Target

I had another pretty good weekend of mixing and such.  I did another revision of "Only With You", one of the tracks that's been a real thorn in my side for months/years from the "Mirror Land" EP, and I'm proud to say that I marked it as "done" last night.  Wow.  I can't tell you how good that feels.

The other two tracks from the EP are coming along, and it's pretty impressive considering this time around I'm only on pass number 3 at the moment.  I fully expect both of them to be done within the next two weeks, and no, that's not just optimism (yes, pun intended...one of the songs is actually called "Optimism").

The "...Fish!" mixes are coming along as well and I'm really doing nothing more than nitpicky and finishing touch sort of items at this point.  I also added just a couple more bits of recording but I think I'm pretty done with all of that, my last being an organ part on "Creeped Out" that seems like it worked fairly well.  I'm trying very hard to keep that song, one of the newer ones that I've recorded, as a simple 4 piece track without a ton of overdubs which would be something new for me.

I also finally started the finalization process for the "As Evening Brings Tears" video edit version.  I'm hoping to submit it for mastering this week and then I'll hand it over to my friend who did the video for it.  I'd like to think that maybe it'll be on YouTube by mid February.

As of right now, I'm managing to keep on schedule and might even be slightly ahead of schedule (don't say that too loud, of course).  I've been doing a lot of planning for this year and we'll see how it goes.  I also reached out to MWP about working on that new EP together, and he's currently trying to raise some money for moving his large archival vinyl collection from Penzance to Porto, Portugal.  All in all, I'm trying to maintain high hopes and shooting for the proverbial stars, and so far the key to that seems be simply staying on target.

What Do You Actually Need to Make a Decent Home Recording?

I was thinking about this subject just the other day.  I remember when I first really started dabbling in recording asking this question all the time:  "What exactly do I NEED to make a decent sounding recording?!"  This question kept coming up over and over, even after doing recordings, especially when things didn't sound quite right, and so on.  The sad part was that it was very hard to ever get a straight answer to this question so I'll try and do just that, of course merely from my perspective.

First and foremost, if you're a guitarist, the question inevitably always comes up of just how many guitars you need.  Actually, to be honest, the question is normally the opposite:  "Do you really need all those guitars?!", usually said in a semi snobbish tone.  So, here's the truth...no, you (I) don't.  However, the more you have at your disposal, the better.  There's the truth.

So, what guitars do you actually need?!  It depends.  Now, I've just opened that lovely can of worms..."it depends".  When I first started getting really serious about mixing, and I did countless searches about how to do X and Y in mixes, and so on, I would always grow frustrated beyond belief because everyone would answer, "it depends".  It was so incredibly annoying that I would frequently remark about it.  It felt like no one wanted to share the secret.  And yet, years later, I will tell you that they weren't lying...it literally "depends", whether you're talking guitars, mixing, song writing, and so on.  Yes, it does actually depend.

With guitars, it depends completely on what you're doing.  If you're like me, kind of all over the board where you record sometimes rock, sometimes something more jazzy, or you enjoy putting in various interludes with instruments that sound different from what you've already recorded, then the more the better when it comes to guitars/instruments.  In this instance, you'll need at least a 6 string acoustic, a 12 string acoustic, a 6 string electric, maybe a 12 string electric (see?  It depends...do you like the Byrds or Tom Petty?), and most likely a nylon string acoustic.  That's 4-5 at a bare minimum.  Can you get by with less?  Absolutely, but I'd say 2 at a bare minimum, being a good quality acoustic and an electric.  I personally couldn't imagine anything less but maybe that's just me.

Then, we get into electric guitar sounds.  If you can ONLY have one electric guitar, I pretty much always say buy an American made Fender Stratocaster.  Hands down, they are the most versatile guitar out there because you can record most things with them AND they come with a tremolo so you'll already have that in your back pocket as well.  Strat's have a clean sound unlike any guitar I've ever heard, and there's a reason why they've been so very popular for decades, especially in the 80's.  Almost every time you hear that certain crystal like clean sound, it's a Strat...I almost guarantee you.  They also have probably the best harder rock sound as well when distortion/overdrive is applied, hence why they're such valuable instruments.  I was vehemently opposed to Strats for well over a decade, mainly out of sheer stupidity.  I bought a Japanese model first and hated it; it felt clunky, the sound wasn't great, it seemed way too heavy, and didn't stay in tune.  Plus, everybody played Strats so I just learned to despise them.  When I finally broke down and bought an American made Strat in the 2000's, I felt like the biggest fool in the world when I realized just how much I could get out of it versus, say, my 6 string Rickenbackers.  Seriously, the Strat is your goto for far too many things to mention.  It is frequently called my "utility" guitar and I reach for it constantly.  Do you have to buy an American made Strat?  No, and I will say the Mexican made models are actually quite good.  Why I do suggest spending the extra money then?  If you think you're going to stay into writing/recording/playing music, just make the investment now and keep it for life since they may only get more expensive and are likely to go up in value.

