Time Flies

 Time is just flyin', I tell ya.  It's kind of amazing and always rather scary.  Week #2 of listening to "I Miss You Most at Nighttime" brought about 2 more mixes, and with this past weekend I added a whole bunch of spice and such, trying to make the various refrains stick out in a more unique fashion.  I have yet to do a full listen to this version so who knows if my changes will work/help or not.  It's always up in the air for a bit.  Most of these changes were notes that I had written down before I even completed the recording, and instead opted to try to leave the songs a bit more sparse, but I've apparently reversed course a bit on that.

I also discovered the "auto pan" plugin in the past week.  I didn't even know it was out there (duh!).  Initially, I thought, why the heck would I need that when I have automation?  But, I have already found a good use for it in 2-3 places and I'm just using the built-in plug-in that comes with Pro Tools.  Who knows what a paid for version would give you.

I'm entering week #3 of mixing/listening and I'm hoping that I'm fairly wrapped up by the end of the week.  I've basically given myself a month to mix this album, if necessary, but wouldn't mind being done beforehand.  I still need to do the dreaded mono mix check which is new to me and I'm a little paranoid of it, to be honest.  It kind of irks me that I even need to worry about mono in 2021.  Ugh.

Other than that, I've found myself missing guitar playing since I've been mainly focused on keyboards over the past 2 weeks.  We of course have a holiday weekend creeping up and the US Open begins today so it should be a fairly busy time period.  I'm sure I'll blink and it'll be Halloween.  Sigh.

PT Automation

 I had a decent week #1 of listening to "I Miss You Most at Nighttime" and made quite a few notes here and there upon each listen.  I spent the weekend fooling around with various computers, programs, and interfaces, trying to get some new items setup that I recently purchased.  It's not my favorite way to spend a weekend but it did have to get done.  I finally got around to working on mix #2 of the album yesterday and I actually made quite a few changes to it, more than I had initially planned on.  I won't know how it sounds per se until Tuesday when I once again listen to it on my stereo system.  Will it be closer to done or further?  One never knows but always hopes for the first option, of course, and this is why we save every rendition along the way...just in case.

I finally got around to doing a bigger deep dive into Pro Tools automation.  You'd think that after 10 years of using the program that I'd be close to an expert, no?  Well, a bit to my shock, I actually didn't really know anything about how to use it, and instead I was once again doing it the old fashioned hard way without even realizing it.  I mean, no wonder I found it ridiculously hard...(sigh).  Old habits die hard.

In the end, PT automation IS actually super simple and there's no reason for me to keep from doing my pans and such to the very end.  They also make auto panning plugin's which I wasn't at all aware of, although the verdict isn't quite in yet for the one I've got available to me, but it is amazing how simple most of these tasks are.  Doing it the old way, or quite frankly manual "player piano" way, is actually quite absurd when you have this functionality available to you.  There, I've said it...I'm a bit absurd.

I got all the pans and various buss send changes all automated and in place so it should be interesting to hear the difference this week.  I did a lot of tightening up of the bass which is pretty much always the biggest issue in any mix so the real question is how that sounds and if it threw everything else out of whack in the process.  I have high hopes; fingers crossed.

First Listen and a Bit of History

 I just got done giving "I Miss You Most at Nighttime" it's very first listen on my stereo, start to finish, and I must say that I think I've managed to impress myself.  I think this is the first time ever (no, I KNOW it is) that I've ever had a first mix sound like a ready to go mix.  I mean, I made a bunch of notes and all but it's all minor things.  I'm used to first mixes sounding so bad that I usually want to cry after.  This time...well, no tears, at least not of sadness.  Maybe I'm finally getting somewhere?  I can only hope since I'm slowly running out of time, as they say.

As soon as the album ended, I immediately reached for "This Land" by Bill Frisell, the very first album I ever heard by Frisell.  I should say that this is also the first time ever that I have listened to something of my own and then something professional and not wanted to sob hysterically because mine sounds so inferior.  Now, this mix certainly doesn't sound as good as a high budget jazz album, of course, but it doesn't sound bad either, and I'll take that as a win.

