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Behind every album there must be a vision and a concept. If not, it just becomes a compilation of songs without any direction
In the beginning the concept wasn’t that clear: I knew how I wanted the record to sound, but didn’t know how to realize it. As we worked though, I managed to achieve exactly what I wanted. It was a process of trial and error.
For example: I knew how Eric's guitar had to sound, but didn’t know how to find it. One day, while working on Don’t Lie, we cranked up the amp, let Eric try out something with his wahwah and I realized that even though it was soul and cool music this was the sound we needed. After eight months of recording I said: “Sorry we have to re-record all the guitars all over again”. I finally got what I was looking for. I also began to realize that we just had to have our own sound in order to be different. It was the only way to make the record sound personal and still touch a wider audience.
So we did the same with the keyboard sounds and used a lot of Fender Rhodes that we passed through tube amps. |
We could have easily used pre-fabricated sounds from an effects rack, but I didn’t want that, so there is no programming, no loops, no samples, everything is organic and played live.
Producing the Living Room album also had it's influence on the final result of Urban Gipsy, especially when I understood that sometimes you have to leave things the way they are. You can always try to polish, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will improve.
There are mistakes in Urban Gipsy, but I feel like they are cool mistakes. It's sometimes a bit rough and dirty: a guitar that goes cling clang, my voice that breaks up, but it makes the record a human thing. There's a real person behind that microphone; a guy who's vulnerable.
What I like is that you can see the strengths and the weaknesses. Even though people respect your strengths... your weaknesses can also appeal to them.
I captured the spirit of the moment, which was what I was then. People say that I could have done so much better, or sang a song so much better,
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Personal comments of Bai Kamara Jr. on the Urban Gipsy album.
Part 1: The Start & Concept Of The Album.
Part 2: Production & Sound.
Part 3 :Principal Players.
Part 4 :Extra Talent.
Part 5 :The Stories.
Part 6 :Evolution Over Time .
Part 7 :(Video) Comments On The Songs.. |
but if I had gone on to re-record the voice, or continued to change things, it would have lost its original vibe, also since we've been evolving over time.
There were some musical ideas which I added on, like in Substitute, which I knew was under-produced at the time and which we beefed up a bit, but it was never just for the sake of beefing it up: we really added musical value there.
Urban Gipsy was a real collaboration with all the musicians. We had no manager or producer from a record company telling us what to do, how to sound, how to play… we did exactly what we wanted to do.
There was a brief moment during an early mix where the control was out of my hands, but it didn't work out for anybody: the vision of the record wasn't shared and the spirit and vibe got lost.
As I worked with Maximin and Marc François (who finally mixed the album),
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I learned from them while they treated me as a producer at the same time. I only had to say what my ideas were and lay out my concept.
I remember that Marc François started listening to the tracks of one of the songs and heard guitars everywhere. He called me and was like "help, what's happening"... so I told him that everything was there for a specific reason and what to do with it; how to layer the guitars, and where to put the effects. He really did a great job mixing for me.
What is cool to me about my albums, is that all the way through from the arrangements to the playing, from the recording to the mixing, I was involved in everything.
And I still feel it sounds fresh and relevant. We didn't end up with a sound that was particular for a period. We were trying to make it as organic and authentic as possible, which makes that it'll never be dated.
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