Cruella

I LOVED the new Cruella movie…except I hated the music that played in the final credits. It did not fit with the vibe of the movie at all! I got out of the theater at 11pm and zoomed home to turn on my microphone and record the vibe I was hoping for, the perfect ending to that movie. My boys went out to party in Cap Hill and I stayed home to make this song. By 1am the whole song was recorded. I finished producing the song the following week on an airplane (I was flying to Miami for a swingers party).

LYRICS
Cruella
My name is Cruella
Everyone sees me
a little bit darker
That’s cuz I’m free
deep dark and sparkling

Airplanes are my one of THE BEST places to produce music because you’re stuck in the sky for hours with literally nothing else to do, no distractions or interruptions. I feel cool as hell whenever someone looks at my computer screen and sees all the craziness of the Ableton project on my screen. Ever since I was a little girl I’ve loved this secret feeling of showing off on the airplane. I hope someone sees my screen and is impressed by me. As I’ve aged, I’ve learned to stay focused on my work and care less about what other people are observing and thinking about me. Still, though, it’s a fun little game in my mind to feel so creative and cool. Yes, being a music producer is hella cool. All my music producer girlfriends delight in this…we are badass bitches with the power of the universe at our fingertips. We craft sounds and create worlds and play with feelings and swing people’s moods, awakening imaginations and controlling the bodies of everyone who is listening. It’s a power trip.

If I remember correctly, the Cruella movie ends with bouncy playful music. I was like WFT? This whole story is about dark and light. It’s the evil glimmer in her eyes and a crazy laugh. It’s elegant and it’s mischievous — the devil having fun with herself. Give me more of that! So when I produced this song, I held in my mind the deep dark feelings (deep sub bass sounds) and sprinkled sparkles (the glint Cruella’s eyes) over the top (bells, sparkles, chimes). I played with low and high sounds together. Can I make you feel dark gooey evil vibes that don’t scare you, they excite you? It’s fun to be naughty. “Deep, dark and sparkling”

LOVE,
Cha

Creating My Dream Artist Lifestyle, Living in Flow

It still blows my mind. I’m actually waking up each morning with all the time in my world to take care of my body, teach yoga (my most nerdy passion that I want to talk about all day) and write songs. For years I’ve busted my ass for this delightful lifestyle. I get to adventure, create, rest and play. I had a vision for it and I’ve made it happen and I continue to make it happen. I’m still in disbelief. I feel a little rumble under my surface, nervous stress, afraid it will go away. I feel like I should be doing something else, something that feels more like work…and then I remember…this is my work now. My task is to show up and create beautiful art, express my feelings, share my creations with people, enjoy conversations online with people, rest and play with my friends in person, go out and see the world. I dreamed of a day when my main task would be self care and making music. Here we are. Now I’m learning how to allow and receive.

I have a big backlog of songs to release. As my mastering engineer said in an email to me this morning, “your songs are too good to be sitting on a harddrive.” Yes!! A part of me is a perfectionist and just wanted to protect myself by making sure everything is orderly. Alas, I live in chaos. The songs are the way I release them into the world I kind of messy and even that can be liberating. Honestly, it feels much better, way more fun, to just release what I’ve made and let it go and move onto the next thing. I like that way more than refining one project to “perfection”. I like being in the constant quick flow, like riding a rapid river. Let it go!

Acoustic Scales First Before Frustrating Plugins (Ableton Music Diary 2)

JANUARY 2, 2021 | Standing in the window of the loft, barefoot, wearing just a big hoodie, it’s raining outside, my tea’s cold.

Today’s lesson: Play your acoustic instruments first! They’re reliable. You can pick them up and go, start playing and drop into flow state. When I wake up in the morning, every morning, I start with a cup of tea and morning pages (my journal). Next, I play scales. Scales on piano, guitar, vocals…whatever. Doing the scales brings me into rhythm and tunes me up mentally. It’s not just finger dexterity and training my mental pitch, it’s also drawing in my focus, my concentration. It’s a form of moving meditation.

