George Bellas: metal express radio interview

You played every instrument (except the drums) on this album. How difficult is it to record an album being the sole performer, and how much preparation goes into it?

George Bellas:
Creating an album contains several stages, the first is the writing. I begin with an intense, highly focused period where I compose note-by-note for every instrument, including the drums, bass, guitar, piano, french horns, oboes, etc. Stage 2 is further orchestrating and distributing the parts. Stage 3 is sending the players, including myself, the scores for the parts to be learned. And finally in the next stage, everything is recorded. For the most part I don't find the process difficult, although there are indeed some challenging parts that I compose and later when learning them I think: "What was I thinking?". But, with practice it all comes together and has continued to push my abilities. It's always exciting for me to see each idea come into fruition and it's what motivates more than anything else. more