Daniel Lavoie: official website

Daniel Lavoie: "Tension, Attention"

This article is an extract from the insert notes of the "Ils s'aiment" record, talking about the production of the album "Tension Attention"-1983

Eighteen intensive months of work: firstly one year of writing in his studio, followed by 8 and 24 track studio sessions in order to try out some new musicians, different rhythms and arrangements, etc.

Last July, Daniel went to England, meeting the man who would become the producer of "Tension Attention", John Eden. The latter has a long list of platinum records accumulated from around twenty countries worldwide, and is primarily concerned with a very particular sound which he contributes to each of his productions. The meeting went well and John accepted the offer to work in Quebec.

In March, Daniel made Daniel Deshaime a partner in the pre-production, as well as in the orchestration, lyrics, and finally arrangement of the percussion part for his new songs. Deshaime would participate in the preparation of this record for eight months. The two Daniels developed and brought to their work such a level of meticulousness that even Eden was astonished by the advanced state of the project when the moment of his intervention arrived.

It was on the 15th of September that the recording started at the PSM studios in Québec. The whole team was in place, four people, a dozen synthesisers and computers, including the brand new DX7, Yamaha's little marvel.

During six weeks, cut off from the world, seven days a week, 12 to 15 hours a day, Daniel Lavoie, Daniel Deshaime, and John Eden put all their talent and respective experience to producing what would be one of the best albums recorded in Québec.

The mixing and digital cutting were added to this, carried out on Sony's most up-to-date and sophisticated system, the PCM 1670.