04.03.07

Sounds Like Sunday

Posted in Janet's Posts at 10:15 am by Janet

Hey Everybody,

It’s Tuesday morning, I’m in Nashville for more work on the new hymns project, and I wanted to shoot you an update.

We’ve finally settled on a title, ‘Sounds Like Sunday’, and it is scheduled for release in June. As we’re continuing to work on it, it’s sounding even better than I had hoped for – and I was expecting a lot!!

Yesterday we recorded some vocals as well as a pipe organ track. We went to a church in Nashville that boasts a huge, resonant pipe organ setup. Like my dad, I don’t know how to play a pipe organ, but I know when it sounds right. Yesterday it was right. Wayne (producer, arranger, all around nice person) decided to use the original arrangement and it was as though hearing it on the big pipe organ transported you to a different time. It made the words sink deeper, knowing the musical swells and chords and rests were just where the originator intended.

That’s what we’re hoping for from this project. We’re hoping it will spur all of us to listen to the hymns again – to really listen – and to give the theology entry into our everyday thinking. If we can recapture the awe that inspired the writers to pen these ageless lyrics, then I’m certain that the songs will speak to us, and grant us a new perspective on why we’re here at all. Can you tell I’m expecting a lot???

Wayne just finished the strings and brass in Budapest. He worked with a 70-piece orchestra – the largest we’ve ever used – and they sounded unbelievable. Wayne has raised the bar on this one. I told him yesterday that every church in the country will want to use his arrangements on these songs. You’ll just have to trust me on this one.

Okay – today we are recording some more of my vocals as well as some of the background vocals. This is my favorite time in the studio – when I get to say to other singers, “Ah, let’s do that line again…. Can you brighten the tone a little bit?… A little more energy, please.” I don’t really know what I’m talking about but it sure is fun to tell someone ELSE how to sing now and then!!

I’ll let you know how it goes. If you don’t hear from me, you’ll know the backup singers broke my fingers or something.

Have a great day!
Janet

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