EMMA - And when it doesn't come the songs never work, they have to come from
that inspired place or they are absolutely rubbish.
BABAK - How long did your new album take to record and produce, and which
microphones were used to record your vocal tracks on your new album?
EMMA - The last album actually took quite some time. There was a lot of
trial and error with different producers before we found the right fit with
Lee Groves (Gwen Stefani, Depeche Mode) So I guess there was almost a
year in pre-production, not much of which made the final cut. The actual
recording process took about 3 months in the end. We used a lot of live
instruments, strings, guitars, drums etc. interspersed with electronic
sounds. We then went to mix with Dave Bascombe for most of the album,
and Allen Moulder.
The mixing also took another month or so. It was quite a long and
intense process and learning experience. The remix side of the
album was done after the initial album was completed. This again
took another few months, however I wasn't so heavily involved in
this process, it was much more of a pleasant surprise getting these
tracks back.
I usually like to use Neumann valve mics (U-84), and occasionally
Audio Technica mics were also used.
BABAK - What advice would you give up and coming artists and vocalist
who like to become successful in the Trance music industry?
what is the best way do you think they should start their career?
IEMMA - I would say keep writing until you write the songs you feel best express
you and your style. And when you feel you are ready target the people
you would like to work with, just a couple of them, and send a song or two
to them for feedback. Stick to making music that you want to listen to
yourself, I wouldn't recommend being driven by imitating particular styles,
I think it is best to make music you just want to hear yourself, then surely
someone else out there will want to hear it to.