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Yuta Nakano's blog post about Rock'n'Roll Circus
He posted this a little less than a month ago, but he barely updates his blog, so here it is.
Quote:
I got the chance to participate in the production of Hamasaki Ayumi's new album 『Rock'n'Roll Circus』. Now that it's released, I'd really like to write down some of my thoughts about the recordings done at London. With regards to Hamasaki-san's recordings, I have been invited over to Los Angeles for the past 2 times, when we did 「Talkin' 2 Myself」 and 「NEXT LEVEL」. This time, because we needed a dark perspective, we worked in London instead. The first impression I had of London was "The sky's really heavy (laugh)". It's just somehow always so dark. The environment, the feelings, they all seem to close in on themselves. And we realized that this had a considerable effect on the sound of our works too. The people of London, including the studio staff, were all really quiet and kind. Even the pretty girls passing by on the street smiled at me. (laugh) 『Microphone』 was recorded by a local strings group, and they were unexpectedly good. I was conducting them, and just a pointed look or the slightest nuance was enough for them to understand me. (Not to mean that the Japanese groups aren't like this too. This is just to stress my point. (sweatdrop) ^_^) However, because I'm so short, the members could not really see me at first. To solve that, they had to resort to emergency measures, and for someone my age to mount something like a stand is a little... The members probably were trying so hard not to laugh. (sweatdrop) When we did the introduction, we were going to use the harpsichord and violin to give a Baroque feel at first, but after ayu-san gave an idea, we changed it to a pipe organ instead. Because of that, I think that the song was given an extra layer of solemnity. 『Sexy little things』 was done because I wanted to seal away the things which I normally do and that I'm accustomed to, and to look for something new. The process of looking for something which I have never touched on before was really tough, but I think the reward I got from it was really big too. When you listen to this song, you'll realize that there are really lots of back vocal tracks. During recording of the back choruses, after finishing pile upon pile of scattered back voice tracks, ayu-san asked "Are we finally done?", to which I replied "Sorry, there's more". Her whines of "Nobita!" are such a memory for me. (laugh) 『Don't look back』 was arranged by CMJK-san. If I may say so myself, CMJK-san put the song through a whole explosive world of change, to give it a really sharp and therefore miserable perspective. When I first heard the arrangement in the studio, I was so shocked, but I also felt a strange assent for it. I told JK-san "You must feel like a proud parent whose finally marrying off your kid into a rich family" to which he replied "That's so gross~". (laugh) But JK-san's arrangement of the chords during the bridge was excellent, with major and minor chords both coming and going at the same time, so that synchronized really well with ayu-san's lyrics "Can I go on? Can I not go on?". Somehow, I feel like I've forgotten to write about so many things. When I remember them, I'll come write again. If you can, please listen to 「Rock'n'Roll Circus」. ^_^ http://ameblo.jp/nobiblog/entry-10509164469.html
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Last edited by truehappiness; 15th May 2010 at 10:36 AM. |
Tags |
ayu, ayumi, nobita, rock'n'roll circus, yuta nakano |
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