I'm Back!!!!!!

Hey everyone!

So sorry I disappeared for a while......  I was doing some pretty amazing things.

Anyways! These last two weeks I have been in Nashville recording my official, brand new, first EP ever! And what an incredible experience.  I was introduced to so many amazing people and found out so much about myself and my music that I will be forever thankful to have been a part of this. I truly feel I'm changed in a very, very positive way.

So, I'll start from the beginning for you all, and give you snip-its of awesomeness so you can hopefully see into what I accomplished. Recording music is a gift, and when you un-rap the finished product at the end, it's so unbelievably beautiful and rewarding that it's overwhelming. Here's just a peak at my overwhelming gift and what you can expect from me in the very near future!

Day 1: I had a vocal lesson with the incredibly amazing Brett Manning. I had a ridiculous experience, as if I had opened Pandora's box, and magic and crazy awesome things came out of my voice and I hit notes I never knew I could hit. But hey, what did I say about Brett? He's amazing.
Later that day my mom and I dressed up like ninjas for no reason, (seeing as it was Halloween night) and the producer of my EP, David Hall, invited us to the studio to check things out a little before stepping in and doing tracking the next day. So we talked, looked at cool stuff, then took a selfie...

How cute.

 

 

So anyways...

 

Day 2: In the early AM, we stepped into the first day of tracking for all the instruments on the album. I knew from the minute I walked in, the bass player, the electric guitar player, the acoustic guitarist, the drummer, and the pianist, were all a part of this amazing dream and they were all there to help me achieve my goal. There's only one word to explain how I felt; blessed.

I watched my songs come to life and presented in living color and I was completely blown away. (cue the Carrie Underwood song going through your head right now)

Here's just some pictures of some of the instrumentalists and how tired I looked after this insanely long day...

 



This is the drummer, he was awesome.

well, everyone was awesome, this picture just turned out the best.

Here you see me in my natural habitat:

The vocal booth.

Here you see me strikingly disgusting looking and very tired.

 

 

Where did I do all this fabulous recording and stuff you may ask? Well, of course, at the one and only:

BLACKBIRD STUDIOS!!

I put it in all caps because it's really important and I'm afraid if I don't give people and things their proper credit and identification then I might be in trouble, and worse yet, I would feel extremely and terribly bad if I forgot ANYBODY at ALL!

Okay, moving on again... (squirrel)

 

Days 3 through 14 are all a blur and I'm not even going to attempt in trying to mark down what I did each day, seeing as that would end in an utter disaster. So, the day after tracking I stepped into studio C and started laying down smooth vocal tracks. Haha just kidding about the smooth part, I just sang by guts out and put my heart and soul and being and everything I possibly had into the vocals of my songs and gave it everything I possibly could. If you don't hear and experience the emotion when you listen to my songs, then I think you have something seriously wrong with you. (911 please, we have an emergency)

David Hall, the unbelievable and marvelous producer I was so privileged to work with, helped immensely in getting that emotion out of me. He put me in different rooms, he sat me down, he stood me up, he gave me different mic's, he danced, he gave me scenarios, basically he did everything he could to help me. And now, I will share some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

 

Just me taking a selfie with my friend Mic

 

Oh, am I supposed to sing into this thing?

Gotcha

 

This manager, JP, stopped by and gave me amazing advice..

No big deal..

 

Just one of the super cool background vocalists I got to work with, Jason.

P.s. he does a sick Luke Bryan impression, kinda

 

Vocal coach Brett Manning, random girl, producer David Hall

just kidding... that random girl is me.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know this already, Hunter Hayes is one of my
biggest inspirations. He is incredible, aaaaaaaaaaannnndddd I maybe have a crush on him but that's beside the point. Anyways, for inspiration purposes, David printed off a picture of my boy Hunter, except with a photo shopped mustache, and taped it in the room for me to see... to "inspire" me...



 

 

 

Anyways, vocal tracking days were tiring to say the least, but I loved every single second of them. David kept calling me a "race horse" because I just wanted to go, go , go, and hit all the notes and stretch my vocals to new heights and never ever stop. But just like any athlete, I had to take breaks and rest too. Your vocal chords are a muscle too, and just like any other part of your body, they can be overworked, and they need time to recover. After each session of recording I would go home and eat dinner, but I couldn't utter a single word because I was under vocal rest. (no, not vocal arrest.)

Except one night, I sang karaoke....

 

shhhhhh, don't tell David

 

I'm going to skip over details and jump right to the almost end of the story because I can't wait any longer! The best, most truly satisfying moment of all of this, was sitting down and listening to the almost finished product. When I was placed in front of a set of speakers and David began to play the beginning of one of the songs, "Her", I felt chills run up and down my spine and butterflies flying every which way inside of me. The verse played and the chorus orchestrated itself, and when the bridge beautifully echoed through the room, tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn't hold my emotions back. I was left motionless, I couldn't believe this was MY music. The song I was listening to was mine. I heard the story played out in front of me once more and I felt the exact same way I did when I wrote the song. I sat in my chair with my face in my palms and let every tear out that was inside of me. The feeling was indescribable, the feeling of being so blessed, so honored, so thankful, so humbled, all at the same time is incredible.



actual photo evidence I was sobbing:

rare indeed.

 

I offer all of this to God in heaven. He gave me this opportunity and I took it and ran with it. I trusted David to create this music, and what we all came out with was a work of art.
I'm still speechless as I write this blog today. I can't come up with words to type that perfectly describe how I felt and how I feel today..
A never-ending thank you to all you guys for your support.
Speaking of:
I have over 10,000 views on my blog!!!! HOLY MOMMA!!
Thank you all so much for helping me achieve my goals, and making my dreams a reality. I am blessed beyond my own belief and to be able to share this experience with everyone is amazing.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!
I can't say it enough..

Love you all!!

-Madeline