If you have the luxury of having multiple electrics, then my best advice is to branch out; do not do what I used to do, such as buying 3 Rickenbacker 360's in different colors.  Seriously.  If only I could go back in time and tell myself...  I highly recommend thinking diversity of sound when buying multiple electrics since it really pays off when recording.

Best electrics then?  I highly recommend Fender Strats, Fender Telecasters, Gibson Les Paul's or Les Paul Specials (one of the best bargains in the world...no need to reach for the Custom Shop model, imo), Gibson 335's (wonderfully diverse instrument for rock/blues/jazz), and of course Rickenbackers, of which get maybe too much credit in the 12 string realm and not enough in the 6 string realm (I personally love the hard edged sound of a Rick 6 string with Hi Gains via a decent amount of distortion or overdrive).  A thing about Rick's...they're one of the harder guitars to play since their necks are fairly small, cramped, and bulbous.  My first quality electric was a Rick 6 string and it seriously made getting better at guitar playing much harder for me.  It was only years later that I realized how much easier a Gibson or Fender is to play, and honestly I rarely reach for the Rick's these days except when I want a certain sound.

For acoustics, I'm a broken record...you simply cannot beat Breedlove Master Class models made pre 2013, before Bedell bought the company (and <choke> ruined it), and they're not even that expensive on the used market.  I cannot tell you how many times someone has asked me how I get that wonderful acoustic sound in a recording and I always say the same thing...it's not me, it's the guitar.  If the standard concert size Breedlove acoustic feels too small (btw, always opt for the 20 series, as in the C20 rather than the C10, imo), then try to get your hands on an auditorium or A model.  They're harder to find but quite glorious.  I have an A25 that I have detuned slightly and, every time I strum it, it knocks my socks off in regards to how amazing it sounds.  Seriously, I can't say enough about Breedloves.  I also have a Taylor 716 and it literally feels like a chunk of wood next to my Breed's.  Those older Breedloves are the biggest secret in acoustic guitars, in my opinion, and those of us who are privy to the info won't settle for anything else (maybe we'll talk tone woods some other time).

If you're super lucky and can get your hands on even more instruments, Baritone guitars are quite interesting, or again buy an extra acoustic and detune it.  The possibilities are endless in that realm.  Someone once wrote that when they run out of ideas for writing songs, they reach for a detuned guitar and it's like they've never played the instrument before.  I've tried this myself...it really does work.  If you're new to guitar, though, I don't recommend venturing down these pathways that early on.  There's always time for this later.

Effects?  One of the first ones I ever bought was an Ebow and I still swear by them.  To me, it's a must.  I also LOVE volume pedals but I'm a big 70's prog rock fan, and you just can't not have one, unless you both prefer and are really good at using your finger on the volume knob of a guitar.  To me, the bigger and more gas pedal feeling the volume pedal, the better, and I personally love the Ernie Ball pedals.  I also swear by the Fulltone OCD Overdrive pedal and the Boss Blues Driver for lighter tones, two wonderful pedals that you'll always find some use for.  Delay is a must and I really love the Dispatch Master from Earthquaker, and it's a "you can't find a bad sound" sort of pedal.  Another must for me at least is the Boss Octave pedal, or any octave, really.  It's a sound that I simply adore, much thanks to Ali Farka Toure's "Niafunke" album (beyond great album, btw).

