eleven songs written & recorded on the bathtub / english version

The MadreOceano project was born a couple of years ago as a result of getting to a record a list of private songs, that by that time, were just a way of expressing and understanding, if possible, the feeling and needs that were surrounding me.

The originally 22 songs that I recorded were composed only for guitar and voice. And during the recording sessions some production took over them. The studio engineer Camilo Froideval, also piano and keyboard player, got delighted by the simplicity of the songs and volunteered to help in the production, having himself a good experience in recording local bands in buenos Aires.

It took more than a year to complete the recordings, because of my comings and goings on jobs to get the money to continue. Also, being this one, my first studio recording experience most of the ideas came during the sessions.

By the time of recording the most influencial records that I kept listening to were:

2002 " Recordings of Music for Films" by Vincent gallo.
2001 " To record water only for ten days " by John Frusciante.
2001 " When " by Vincent Gallo .
2000 " Figure 8 " by Eliott Smith.
1998 " XO " by Eliott Smith.
1997 " Either Or " by Eliott Smith.

These influences are quite clear to me in a few moments of the record, but it keeps a feeling of it's own most of the time.

About the gear and process of recording: 

The Album  was recorded digitally. But in a (let`s say) odd way. I just used a Protools as a platform to hold the sound. All the effects, camaras, delays, and EQ, were made from the outside on a mixing table and old external processors. I didn`t wanted to use the regular plug in's `cause that would lead to some kind of known and modern sound. I really wanted it to sound like and old home recording from the 70's.

The record starts with an original recording of myself that my father did in 1978. I digitallized that tape with out any Eq. That´s why it´s a bit noisy. Same with the " I make Trouble" song that I worked with an old tape from same '78 that has the soft voice of the child that latter on would became my wife, recorded also by her father.

The mastering was in an Old Studio that kept on one of the rooms as if was thirty years ago. An old 70`s mixing table plus using Ampex and Fairchild compressors from the 60's gave the final touch.

We used a lot a bunch of classic vintage instruments on the album. The incredible Fender Rhodes Piano... most of the time on the high notes looking for the more vibraphone sounds. And the lovely Moog Voyager, mainly in "Sound of Mine" 

There`s a lot of things a little bit covered and disguised such as in "Agree" .. all the strange notes that appear on the end are single notes played and recorded of the Rhodes piano and played backwards with some help of a "whahh whahh" guitar pedal. Also the final secuence on " In us both " was made  out of crystal glasses played with the fingers and helped with an old vocoder a friend of mine has. 

I got really proud of the final sound the record has being this one my first.

It was always mainly thought to be a free e.record on the net. But a few hundreds hard copies were made for small distribution.
To continue with the homemade idea, all of the hundred covers were handmade and each of one has a diffrent painting. All of the words are my handwritting & the paitings are my wife's.