In the fall of 1992, I was living and working in Chicago. I lived in a 3rd floor apartment on Cornelia with a roommate and my 2 cats, Pooka and Toby. I was in a relationship with a guy who worked at the bank where I worked, albeit in a different department. The relationship would be ending under very strained circumstances within months although I didn’t know that at the time. From Cornelia it was a short walk to the Belmont El station where I could catch the downtown train to First Chicago Bank, coming out in the station right under the building, where I walked through the subterranean hallways, past the underground deli where I often bought chicken soup and a bagel sandwich for lunch and up the stairs to the lobby.
I had found a women’s choir to sing in at some point during the year, and revived my voice to a certain degree, and I had sung, with a colleague and friend, at a couple of different weddings, her soprano to my alto. We made a good duo, and I got the idea to make a recording of myself singing a few solo songs and asked her if she would join me in a duet on a couple of Christmas tunes for a tape that would be my Christmas gift to my family. She agreed, and I asked my friend cap_killer to produce it, since she had contacts in the recording and broadcasting industry from her years of working for an advertising agency and producing radio spots.
We decided on 3 Christmas songs, and I chose 2 other favorites to sing solo and we began practicing. Chris lined up a recording studio for us, for a fee that was hefty for me, but seemed worth it, especially considering that it included the studio rental, a sound engineer (who also did electronic music arrangement), a guitar player and a percussionist. I felt SO cool!
The hour or so that we had at the studio went by in a blur, Sharon and I sitting in the glass-walled room, singing each song through a few takes, and the two solos where I was so nervous the first time through that I sang everything much too fast and had to consciously stop and slow myself down for the second try. I wish I had been able to relax more, since when I listen to the recording now, I can hear the hesitancies and the rough spots that a little more familiarity with the process and time to get used to singing in a studio setting would have probably smoothed out.
Despite its obvious amateur level and one horribly flat spot in one of the duets, I think we did credibly well. My family was impressed (at least, they said so at the time) and my mom was thrilled. 🙂 I only had a few cassette copies, though, and the original master recording is on a wee little DAT tape that I have never had any possibility of using to make more copies. Over the years, I gave away the last copies I had, and now have only one left. Until today, when I recorded the cassette to my PC and then burned the songs onto a CD. YAY!
I was dithering about posting one or more of the songs from the recording tonight because after listening to them again this evening I was feeling VERY self-conscious about every little mistake I could hear, and to be honest, I REALLY wish I could re-record it with my much-more confident 15-years-older voice. A friend of mine is going through an incredibly tough time right now and I’m too far away to do anything to help. Anyone who bothers to listen to this clip can please be gentle with me, but I’m posting it for you, Reé, along with a HUGE UGH.
Liz Slaughter singing Emily Saliers’ Crazy Game (2.7MB)
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Bright White Candle Light Birthday Wishes to helloheather!