulation of the legendary LA2A by Warm Audio soft patched into the Neve Desk and printed in Pro Tools. The result was surprising and so wonderfully pleasing. We set the box for compression and not limiting. The box was not squashing anything that we could perceive or observe on the meter. The vocals were merely getting some nice warm characteristics. Maybe it is me and my engineer not being that good at producing and recording yet, but we could certainly feel the difference. It was one of those things that we could feel but could not exactly describe. We say this because this was not the our first time using the U87 microphone. Since the inception of this project, we have been heavily reliant on that legend. We have used it as a primary mic, as a pair in different settings, as a vibe mic for drums, as a vibe mic for my guitars, amps, and what have you! Hence, we are definitely a bit used to its sound. But this recording! This recording was really special. And we know we did not invent anything, and this has been the industry standard for years. But this was fun, and just the fact that we won't have all this outboard gear and the GOATed microphone for any further use after a couple of weeks KILLS!

Until next time,

P. 

[purvajoshimusic]

My New Arch Nemesis!

There have been seemingly unending iterations of my songs these past few weeks. The confusion is so severe that I am struggling to make sense of any of these questions now. Plus, the whole recording & re-recording conundrum has been tiring and baffling. The mere perplexity of not being satisfied with the sound of my recordings or the performances in those is now my arch nemesis.

Speaking of Arch Nemesis, how could I forget the Thanos of the story! See, there is only so much creativity I can put into my work. But the issue is that my stupid brain is never freaking satisfied. I am in this constant state of asking for more. And this is not a fresh problem. No sir! It dates back to as far as I can remember.

If I somehow could talk to my brain right now, I'd say, "Brain, you meaty pinnacle of.. everything, THIS IS THE END OF MY CREATIVE CAPACITY! Please leave me be and let us have one good night's sleep! It does not even have to be a "beauty-sleep" level of goodnight's sleep. Just one which does not make us wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning out of anxiety related to ambiguous parts of the production! Please!"

Following a hefty hiatus from social media,

P.

[purvajoshimusic]

Music Video / Lyric Video Proposal.

I spoke with the friend in India who is an animation major today. We had a really positive dialogue about my work and the collaboration. We exchanged a few ideas and discussed the scheduling. Unfortunately, I found out she will not be able to work on my video till at least the second week of July! It was a bummer but I respect her transparency and commitment to the project despite her upcoming busy school period. 

After a lengthy brainstorming session with her today, we landed on a couple of ideas. First one was a line art inspired video in the style of Niall Horan’s Lyric video for the song This Town. Second one was a stop motion type music video. I actually really wanted to do this ever since I watched the music video for the song Drive Home by Steven Wilson. We also discussed the specifics about her being the Creative director and Co-Writer of the project. 

We also discussed a second collab after the video where she would coordinate the Social Media Marketing & the Website. She would help set the campaign plans in order and make the graphics and I would write the content for the campaigns and website. I am to send in the official proposal to her via email to solidify the commitment for all of this.

If things go smoothly with her and if my other approach to the student in the UK fails, I wish to ask her for help regarding the album art as well.

Until next time,

The Musician who sincerely just trying to get by! :)

[purvajoshimusic]

The Artist vs The World vs The Artist!

Not a wonderfully eventful day, but still, I managed to work on some melodies and lyrics at the studio. I also tried to record the demo for the song from the weekend. But as excited as I’m to work on this, I am also greatly worried and nervous. And if I did not respect musicians enough before, I certainly do now. The perseverance it takes to get by as an artist is not talked about enough. It could be a solid argument that every type of work requires a level of diligence. But I believe that as an artist, where we are constantly fighting off the world that condescendingly advises us to get a "real job", it is much harder and requires a greater push.

Albeit the slumps and hardships, I am proud to be an artist and I cannot wait to do this for the rest of my life.

Until next time,

P.

PS: Being a Musician is a Real Job too, and not just a "Hobby"! :)

[purvajoshimusic]

Negligible Progress is still Progress!

After almost 11 studio sessions, some jam sessions, and 2 weeks of trying, I was getting nowhere. I got no song and plenty of disappointment. I was legit embarrassed to even write anything here, disheartened, and on the verge of calling the whole thing off. But after deciding to take a break over the weekend, I could somehow and finally write a song, produce using GarageBand, and talk to 2 arts majors for album art, promotion content, and an animated music video.

So.. I finally could finish off an idea that I had for a while. It is a song in the style of the early day John Mayer (St. Peter's Day, Why Georgia, Quiet). I am looking forward to recording a small demo for the same to get a sense of its tonality today. Something interesting happened too. I was simply playing around with GarageBand and ended up giving some backing to a poem I wrote. Fun!

I was also happy when I could get in touch with 2 arts majors - one from the UK who goes to the same uni as me and the other is an old friend from India who studies animation. See, I have always wanted a very artsy cover art with some profound meaning behind it. And hopefully, the girl from the UK and I could go through with our collab plan and work on that. I have also wanted an aesthetic and artsy lyric/music video that either has stop motion involved or 2D animation. Fingers crossed for that one as well as I wait to clear scheduling talks with my friend in India.

Keeping my fingers crossed and head somewhat high! :D

[purvajoshimusic]

A note on my nemesis.

As a musician, I have a beef with Cold & Sore Throat. Every damn time I get sick, it takes me at least a week and at times longer to get back to fitness. That is only because I refuse to take pills and let my body work through its toxins. Any how, during that period, I simply cannot sing. And it is infuriating! I absolutely love to sing, and more so, I love to sing difficult songs that requires certain tenacity. Excuse my language, but the damn phlegm fucks it all up!! And for the last two weeks, that mf has taken my precious time away from this whole project I am working on. Because all this while, I desperately wanted to experiment new melodies and work on a Dave Mathews style song that I am very excited about. But it has not been in the stars so far. Sad!

Ahh well.. hopefully soon! #fingerscrossed

P. 

[purvajoshimusic]

Where to start?

So I am in this profuse process of making music and living my life, and letting those two coincide. And ergo, I am forever lost. And defeated. And depressed. And tired. And bewildered.

Aaaanyhow, I aspire to use this space as a digital journal and self-therapy space, as well as to scrutinise and archive my process as I embark upon a bold challenge to write and release an album in 2 months.

My immediate reaction to the project you ask? Being pretentious and excited in front of the world, and petrified and "I hate myself for this!" on the inside.

Let's see how far I can go and how well I can do. (that is, if i can do anything at all). Fun! :D

Until Next time,

P.