Janis' Diary - Part 5

I began the vocals as I usually do, worried that I can't sing any more, worried that I won't be able to sing these songs well enough to please me, worried that I'll get a cold or an allergy or strain my voice before the sessions. Studio vocals are always scary, because you know the clock is ticking, and with every click, a few more dollars run out of your pocket. And that can be a catastrophe! With prime studio rates running from $1500 a day to $3,500 a day, assuming a 10 hour day, my scant 30 minute's warm-up translates to $75-$150. At that point, showing up an hour late costs $350 at worst, and getting a vocal in three hours has just cost the project $450-$1150. So I try to be prepared, try to have an optimistic mindset, try to do everything I can to ensure that the vocals will go well.

Additionally, there's the problem of what kind of vocals I'm going to do. Am I going to strive for perfection, or go for the heart? If I go for the heart, just how many bad notes and phrasings am I willing to tolerate? And now that we have "auto-tuning", where any incompetent can sound in tune at the twist of a knob, do I want to use it? I pride myself on being in tune, and singing well, at ANY point in the production. But once we get to the "real" vocals, how can I pull that off?

The problem with vocals on an album like this is simplicity. As my acting teacher Stella Adler used to say "When you've got crap, emote like crazy. When you've got Shakespeare, don't emote - the words carry themselves." Not that I'm Shakespeare, but I am wordy, and I try very hard not to get in the way of the song. Because, ultimately, it's the song that counts - not me, but the song. That's one of the things that keeps an artist like me humble; I try to see myself in service to the song, rather than the song serving me.

Sometimes that takes a while, which is why I was so surprised that by the end of the third day, all the vocals but "My Tennessee Hills" (which I couldn't sing without Dolly) were done, and done to my satisfaction! A lot of that is in the tracks, which left plenty of space for the vocal. A lot of it was Marc Moreau, who always seemed to know exactly what to say (or not) to help me out. Some of it was Tina, who was so excited that it was hard for me to concentrate! And much of it was the time I'd had to live with these songs, and these tracks.

We finished the vocals on a Friday and broke for the weekend, everyone relieved to have some time off. It's absolutely great to work at this intensity, don't mistake me! but everyone needs a break now and then....

Tina has told you all about the Dolly session from her viewpoint, but let me add some thoughts of my own.

I live in Nashville, a very small town despite its rapid expansion of late. I've heard gossip, and complaints, about pretty much everyone over these past seventeen years - pretty much everyone but Dolly Parton. She seems to be loved by one and all, respected by everyone, and adored by the entire town. And I can see why!

From the first contact with her staff, she was a pleasure. No one treated us like we were idiots (and that has happened when we tried to contact certain other nameless artists); no one laughed at the suggestion that Dolly sing on a CD being put out by small labels. She arrived for the 10 am session at five minutes to ten, ready to sing, knowing all the lyrics and melody. She'd already worked out her harmonies, which gave us the luxury of working on phrasing and sounding right together, instead of my having to teach her the song for three hours.

She was nervous, and I was more nervous - but I can't tell you how it blew me away when I asked her why she was nervous, and she said Well. I'm only singing on one of the best songs by one of the greatest songwriters I know, that's all! Pretty cool, huh?

The coolest part was the hang after the vocal, when Dolly and I could just talk about stuff. Most of our chat was about our mutual friend Chet Atkins, who lit up my life - and no, I'm not going to reveal what we both said! Suffice to say, Dolly adored him, as I did.

When we were done with the Dolly vocals, and my own vocal, Marc spent the next few days doing more rough mixes - this time with final vocals. Mixing before final vocals is okay, because I (fortunately) sound like myself all the time. But mixing around the final vocals means mixing toward the final mix, and that's a lot more work.

Now we could all take them home and spend a few days listening closely, trying to figure out if anything was still missing - or overdone, now that the vocals were on. Jeff took his home to begin studying the mixes, and Marc finished up any last minute edits and recording (I added one more guitar to" Dead Men Walking", and two new guitar parts to "Paris In Your Eyes"). Then Marc left for his home in Los Angeles, where he had another project beginning, and I settled down to wait for mixing.

(I bet you had no idea this was that involved! You should see the planning that goes into a world tour...)

I'd never had this much time between finishing a project and mixing it, but the time was well spent - Pat and I got married! I continued sequencing, making a few mix notes here and there, arranging for the mastering dates, and finishing up the artwork for the booklet. Maude decided there had to be photos of me in there, so we arranged with Beth Gwinn to do a photo shoot at my house and got some publicity shots as well. By the time we went in to mix, we'd seen Lisa's cover shot, which dictated the direction of the booklet. In the weeks between the end of recording and mixing, Maude laid out the booklet, and I worked on making sure the lyrics matched the vocals, everyone had been thanked and credited, all the legal lines were correct, and the budgets were in order.



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