“I’m here to get some of my tracks recorded so I can get them out to the public and let my original music be known. I have a few people who would like my original music on CD, so this is the first step to get them precise, the way I’d like them to be, and get them out to the public.”
Crystal Johns is well known in local music circles. She routinely sings the national anthem at Penticton Vees games and at Penticton Speedway.
And, like every singer/songwriter/musician, she has a strong desire to forge a career in music.
“I have not gone into a recording studio before, but when I was a teen, I had a mixing board, and my friend had the computer and program, so we kind of put all our stuff together, and were able to record.”
Johns spent last Sunday afternoon at Audio Junkie Music and Production Studio in Summerland.
The studio is operated by Kevin Fai, lead guitarist for the Timbre Wolves. He also played guitar for Jerri Rouw (Just Jerri) recently at Slackwater Brewing.
“Being a musician I can offer a few production tips. In the end, it’s really about the artist. I can sit here and say that we need to do it a certain way, but the artist has visions as well. So we have to come to a compromise and how can we make this better. Can we add more instruments? Do we add drums, or electric guitar, or bass, or maybe some piano? Do we need to add a saxophone? You never know,” said Fai. “Sometimes I hear certain things in a song and think, it would be cool if we did ‘this’ here. In the end, it’s really the artist that wants it a certain way. That’s what I'm here to do — record it, and make it happen.”
Singing the national anthem and cover songs is one thing.
As a songwriter, defining your own genre of music, and getting that on tape, or a computer’s hard drive these days, forces a singer to look deep within themselves.
So what is Crystal Johns expressing in her soon to be released CD?
“Wanting something that’s inside of you to be heard, or having either a person or moment in life that happened, or what you want to say, then putting it into lyrics,” responded Johns. “I’ve written about my parents, ex-boyfriends, my friends. You write about life.
“Life is what makes me want to write.”
Fai’s music studio is located in a small bedroom in the basement of his home.
There are electric drums in one corner, keyboards, guitars, computers, sound boards, and essentially everything Fai needs to record a CD.
For Johns, it’s a vastly different setting compared to standing on the ice at South Okanagan Event Centre singing O Canada.
“This works perfectly fine for recording. You don’t want too big of a room, you don't want too open of a room. I find the smaller the space is better for recording,” said Johns. “Of course, being at a Vees game or the Speedway is completely different because it’s a live crowd. You’re feeding off of people, and you’ve got that big open sound.
“It’s just two different worlds.”
Crystal’s plan is to record up to 10 songs for the CD.
Fai expects that process to take a few weeks.
“It’s going to be smaller sessions. Then we go back and listen and go, what can we change? Do we need to change anything? Is it good? Are we done?” he said. “We want the best product possible. That’s the idea.
“Crystal has written these songs, and she’s got them a certain way that she wants them. We’re going to make that happen as best we can.”
For Crystal Johns, recording a CD is fulfilling her lifelong ambition.
“It’s a huge dream to be able to have music that not only you’re okay to put out to people, but that you’re being vulnerable enough to hope other people will like it too,” summarized Johns. “I’ve gotten really good feedback from different age groups playing my music, and different songs of mine.
“I’m really hoping that once I slam a bunch of them together on a CD, that it catches a bunch of people’s attention out there and that they actually like what I’m laying down.”
We will keep you updated on the release of Crystal Johns’ first CD.
In the meantime, you can check out Crystal’s music here.
