Ray of Light - Recording

Recording

"It took a long time to do the album, months. And it wasn't like we were slacking. We actually did have to work fast, and there were many times when we had to move on. One of Madonna's favorite phrases was: 'Don't gild the lily.' In other words, keep it rough, and don't perfect it too much. It's a natural urge for computer buffs to perfect everything because they can, and we were very wary of that."

The album was recorded over four and a half months in Los Angeles, California in 1997, the longest Madonna had ever worked on an album. For most of the recording process, only three other people were in the studio with Madonna: William Orbit, engineer Pat McCarthy, and his assistant engineer, Matt Silva. Before starting recording, Orbit met Madonna at her house in New York, and she played me him the music she had worked on with other producers. Then they went at the Hit Factory later that week, before starting the official recording. The recording process was initially plagued with machinery problems, as Orbit preferred to work with samples, synth sounds, and Pro Tools, and not with live musicians. The computers would break down, and recording would have to be delayed until they could be repaired. Orbit recorded the bulk of the album's instrumentation over the four-month period. Orbit recalls playing the guitar and having his fingers bleed during the long hours he spent in the studio.

In an interview with MTV, Madonna recalled the recording of the album and said her partner Guy Oseary was a helpful friend and that she and Orbit played play him tracks, and he said nothing and leave the studio, and then they had a nervous breakdown. "He really hates those icy strings. Right when I think the track's done, he sort of pushes us another step further. 'Maybe we should try this', or 'I really don't want to hear that'. And then of course, later on, it creeps in my brain, and I'm like, 'maybe I should have done a background vocal on that'. And then she comes in and happily does it, right?", Madonna said. After some errors in her pronunciation of Sanskrit shloka "Yoga Taravali" during the song "Shanti/Ashtangi", the BBC, arranged for Madonna to take telephonic lessons to learn the basic correct pronunciation of Sanskrit words from eminent scholar Dr B P T Vagish Shastri. She then made the necessary pronunciation corrections on the album. Madonna was also seen by MTV saying to De Vries during the recording of "Skin": "'I close my eyes...' Marius, that was wrong, wasn't it? OK, go back. Did I do that wrong? Was 'I close my eyes' in the right place? It was right? Well if I sang the verse right, just pick it up after the last 'I close my eyes'."