Creating a Song/Jam

Creating and writing a new song and/or jam is a very tedious and timely process, but once it is finished and all four of us know our parts well, it is one of the most rewarding things especially when you see people dancing and bobbing their heads to music and art that you created. 

 John, lead guitar, Owen, bass, and Mike aka Guzzi, rhythm guitar are the ones who write our songs.  They all play guitar and they usually get an idea while strumming around with an acoustic guitar, and that is the origin of a new song. After that when we are at practice, we work on the song and all of the changes that go on throughout the tune.  When it comes to the drums with me, I  hear the guitar and bass lines and that is where I am able to come up with a solid beat for the whole song.  After we have the basic idea and beat, we all use constructive criticism with each other to either add more elements to the song, take something out, or change it any way we can to make it sound as good as possible in all aspects (guitars, bass, drums, and vocals).  After we have all of the ideas for the song, either John or Guzzi writes lyrics and that determines who will sing that particular song. Practicing a new song or jam can get very repetitive and we usually find ourselves working on it for hours at a time, because we want to get it to the best of our abilities so we are confident when we play it live.  

We try to write new songs as much as possible so our fans don't get bored always hearing the same songs and the same set lists, especially since we haven't been playing as long and don't have too much original material.  It is really fun getting new songs down, and it makes the band and our friendships that much closer because we are working together on music that we love influenced by bands and musicians we have been listening to for years. We, as a band, hope that one day we can be the influences on young local bands trying to make a name for themselves.

VM in the Studio-Recording Process

Vespertine Movement is currently in the studio, working on a 8-10 song EP (extended playlist). We have been recording for a month or two now, and will continue for the next few months. We are hoping to release the EP, that is untitled right now, sometime in the summertime. We have been recording this EP at UMBC, and our friend Kyle Johnson has been the audio engineer who is both recording and mastering the tracks.  

Recording is a very long process because you want the quality of the CD to be great, because that is what represents our original material and our band as a whole.  Every band has a different approach to recording their material, and you can go in different orders, but the way our band has been doing it is based off examples of other bands and tends to be the traditional way to record.  The recording process consists of recording the drums to a click track (this makes the drums on beat with the pace of the song, whether it be a slower or faster song).  After getting a solid take of the drums, we have been recording the bass, rhythm and lead guitars, and then vocals.  It could take several attempts for each instrument because you want it to sound perfect, because that is what will be on the final cut which will be on the EP. After the recordings are finished, the audio engineer then edits and makes all of the tracks sound to the best potential by adding effects. 

 We are very excited about this and are always learning new and interesting things in the studio about the recording processes. w]We are looking forward to getting our our first legitimate CD out to our family, friends, and fans.