In all honesty, this whole thing started for me back around '94, back when I worked the overnight shift on a help desk, and I came in to work one evening at my usual 10pm start time to find a new guy working the swing shift named Scott.  He was a fairly tall guy, with dark hair and glasses, and seemed awfully friendly and chatty considering he was brand new and all, and I was amazed how everyone acted like he had been working there forever.  For some reason, he and I started chatting almost immediately since I think someone had told him beforehand that I played guitar (he played drums) and perhaps he was more or less waiting for me to arrive?  I don't know...it was something like that.

In any event, it wasn't long before I learned that he was a huge jazz fan, something I had a mild interest in but had yet to really even consider exploring.  I had dabbled more with the new age sound a bit so I had an interest but wasn't sure if jazz would really be my thing.  At that point, I was really into moody rock music so jazz was sort of in a different world.  I don't remember if it was that very first night or the next one, or the next one, but somewhere in the very beginning he brought in a small pile of CD's for me to take home and listen to.  One of them was Bill Frisell "This Land" and I distinctly recall how excited he was to introduce Frisell to me.  In fact, I remember him saying the night before he brought it in something like "...oh, you'll love Frisell...I'll bring it tomorrow..."

I still remember going home that next morning after work with this small mound of CD's kind of wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into.  I was already mentally preparing for how I'd break it to him that this wasn't really my thing but I did silently vow that I'd give each CD at least some sort of fair listen.  Putting "This Land" on for the first time was like entering a world I didn't know existed.  What the hell was this???  Looking back on it now as a mega Frisell fan, it's one of Frisell's albums just loaded to the gills with brass instruments, and I never ever liked brass at all, especially back then (I do now...but that's a different story).  I think I got one or two songs into the disc and recall thinking and perhaps even saying out loud that, whoah, this is some corny sh*t and really not my thing.  I mean, these were my biggest years of bands like Marillion, the Connells, a bit of Al Stewart, the Church, R.E.M. still, and my most recent fav at that time Talk Talk, the later years in particular (gorgeous, gorgeous albums).  My point is that it was a million miles away from this weird brass music where the guitar was sort of in the background and all the music sounded like some bizarre mixed up version of "The Music Man".

I think I even gave the CD's back to him a few days later and probably said something along the lines like they weren't my thing and so on.  But somehow, and I don't remember what or when it was, I think I asked for "This Land" again from Scott, and this time I really listened to it because that damn first song  had somehow gotten into my head.  And that, my friends, is all it took.  3 years later, I would venture out to L.A. completely alone for the first time ever to see Frisell play a solo show at the Skirball which was quite an adventure in itself.  Pretty much ever since then I've been a diehard Frisell fan and own everything pretty much that he's ever played on, which is a ton of recordings.

It was really the albums "Good Dog, Happy Man" and "The Sweetest Punch" that pushed me into mega fandom, and those both came out within months of one another.  I can't recommend those two enough, "The Sweetest Punch" having the added mystique around it of being the instrumental rendition of the album "Painted from Memory" that Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach were simultaneously working on in a completely different studio on the opposite coast, I believe.  "Painted from Memory" is one of my all time fav's as well but hearing both versions of those songs is beyond words.  Bacharach's work is amazing, if you ask me.

In any event, I haven't heard from Scott for years but I'd like to think that he'd be rather tickled by this new album of mine.  In fact, I might even dedicate it to him...who knows.  Without him and his influence, I seriously doubt any of this would be happening so cheers to you, wherever you are, and thanks!

Hard to Believe...

 I had a fairly busy and productive weekend and I'm happy to say (and it's hard to believe, I know) that the first complete mix of "I Miss You Most at Nighttime" has been completed.  With everything that's gone on for me in the past year, whether it's something eye related or dizziness or pet related or otherwise, it's kind of shocking that I still made my own personal deadline.  Yes, folks, it CAN be done...an entire album both written and recorded all within one year's worth of time, even for ME.  Wow.

