Photo by Louis Pang

Click here to read PART 1, PART 2 and PART 3.

More coming soon…

Jeffery Lim, the new “V”, did an excellent job not only in blending into 2V1G, but also bringing with him a new dimension to the group.

The new album will be out mid-August and I personally feel it will be a better one.

Stay tuned.

So … what am I doing talking about Jacky Cheung? What does a Cantopop superstar have anything to do with me?

Well … On 29 January 2010, Jacky Cheung, one of the biggest names in Chinese pop music, released “Private Corner”, his 57th album and first ever Jazz album. Track 4 on that album is a song called “十二個音”, which is a Cantonese version of “Love Scale”, a song I wrote and originally featured in the first Double Take album. And to top that off, I got to play guitar on that track too!!

It all started a year ago when Stephen Lim, Jacky Cheung’s recording engineer, came back home to Kota Kinabalu for his Chinese New Year break. I met up with him to talk about bands we could bring in from Hong Kong for the 2009 KK Jazz Festival. Later he told me that his “boss” will be starting work on his next album and this time it will be a Jazz album. They were still going through the song selection process, so he invited me to send over some of my songs. I sent over 2 songs but didn’t put too much hope into it. Later I got an email from Stephen saying that they like what they heard and would like to hear more. That’s when I began thinking that maybe they are serious about this and it might just be heading somewhere. So I sent 2 more songs.

By May, I was told that they have gone through their first round of selection and they have selected 2 of my songs to be considered for the next round. The songs were “Love Scale” and a song I wrote but was never released called “Cinta Kasih Sayang”.  It was getting exciting, but still too soon to celebrate. I am sure they are filtering through 100s of songs and being one of the best selling Chinese singers in the world; he would have some really high criteria to live up to.

I received the good news in June. Jacky Cheung has selected “Love Scale” for the album. It was wonderful news, but still too soon to celebrate. Songs can still be thrown out till the very last minute of production.

Frankly speaking, even though I was very excited, I did feel a bit apprehensive about how it was going to turn out. I couldn’t imagine “Love Scale” sung in Cantonese and I didn’t know how they were going to interpret the song and music arrangement.

With Stephen Lim (left) and Nick Lee of Arks Studio (Centre)

They were going to start production in July and will be doing most of the recording for the music tracks in Arks Studio, Kuala Lumpur. I was scheduled to record on 15 July. All I got from them was a chord chart, which didn’t show much in terms of how the music will be arranged. When I showed up for the session, I found out that it would be a “live” recording with some of the best sessionists in town. This means that the whole band will be performing and recording together, a production method common in Jazz but rarely attempted in Cantopop music. I guess they where really serious about making this Jazz album as authentic as possible.

I was also relieved to find out that they have kept the instrumentation very basic, with just me on the acoustic guitar, Andy Peterson on bass, Lewis Pragasam on drums and Steve Thornton on percussion. This gave me a lot of artistic freedom to do my “thing” on the guitar. It also meant that my guitar would be prominently featured on this song, second only to the vocals.

With the producer, Andrew Tuason

I ran through the song with the producer, Andrew Tuason, and ironed out some details in the arrangement. After that we ran though the song with the whole band. We recorded a few takes and wrapped up the whole session for this song in about 2 hours. I was happy with the result. All that’s missing now is Jacky Cheung’s vocals.

Listening to the playback

After that recording session, I kept in touch with Stephen regarding the status of the album and was later told that the original December release date has been pushed back due to some production delay. Apparently, some songs from the initial recording session had to be taken out of the album so they were still short of songs. I was just glad that “Love Scale” was still in. Which just shows that it was still too soon to celebrate.

Just before Christmas I got a call from Stephen, saying that Jacky Cheung wanted to record “Love Scale” 1 tone higher than what was recorded. They could keep the drums and percussion tracks, but the guitar and bass had to be re-recorded in the new key. We were not able to get Andy Peterson to redo his bass part, so I called my regular bassist, Simon Lau, who flew in from Labuan to record in my studio in Kota Kinabalu. Stephen sent the audio tracks over for us to use as a guide to record to. It had Jacky Cheung’s vocals in it. It was the first time I heard him singing “Love Scale”. I didn’t know what to expect. It was strange and amazing at the same time. After hearing the whole take, I was convinced that he had nailed it.

