soul music

if a woman's looks can sail a thousand ships, then her voice can probably move mountains. that's exactly how i feel in the studio tonight, after listening to a few tracks off the album.

tonight, we celebrate the completion of 2v1g's recording. after an arduous 6 months, we have finally cleared the first hurdle and it is definitely a major milestone.

the recording is made difficult because of the nature of one-take (without edit). every little off-pitch notes by the singer - no matter how insignificant - is amplified in a very stark manner due to the minimalist approach of using just one guitar and a voice. every mistake is discernible and that puts a lot of stress on our singers. there were times when the going got tough, i.e. when the singers were not in their best conditions, and we normally called it a day on a futile note.

as we listen to some of the best chosen tracks, my producer quipped that "we better don't listen too much, cos some of these ballads can make us grown men cry". he is spot-on, i could feel my body shiver in total emotional involvement when i listened to regine tai's "tempting hearts", one of my all-time-fave ballads. it is such a tear-jerking interpretation; like what today youngsters call - very "emo" stuff.

what follows next is final mixing by our recording engineer and mastering by keith yip, the audiophile guru from HK, also the ex-boss of audiophile singer susan wong.

my engineer has mixed a track and let me listen on my home reference system. i am very pleased as the recording, even without mastering, is definitely audiophile quality.

barring any unforseen circumstances, we would be launching 2V1G in mid-may 2008.

i am sweating in anticipation. this is gonna be real good.