公告
- New album _Inland Territory_ available now!
http://www.scarabcart.com/cgi-bin/viennateng/item.cgi?id=172
Check out the new video for Gravity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8nypWKa_aU&fmt=18
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the days grow shorter
2008-10-14 8:16AM / 標準BLOG / 會員可以看
1個評論We’re in the endgame for the album now. Everything’s been recorded and sung, and most of the choices are behind us. These days my work involves hovering at a respectful distance while the engineer turns knobs, listening for hours so I can give a few seconds of input: turn the horns down here, more of the room mics on the piano on this song, I can’t hear the lyrics at the end of this line. Tonight’s the last night of mix recalls—final small adjustments before this thing goes off to mastering.
I’ve been getting plenty of sleep, eating well and all that, and the days go by at the kind of leisurely pace I imagine most of you would envy. Yet there’s this sense of depletion, like something was spent and needs replenishing. I guess I know why. More than the previous three records, I really put myself on this album. It’s the truest expression so far of who I am and what I want my music to be. Which is a hell of a lot of work and quite scary, to be honest with you. But also something to be pleased with and excited about sending into the world.
Much credit goes to Alex Wong, who’s thrown himself wholeheartedly into all aspects of this album and logged more hours than any sane producer ought to; and to Eddie Jackson, who is both perfectionist and fun to work with, that paradox that epitomizes good engineers. Look for the names of these two gentlemen. They are going places.
So these days I’m tired and happy and anxious and generally itching to take on a totally different project. Combine that with long periods of “standby” time in the studio and you get…VT turns political junkie! Stay tuned. (No soapboxing, I promise. Just useful links.)
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intake
2010-03-09 10:45AM
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Slow Q&A 2009: The Kaoru Questionnaire
2009-10-15 7:57PM
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compass
2009-09-26 2:39AM (1 個評論)
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archive of Twitter Q&A, 15 Aug 2009
2009-09-03 2:00PM
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Slow Q&A 2009: The What Is That? Edition, pt. 2
2009-08-31 3:21PM
统计信息
- Q: Who are your influences? ...Q: Who are your influences?
A: My parents' record collection: Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Mozart and Beethoven, 60s Mandarin pop. That's what I started with and it'll never leave me. Later on, pianist-songwriters: Elton John, Billy Joel, Tori Amos. These days I'm influenced by whoever intimidates me. I hear them, I'm astounded by them, I think daily about quitting music because I'll never be able to do it as well as they do. Then I try to steal from them without imitating. A tricky thing.
Q: How would you characterize your music?
A: Oh man, I don't know. I've taken to saying "chamber folk" or "singer-songwriter" to some people. "Somewhere between folk and pop, with a bit of classical and jazz," if they look confused after that. It's frustrating that I have no succinct phrase to offer; at the same time, I think it also means I'm doing something right.
Q: How long have you been playing piano?
A: Since I was five.
Q: Did you study at a conservatory?
A: No, just one-on-one piano lessons until I was 17. Changed my life, though.
Q: How did you learn to sing?
A: In the shower, and in school choirs. I took some voice lessons here and there, which amounted to paying $40-150 a week to be told that I was doing it all wrong. I don't think we fixed anything. So maybe I haven't learned to sing, actually.
Q: When did you start writing songs?
A: I think I was six when I decided I could cobble my own piano piece together. As for songs that I still play in public, the earliest ones are from high school.
Q: How long does it take for you to write songs?
A: A long time. Sometimes months. Occasionally over a year. I don't revise all that much; it just takes that long for all the pieces to form and assemble.
Q: Who arranges the songs for live performance?
A: It's a collaborative process. My bandmates generally compose their own parts as we work through a song in rehearsal—sometimes they're based on the studio recordings, oftentimes not. Sometimes they have cool ideas for my parts, too.
Q: How old are you?
Q: Is Vienna the name your parents gave you?
Q: How do you write your name in Chinese?
A: Wikipedia knows all. And is reasonably accurate, though I don't know why it has photos of me wearing a knit hat and playing guitar onstage, two things I almost never do.
Q: Is it true that you used to be a software engineer?
A: Yes. I got my bachelor's in Computer Science at Stanford University, and went to work for Cisco Systems for two years. These days I remember exactly enough to crash whatever computer I'm working on.
Q: Is it true that you went to/dropped out of medical school?
A: No. Can't imagine paying off med school loans and funding an album...
Q: What was it like being on Letterman?
A: Surreal. Pretty much like how it'd be for you if you got called to play on the Late Show. I still think I dreamt the whole thing. Except the studio was very, very cold, and my dreams aren't often cold.
Q: Which of your albums is the best one, in your opinion?
A: Like anyone, I'd hope that the most recent is always the strongest. I think I'm getting better as I go...
Q: Does constantly talking about yourself ever make you feel like an egomaniac?
A: Yes, yes it does. Makes me wish I were in a band sometimes.
Q: Are you going to release a live album?
A: We do have a live DVD out now. For sound-only recordings, there's always the Internet Audio Archive.
Q: Do you ever reply to emails?
A: No, and I apologize. It's not a policy or anything; I'm just not good at staying on top of it. I promise that I do read everything, and that I'm grateful. - 職業: 樂手 , 歌手 , 作曲家
- 性別: 女
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