At Least Something is Getting Better

Mixing is going really well, I must say, and I'm quite excited by the material that should soon be released.  I had quite an amazing moment last night.  I literally was so excited that I almost started firing off emails to friends and such, wanting to say, "I FINALLY have an album that sounds professional!"  I mean, I was pretty damn ecstatic.  I even nearly danced.

I'm talking about the "Wrecking Ball" album.  Right now, I'm mainly focused on Defrost Nixon and finishing up the final touches for the "Mirror Land" EP, the latter which might finally be good to go (after a series of checks, double checks, various listens, etc.).  And so, that brought me to the next one on my agenda which is "Wrecking Ball".  I decided that I should pull up one of these tracks, one in particular that I've not been happy with the mix the entire time, and figured I should try some of the new techniques that I've recently learned and have been using to decent success.  This is what brought about my sudden joy, for with a few tweaks of some knobs, repositioning, and adding a new plug-in that I recently acquired, voila.  I mean, I nearly fell out of my chair.  At long last, THERE it is!  And so, then I went to another track, and another, and before you know it, at 11pm at night, I went through at least half the album and was beyond tickled with what I heard.  I had even forgotten that I had recorded some of this stuff, ironically, and even my playing and soloing brought a huge smile to my face.  I found it hard to go to sleep afterward, quite frankly.  I swear...if people don't like this album once it's released, I might just give up since it's easily my best vocal album to date, and it literally rocks (and I don't use that term really ever).

I know I've said it before but I'll say it again:  every guitarist needs a Fender Strat in their arsenal.  Shame on me for down talking about them for at least a decade or two for I did not know what I was talking about.  My Strat is my utility guitar for so much that it's ridiculous and almost everything I throw at it sounds amazing.  I also tend to use it for soloing, especially when I'm trying to get that Steve Rothery/David Gilmour haunting/echo and reverb filled tone.  There's just no better guitar for it, in my opinion, and the thing is just so damn versatile.  And, just to clarify...you need an American made Strat.  I don't say this out of some sort of American snobbery but more due to the fact that I first owned one from Japan and hence my misaligning of the guitar began.  I now simply have a Fender American Standard Strat and it cost me a whole $750 brand new at the time (my timing was great because they promptly went up right afterward).  Today, it would be the equivalent of what I believe is called the American Professional series, and while you won't get it for that amount any more, they're still rather reasonable and well worth the money.

I'll also make a shout out to a recent plug-in that I purchased from UA, the Thermionic Culture Vulture.  I have been using this thing all over the place and, while what it adds is certainly subtle, it's definitely a great plugin that I'm glad that I plunked the money down for when it was on sale last month.  Who knew that vocals, drums, and guitars needed this added distortion?!  Not me but now I'm a believer.

Mixing is certainly an interesting but often frustrating task to take on and I can't say enough how glad I am that I'm finally getting to a point where the whole process is coming together.  I guess 'better late than never', said the opsimath.