Seb Longhorn

First thing’s first though – you need a demo, which I made all the way back in 2018. I’m pleased to say it has, sort of, held up over the years; it’s just me and my guitar, but the structure and chords are the same as the final product we have today (it’s here if you’re interested). Enough to get the ball rolling then, but a pandemic and an economic crisis or two would pass before I finally got my wits about me to contact a producer…

Dan! Earlier this year I saw a post on a Facebook group about a small studio in Bristol looking for clients. ‘The Living Room Studio’. It looks exactly how it sounds – lamps and rugs galore; the perfect space to get the best out of my breezy acoustic song without being overblown. Also Dan promised tea and biscuits.

I was nervous before heading over, but it was unwarranted, as having Dan in my corner was really liberating. I could leave the producing and the technical stuff to him and just focus on performing. Also, having his voice to assure me whether or not we had ‘the take’ did me a world of good. He has a calm and patient demeanour, which married well with my neurosis and erraticness.

We sent the song back and forth numerous times; I’d come up with an arrangement from home, he’d listen and send me notes, we’d record the new parts, he’d mix it and send it back, I’d listen and make notes, so on and so forth. It was a wonderfully collaborative and educational process. If it’s not already apparent, Dan is an excellent producer and a good guy, and you should go record all your songs with him. Right now. danweltman.com

Time for a second collaborator. With Dan’s assistance I was able to record every instrument (or program digitally in the case of the E-piano) myself. The organ however was a struggle; it wasn’t an instrument I was familiar with. Queue my friend Elliot whom, in one of the more serendipitous moments of my life, posted on Facebook that he had a real Hammond organ and was keen to lay it down over some original material. How about that.

For those unaware; the Hammond organ is a pretty hefty instrument, so I had to come to it – at Elliot’s house. It has its own enormous speaker cabinet, which he set about dragging into the hallway while I set up shop on the stairs (how convenient that we can record everything into a laptop these days). Hearing it in the room was sensational. It’s a truly singular sound, so much richness to it. And it’s LOUD, even at the low dynamics in my song.

I’d written a simple organ part beforehand, but now Elliot was involved I was keen to let his affinity with the instrument, plus his razor-sharp ear for harmony, guide the feel and exact note choices. This was a smart move (pat pat) as he was able to add colour there, a flourish here etc. After a couple afternoon sessions (I decided I wanted even more organ a few weeks later) we were there. It’s a subtle part, yet it lends so much character and lifts the track so much higher. Check out Elliot’s page for his future gigs if you really want to see him let loose.

This music malarkey is all well and good, but it’s not much to look at. I needed artwork and a music video too. This is when having a partner who’s a talented artist comes in handy! @ajball.art

I didn’t have a fully formed idea for the artwork when I asked Amelia for help. I used a model boat in the image for the demo on a whim, which stuck with me. Beyond that, I spoke about waves, floating islands, clouds, vague feelings of it being warm and cosy… super helpful right?

Amelia set about deciphering all of this. She started off with a bunch of pencil sketches, then moved on to more detailed ones using soft pastels, asking me me to choose my favourite ideas throughout. The clouds moved about, the colour palette morphed, the time of day changed. At last she drew the final version on the larger canvas and… well, you can see the transformation below from start to finish.

Amazing right? The final image could not be more perfect. To me it connotes freedom, innocence; it’s all the things I struggled to articulate at the beginning, made real. Better yet, we tackled two birds with one stone, making a time-lapse of her drawing for the music video! Go us. Or her, really. She did it in one take too.

So as you can see, my first venture as a solo artist was not a solo affair at all – and I haven’t even mentioned everyone yet. Optimum Mastering did a fab job getting the track radio-ready. Various uploaders over at freesound.org captured the amazing sound effects that I scattered throughout the song. Many of my friends and family listened to Dreams through its various iterations and gave feedback; I remember my Mum helped create the ‘Baring Strait’ lyric all those years ago.

That’s “how to make Dreams” then. Perhaps too aspirational a title in hindsight, as this post could have been (and was) much longer; I didn’t even talk about writing the song! But I hope I’ve conveyed that what got it over the finish line was the many talented people around me and, if I were to give myself some credit, the fact that I sought their help.

“I get by with a little help from my friends”