“Yo Bato” means “This Road,” and literally, Yo Bato has taken me to all the unexplored roads, nooks and crannies of making music. Exploring the theme for Yo Bato was a big step, and recording and mixing the song was a giant leap—not for mankind, but it was indeed for a professional writer like me 🤓.
When I first sat down to write this piece, I was a bit fidgety. Over the years, countless artists and musicians have talked about their journey and the perils of creating their masterpiece. Yo Bato is far from a masterpiece, but I remember that I almost always learned something from other musicians whenever they shared their experiences. As a writer and music enthusiast, I wanted to share a little about my journey of making music, what I learned in the process, and the similarities I discovered between making music and writing.
The process of composing music and writing a piece felt very similar to me. The uncanny resemblance of that experience hit me when I was staring at the space with my guitar trying to come up with a tune. That very indistinguishable feeling dawns on me when I sit to write a piece, where I stare at my blinking cursor. Not to sound pompous, but both these crafts need creativity and skills. I am learning, but both in writing and making music, you need practice. The more you write, and the more you make music, you learn and get better.
Nothing is absolute, and there are no rules in creativity; it’s lucid when you find the right vibe. In the tireless process of trials and errors, I finally found my muse, my tune. Beautiful things often happen by accident, and so did my tune, and it just felt perfect. I bit the bullet and decided to produce a song. It felt so easy to decide in my head, but when I actually sat down to look into producing music, it felt like I was exploring an abyss. Whoa! It still gives me goosebumps because I knew nothing about music production besides playing the instrument and singing. I wanted to take my wife’s help as she has answers for everything, like responding to my SOS call for not finding my car keys, wallets, etc. In this case, however, some expertise was necessary, so I decided to take the help of my second wife, Ms. Google. And bingo—she knew it all! Thanks to her, I quickly ramped up on the basics of recording and got all the necessary gadgets (without overspending!). I know if my wife reads these lines, I can totally imagine her rolling her eyes. Surprisingly, I also broke the century-old myth about men not being able to multitask. I felt like a trooper, totally on fire, multitasking. I was a part-time Nanny, part-time musician, a sous chef, driver, and a full-time writer, and not to forget the occasional socializing—all that with a pre-existing condition of a very sore back. Ouch, ouch!
With my understanding of the theory about loud music and babies being inversely proportional, I used to sneakily wake up around 5 a.m. or earlier and tiptoe my way to the recording room to record guitar, bass, and keyboard. In my heart of hearts, I secretly did want to wake my baby boy up because I love to play with him. Yep, you do go gaga over your kid. Those big eyes, curly hair, chubby legs, smiles and giggles easily made me weak on my knees. My priorities were pretty clear: I had to commit to my day job and be there for my baby. Equally, I was also keen on completing the song sooner rather than later.
The early morning tiptoes helped me complete the recording of the instrument, but giving life to your music by adding words is the biggest challenge of all. I wanted my first song to be a Nepali song, but it was a bit of a challenge for me. I can write and express myself better in English than in Nepali. Even when I was thinking about the lyrics, I was thinking in English. I wrote something in English, translated it into Nepali, and sang to ensure everything rhymed properly. It had to be a perfect medley of my creative style and music. I was trying my hands on a funky, jazzy Nepali song with English lyrics in my mind. It was tricky to translate, rhyme, and sing while making sure the lyrics synced with the tune.
Given the baby situation, I quickly realized that recording the instruments was much easier than recording vocals. With the instruments, I could plug them into my amp, connect the amp to my computer, and then listen and record using headphones. The noise stayed contained, and the baby slept fine. Recording vocals, on the other hand, was a different ball game. When it is raw and rough, it does sometimes sound like a train going off the rails 😂. You see, I couldn’t simply plug the jack into myself like the instruments 😁. My first attempt to sing brought my wife rushing to my workspace with those big scary eyes. If looks could kill, I would be a dead singer by now 😳. I am thinking about soundproofing the room and getting approval from my wife. Teehee!
Getting the right melody and vocal range—reaching that sweet spot—requires a good chunk of recording time; it did for me, at least. So, early in the morning and sometimes late at night (like, really late), when it would be all quiet on the baby front, I would carefully whisper the vocal parts on the microphone, much like Lionel Richie singing “Hello.” He did it on the phone without a miss, and there I was whispering the vocal parts just to lay down the tune and harmonies. Then, when Kai would wake up, I would switch on to my nanny gear with the muslin on my shoulder (very avant-garde), settle him down, and sneak into my workspace to record the vocals correctly. Please don’t ask me how many takes I had to do to finalize it.
Phew! I finally completed the initial recording. I was a bit skeptical about a few things, so I decided to get some feedback. I reached out to some friends, especially my good friend/brother Phil Rai. It had come to a make-or-break situation for me, and their constructive feedback made a lot of difference, especially when I had reached a point of fatigue with my recording. I went back and forth with my esteemed reviewers a few times, only to realize that I was quibbling in my head and vacillating between creativity and technicalities. It’s good to take feedback and criticism, but music and sound mean many different things to different people, and most people listen to recorded music. My creativity in my recorded music progressed with new ideas and concepts because I had a free mind, was open to wacky new ideas, and trusted my own taste. Life is all bout trials and errors, and we are learning every day. I could possibly sign a deal with the Devil like Jack Black to sing the Greatest Song in the world, but sadly it was not the greatest song; it was just a tribute! So, maybe Yo Bato just happens to be the greatest song in my world! 😁
One key factor to keep in mind is the timeline. If you don’t have a timeline (it can be tentative), you will work on one project for a long time to reach perfection but still remain unsure about it. It’s all about learning—perfection is a myth! The illusion of not making mistakes hinders you from learning and stops your progress 🤓. It is a creative process, and it can take longer, but setting a goal and timeline will help you complete it sooner rather than later. After I forced myself to stop and finalize the recording, I mixed the song to my liking and reached out to Oliver Wagner from STL Sound Theory Lab for the final mix and mastering. Oliver was extremely patient with my numerous requests and did a fantastic job mixing and mastering the song. Oh man, the joy of listening to the final mixed and mastered version of a piece of music that you worked on for months is an absolute delight.
So that’s pretty much it. A quick summary of all the jazz that I went through to record this song. Be open-minded and enjoy listening to this unique contemporary Nepali music, and take what resonates with you.
P.S. I am working on my next greatest song in the world. Your support and encouragement will mean a lot!
Watch Yo Bato’s official music video:
Listen to Yo Bato on your favourite Streaming Service.
