‘Blonde’ production notes surface online
Frank Ocean sitting with a notepad inside Abbey Road Studios in London, England, 2014 (Tumblr: Michael Mayren).
A series of production notes for Frank Ocean’s Blonde have surfaced online, providing unique insight into the development of his 2016 studio album. The documents comprise three emails exchanged between Ocean and one or more of his producers or mentors in January 2014, April 2014, and February 2015. They offer advice and instructions on editing various tracks, including several that did not appear on the final album. Although their original source remains unclear, the blonded.blog team believes these notes are authentic based on their content and the timing of their online appearance.
Recently, an IT security professional contacted the blog (via curbsideaudio) to ask whether we could relay a message to Ocean’s team. The source knew of a planned attack targeting the email and cloud storage accounts of Ocean’s collaborators, aimed at stealing unreleased media. The blog forwarded their message to a previous contact on Ocean’s team but received no reply. The emails below are ostensibly a byproduct of the forewarned hacking operation—importantly, the messages pertain solely to the production of Ocean’s six-year-old album and do not contain any personal information about the senders or recipients. Thus, presenting them here poses a negligible risk of harm.
Notes from January 27, 2014
Hey Frank, listed below are the tracks we listened today and a few of the notes. I highlighted the vocal notes in red. I left the other notes in as well. Let me know if you have any questions. [The unnamed author appears to be a close friend or mentor of Frank Ocean.]
First Song We Listened To
Ad-libs at the end are really fun.
Harmonies on top.
Add some rhythmic element to help.
“Ivory” [Ivy]
Bass to have a better pocket, something dubby/repetitive/hypnotic.
High vocals maybe can better.
“Skyline”
Check tempo.
Check vocal timing with the beat.
Maybe an instrumental section, then another vocal part at the end.
“Godspeed”
We tried moving the arrangement around but didn’t seem to help.
Lots of space for harmony.
An interesting choir (not call-and-response).
“25”
This is the track we tried speeding up and slowing down.
Make a bigger deal of the breaks.
The second half of the falsetto part at the end maybe can be more lush.
Synth harmony?
Change up the beat, use A or B section looped to diversify.
“Mona Lisa”
Use the melody at the end as vocal-only intro.
“Mona Lisa” sample from Nat King Cole, Louvre documentary.
Kid’s choir.
“Solo”
Feature from André 3000, Drake, or Young Thug.
Have kick pattern in sooner at the chorus.
A this bass part (growly, thick, pad) when the beat drops out.
“Pink and White”
Try a pad in the chorus.
Missing the bird sounds.
Replay bass with new sound.
Children’s choir.
Something that sounds like the iPhone voice memo or telephone [effects].
“California” [Feel California]
Progression maybe too monotonous (sample the melody in, dropouts).
Try to beat the vocal sound.
Brian Wilson [of The Beach Boys] to write bridge?
Try bass.
“White Ferrari”
Double/harmonize vocals with an instrument in bridge and outro.
Michael Jackson sparkle vocal sound in the bridge.
Try Hudson Mohawke steel-sounding kick drum.
Musical transition back into verse 2 seems rushed.
Try a new element in every section to break up the song.
“Brave” [Siegfried]
Try a modern-sounding orchestral sound, like a movie score, to add drama.
Add a re-intro before verse 2 and outro for some space.
“Dharma”
Try reversing the beat.
Notes from April 5, 2014
[“RR” is likely Rick Rubin, a record producer, Def Jam co-founder & Frank Ocean’s friend.]
“At Your Best”
Isley [Brothers] elements, then more modern stuff like 808s and synths. “Chris Dave on drums. Great vocals and keys.” —RR.
2nd Song “I thought I was dreaming…” [Ivy]
Good, clear vocals. Doesn’t remind me of any song I’ve heard. —RR.
“Pink and White”
Great, really beautiful. Vocals make a big difference. —RR.
“California” [Feel California]
Intro song: double or triple the first vocal melody, then when melody changes, just Frank. Should happen a second time. Really cool song. I felt like I want the last part longer. —RR.
Beat from Detail
Chords and vocals sound cool. Sounds like Frank. Right pocket. —RR.
Notes from February 17, 2015
Please try to sequence and omit songs as necessary.
“At Your Best”
Rick [Rubin] to follow up with Jonny Greenwood about string arrangements.
Rick [Rubin] to have some background singers or a sample to the bridge.
“Ivy”
Missing the audio (scream) to be sent from London from Frank.
Vocoder only in “o [sic] thought that I was dreaming” section? Feel free to arrange vocoder.
“Pretty Sweet”
Good raw sound in [verse] (very angular punk rock sound).
Pick out which final line to use for [verse] 1, “kill me” vs. “fuck me.”
Make guitar in first part sound different or possibly replace.
“Pink and White”
Record real strings from mockup intro.
Make sound overall less bright and synthetic.
“Solo”
Waiting for [André] 3000’s [verse].
Open to new samples/elements throughout.
Try other [background vocals] to add layers to second [chorus].
“Skyline II”
Percussion or something harsh with less decay layered in with kick in middle section (or less decay on the kick itself).
Find good texture (analog/sp1200) for first drum loop.
“Carreras” [Carreras for Peace]
Guitar is loopy and gets boring (maybe more single-note melodic bits to break it up, or other instruments/samples).
Check out the Fugazi loop in outro (may find a better element to put in its place).
“Nikes”
Ride low vocal or mute in places where it’s trampling on the high vocal.
Try using the actual audio files, not voice memo files, for the first half of the song.
Take KOHH off the end of the song (feels too long).
Start a fast fade on the “you can hangover” line so that, by the time the “ooh’s” come in, they’re really quiet, almost not there.
A couple sections in the outro feel thin.
Look for samples (maybe in outro)/harmonic elements (Frank will send samples from London).
“Mona Lisa”
Make as raw and warm as possible/feel-good.
Ask Kate to try some things (topic is coveting things).
“White Ferrari”
More elements or a hook in the body of the song?
Someone else to write it? Please help.
There are 2 versions.
OG POP “White Ferrari.”
Make the “whale sounds” sound less like a whale.
Frank sending intro and outro vocals.
Try background singers on the “ooooh’s.”
“California” [Feel California]
First half needs music, looking for something lush.
Jason [Lader] to check out intro bass?
Outro could be helped also.
“Siegfried”
Ask Om’Mas [Keith] to tune lead vocal? (if necessary).
“Godspeed”
Make lead vocal less bright and aggressive.
James [Blake] has alternate outro with choir that we need multitrack.
“Futura Free”
Reference mix of “Anthrax” by Gang of Four (“I like the buried vocal sound, but would like it to cut through”).
On the “Yemen [sic] to the rhythm” section, bring down a pitched-low vocal.
Unsure about piano in the second half.
Use the effect from the Eventide plugin (“Mona Lisa” lyric), put on the names of Jay, Yeezy, Drake, Weezy (it’s a blur-out effect, setting called “Rap Bass Hype”).
Editor’s Notes: The transcript above has been edited for clarity. Abbreviations have been expanded where noted in brackets: “FX” has been replaced with effects, “Vs” with verse, “Cs” with chorus, and “BGVs” with background vocals. Additionally, the first email’s introduction references text highlighted in red; however, the messages were posted online as plain text, without color formatting. —Odysseus.
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