I checked off the last few things that were on my list this weekend which included some drum changes/polishing, piano and keyboard parts, and a few other added tidbits for spice and a few minor corrections.  I did listen to the whole album last night but through my studio monitors.  The real test is to listen to it as a "listener" through my home stereo, my usual source of all music listening.  I did briefly fly through the tracks last night, though, just to get a feel for how close the mixes were and also to hear some of the fixes that I put into place, and overall it sounded pretty good to me with only a few minor mental notes about EQ on guitars, lowering of bass and drums, etc.  Needless to say, I'll know more by the end of the week after giving it multiple listens but I can tell you this...the last time I did a full mix on an album, it didn't sound anywhere near this good so progress IS being made.

What now?  Well, I need to get all the other tasks done and get through the red tape.  I've got permissions to get for 2 tracks, copyright info to submit, album artwork to complete, decisions to be made on format, and so on.  And, I've got to quickly switch over next weekend to the "Mirror Land" EP to try and iron out the couple of outstanding tasks I have on that one.  So, yeah, I've got my work cut out for me.  For now, though, there's reason to celebrate in my household!

Back to the Lyrics

 I had mentioned a few posts ago that I might start working on the long lost "Foreshadowing" instrumental album once "I Miss You Most at Nighttime" is completely wrapped up.  Well, I don't know what I was thinking.  I'm definitely going to be working on the Neil Young and Crazy Horse inspired "Wrecking Ball" album next, and in fact I've already begun.  It's an interesting shift in musical styles, to say the least.

Lyrics used to be really easy for me.  I remember back when I started how I wouldn't really spend more than 1-2 sessions on a lyric, maybe no more than an hour total.  About 10 years ago, that came crashing down, and I started taking 1-2 years on lyrics, sometimes way more than that.  I was so backed up on lyrics (and still am) that when the band I was in would play live, I would just make stuff up on the fly since I had yet to finish the actual lyrics.  It's kind of absurd, looking back on it.  I used to be a really good ad-libber and have used this technique for years.  Age has caught up with me, though, and I simply can't come up with words on the fly like I used to, and most of my ad libs today sound more like 2 words repeated over and over.

"Wrecking Ball" is one of maybe 7 albums that I have "in progress", accumulated over the past 20 years, and in what I call the 80% done state.  Given the fact that so many are in this status, my focus will definitely be on knocking a bunch of these albums out in the next 24 months and just putting them to bed.  I think I started on "Wrecking Ball" around 2013, though, and so it's one of the fairly newer albums in this category.  It's fairly done and what I've been waiting on is a) the lyrics and then b) the vocals, which obviously can't exist without (a).  I pulled up my lyric sheets last week and started tinkering.  3-4 of the songs are fairly laid out and further along than I thought so those are the first to tackle.  I had a bit of quiet time over the weekend so I pushed it out of me, getting two of them done and, unbelievably, recorded just shortly after.  To make it even better, I'm actually very pleased with the lyrics for both of them and it's been awhile since I really felt that way.

Again, it was all around ten years ago when lyrics got way too difficult for me.  I did finally finish the Defrost Nixon lyrics (another album yet to be released) but I've never been 100% happy with them.  A few are great, I think, but probably 2-4 are a bit below what I would have really liked.  Part of it came down to me trying new techniques, mainly due to the lyrical constipation I was experiencing, and so I tried writing more story based lyrics.  It worked for a couple songs and then kind of flopped for a couple more.  I think I walked away feeling like the story format really wasn't my forte.

These two "Wrecking Ball" lyrics, though, are precisely what I was hoping for, albeit a bit more snarky and intense maybe than some might prefer.  What do you expect, though, right?  These are difficult times we're living in.  Neil Young has always been political so it makes sense that I'd follow suit, no?

