When Kerriann began her singing career with Ron it was a bare 6 weeks before they recorded their first two CDs. These were now in need of updating as new songs and tones had been added to their repertoire. Lisa was just the one to help with this operation. While Kerriann and Ron sang away in Kaveka's the following evening, Lisa checked sound levels and made video recordings ready to put onto their profile page on Facebook.
Maya also took to the stage performing a wonderful rendition of Over The Rainbow and rescuing Lisa from the unwanted attention of a slightly drunk admirer.
As we drove home this evening Lisa asked if all the equipment could be left on the van until tomorrow, this way Ron could come over the next day and they could re-record the few songs where mistakes had been made plus Lisa had also written some music of her own to which Kerriann had now put words, that she wished to record. Ron agreed and it was arranged for him to come over the next afternoon.
Tupa hunting went ahead despite the late hour of our return as both dogs now felt this was part of their daily exercise routine and were eager to go!
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Wednesday Morning. The sun is once again bright in the sky, the sea laps the raked, clean beach and I feel I have been here for months. This is in fact our last week in Moorea and it is going to be quite a shock when we eventually leave all this sun and heat!
Despite our relocation of over 200 Tupas in the last few weeks there are still a few die-hards running around the garden. This morning Lisa even found one out in the open happily demolishing a pile of leaves blown down by the wind.
He was picked up without the aid of the bucket as Lisa has become quite blasé about the creatures. There is however one enormous one that they spotted beneath the ground a few days ago that even Lisa will not be picking up in one hand.
As the girls had watched him pass between one hole and the next in the open caverns at the end of the garden they had estimated that his shell was a good 12 inches across!!
The next day they had dug hard at the hole opening up a huge underground passage but no sign had been seen of the Daddy Tupa and he had eluded their searches ever since!
Ron arrived at lunchtime and everyone quickly set to work. The speakers were connected to the amp, the amp was connected to the recorder and microphones attached. Kerriann and Ron had had a difference of opinion as to the order of the words in the chorus of Bye Bye Love the night before and it took 5 attempts before they eventually got the words out together. Lisa played her song while Ron adjusted the levels and on the third attempt Lisa's song 'Moorea' was captured to tape.
The rest of the afternoon was spent jamming. Kerriann played Autoharp while Ron played slide guitar and Lisa played acoustic guitar. They sang songs they knew, a few they didn't and generally had a good time. Work still needed to be done to transfer the tape to the computer before it could be made into a CD. Lisa and Kerriann agreed to go to Rons the next day and to dedicate an entire afternoon and evening to the process. For now the girls and I would work our way through the 3 hour tape, marking where each song was and noting down comments about its suitability for the new CDs.
We sat up very late that night working away at the music. Each song needed to be listened to for mistakes, background noises and it was only when Lisa fell asleep half way through Hotel California that it was decided to abandon the evenings work and to try again in the morning!
Thursday Feb 24th and there are only 3 more days left in Moorea. On Saturday, Kerriann, Lisa and I will head for Tahiti to spend the night ready to catch the early morning flight to America on Sunday. Before that though we have to make a CD!!
We got up early to finish the chores and to have the time we needed to finish listening to the taped recordings. We finished barely on time and cycled quickly over to Ron's. Lisa is luckily a whiz on the computer and soon had Ron's music program fading out endings, removing blips of distortion and was 'laying down tracks' like a pro! Kerriann prepared food for us as the evening progressed. Everyone was determined to finish the job that night as the days were running out.
Maya had invited us to join her for her Birthday celebrations the next evening and we wanted to present her with a CD of her own singing as well as her favourite tracks from Ron and Kerriann's collection. It was nearly midnight when we arrived home from Ron's but the job was done. The next morning Ron would 'burn' the CDs while Lisa designed the Album Covers. We agreed to meet just after lunch to put them all together.
Friday morning started with a mission. A mission to produce not only two new CDs to replace Kerriann and Ron's now out of date ones but to also produce two individually unique ones for Lisa and Maya. Lisa worked hard on the covers while listening to a CD that they had produced late last night. A fault was found at the beginning of one track and a phone call was hastily made to Ron before he burnt any more. The 'Blip' was fixed on the PC and we were all set again.
Album covers and albums were put together that afternoon, Ron and Lisa working as a professional team while Kerriann and I kept out of the way, helping where we could to pass things between the two.
By late afternoon it was all done and we returned to the beach for a long leisurely swim.
Dressed in her new parero Lisa looked stunning as we set out for dinner that evening. Maya was thrilled to see us and dinner was a delight.
A huge chocolate cake was produced at the end of the meal and
Kerriann made up for everyone else's 'Small portion please' by having 4 portions plus a tiny slither at the end!
Gifts were exchanged and Maya surprised Kerriann with a beautiful necklace in the shape of Moorea complete with a black pearl!
Lisa also received one and both girls immediately put them on. Maya had tears in her eyes as Ron handed over the CD explaining it was uniquely 'hers'.
We had all signed it and we hoped it would bring her happy memories of her visit with us. Lisa and Maya posed for a photo as the remains of the chocolate cake were wrapped for Kerriann to have for breakfast!
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