I keep my large piano at my studio and I keep my guitar at our loft. So no matter where I wake up (sometimes I sleep at the studio), I have an acoustic instrument to play. I’ve been craving piano scales in the morning so I could play along with Davey when he’s practicing his guitar but there is no way in hell I’m hauling my giant heavy Roland across town on the regular. So for Christmas, I asked Davey for a mini MIDI controller piano; aka an electric piano that weights almost nothing and is easy for me to set up in our studio loft so we can play together and I can feel free to play piano on the go. We researched real quickly, spent a few hours in Guitar Center and came home last night with the Launchkey49 MK3 MIDI Controller.

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This morning, after writing in my journal I went straight for the laptop and electric MIDI keyboard. MISTAKE. Right away, we had technical difficulties and troubleshooting. This was the roadblock stopping me from my morning scales. I wanted to play piano scales but I realized that stress was building (I caught it so quickly because I’ve been through this before!) so I shut down the computer, walked away and picked up the guitar. Play the acoustic instrument first, it’s guaranteed to work. I locked myself in the bathroom and turned on the hot pink LED light so I felt the vibe. I was sitting on the edge of the bathtub beside the toilet but the whole room was glowing pink and the metronome was clicking by my side so it took a few minutes and then boom, I was in the peaceful focused little flow of guitar scales. Happy. Clearing my mind. Connecting with music.

After finishing my scales, I felt ready to tackle the new instrument and computer challenges. Challenges are a fun part of the music making process but it’s soul crushing if they’re the first thing I face in the morning. So my lesson today and for all artists is to connect first with the easy love. Sing, hum, dance to some music, do something that easy quick, easy, reliable, fun, awakens your energy, gets you inspired and excited to create and then…only then once your enthusiasm is here and you remember WHY you’re here and WHY it’s worth facing these challenges do you step up to the big scary MIDI controller. ;)

Also, we installed the Addictive Keys plugin into my Ableton so this MIDI controller will now be programmed to sound like one of the world’s most beautiful grand pianos! Also, Davey stepped in to help me (he’s my tech & troubleshooting hero) and he reorganized my entire plugins folder on my computer because apparently I had installed everything incorrectly…years ago when I was wondering wtf a VST was…still not entirely sure. A quick Google search tells me….

Virtual Studio Technology ( VST) is an audio plug-in software interface that integrates software synthesizer and effects in digital audio workstations. VST and similar technologies use digital signal processing to simulate traditional recording studio hardware in software.

CHA🍍WILDE

Returning to Ableton, Finding a Groove with Splice Sounds (Ableton Music Diary 1)

JANUARY 1, 2020 | Sitting in my window seat in Seattle with a cup of Yerba Mate

Happy new year :) This morning I'm starting my Ableton practice again. I took a break over the holidays and I've been preparing the cover art for my new album which I'll release next month. So it feels really fresh and exciting to be back in Ableton. I'm reminded of this important mantra for those of us on a hero's journey -- 'don't quit, take a break'. Before the break, I question if I seriously still want to produce music. After the break, I'm like FUCK YA! Let's go! I produced for 45min and live streamed the entire session on Twitch. I'm not talking you through this. I'm just letting you watch me work.

My approach this morning was to listen to sounds in Splice...just enjoy listening and finding new sounds. Sounds stimulate my imagination. I don't have to know what I'm going to create or have a plan at all. Splice is a wonderland of inspiration. I just start clicking on samples and I close my eyes and listen to what I hear. What images pop into my mind? What mood does each sound spark in my chest? Could it go somewhere?

When I find a sound I like, I drag it over into Ableton. I keep searching until I have a few sounds layered on top of each other and I'm starting feel a pattern or a groove emerge. This morning, the pattern showed up at 90 BPM in C#m. I was inspired by the chill vibes of low-fi music which I've really enjoyed working out and flowing in yoga recently. It's so relaxing and energizing at the same time. I also loved the tight snap and snare sounds that gave me a feeling up snapping along and dancing. And of course, I integrated some female vocal samples that sound like birds screeching in the desert sky which makes me dream of music festivals and feel free! I'll come back to this later and probably record my own vocals and write some poetic lyrics -- either later today or tomorrow. Now it's time to go do yoga.

CHA🍍WILDE