"Clap Your Hands, Clap Those Hands"

Song 1 is sounding HOT... :)

We've recorded lots of hand clapping today which was very amusing, I kept wanting to go 'Woo Yeah!' like a 90s dance record, but something tells me that wouldn't quite work... oh please??? Sean??? Picture it, me going WOOO YEAHAH, WOOO YEAHAAAHH!!!

Actually, Sean just told me that some of my Woo Yeahs actually MADE IT INTO THE TRACK!!!!! OMG!!!!!! OMG!!! OMG!!!!! I AM THE WOO YEAH LEGEND!!!! :)

It's all a blur........ or is it????

***

Sean Mcghee writes the blog: There's nothing more pop than handclaps. It's true. Everything Motown, "We Will Rock You", "Joy" by Temposhark...yes, all the best pop combos end at least one session with bruised hands (I've done this, and more than once.)

But, I hear you ask, what's the secret to good handclaps? Well, it's easy - flamming. Or, in layman's terms, making sure that the people clapping are all slightly out of time with each other. There's nothing worse than getting a bunch of really rhythmic people to stand in front of the mic and asking them to clap - you'll get something so boringly regimented that it'll be unusable. No, what you need is the people who can either fake being a bit rubbish, or those who are genuninely not that great at clapping in time. One of us is the former, and the other the latter, although I couldn't possibly say which one is which. Well, I could, but Rob would slap me, and who can blame him? Bet he'd miss, though.

Anyway, my advice is to put down some flamtastic takes of clap "action" and pop perfection is but a moment away. Here's us glamourously handclapping, earlier :



My favourite claps on any record are probably the ones on Radiohead's "We Suck Young Blood" - a fantastic song, and made even more entertaining by the funereal tempo and death-march handclaps. Radiohead aren't exactly competing with Girls Aloud, mind you.

So, Song 1 approaches a conclusion. I feel like I could spin some great advertising speak now, as it's at least 50% more funky and 100% more satisfying than it was yesterday. We have, however, identified a problem vocal, so we'll be starting tomorrow with some more singing. But we're this close to greatness now...and then it's time for Song 2!

My, my, that's a good photo.