The Cantonese lyrics kept the meaning of the original English version. It didn’t sound awkward. In fact it sounded great. He made the song his own. So much so that one would think his was originally version. That’s the sign of a great singer. I now understand why they call him one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop.

I finished recording the new parts and sent it of as soon as possible. I think they just had enough time to mix and compile the whole album for the final approval on 29 December before being sent for mastering in US by the legendary mastering engineer, Bernie Grundman.

Jacky Cheung with his new album.

So now it’s official. The album is out. My song is in. My guitar part is in. It was even one of the 2 songs he performed at his album launch press conference.

However, all this still feels a bit surreal to me and the significance of it is only beginning to sink in. As of today, I have yet to hold the album in my hand. Stephen said he will try and bring back an autographed limited edition CD for me when he comes back home for his Chinese New Year break next week.

Maybe then …. It will be time to celebrate!!!

May 2010 bring new hope, joy and love to your life and that you accomplish all that you set out to do!

Here is “Auld Lang Syne” from me to you.

This is the cover of the limited edition (first press of 999 copies, all imported from hong kong) of Love’s Tapestry!

Retailing at RM62.90-RM65.90 (the final price will be determined by the quality of paper), this limited edition is a hardcover booklet that comes with some extra photos. It is also serialized with a unique number. To make it exciting fo you, if you order online, you can pick your lucky number from 2 to 999. just shoot an email to poppopmusic@yahoo.com to make your reservation.

Besides, this is the virgin pressing, meaning it is the best sounding lot as subsequent batches would not not sound as good. Audiophiles know this too well.

There will also be a normal edition at RM42.90 which will be released 3 weeks later. The normal edition is the 2nd batch and would not sound as great as the first batch and the packaging is “plain vanilla” … this is for the non-audiophiles among you.

Take your pick!

Also, if all works out, there will be a detailed blow-by-blow technical analysis (including soundstaging and imaging analysis) of each track by audiophile guru Joseph Ki inside the cd inlay!

Make your order now!!

I know I have been quiet lately on the blog, but it’s all with good reasons. It’s been a busy but productive few weeks for me. I am typing this entry on a flight back home right after wrapping up the recording for an album produced by Pop Pop Music, an audiophile label started by Leslie Loh. Leslie was the driving force in producing 2V1G, Malaysia’s first audiophile Chinese album. This time round it will be an English audiophile album called “Love’s Tapestry” featuring Gina Panizales (vocals), Peter Lau (drums), Wan (double bass), Jonathan Oh (cello) and of course, me on the guitar.

The goal was for us to give a fresh and heartfelt interpretation of a collection of songs from the 80s and 70s, hand picked by Leslie himself to tell a personal love story. To make things more challenging, unlike most recordings nowadays, we where required to perform and record everything together “live” in the studio with no edits or overdubs. This meant recording the songs together over and over again until we manage to record a take where everything falls in place perfectly and magical moments captured.

Due to convenience and the demand to record “clean” and “perfect” performances, it is a common practice, especially in modern mainstream music, for musicians to record separately. Very often they don’t even see each other. While I do appreciate the freedom and potential of recording music this way, there is a special kind of vibe that can only be captured when musicians perform together. Recording music this way is sadly becoming a dying art. I am glad we decided to record “Love’s Tapestry” this way.

Being an audiophile album, the technical requirements were very higher. The album was recorded at the brand new Tutti Studio located in Pusat Dagangan NZX Ara Jaya. The studio was completed just in time for this project. Equipped a collection of high-end microphones, preamps, cables and with a state of the art Neve digital console being the heart of the studio, I believe the quality of the recording will not disappoint the audiophiles. On top of that, the album will be mastered by Doug Sax in USA and pressed in Hong Kong.

Another important element that was completed just in time was my Harp Guitar. We started recording just 2 weeks after I picked up my Harp Guitar. I am glad I got to use it in this project. The extra bass really came in handy and gave more foundation to the songs.

Pre-production work on this album started in September 2009. My first rehearsal with Gina was on 25 September 2009. The recording sessions where done in October and November. The post production process has now begun. It is set to be out on 18 December 2009, making “Love’s Tapestry” the fastest album release I have ever been involved with!!!

To read more about “Love’s Tapestry” go to Pop Pop Music’s blog here.