A day in the studio with Alexia
A day in the studio starts late and ends late! Alexia goes to the studio at about 14.00 in the afternoon. It's best to go in at that time as a singing voice is much more relaxed, warmer and easier to work with compared to the morning. Try outs of new songs are sung accompanied by Roberto Zanetti on piano. It is here that songs are born. Remember: a good song "sounds good" simply being sung accompanied on piano. A studio schedule would look something like this: 14.00 Alexia arrives at the Casablanca Studios. She sings in the afternoon accompanied by Roberto Zanetti on piano. It is here that potential songs are born. 18.00 Coffee break in a nearby bar. 18.30 Lyrics are put together with music. This is a very long process because the lyrics have to ring well with the music. 22.00 There's a pizza break and afterwards an extremely tired Alexia, finally leaves to go home to bed! This probably doesn't seem much, but a day in the studio can be exhausting! Time flies! There is no set working time, so when you have finished you can go home. We asked Alexia if she could tell us more about her day in the studio. Questions sure to be asked by many of you would most probably be: "How long does it take to put together ideas to form a song?" and "How long does it take before a song, after being tried over and over again, becomes the finished result?". However, they're not very simple questions answer. Obviously, it takes a lot of time and commitment because the final result never happens by chance. "Writing a song doesn't have to take a long time, it all depends on your state of mind or your inspiration at that moment, on a lot of things really. In the past, Roberto and I have written songs in just under a day and there are other times that we took a month to write the chorus line! Before getting to the finished result you need to work on the track very hard. First of all, you need to try to understand what kind of impression the idea of the song makes on you when it comes to mind. From that moment on you have to perfect it and to experiment with it in as many different ways as possible, making it even more fun and catchy. This is the result of a long period in the studio, during which your time is spent going over the music, arranging the piece of music and the lyrics. After that I can finally go back home, but poor Roberto has to create and arrange different versions of a song suitable for each market. As each one has a different fashion, style and sound of music to follow. So when I've finished we're only half way there! It's not an easy job, but obviously it's a very interesting one. You get a lot of satisfaction out of it because at long last, it gives you the change to put together ideas taht are born inside. A big kiss to everyone! ALEXIA