Next up, bass...  If you're a guitar player at any level, you can easily pull off bass, provided you're just looking for your average Adam Clayton style rock bass line.  I personally love a Fender American PBass but again the Mexican made models are quite good so you can getaway pretty cheaply, especially if it's not your main instrument.  Recording direct has been kinder to me personally, and of course it's quieter, so the overhead and price tag is very low; just grab a DI box and maybe a pedal that's made for direct recording.  I suggest always recording the pedal and direct signal so you have both to choose from later on and the DI box should make this super simple.  If you're not a guitar player, there is software out there such as EZBass from Toontrack which I've heard good things about but I've never personally used it.  One last option is to simply use keyboard tracks for your bass tones, something I use quite often depending upon the song.  It just depends.

So, what about recording?  You need some sort of interface with decent inputs and converters.  In this day and age, I personally don't think that having something like ProTools and, say, a UA Apollo is completely out of reach, and even if it's a bit more than you want to spend, it's worth it.  There are also many cheaper programs like ProTools out there that you can get for a fraction of the price.  As for interfaces, don't fall for the idea that you need 8 preamps since most of us really never use more than 2 at a time.  Pair this with something as small as a Mac Mini and you're quickly in business.

You do NEED at least one good condenser microphone.  I started out with an AT 4050; it took me probably 2-3 years to pay that off back in the mid 90's.  It changed the game for me, though, and recording an acoustic with that versus, say, a Shure SM57, was night and day.  Grab at least one good condenser and don't worry about "matched pairs" or anything like that unless it's specifically something that you need for your situation.  Do you need or should you just shoot for the stars and buy something like a Neumann U87ai?  As much as I really like the microphone, the answer is no unless you really have the budget for it.  Will it improve your sound?  Absolutely, but will it improve your sound, say, 8x over the AT 4050?  No.  That's the question I both recommend and always ask myself before buying something:  is this really X times better sounding than what I might already have?  I say X times because one might be X times more expensive than the other but rarely does that number match how many times better it'll sound.

A lot of people swear by outboard preamps, although the trend has been leaning lately more towards plugin's.  I do prefer using outboard preamps but you don't need to spend 5k on them.  In fact, buy a Great River ME-1NV for about $900 and you'll be ecstatic and it'll be with you for life.  If the majority of what you record is a single source at a time, well, you only need the one preamp so save your money versus buying multiples.  Again, it depends.

So, what else?  If you're a guitarist, you do need a good amp.  Amps do need to be at a certain minimum volume to sound their best, something I've learned the hard way, so having a way to crank it up, per se, without disturbing your neighbors or spouses or children (or pets) is something I highly recommend.  I can't say enough about a 1 watt amp head; wow.  The Benson Vinny is downright amazing but there are many 1 watt amps out there these days.  Simply connect it to a 10 or 12 inch speaker cabinet and you're all set, and yes...1 watt is actually enough to be way too loud, believe it or not.

For mic'ing guitar cabinets, I still prefer the condensers.  To my ears, they just sound the most natural.  SM57's are a great choice, though, if that's what your budget allows (although you should already have a condenser at your disposal if you're following along).  Some people love Ribbon mic's...my experience has been mixed.  Personally, I don't think I could recommend them but perhaps it's just the kind of music I'm doing.  They carry a pretty hefty price tag and don't seem to deliver but that's just my personal opinion.  If you do opt for a Ribbon mic, expect the overall sound to be darker, and many people balance that with a paired SM57 or condenser.

Believe it or not, that's about all you need but...well, it depends.  You might want some drum software if you don't know a good drummer and/or have a way to record them.  EZDrummer is a great product although sometimes a bit frustrating to manipulate the actual MIDI.  The sound quality is top notch, though, and learning to use it at a minimum level is fairly painless.  It's also fairly reasonable in price.

You'll also want some sort of keyboard/piano, or simply software and a controller.  The latter is usually the better approach if you're not an actual keyboard player (like myself).  Some recording software comes preloaded with keyboard sounds, such as ProTools, so you may only need to buy a controller to harness that power at your fingertips.

Everything else is gravy, my friends, and of course the more you have at your disposal the better...but you can make an amazing recording and album with actually very little.  Spend the money on good quality where it counts:  quality instruments, a quality interface with decent preamps, or a decent preamp or two, and don't forget good quality cables.  Oh, and a real tuner...PLEASE...buy a tuner.  Nothing makes me cringe more than hearing someone's part where they're terribly out of tune.

I don't know if this terribly long post will help anyone out there but hopefully it does.  If you have any questions, feel free to email me directly.

