If you saw EP1 of the Studio Blog, you read about a thirty minute speed session I did as an exercise for knowing my way around Logic Pro X and creatively learning to move with the flow. While the format and structure was inspired by a Swift song, it became its own vibe – almost like lo-fi study music if you know those playlists.

This week I was faced with the task of creating a new opener for the new Imagine Paradise Podcast. If you aren’t aware of the new concept, let me explain.

There is a music genre that is experiencing a bit of a ground swell. They call it high vibe music. #highvibemusic, #consciousmusic or #highvibemusicartists are hashtags you can search on TikTok or Instagram to discover singer/songwriters all over the world who are creating musical affirmations and thought provoking spirit-driven songs. It’s scattered. But there are enough out there that I want to become a curator of these artists. I want my podcast to be a place people go to discover them. I also want to be a part of this community as this really resonates with me.

The musical opener.

It needs to tell exactly what the podcast is. So the task of creating a musical bumper for the show became less about lyrics and melody and more about voiceover. The musical vibe that came out of EP 1 was the right vibe.

The voiceover makes the podcast’s objective clear. “Celebrate. Elevate. High Vibe Music. The artists that are awakening humanity. This is Imagine Paradis Podcast.”

So, as you would have it, never throw away musical ditties that are in your hard drive. This came in handy this week while editing episodes.

Technically, I was tasked with the challenge of getting good voice and vocal riffs in Chicago without my studio or mic. So, disclosure, I played the track in headphones while speaking/singing into the voice memo app on my iPhone. Then I airdropped it to my computer, dropped it into the session and the rest was about cleaning up the noise, finding the right EQ, compression, reverb, and lining up the vocal riffs to match the music.  Oh, that vocal riff at the end? I sang several of those, picked the best one, duplicated it and lowered that one an octave so you have that effect. Put a “pumper” on it so you could feel a rhythm to it. And then maxed out the delay so you have the vocal echo that fades at the end. 

It had to be a strict 20 seconds. (3 second pad added for video editing). Timing that out is always tricky, but here’s the smooth vibe of the new podcast bumper.