Home Recording: I Am Snow Angel – Self-Produced on the Upper West Side

Build a team, or go it alone?

I Am Snow Angel records and resides on the Upper West Side.

That’s the question that many an indie artist faces when planning out their next project, including the entrancing New York City-based I Am Snow Angel.

To create her inventive new self-titled EP, released this past week, I Am Snow Angel – a.k.a. Julie Kathryn — eschewed the studio and a squad of engineers. Instead, the collection was largely self-recorded and self-produced in the cozy confines of her Upper West Side apartment.

Sporting hypnotic beats, enveloping synths, and lush vocals, I Am Snow Angel definitely  projects a singular vision, without feeling one-dimensional. No question, Kathryn had collaborators, but her EP is a good study of what can be accomplished with a minimalist setup and lots of talent.

Why did this emerging chanteuse go the solitary route? Here’s her perspective on the self-produced process.

Why I Quit the Band: My electronica project, I Am Snow Angel, is almost totally self-engineered and self-produced.

The whole thing happened kind of unintentionally.  My mentor, Tony Conniff, who is a producer/musician here in New York, offered to teach me some basics of engineering and production. After that, I became very motivated to create my own tracks.  I Am Snow Angel began as a fun, creative outlet for me and blossomed into a really dynamic project that I’m passionate about.

Home Studio, Sweet Home Studio: My recording set-up is simple. I use LogicPro for tracking.  (I chose LogicPro because it has a lot of capabilities and is respected in the industry but doesn’t require the same financial and time commitment as ProTools.)

I also have an M-Audio interface, a Sterling condenser mic, and an 88-key Yamaha MIDI keyboard.  At some point, I’ll probably expand. For now, I think less is more.

Solitary refinement: mic/keyboard/computer/magic.

Selfies so Sweet: “Grey White December” is one of the very first songs I engineered.  I was just messing around, using simple pre-made beats and playing with harmonies.

I didn’t sing the harmonies perfectly. I actually thought I would replace the vocals, beats and bass at some point, but the chemistry of the song seemed to work so well that I ended up using the original tracks.

With the synth sounds, I tried to create a dreamy texture – something interesting and atmospheric and kind of wintery.  And not too distracting.  I’m a big fan of the Postal Service. I really love the gentle electronic landscapes they create. That’s something I aspire to.

Selfies Sometimes Suck: My slight obsessive-compulsive tendencies are stirred up when I’m engineering.  I literally stayed up all night a bunch of times working on this EP.

It was a really joyful experience, but it was also a challenge to walk away and let the tracks be finished.

“I Am Snow Angel” just arrived on February 14th.

No Woman Is An Island: It was wonderful to have such talented people helping me with this.  (Producers) Felix McTeigue (Carrie Underwood, Lori McKenna) and Drew Guido (Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, The Bengsons) taught me a lot about arrangement and production, and also helped me have confidence in myself as a producer.

When I was in isolation, recording for hours on end, I lost perspective and needed some objective input.  Jason Cummings is also very talented. He did a great job mixing “Let Me Go”, “Not The Same” and “Leave the Rest Behind.”  He really brought these songs to life and made them three-dimensional.  I definitely think it’s important to have someone else mix my music.

The Sequel: I plan on self-producing/engineering my next I Am Snow Angel album. It’s such a joy to craft all the elements of a recording, from the songwriting to the arranging to the performance to the production. Working as a producer and engineer sharpens my artistry and musicianship, which is exciting.

That said, I do also really love working with other talented producers and engineers. The music that I’ve released under my real name – Julie Kathryn – has been, and will likely continue to be, produced in a conventional manner with a band, producer and engineer. I really enjoy both approaches to production and I’m grateful to have a few different musical outlets to explore.

— Snow Angel

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