I often walk our dog Eddie the Squid late at night, and living in the Cornish countryside it can be a beautiful experience. In summer, the crickets go wild and the owls hoot across the woods and walls of the abandoned ruins. It’s an orchestra of wild sounds. 

One evening, I was feeling low as I walked out. I struggle with grief from losing my daughter and when life gets hard I want to join her where she is, away from pain and stress. I long to fly away and be with her, forgetting my troubles. One night the moon was so huge and inviting, it seemed to silently call me and I imagined responding to that call as my spirit floated up, leaving behind my old wellies. But then there behind me is my beloved dog Squid, who has been my guardian since Chloe died, I love him so much. And my kind loving husband is tucked up in bed (probably snoring) in our lovely home. My friends, family and community all live at the ends of the winding lanes that lead from our home. And they mean so much to me. So I thanked the moon and just wrote a song about it instead. 

Recording it from our spare room was a different story - I’ve learnt so much with SheProducer and I’ve got a whole lot more to learn! Can’t wait.

© Nicola Edwards

Created as part of the SheProducer Sound Showcase #1 – Summer 2021

www.sheproducer.com

Nicola Edwards - Into The Night

“This track started its life late at night, in the rain, on my piano at home. The recording process itself took several weeks of spending a few hours here and there learning, and sometimes battling with, the programmes. 

I wanted to have a go at recording my piano, even with only the one mic and limited knowledge of how best to do it, as I’m so used to the sound of its particular voice, having learned to play as a young child on this very instrument. 

It took quite a bit of trialling to get it. Layering some viola was fun and pretty satisfying to hear, and so the track was nearly ready. Having played music with the hugely talented Neil Davey for years now though, I asked him to come and add a little sprinkling of bouzouki stardust on the top which I could imagine just adding an extra texture and focus..”

© Jennifer Dyer

Created as part of the SheProducer Sound Showcase #1 – Summer 2021

www.sheproducer.com

Jen Dyer - Promise My Heart

Roost is a song written in the depths of winter, on the sort of day when the birds gather early in the black trees and you feel a great longing to also be home – in its truest sense. 

When it came to producing the song, my first multitrack recording, I wanted to keep the arrangement simple, honouring its honest lyrics, but also conjure up the brooding atmosphere of that winter’s day. 

I chose to add just two elements alongside my vocals: the rich, slightly discordant sound of my old harmonium – and the cacophonous calls of a group of rooks.*

The endlessly absorbing editing process itself felt like the final part of the journey for Roost, as I crafted the birdsong so that the rooks really sing alongside me and help to tell the story.” 

*Rook, Corvus frugilegus frugilegus, field recording by Paul Holt near Pendleton in Lancashire https://www.xeno-canto.org/546319

© Hannah Bullock

Created as part of the SheProducer Sound Showcase #1 – Summer 2021

www.sheproducer.com

Hannah Bullock - Roost

“Home. A snapshot of the rollercoaster of emotion of this last year. Good days, bad days, nature, peace, waiting and a constant underlying anxiety.”

© Claire Ingleheart

Created as part of the SheProducer Sound Showcase #1 – Summer 2021

www.sheproducer.com

Claire Ingleheart - Home

‘Forgotten Streets’ is a heartfelt exploration of what ‘home’ means to the people who don’t have one in the traditional sense of bricks and mortar. It captures the lives, stories and experiences of the otherwise forgotten people who have no-where to return to. 

I adapted the lyrics from a poem I had previously written, after being moved by the tales in Tamsin Courteney’s ‘Four Feet Under’, Daren McGarvey’s ‘Poverty Safari and Douglas Stewart’s ‘Shuggie Bain’, along with stories I gathered whilst working with Crisis in London. 

I recorded using Cubase, with a palette of harmonium, strings, vocals and an Alesis synth. For each vocal take I recorded 3 tracks of the same part to give it a richer choral sound and the same for each string part. 

It is written as way of encouragement for us to see and not judge people who, for whatever reason, live lives that may be different from ours and to remember they too have hopes, dreams and community.

© Annie Baylis

Created as part of the SheProducer Sound Showcase #1 – Summer 2021

www.sheproducer.com

Annie Baylis - Forgotten Streets

I enjoy creating atmospheres with my music, telling stories without using many (if any) lyrics or words, and playing round with what you can conjure up in the standard 3min 30 of a pop song. 

I began my production journey at the start of lockdown, exploring what I could do in my own bedroom with a cello, my voice and a computer, and with the found sounds of the streets around me. 

This track is inspired by a late night walk with my dog. At 4.40am I feel a strange mix of contentment and anxiety walking on my own through the dark streets. That morning everything was quiet until I turned the corner to find Falmouth docks were a hive of activity. I stood there for half an hour watching a huge ship reversing into a parking space, and immediately starting imagining salty stories of the sailors on board.

I recorded the dock sounds on my phone before exporting them to Logic and began adding layers. I’m a big fan of Spitfire Audio’s free LABS, and have used their Soft Piano as a bell, and the Wurli as a misty pad.

© Kath Williams

Created as part of the SheProducer Sound Showcase #1 – Summer 2021

www.sheproducer.com

Kath Williams - 4.40am At The End Of The Road

"Come Home is a track inspired by missing a loved one who has gone away. Home for me has changed over the years and is more than bricks and mortar; it is where the individuals are that we love and respect in our lives. 

The track was recorded and produced in my garage home studio in Bodmin. I have combined live instrumentation such as drums, guitar and grand piano with electronic sounds and analogue synths. Live sound has a human quality that lends magic to tracks and I love to combine this with electronic colour in both drum lines and harmonic aspects. Synth melodies and pads are usually a feature of my work and often come from my small analogue synth collection. 

Come Home is the final track on Ruinarte's debut album Vanitas, awaiting release this summer, 2022. You can find out more at www.ruinarte.com."

Ruinarte - Come Home

“With the title ‘Winter Song’ as a suggested SheProducer project, the beautiful imagery in this traditional English song and the even more beautiful and haunting melody made it an easy choice to arrange. Alas, I am no singer, but there is certainly a rustic quality to the whole track! Thanks go to Storm Eunice, local birds and brook, Tremaine church bell and Viola da Gamba made by my father. Recordings made in and around Tremaine Church and produced in my home.”

Kate Riaz - The Snows They Melt The Soonest

“This song started a while ago as a bare bones idea on the piano. During lockdown I was listening to some of my sketches and this one resonated completely with my inner landscape at the time so I dived in and got working. I wanted to keep it very sparse and spacious to allow the emotional atmosphere of the song to breathe and the repetitive melody on the electric guitar started to give it a hypnotic feel. 

I usually record mostly acoustic instruments but I didn’t have all my instruments around me at the time so using a tiny portable keyboard I played around with some of the analogue synthesisers on Cubase and Logic and to my surprise found some sounds that worked really well. I was inspired by The XX to record two voices, male and female, in unison, and also keep the voices extremely quiet so that they meld together like one sound. As we were in lockdown I had to do all this remotely and my friend Matthew Thomason recorded his singing from home and emailed his vocal lines to me. So one way or another despite all the restrictions, the song managed to come to fruition.”

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