Dreams - Track by Track

Today I decided to talk a little bit about our album, "Dreams". There were many things that went into making this album possible. It took us roughly a year, and a half to write/record it from start to finish.  For this reason, I want to do a little track by track summery of what each song is about. To listen to our album on iTunes go to: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dreams/id530421019

1. Beyond the Stars.
This song was meant to be the introduction and set the mood for the entire album. The concept we were going for was something very surreal and angelic. We wanted the beginning track to take your mind off what you're doing that way you would be ready for the rest of the album.

2. The Places You Belong.
This probably one of the most electronic tracks that we wrote for the album. The idea behind the lyrics is dealing with the idea of not knowing where you belong. It talks about how people forcing relationships just so they aren't left behind.

3. Tonight.
Tonight is the most emotional of all the tracks written for the album. It was actually written directly for a girl, and the rest is kind of self explanatory. The message in the song is really straight forward and yet has a hidden message at the same time. It's one of our personal favorites that we made for the album.


4. Closer.
Closer is about feeling far away emotionally and physically. It has to do with the world continuing on, yet at the same time it feels like everything is coming to a close. This song  has a really strong driving bass line during the choruses which gives it that electronic feel. We also decided to use some over tone strings in the background to kind of give it a theatrical sound.

5. One Last Step
This song is probably one of the most synthesizer heavy tracks on the album. We layered a ton of keyboards on this one to give a very dark heavy feel. The idea behind the lyrics talk about a break up with a person that you were in love with. The lyrics are kind of contradictory in nature which kind of adds a interesting twist to the song.

6. Clocks
Clocks was the last song written for the album. We actually decided to use some guitar for once on this track since we barely had any guitar in any of our other songs. The lyrics in this song talk about relationship in which the girl wouldn't commit because she thought the guy wasn't "exactly" what she was looking for.

7. Our Futures
This song is actually written about hurricane victims from Hurricane Irene that lost their homes and families. This song talks about a family coming closer together even though they lost everything in the wreckage.

8. Dreams
Dreams is very spacious instrumental track. We wrote this track with the concept of creating a landscape of a different world. The first thought that came to my mind when we wrote this was a futuristic train in the clouds. Which for the most part, is what it sounds like.

9. My Symphony For You
My Symphony For You is a track based around the idea of nothing stopping you. We wanted to make a song that when you listen to it, you feel inspired to just go out and do what you always wanted to do.

10.  Sometimes.
Sometimes is the third instrumental track on the album. This song actually pays homage to our EP Bottle Rocket that we released a year ago. It has a very similar electronic sound that we always loved from our older music. We decided last minute that we didn't want to add lyrics to it, because we felt this song spoke for itself.

11. Life.
This is hands down the happiest song on the album. The lyrics of the chorus really sum up what the song is entirely about. It says, " Life is only as good as you make it". This song was also the first song that we got played on the radio. It was featured on 96.3 WDVD and we also did an interview on the radio as well.

12. Something Real
Something Real is all about wanting to feel something real for once. Everything in life is so often fake that we lose site when we actually see something real. The chorus for this song ended up being really random. To this day we are not sure why it says, "Say my name." I guess you can decipher that yourself.

13. Snow Dweller
Last but not least, Snow Dweller is possibly the most chilled out song on the entire album. It was meant to be a song that you could just sit down and relax to. The actual structure of the song is really simplistic and builds on repetition. 

The Recording Process

  So lately we've been spending some time recording some new tracks. There's a lot of things that go into a single track. The writing and recording process for each track is entirely different from track to track. However, there are a few "go to processes" that we use to make a majority of our tracks. In addition there generally is a certain style that we tend to lean towards when coming up with our next single.
     The first step that we take to write a new song is as simple as sitting down at the computer with a feeling. Something as simple as a emotion or concept can write a song all by itself. Normally when we feel really inspired it's almost as if the songs write themselves.  Since we are mainly an electronic band, nearly all of our music is written on a computer in the form of programming before it is ever played live.  However, more so lately we've come into the habit of writing keyboard riffs and chord progression on our upright piano before programming the parts. After a riff, chord progression, or lead is decided, the next step is to open FL Studio.
       The first part we normally program is usually the drums that we think will match the part we had made on the keyboard. After the drums have been arranged and recorded we start recording the bass, leads, and then guitars. After all the instruments have been recorded to the track, we then start the lyric writing process. The lyric writing process is the most time consuming part of writing songs. Over the years, we have gotten faster at doing it but it still takes us a considerable amount of time till we make the final lyrics. After the lyrics are written, we track the vocals. The vocals are normally recorded 3 times for each part. The reason for this is that we layer the vocals twice to make them pop more and have a thicker sound. We then use the third vocal layer as a backup  in case one of the layers did not turn out good. The process of doing this is called, vocal doubling. After the vocal are layered, we then will then add reverb and  multi-band compression to the parts that need it.
       At this point in time the song is now done in, "demo" quality. This is usually when the song is in its roughest form. The next step that we do, is called mixing and mastering. This step involves moving the faders, adjusting EQs, adjusting compression, and adding reverb to various instruments in the mix. After this part is complete we then send our entire finished track through mastering software called, Izotope Ozone. This software allows us to widen and normalize the mix properly so that it will sound good in all types of stereo systems. After this is finished the track is now rendered into WAV and the master copy is finished.

To listen to some of our tracks go to our: Facebook

-James

Preparations for Halloween

        This past week we started the preparations for our next upcoming show. Its been a goal of ours to play a Halloween show for years. After looking at different venues that we had previously played at we decided to book it at the Premier Concert Theater in New Baltimore on the 26th of October. There is a lot of planning that goes into a Neobrite show. Which is one of the many reasons we don't play shows very often.
       If you've never seen us play live before and are currently wondering, "How in earth can two guys can play this stuff live?" You are not alone. Over the years we've seemed to come up with a system that works pretty well even though we are short a couple musicians. Usually when we play live its always a safe bet to see Brandon surrounded by keyboards. The reason we do this is because 90% of our music is made on the synthesizer. If you don't know what a synthesizer is I suggest you "Google" it before reading any farther. Anyways, when it comes time for shows we end up programming all the sounds Brandon needs for each song on his keyboards. That way he can just flip through them as we go song to song. Usually when we do this it I will generally write out a spreadsheet of what we need for each sound on each keyboard. Then after we do that we will review the sounds and edit them to match the ones played in our recordings. It usually takes us about a whole night for us to go through all of the keyboards and edit the patches. 

James' Setup

      Now that we've talked a little about Brandon's setup, lets talk about my setup. When we play live there are 4 parts that I do: First being the vocals, second the guitar, third the effects/submixer table, and fourth being my synth. Basically I fill in all the parts that a keyboard can't play. That's really as simple as I can put it without going really technical. Now you may wonder, "who plays the drums?" The answer for that is a computer. Before we even start up practices we spend a day or two programming our entire drums into a file so that we can play it in the background live. Its not exactly the "coolest" way to play live drums but, after years of trying to get a good enough drummer that would play to click tracks its all we could get for the time being. Not to mention it's never off tempo or messes it. You can't really beat that. All in all, that is a really basic idea of what we go through to get ready for a show. Hopefully, we'll get to see some of you guys on the 26th!

To listen to some of our tracks go to our: Facebook

- James