The story behind "Seduces Me"

[Ronny83]

I dunno if it has been posted yet. I didn't know it. Have a nice reading.

 

A Story of the Recording

 

Seduces Me was written by Dan Hill and John Sheard. Dan felt from the moment he wrote the song that it would be a fantastic song for Celine Dion. The original demo was based around Dan at the piano. His vocal delivery was perfect and he clearly nailed the way it should be sung.

 

Dan started the production demo with Producer Rick Hahn who suddenly fell ill but who sent Dan to guitar legend Michael Thompson to lay the foundation of what would later become Celine's favourite song on the album.

Michael's guitar playing is always awesome, but here he created the flowing pads and the urgent nylon string acoustic that would become the hallmark of later recordings.

 

As Rick Hahn remained ill, Dan needed someone else to work with. Out of the blue he called me and rekindled our old friendship from the early 80's when Dan was a regular client working with Dee Long at my old studio, ESP in Buttonville.

 

After getting together and listening to the story so far, we got down to work. We finished the recording with other acoustic guitar and some atmospheric bits and bobs before putting together a mix.

As we were recording other tracks for Dan's own album at the time, I thought he should release this version himself, but Dan wanted it to be heard by a larger audience than he believed he could reach, so we played the demo to Celine, who loved it immediately!

 

Now we had to make another version for Celine, and it had to be in her key.

We listened to her previous albums, took an educated guess and also checked it with Celine on the phone. With a brilliant guide vocal from Dan we revisited Michael Thompson to re-play the guitar parts in the new key. This gave us a chance to expand on Michael's guitar tracks and formalize the arrangement.

After a percussion session with Luis Conte and some digital editing on the DD1000 we were off to record a female vocal in order to work out all the problems we might have changing keys and to hear how Celine's voice would fit in the track.

 

By the time we had a rough mix we knew that Celine should only hear Dan singing the song. His interpretation was all she needed. We did an instrumental mix and sent it off while we carried on with other tracks for Dan's album - I'm Doin Fine.

 

During one of these sessions we did a quick drum overdub with Steve Ferrone and his "stand up" kit. With Steve Churchyard at the desk, we put a single overhead U-47 microphone over the one drum and cymbals kit and recorded one pass to tape! Steve felt the song straight away and added the perfect touch.

 

Everything was a go with Celine so we did a further session with stand up Bass player Jay Anderson, assisted by engineer Bernie Schmitt, which glued the track together and allowed us to do a mix that was ready for Celine.

 

To our surprise we were told that the key was wrong! We had to do it again!

I reworked all the parts into the new key and once again we were off to Michael Thompsons for him to play the guitar parts for the third time!

Later we re-layed some of the keyboard's and started to play with the time-stretched guitar parts from version 2.

By this time Rick Hahn had re-joined the team and together we completed the editing.

This wasn't easy because there was something magical about the way the altered parts worked in combination with the newest parts and with each other. I was quite surprised how well the DD1000 time-stretched the parts and we ended up using most of the version 2 tracks for the final mix including the stand up Bass!

 

So far all the tracks had been recorded on ADAT so we needed to do a digital transfer to a Sony 48 track to get it all on one tape. We took the tape to New York for our vocal session with Celine on my birthday, December 12.

Humberto Gatica was working in every studio at Sony Digital, frantically trying to finish mixing the album and get it mastered before Christmas. He was also producing another band in another studio across the street!

Hum was literally running between studios when we arrived for our session. Celine had a few touch-ups to do on other songs as well as singing another new song they were doing with Aldo Nova.

 

On top of all this it was Christmas in New York and the temperature was way below freezing. Too cold to do anything but run between the hotel and the studio.

 

Humberto set-up Celine's microphone and in she came. She knew the song really well and after minor interuptions from us, she sang 3 or 4 takes which completely blew us away!

This is what we came here for. It was an incredible rush to hear her singing the song. She took the track over from the moment she began to sing.

At her feet throughout her vocal recording was a film camera recording her every word. Maybe one day we'll get to see it!

 

The next afternoon we had to do the final mix as time was running out. We arrived in the morning and chose the best bits from her vocal performances. Other than a minor problem with our levels being a bit hot for the mixing desk, the finished recording was brilliant and by the end of the day the mix was nearly done.

We pleaded for a little more time, and touched it up the following day.

Humberto finally had the time to sit with us long enough to get the mix we needed and he did a fantastic job, getting lost in the music as we all swayed together to the beat.

 

Later that night Celine came in to hear the mix. She loved it! Our job was done.

 

Even though we weren't sure until January that it would be on the album, the experience was worth it's weight in gold and we were all very proud of what we had achieved. We all had a great Christmas waiting for news of our acceptance...

Dan Hill, Rick Hahn, Michael Thompson, Jay Anderson, Steve Ferrone, Luis Conte, Humberto Gatica, Steve Churchyard, Bernie Schmitt, me and Celine Dion's beautiful vocal performance!

 

The album won Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year at the Grammy's in 1997.

Dan, Rick and I recieved our Grammy's along with Celine and the other Producers on the album.

All I could think was what a great birthday present Dan and Celine had given me!

Source: http://www.johnjones.com/music/prod/cd1.html

[Jeanine]

I've never seen this before. Really nice to know the story behind this song. It's not my favourite from the album, but you made me listening to it again.

