ALL THINGS MUSIC
Thursday, July 29, 2021 • ThE BullETIN
Continued from previous page
studio in Boston. It included travel expenses,
and being able to work with these high-level
producers and session players.”
The ad and company checked out, and
Amini applied in November 2019 and was
accepted. She began going through the pro-
cess of crowdfunding, and was scheduled to
make her first trip to Boston to record a pro-
motional single and campaign video in mid-
March 2020.
“Of course, we know what started hap-
pening,” Amini said, laughing now, though
the trip was scrapped. “We went on a good
several-week pause. … The producer en-
couraged me and said, ‘I actually think we
can still do this’ and ‘We have ways of re-
cording remotely for the single.’”
“I was like, ‘No way, man. If I’m going to
do all this work, I want to be in that studio,
get to be part of the magic,’” Amini said.
REMOTE RECORDING EFFORTS PAY OFF
The compromise: record a demo version.
Plaid Dog sent her a large box brimming
with recording gear, mics, high-quality cam-
era lens and more, and through the wonders
“A lot of these songs came during a time
when I was really just starting to come
into my own authenticity, in a number
of ways.”
— Shireen Amini, musician
of technology, they managed to do the re-
cording of the promo single and campaign
video by way of Zoom.
The fundraising campaign got underway
in May 2020, though Amini was conflicted
about asking people for money at a time so
many were suffering financial losses because
of the pandemic. At the same time, any
doubt was offset by being “so moved by how
much generosity was coming through as
well,” she said. “Plenty of people were aware
that musicians were being hit hard by the
pandemic.”
The campaign to fund the album hit
its $10,000 goal 20-some days in, then ex-
ceeded it by another $1,800. Amini, mean-
while, worked busily to keep up her end.
“The studio had these very clear, like,
daily tasks that I had to keep up with, like
GO! MaGaZINE • PAGE 5
a well-oiled formula to make sure that this
would be successful,” she said. “It definitely
pushed me more in the marketing sense
more than I ever have (before).”
The process was not without some im-
perfections — one being the sheer number
of people Plaid Dog attracts. “They’re back-
logged. You’re kind of next in line. You get
crowdfunded, but then you have to wait a
long time before you can actually record.”
Part of the waiting and backlog, of course,
were due to the pandemic, but it didn’t make
the pauses any easier on Amini, who was ea-
ger to keep her momentum up. In October
2020, she was finally able to get on a plane to
begin recording in Boston, where she found
the city on a very tight lockdown.
“Their protocol was more intense than
ours in Oregon, just because they had gotten
hit harder,” Amini said. “I didn’t get to see
the aliveness of the city as much, because the
city was shut down. But I still had a blast.”
HEARTFELT SESSIONS
And she was there to work. She found an
Air B and B near the studio.
“It was a 10-day immersion to record the
album,” Amini said. Working with the stu-
dio pros and session players was something
she looked forward to, but of course Plaid
Dog’s processes were also different due to
the pandemic.
“Because of the protocols the studio had, I
hardly got to interact with them in person,”
Amini said.
“My first day, I had to be in a completely
isolated room while the drummer and bass-
ist and the engineer were in the control
room and (isolation) booth. I was watching
them over Zoom in the studio.”
Though she was “bummed at the time,”
subsequent sessions with fewer musicians at
any given time enabled her to be able to be
able to see the musician.
“The session players were just so heartfelt
but bad-ass and amazing,” she said. “That
was seriously one of my favorite parts.”
Creating the album “has been over-
whelming, but exciting,” Amini said. “Re-
cording a music video and all this. … I’m
waiting for an outbreath, but in the mean-
time, I’m enjoying some degree, like the
anticipation and all the beautiful things un-
folding.”
e
David Jasper: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com
Cocktail Cabaret: Duets
Friday, August 27 at 8 pm
Central Oregon’s best performers pair up to deliver
hits by Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, Jason Mraz, and
show-stoppers from “Waitress,” “Rent,”
and “Dear Evan Hansen”!
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AUGUST
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22-24 Godspeed, Los Polacos! PREMIERE
BodyVox’s Pearl Dive Project:
All 5 episodes streaming on-demand!
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