Busy

It's hard to believe that my time off was already 2 weeks ago.  Much to my credit, it partly seems like it wasn't long ago since I've been doing my best to say on the train, as they say.  I had another very busy weekend of both mixing and recording.

Yesterday was filled with my mix revision notes first, all "...Fish!" related, and then a little bit of the editing that I had been putting off.  I also made a list of parts that I wanted to record which is what I worked on today.  The remainder and majority of yesterday, though, was dedicated to once again opening up the "Mirror Land" EP and starting that whole process again.

My mix changes for that EP were once again huge, partly because I've recently tried and learned a few more new items, and I figured they might help me with the mess that I've been working with.  My changes for the title track were numerous but unfortunately I took quite a few of them too far so I'll be making more changes.  I spent a ton of time, though, on "Optimism" and tried working with the 12 string Rick tracks every which way I could.  I finally ended up trying the direct signal, normally a bit of a last resort, and played around with making that sound more like what I was hoping for.  A bit to my shock, it more or less worked, and I also managed to get the bass sitting a bit better, something else I had been struggling with for many iterations.  "Only With You" has also been a thorn in my side but I started over where I felt I needed to and the results were at least pleasing.  No, these mixes still aren't done but I think they're on the right road at long last and my ear has really gotten better at figuring out what's exactly wrong in the mixes.

Today was spent solely on recording bits for the "...Fish!" album.  It's amazing how long it takes to record even the simplest parts.  I started the day with 12 string acoustic tracks, since that approach seemed to work well on some of the other songs, and so I decided to finally lay down more 12 string on three additional songs.  I had a bit of a delay and mild meltdown, though, since the neighbors decided to start revving and riding their motorcycle around the cul de sac.  Its hard because everyone has a right to make some noise, myself being no exception (yes, I'm noisy and I know it), but it gets frustrating when you're trying to knock something out and you have to keep stopping in the middle of recording a part.  I waited it out, trying to occupy my time with other things, and eventually got back to it, leaving memories of the motorcycle noise behind me.

I then shifted to harmonies on three songs and a short tambourine part.  I thought that the latter would be easy but the tempo ended up being super fast for me, especially since I don't pick up the tambourine very often.  I managed to figure it out, though, and through the magic of editing more or less made it work.  My harmonies went pretty well today also but unfortunately I ran out of time before I could manage to work on the few electric guitar parts that I wanted to do.  After these last few parts, I think everything is done as far as recording goes for the "...Fish!" album and completing the mixing process shouldn't be too far behind.

I'm giving myself a rough deadline of the end of February to get "...Fish!", "Mirror Land", and "Effects..." completely wrapped up from a mix perspective.  March 1st is dedicated already to getting back to Defrost Nixon, and Memorial Day onward is ear marked for Wrecking Ball, Speak Softy Her Majesty, and the new Jazz Loop Machine album.  If possible, I'm going to attempt to get back to the remix of "Lost Weekend" in there as well.  Yeah, a very full year.

By the way, it is now official - the "band" name is now the Jazz Loop Machine.  Putting it on Bandcamp made it real in my eyes and I've toyed around with the new name enough that I finally was able to decide on it.  Of course, I've got a couple hundred CD's lying around with just "Jazz Machine" on the cover but oh well.  The new album, though, will be properly branded.  At this time, it's still called "Sorry, I Forgot to Mention This."

Fishin'...

It's kind of nice to have a three day weekend right after having two weeks off of work.  It gave me a chance to catch up on a few things around the house and then also get immediately right back to where I left off the previous week with the "...Fish!" album.

I ran so late last Sunday that I literally didn't even edit the work that I did, and I more or less just made notes and closed the sessions.  So, the first thing on my agenda this weekend was to go over what I had done in a blind panic and hurry.  A bit to my surprise, pretty much everything that I had worked on the previous weekend in a rush was usable, although I did change directions on a couple items.

I think my production skills have greatly improved because in the past I would simply keep beating my head against the wall, trying to get some elusive perfect take for something.  These days, my head instead asks, "Wait, since this isn't immediately working...is there a different way to use this?"  Thus was one of the backing tracks from last weekend, where it wasn't really working to my tastes but I instead decided to try a completely different idea which I ended up kind of liking.  I did end up recording a new take of the part today, only because one of the notes in the line was slightly off and the portion ran just a bit too long, but it was literally only a few minutes of work.

