April 27th, 2008 at 12:24 pm (Production, Rachel Shapiro)
We have a release date for “I Get It!”, the debut CD of Bay Area actress (and now, recording artist) Rachel Shapiro! Look for it on cdbaby.com on May 6, 2008. It will take a while to get to iTunes; watch this blog for news.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:23 pm (Production, Rachel Shapiro)
It was quite a journey recording this project. Rachel, her mom, and I started informal recording sessions in 2004 at what eventually became AlsTunes studio. I would prepare demos of my own compositions, or of the cover songs, with me singing, and then bring Rachel and her mom over for sessions. With me driving the computer and Rachel replacing my mundane vocal tracks with her artful interpretations, and Rachel’s mom present for moral support, we ended up with 11 tracks we all love.
One of those 11 tracks was written by Rachel. She brought the song over one day; I evolved a guitar/rock arrangement over the following weeks and we ended up with the version of “Tell Me You Love Me” you hear on the CD. It’s a pretty impressive songwriting achievement, especially when you consider that many teen-agers these days can’t even write a coherent text message.
It was quite a treat hearing Rachel’s voice get better and better over those few years. She now has a pretty strong pop/rock/theater voice with a wide range, and she can now belt the rock-and-roll phrasing with surprising maturity for her age. We hope you enjoy listening to the CD as much as we did making it.