Actually I'm now listening to the whole album.

 

D'you've gout more of this kind of stories behind the songs? We already know the story behind My Heart Will Go On, because she telss it ervery time. And we've heard the story of Vole during the D'Eux television show...

So come with more.

 

Btw:

Humberto set-up Celine's microphone and in she came. She knew the song really well and after minor interuptions from us, she sang 3 or 4 takes which completely blew us away!

This is what we came here for. It was an incredible rush to hear her singing the song. She took the track over from the moment she began to sing.

At her feet throughout her vocal recording was a film camera recording her every word. Maybe one day we'll get to see it!

 

Have we ever seen this?

 

Jeanine

[Koolan]

interesting read!

 

At her feet throughout her vocal recording was a film camera recording her every word. Maybe one day we'll get to see it!

Is this released on video, Falling Into You recording sessions? TeamCeline, if you're reading this..it'd be a wonderful treat for the 10th anniversary of the album how about including a story of each song on FIY?

 

http://www.johnjones.com/pic/celineprod1-300x167.jpg

 

http://www.johnjones.com/pic/celineandjj.jpg

[Clari]

Wow, thanks for that story!

[VinnyT.]

Cool Story!

[george]

It sure is an interesting story!!!!However it would be sublime if we could see what was recorded in that camera while Celine was in the studio recording the song!!!!!Please give us that session in videooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

[whosarahre]

wow that so awesome to know

[Celine's Wife]

Cool

[OnlyCeline]

OMG... Tha's Sooo Cool... It Could Be A Legend!!!

[Ania4]

interesting read!

 

At her feet throughout her vocal recording was a film camera recording her every word. Maybe one day we'll get to see it!

Is this released on video, Falling Into You recording sessions? TeamCeline, if you're reading this..it'd be a wonderful treat for the 10th anniversary of the album how about including a story of each song on FIY?

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I totaly agree.

That would be a great present from TeamCeline

 

There are not many videos from Fallinf into you album recording.

Edited March 26, 2006 by Ania4

[Ronny83]

Please, Céline's staff, release "Falling Into You" Dualdisc with all these special contents.

[OnlyCeline]

Please, Céline's staff, release "Falling Into You" Dualdisc with all these special contents.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I Strongly Agree!!! Come On Guys!!! We Need A DVD Extra!!! Sum Songs That Never Realeased... MUSIC VIDEOS!!! Making Of... ect...

[Gicedi]

Wow! I LOVE Seduces me! It's one of my very very favorite songs! Interesting story! I WANT to see that video!!!!!!

 

''Oh dear Sony, let us see all this stuff and we will be good kids. We will never say bad words for you. Ok we'll try! ''

[celinefanonline]

yeah they should include the making of falling into you album!!

like the one shared in multimedia section but could include more!

the music videos the live ones and more recording stuff hahha

Edited March 27, 2006 by celinefanonline

[LVCeline]

This song is one of my favorite, and that was an awesome story! Although it's quite depressing to know there's video footage of her recording the song, and we'll probably never see it...

[Bellamy]

This is one of the most sensational songs Celine had ever recorded.

Hope one day SONY will release all the behind scene stuffs.

[vivezpouraimer]

Thanks for sharing -- nice read.

[1Celine12]

We as the fans need to contact SONY via the feedback form on her website and tell them we want the footage released for the 10th anniversary celebration. That's what we need to do. Get on it folks.

[winforlife]

That was an interesting story-thanks.

Céline really puts her heart and soul into the song.

It would great if Sony would release the footage of her singing, Seduces Me.

[Koolan]

We as the fans need to contact SONY via the feedback form on her website and tell them we want the footage released for the 10th anniversary celebration.  That's what we need to do.  Get on it folks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I sent enough feedback to them someone pick up my slack

[vlad]

thanks for this stor.i can't get enough of this song.believe me

[Krys]

thanks for the story

 

pray that SONY will release it

[nagyorsi]

Interesting story.

Thanks for sharing it!

[nature boy]

Nice to read thnaks for poting. I love this song it's always been one of my favorites. Especially now it's in the show.

[firebird]

Humberto set-up Celine's microphone and in she came. She knew the song really well and after minor interuptions from us, she sang 3 or 4 takes which completely blew us away!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I want to hear them all

[ByuSmurf]

WOW! WHAT A GREAT STORY!

[HelenCeline27]

thanks for posting this never seen it before

[songbird]

OMG this was captivating... loved it. thanks

[smw]

Celine's French albums are her best work. This song, in my opinion, comes closest to capturing the "French quality". It's among her greatest of all the songs she's recorded..

 

It's so intimate, yet it still showcases her vocal ability. On the Karen Carpenter forum, this is one of the songs that have drawn people in to Celine's music. It's also a favorite among my friends.

 

Thanks for sharing! I can't believe he even doubted that this song would make it on the album!

 

Falling Into You is phenomenal!

[Celinemaniac]

Ronny83, thank you very much for this info! I've never read this before!

"Seduces Me" is among my very very favorite Celine songs, and that means among my very favorite songs in general!

I would love to hear also Dan's version, but I can't find it!

Let's hope we could, some day, have the video from the recording sessions!!!