I listened to this set of 8 tracks from the album for the first time yesterday since reworking them.  These are basically the songs I worked on over the break and I try not to listen to songs on my stereo before they're really put together.  And so, last night brought about that initial listen and, to be very honest, I was slightly disappointed.  Ah, but the good news, again, I'm getting better at this, and I made very good notes and I had a pretty strong sense of where the issues were.  And so, today, I reworked all the mixes from my notes and listened again, and now we're in the ballpark.  So, to reiterate...2 passes is all it took to get us close to a finished mix.  If you've been following along with my trials and tribulations for the past 20+ years, you'll know that this is pretty much unheard of for me, so again I'm getting better at this at very very long last.

In fact, I'm confident enough at this point that I just penned some deadlines for myself.  Now, the real trick is to stay on task for doing the actual work.  That's what usually gets me, whether it's life's distractions, health items, or simply being exhausted after work and getting into a bad rut.  If I can manage to keep my head in this, there's really no reason why I can't get this work completed reasonably on schedule.  I guess we'll see.

If things do go well, I have an incredibly busy year planned out for catching up.  It would be brilliant if I can stick to it.  Fingers crossed.

It's Almost Raining (...Elvis Fish, that is)

My time off is quickly coming to a close with only one more day to go.  I've been pretty busy over the past couple of days, mainly doing everything I can to get the "...Fish!" album as far along as possible.  Adding drums to tracks is always a rather tedious task, and whereas I've got a couple parts here and there still to work out, most of the drums are now complete.  It's amazing how much a drum beat, even if subtle, changes the entire sound of a song, especially one that you've had lying around for over a decade.

Today was about some acoustic guitar parts, basically to add some spice and space to a couple of tracks.  This meant putting the 12 string to work, something that I've owned now for over a decade and yet have barely had the chance to ever use.  It appeared that the strings hadn't been changed since 2013.  Um, yes, I know...embarrassing.  So, yes, the first task was changing the strings on this beast.

I'm obviously no stranger to changing guitar strings.  However, I'm still learning to navigate the world with my new poorer eyesight, and changing 12 strings on a large acoustic sounded like a rather daunting task.  Well, I was correct, and it actually took me over an hour to do.  Many people probably don't know this but Breedlove acoustics, at least the original ones (pre the sale of the company), use a bridge where the strings literally pull through it (like electrics) rather than the alternative "peg" style on most acoustics.  Breedlove always claimed that it made the guitar more resonant and I wouldn't doubt it, to be honest.  Their 6 strings are fairly easy to deal with; the 12 strings, however, double up the pairing of strings through the bridge and therefore it's really difficult to get the strings both to pull out, pull through, and then ultimately sit correctly inside the bridge.  As someone who can't see up close well at all, this proved to be quite a task, especially trying to also work with 12 tuners spaced rather close together.  This whole task ended up not being without bloodshed for I ended up poking my finger directly into one of the high strings which hurt like a son of a...

Once the strings were changed, I worked on adding my part to "Raining Twilight Coast".  At first, I could not get the part to sit correctly.  I thought maybe the track wasn't aligned to the grid in the proper fashion but after multiple tries I figured out that it was actually due to not being able to hear what I was playing well enough.  Because of this, I was always coming in just slightly late, throwing the whole part of in the song.

Once that song was complete, I moved on to some accent strums on "One Long Pair of Eyes".  I thought this song would be a nightmare because it actually has no click track at all.  Why?  I actually recorded the core 2 parts back in, um, 2003?  Yeah, it's that old, believe it or not, and I didn't realize back then that I actually needed to record a click track on all songs.  Strangely, though, adding the guitar to this song ended up taking 1/3 of the time of the previous.  Funny how that is.

Tomorrow, my last recording day, will be filled with all the other odds and ends that I've written down over the past month or so for this album.  I'm not sure if I'll get through everything but I should come close.  I have more mixing to do on these tracks but I'll try to work on it this week after my workdays end.  Also, I finally figured out the licensing issues for the songs so now I'm considering doing a 180 on my thoughts with cover songs.  You just never know which way I'm going to turn, eh?

Tick Tock

My time off is quickly winding down and so it's now becoming crunch time.  I've actually been really good at working every single day since about last Friday-ish.  I only wish that I had started working on music sooner, although it's always difficult to get it going during the holidays, quite frankly.

