In My World: A Breakdown
In My World - Barbara Rose
Role: Producer, Writer, Arrangement, Engineer, Guitar, Programming.
A song recorded right at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Barbara had sent me a demo of her singing the melody a few days prior to our first (and what happened to be our only) session, instructing me to figure out a chord progression. I ended up having a few options for her when we got together for our session. After running the song a few times, we finalized the progression and I put down a scratch guitar part for her to sing on. Since the song is so simple in arrangement, we had to “give and take away” parts throughout the song. One way this was achieved was through layering her vocals to create a massive sound. This happened in the choruses and verse 2, but the most notable example is in the final chorus. It starts with the main melody and then builds into a complex 3 part harmony. These tricks made a seemingly simple song way more complex and keep the listener engaged the whole time.
The vocals in the last chorus are built up to climactically end the song. The first line is sung with just the main melody. The second line adds a harmony on top. The third line brings in a second harmony to create a massive vocal line. The three part harmony ends with the line "it was a moment" and then they drop out, leaving just the main melody to sing "I can feel it in my bones." This was done to add a dramatic emphasis in this gloomy song.
I'm a big fan of filling in space in the mix with synths. Since "In My World" is such an empty and spacious track, I wanted to add something subtle to the chorus to help it pop out compared to the rest of the song. As shown in this video clip, the synth is mixed in very quietly and not necessarily noticeable until it's pointed out. However, once it's taken away from the mix the difference is apparent.