Also, I keep forgetting to mention that I picked up a group of 4 what I'll call "newer" Carly Simon CD's on Ebay, kind of with the intention that I'd just give them a quick whirl and then probably sell them.  I didn't think her 80's work would really appeal to me, which is maybe true for the post mid-80's stuff, but I have completely fallen head over heels in love with the album "Hello, Big Man".  I mean, even the title is a bit embarrassing to say, but I'd be a liar if I didn't admit how much pure joy this album brings me.  I've said it before but I'll say it again...I truly think Carly was one of the best female voices ever and so many of her songs are simply top notch.  I really wish I had seen her back in the day.

Okay, I'm done rambling for now.  I don't know if anyone reads this stuff, and in truth it doesn't matter because I really write this more as a sort of online diary for myself, but hopefully it'll provide some valuable insight on some level at some point.  Until next time...

Brutal, I Tell Ya...

 Say it with me:  manipulating midi data is brutal.  It's that short and simple.  It's actually beyond awful.  I think I'd prefer to record 25 individual guitar tracks rather than have to do hard manipulation on one midi file, and then imagine if you have to manipulate multiple files?  Brutal, I tell ya.

It was one of those very weekends for me with clocking in around 13 hours on midi manipulation data.  EZDrummer is a great product with great sounds, and if what you're looking for is there right in front of you in the GUI, you're golden...and EZDrummer is your hero.  If the pattern you're looking for is NOT in the GUI, however, prepare to want to slit your wrists.  Sometimes I actually think creating drumbeats the old way, on literal outboard gear and tappin' away on the keys, was a bit easier.  Sigh.  There simply must be a better way of doing this that I'm not aware of.

I thought it would be simple, thinking I'd just use EZDrummer's "Song Creator" function and the software would suggest all the appropriate parts that would go with my song, etc.  Yeah, well, no go...  50% of them didn't even sound like they were in the same time signature, with at least half of those sounding like something from another planet.  The other half I carefully tried placing into my track and, while some of it fit, way too much of it didn't, and the true pain of manipulating midi files is figuring out the WHAT and the WHERE of those issues, and so I tried yet a different approach.  Needless to say, I did quite a bit of swearing at EZDrummer and Pro Tools MIDI.

If the work I did sticks, I'll actually feel good about, pain included.  If it doesn't stick, though, I may start to sob hysterically.  Seriously, though, had I worked on this ten years ago, I would have been stuck on it for probably 2-3 years, trying desperately to solve an almost invisible problem.  I'm proud of myself to say that I located the issues pretty quickly and spent more time trying to solve it versus find it so progress has definitely been made on my behalf.

The funny thing about issues like I'm experiencing is how your ear deals with it.  It's probably impossible to explain to someone who has never done this sort of thing before but your ear basically has a zoom in it, not unlike how your eye can zoom in on small text, and then when you listen to something with your "zoom" turned on you're completely focused on that very small element.  The crazy part is trying to un-zoom your ear; it just doesn't work that way, and it normally involves walking away for a few hours and returning, or in my case I'll be giving my track multiple listens multiple days over multiple systems, just to make sure that I accomplished what I set out to do.  The ear is a funny organ, I tell you, and there seems to be a hidden and strange psychology within it that's almost beyond words.  It can be your best friend and also your worst enemy.  For example, I didn't even fully acknowledge some of the issues with the track I was working on for many months since my ears were playing games with me.  I wish I could describe it better but you'll have to take my word for it.

In other news, I actually now have a rough working front cover for the CD, and it's finally official...I'm going with "jazz machine" since I couldn't really come up with a better option over the past 10 months.  The title of the album is "I Miss You Most at Nighttime", something that came to me almost immediately a year ago when writing the original demos and it's simply stuck.  Post production work aside, the album should be ready for a full listen hopefully by the end of next weekend...if I don't slit my wrists due to midi files beforehand!