Having said that, things have been moving along quite well.  I dare say that I've had a couple of songs that I hadn't even looked at in ages and decided to do a mix on out of the blue, and when listening back they were almost done and complete on just one pass.  I've got to say that I'm really liking this new reality.  Now, I won't know for sure how far I've really come until I start working on the Defrost Nixon mixes again, mainly because those are kind of a total nightmare due to the overall recording of the tracks, but if those goes smoothly then I'll know for sure that I've arrived.

The "...Fish!" songs and mixes have been going very well, though, and I'm just finishing up working on adding more drums today to the remaining tracks.  I'm a bit of a broken record on this but the new version of "It's Raining Elvis Fish!" barely resembles the original (which is good).  In fact, the original almost literally had almost no drums at all, in hindsight a fairly idiotic decision, and almost all of the new versions now have them with only a small handful of exceptions.  The additional instrumentation, redone vocals, etc. only have added to the richness of the songs and I dare say that I think this is a pretty decent album.

With only three more days off, I'm hoping to start attacking various guitar parts tomorrow and then some harmonies.  Once that's complete and if all goes well, I think the album will be just about wrapped up, with the exception of there probably being just a small number of additional passes on some of the mixes.  What to do with the actual album still remains a bit of a mystery, however, but I'll deal with that once I get through this step of the process.

Just Say No

I usually don't write until after the day is over but I wanted to put in writing some ideas that I have floating around in my head.  First and foremost, I am toying (yes, still stewing on this one...) with changing the name of my current instrumental albums to "Johnathon Wilde with the Jazz Loop Machine" rather than just "Jazz Machine".  Why?  I strongly feel that "Jazz Machine" implies that the music is some heavy jazz styled material, and in truth I don't play "jazz" at all, apart from the occasional improvisational aspect and simple chording.  As I've previously stated, the whole idea of that name came from finding and purchasing some jazz drum loops, hence the album was born, and I initially said to myself, "hey, playing to this is like playing to a 'jazz machine'", meaning the drum patterns.  However, I think, especially after seeing it in print, etc., that no one else is picking up on this, so I kind of feel like adding the word "Loop" gives it more the intended meaning.  I don't know - thoughts?  I would really like to market the next album a bit more so now's the time to get this figured out.

I actually tried to simply rename the project all the way around, even about 30 days before printing the last albums' CD's, but I simply couldn't come up with a better name.  I thought my apprehension would pass but it hasn't, which usually tells me that there's something warranted about it.  So, before putting out the next album, it would be great to get my proverbial sh*t together and figure out the naming.  I can always reprint the former album later with the corrected name; in fact, I intended to reprint it later on anyway due to the poor mix in one of the songs.

The other thing I've been pondering for the past 48 hours is the plan for the new EP material.  Since "The Effects of Connection" is basically ready to go, I have to think NOW versus later about what exactly I want to do with it.  Why is this such a big deal?  Well, because the plan all along has been to back the song with the cover of Throwing Muses "Two Step", which I really like my version, but then we get into cover song licensing again.  So, I did a bit of research on this today and it's now giving me pause.  The question is...do I really want to back it with a cover song?  Damn good question.

I couldn't immediately even find the song online but I will need to do a more extensive search later.  If I can't find it, it would cost a ton of money to license it, unless I can somehow contact Kristin Hersh directly and get permission from her (this scares me slightly).  Even if I find the song online, though, then there's the issue of the price tag associated...which really sucks, to be honest.  My next thought was, hell, maybe if I just give the song away for free I don't need it licensed.  Nope, that's not the case.  Now, of course, I'm a complete nobody and no one cares what the hell I'm doing, but if for some odd reason anyone did end up caring later on, it could be a bit of a mess.  I'm now leaning towards NOT including the song as the B side.  Yep, that's right, pretty much at zero hour I'm thinking of changing course.  Sounds like me, right?!

In fact, I'm thinking of distancing myself from cover songs completely.  That's kind of a drag because I really wanted to do a cover of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" on the new Jazz Loop Machine album but apparently I'm going to throw that idea out the window.  I also think, just maybe, when I reprint "I Miss You Most at Nighttime" in the foreseeable future, I'll remove "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" and include an original track instead.  It just seems 1000 times easier to not even venture into cover territory.

