session 1, day 1 - a fine rehearsal

i woke up at 8am today, feeling restless and eager to start the long-awaited rehearsal. meanwhile, my ps audio xstream statement sc power cord has arrived. first listen, it is already better than the old one with more refined highs and sharper focus. my system is going to reach another milestone. yet i am so restless, restless, restless...

roger arrived at my house at 1:40pm by cab. two ladies, regine and yaya, our A&R lady were already waiting while enjoying music thru my system. i must tell you that the ladies were amazed by the sound of my system :-)

having a bad flu, our guitar man is under the weather so i told my producer that we won't stretch him and end the session late. our purpose for the day is to rehearse and test out the chemistry between the singers and roger.

the rain started during our lunch at around 2pm. regine joked that it was a good sign cos rain means money in cantonese hence 2V1G should make it big. she is such an adorable lady.

we reached cheras flyination studio at 3:10pm. winnie came 10 min later. our producer, jin liang, came at 3:30pm.

so the first rehearsal officially kicked off...

first song, "march", sees roger introducing some signature roger wang style. after only 2 takes, we were pretty much happy with his arrangement. it is simple song that does not require much technicality. regine isn't really in top form; she complained of slight throat problem.

we proceed to rehearse "coming home", winnie's signature and award-winning song. this song has won her the astro talent quest 2000 and some think that she sings even better than the original singer, shunza. winnie, being a perfectionist and a real pro she is, wasn't happy with certain parts of roger's arrangement and after a few trials, we sort of agreed to winnie's suggestion. the is a beautiful song only a singer of winnie's calibre can carry. suffice to say that winnie stunned everyone in the room with her emotive and ultra sensitive rendition. i could feel that regine is sweating :-) i was quite shaken. i couldn't believe that she can sing this song so heartbreakingly beautiful time after time.

the third song is a duet "more than friends". jin liang offered a lot of suggestions to make the duet interesting. it was meant as a "competition" between the two ladies and dare i say, both sang well.

by 6pm, we had already finalized the arrangement for the 3 songs and recorded a demo tape for reference purpose. we wanted to end the session early so that roger could go back early and take a good rest.

we reached home at around 9pm (roger is staying with me) and i quickly played the demo tape in my AV system. it became obvious that we are making a great great album. while there are imperfections like regine's throat and roger's flu, it was clear that my vision for 2V1G is spot-on. winnie, in particular, shines like a thorough gem. i bet she would rock the whole industry with this album. don't believe, just wait and see.

my main concern at this point is that the transparent audio power isolator 8 (PI8) is totally new and it would require at least 100 hours to break-in. moreover, our super-duper AKG mic hasn't arrived yet. i have a funny feeling that this session is pure experiment only.

for me, it is an experience of a lifetime to go into studio and witness the whole process, from a to z. i would cherish this for the rest of my life.

if you are a true music lover and audiophile, you really should try making an album of your own :-)

gotta sleep now... so tired. another exciting day ahead tomorrow!