VOLAR
"Volar" was the first single that the band released on all music platforms, on November 12, 2022.
To agree on the recording of this first song, Vitto, Toño, Miguel José and Phelan held several prior meetings through of video calls. Initially, the band's first single was going to be "Mitómano", a composition by Miguel José. But they decided to start, at Vitto's suggestion, with the song “Volar” composed by Toño, since the structure, strength and pop rock style of this tune fit perfectly as the opening single. The original name of “Volar” was “Cambia”, and it was a song that Toño had already recorded several years before with his ex-band Mabelle. But to release it as the first single from La R4ttio, Toño agreed to the group's suggestions and decided to name it “Volar”, because this is the word motif in the song's chorus.
Initially, the recordings in Lima were going to be made in the studio of a mutual friend of Miguel José and Phelan, but unfortunately, the disagreements between the latter and the owner of the studio prevented it from being recorded in that place. This led to Phelan proposing a studio that was literally “right around the corner from his house”. It was MCA Studios, belonging to the illustrious musicians and brothers Saúl and Manuel Cornejo, located in the district of San Miguel, and that without knowing it, would later become the headquarter and musical refuge of the band.
Before this happened, Vitto, in Athens, began to record, at the end of August 2022, the first drum demos for “Volar”. In turn, Miguel José, in Lima, recorded, at the beginning of September of that same year, the first keyboards of the song. Both Vitto and Miguel José would record these instruments in their respective homes, since the former had an electric drum set and the latter a midi keyboard, both instruments that could be set and customized from a computer, and whose recordings would later be incorporated into the studio recordings made by Phelan and Toño. This "modus operandi" would be replicated in the recordings of the subsequent songs.
On September 25, 2022, after the pertinent coordinations made by Phelan, the band made its first entry to MCA Studios where they meet the talented Recording and Mixing Engineer Miguel Ángel Yance. From that first meeting, a bond of trust, empathy and complicity was created between Miguel Ángel and the group, which was very important later to materialize in each recording and mix what the band had in mind for the sound of their tunes.
The big unknown up to that moment was: would the vocals of Toño, Phelan and Miguel José fit together well when the three of them sang together? Since the plan agreed by video calls was that in the songs of La R4ttio everyone would sing, that there was not always one single lead vocal, and that the choirs sung by the three would prevail. Toño knew that his voice matched very well with Miguel José's, due to the old days when they composed together; and Miguel José knew that his voice adjusted very well to Phelan's from all the previous years of guitar playing in innumerable meetings in which they coincided. But, would the voices of Toño and Phelan fit together?, since they had never seen each other in person. After Toño's bass recordings and Phelan's guitars, it was time to sing. Miguel José sabg the main vocal this time, and Toño and Phelan had to sing the choirs. In doing so, both voices worked perfectly together! It was like magic! And also luck, because the timbres of the human voice do not always harmonize well simultaneously, no matter how in tune it is sung. But both voices combined marvelously, and when joining them with the vocals of Miguel José, everything was said. It was a fact! The plan of the three voices worked exactly. The R4ttio thus achieved a solid vocal identity.
The recordings of “Volar” continued until October 19, when Phelan made some final guitar arrangements and Miguel Ángel, our Recording Engineer, contributed a beautiful passage of Indian instruments with the synthesizer to the song. The mixing of the tune had already started three days before (the 16th), and lasted until the 29th of that month, all this at MCA Studios. It should be noted, as mentioned above, that due to the work schedules of each member, all recordings and mixing had to be done only on weekends.
That same October 29, the final day of mixing “Volar”, Miguel José and Toño got in touch by phone for the first time with Mastering Engineer Aldo Gilardi-Magnan, from Hitmakers Mastering. The conversation between the three of them was fluid and cordial, and Aldo accurately answered all the concerns that were raised. "Volar" would be mastered at Hitmakers. And so, having coordinated the delivery of the song, the final mix of “Volar” was sent on October 31, via email, for mastering. The next day, having the song ready, it is entered into the Distrokid distributor for its respective publication on all music platforms and social networks. Gerardo Larrea, who was the author of the official logo of the band, drew this time the design of the main cover of the song, using the same typography as a base to maintain the coherence of the graphic image of the group.
A few days later, the band officially released their first online single. “Volar” was available to be heard anywhere in the world. The mission was accomplished. The R4ttio was born musically.
