Uploaded April 2020 | Updated September 2026, 18 hours ago
ASHEN FACE
Music and Lyrics by Glen Clark
From my second album, Hiding In The Spotlight (2019)
I wrote this song following a recent flight during which we encountered some turbulence. Now, I'm not a big fan of turbulence and the experience got me thinking about how terrible it would be to be on board a plane that was about to crash. I remember seeing my face reflected in the window of the plane and the lyrics were born.
So here's the result...
It’s a bit different from what I normally do musically. All recorded in GB on MacOS. All instruments and vocals are performed (or programmed) by me.
From a recording perspective, there was a wee moment of serendipity when I accidentally copied the auto drummer track and pasted it into a software instrument track assigned to a clavinette keyboard (the sort that Stevie Wonder used to use in the 70s).
You can hear the clavinette in between each verse with the keyboard playing the exact same pattern as the drums - only slightly more tuneful. It seemed to add a something a bit different so I kept it.
The vocals are pretty loose. Purposely so. I wanted the song to feel quite raw given the subject matter. My backing vocals are even looser. In fact they sound absolutely terrible on their own but blended into the mix they seem to achieve what I wanted.
I then had fun adding lots of ear candy; bangs, crashes and clicks courtesy of the Orchestral kit.
I also enjoyed using the Erhu for the first time to help fill out some of the background later in the song.
I had the most fun at the end of the song, going all out on my electric guitar, creating a cacophony of confusion. I also threw in the whammy effect from the GB virtual Pedalboard on to some of the guitar parts to help build the crescendo.
I also used the Kazrog True Iron plugin (analogue transformer emulator) on all of the tracks as well.
Regarding the video, I used the Werble App on my iPad to animate all the still photos. If you haven't come across Werble, check it out. You simply take any picture and you can add movement and lots of atmospheric effects to bring it to life. I then compiled all the animated photos in iMovie to make them into a video.
I've recently purchased a new Rode NT1-A mic so this song (along with a few of my others) will probably end up having the vocals re-recorded again.
In the meantime though, hope you enjoy this version.
Thanks for listening : )
#GlenClarkMusic #HidingInTheSpotlight #AshenFace
ASHEN FACE
Music and Lyrics by Glen Clark
From my second album, Hiding In The Spotlight (2019)
I wrote this song following a recent flight during which we encountered some turbulence. Now, I'm not a big fan of turbulence and the experience got me thinking about how terrible it would be to be on board a plane that was about to crash. I remember seeing my face reflected in the window of the plane and the lyrics were born.
So here's the result...
It’s a bit different from what I normally do musically. All recorded in GB on MacOS. All instruments and vocals are performed (or programmed) by me.
From a recording perspective, there was a wee moment of serendipity when I accidentally copied the auto drummer track and pasted it into a software instrument track assigned to a clavinette keyboard (the sort that Stevie Wonder used to use in the 70s).
You can hear the clavinette in between each verse with the keyboard playing the exact same pattern as the drums - only slightly more tuneful. It seemed to add a something a bit different so I kept it.
The vocals are pretty loose. Purposely so. I wanted the song to feel quite raw given the subject matter. My backing vocals are even looser. In fact they sound absolutely terrible on their own but blended into the mix they seem to achieve what I wanted.
I then had fun adding lots of ear candy; bangs, crashes and clicks courtesy of the Orchestral kit.
I also enjoyed using the Erhu for the first time to help fill out some of the background later in the song.
I had the most fun at the end of the song, going all out on my electric guitar, creating a cacophony of confusion. I also threw in the whammy effect from the GB virtual Pedalboard on to some of the guitar parts to help build the crescendo.
I also used the Kazrog True Iron plugin (analogue transformer emulator) on all of the tracks as well.
Regarding the video, I used the Werble App on my iPad to animate all the still photos. If you haven't come across Werble, check it out. You simply take any picture and you can add movement and lots of atmospheric effects to bring it to life. I then compiled all the animated photos in iMovie to make them into a video.
I've recently purchased a new Rode NT1-A mic so this song (along with a few of my others) will probably end up having the vocals re-recorded again.
In the meantime though, hope you enjoy this version.
Thanks for listening : )
#GlenClarkMusic #HidingInTheSpotlight #AshenFace