This leaves the whole "It's Raining Elvis Fish!" album, though.  What the hell do you do with that?  Honestly, to license it, it would cost me a small fortune so that's not really an option.  I guess I'm going to have to distribute it purely for "fun", if you will, and keep it off the grid.  Hell, maybe it'll become a special collector's item later on...who knows.

This is not an official decision, of course, but I'm thinking more and more of just leaving the cover songs out of everything, at least until I would have someone to help me with getting the licensing setup properly, etc., and, well, a way to justify the actual cost.  Right now, I don't make a dime from anything; in fact, music for me is something I only pay into via large amounts of money and never see any revenue from whatsoever.  Sigh.

New Year, New Goals

Hello 2024!  I've been off for a little over a week and just haven't had the time to post here.  I honestly didn't do much mixing over that time and for some reason opted instead to do a bit of research on guitar, jazz, mixing, etc.  It's only been the past few days that I've even turned on the studio rig and started tinkering.

Since it's a New Year, it was time to reset my goals.  I spent about a good hour or so just writing down what I'd like to accomplish this year.  Now, I say this pretty much every year and I'm lucky to accomplish even 40% of it...but at least I usually go into it optimistically.

2023 was a bit of a disastrous year for me with most of it completely out of my control.  The first thing I've had to do in the past few days, though, was figure out where I left off.  I'm happy to say that the "Effects of Connection" EP mixes really are pretty much done.  I did just listen to the 2 songs and they're fine, although I did write down just a couple of very minor notes.  I of course didn't physically release it in 2023 but it looks like I more or less wrapped it up in time for the closing of the year.  Hopefully, I can send this off for mastering in the next 2 weeks and put this one behind me.

For whatever reason, my attention has been on the "It's Raining Elvis Fish!" album redux mixes, and so far that's been going incredibly well.  I would say about half the album, maybe slightly more, are pretty much in the home stretch with just very minor nitpicky items to work on.  The album sounds really quite good in comparison to, say, the "Lost Weekend" album, which I'll need to get back to at some point for remixing (I admittedly got frustrated with the remixes and needed to take a break from them).  Again, some of the newer things I've played around with in mixing over the past few months have really paid off.  So, right now, I'm trying to get "...Fish!" wrapped up as close as possible by the end of the week.  This is another monkey that I'd love off of my back, not to mention that I'd love to be able to actually listen to this one leisurely.

I have 2 songs that I'm debating about what to do with.  One is "Cynthia Mask", of which the original version was never too wonderful and could have been the worst track on the whole album (way to open the album with that, huh?!).  I'm fiddling with completely reworking that song but I could go in about 1 of 5 different directions so it'll be interesting to see what comes of it, if anything.  I could also just leave the song off the redux album as well.

I also toyed with "Creeped Out" which is a newer track of RH's (well, of the past 20 years) that wasn't on my original release.  I wanted to try a drum on my demo version of the song and low and behold the very first pattern I clicked on fit quite well.  This is pretty much unheard of...seriously.  I'm taking it as a sign so I'll probably move forward with this one and see what I get.

On my agenda hopefully for 2024, starting around summer, is to finally work on the Speak Softly, Her Majesty fake band name album.  This along with Wrecking Ball are the 2 albums I started about a decade ago, almost in unison, that I've been the most excited about.  I looked at one of my rough demos yesterday and quickly fell down the rabbit hole, basically spending 3 hours on the track, trying out drums, piano parts, etc.  I think I ended up with my missing 6th track, at least in demo form.  This album excites me quite a bit because the sound of the album is so different than anything I've ever worked on or released before.  After working on the track, I forced myself to put it aside since I need to keep focus on the work I already have in front of me.

I finally played around with my new Boss Harmonist pedal.  Honestly, this pedal never interested me in the least...and yet something told me about a month ago to pick one up.  It seemed a bit strange but I try to follow my intuition whenever possible.  In trying it out yesterday, I think the timing is perfect since I'm learning more about music all the time and this thing makes some outrageously unusual sounds that should fit perfectly for the music on my agenda this year.

That's the news over here.  For day 1 of the New Year, all systems go; hopefully it remains that way.  I know that I need to rework how I spend my time and days, and that'll certainly be a challenge but it's something that I simply need to do for myself.  Hell, it's the only way forward.