Watchglass: Wheels in an Elsewhere: part two of an interview with singer/songwriter Gina Graham

Janice: Do you begin recording with a basic guitar and vocals track? 

Gina: The way Mark and I work is that he will create an instrumental backing track and I will write the vocal part to fit the track. Sometimes I already have a set of lyrics that I wrote independent of music and it will fit the track, usually with some rearranging/tweaking. Other times I will write the lyrics as I listen over and over to the instrumental. 

Janice: Are you both in cohorts in developing the  ambience and layering of the backing track? 

Gina: The ambience and layering I leave entirely to Mark. After I've added my vocals to the mix, he will further play around with the instrumentation and create the final song. Sometimes he will consult me about something he's done, whether or not I like it. Sometimes I will notice something in the mix that doesn't seem to enhance the song and I'll mention it. But basically, I trust his experience and judgement and I like to allow him the freedom to experiment so that he doesn't get bored! He has been in the song making game much much longer than me.

From left, Yoshi- Cajon, Chris- bass, Gina- vocals, Mark- guitar, taken after a gig at Manly's Sugar Lounge 

https://watchglass1.bandcamp.com/album/wheels-in-an-elsewhere