Too Busy

First up, the video version of "As Evening Brings Tears" from the "I Miss You Most at Nighttime" album was finally posted to YouTube yesterday.  You can find it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6mN46fj6U4  I'm still really pleased with it and I think my friend, aka Jack P., did a great job with it.  We're already talking about the next collaboration which will most likely be one or more of the Defrost Nixon tracks.

I've been incredibly busy, basically working my day job and then doing my music work in the evenings, and to say that it becomes exhausting is putting it mildly.  It's what needs to be done, however, and I'm doing the best I can.  I also want to start looking for new band members for the next band project but haven't yet had the time.

I want to say this very plainly if you haven't already picked up on it:  I am not an expert...really at anything.  In this age of disinformation pretty much everywhere, you run into countless articles, videos, you name it, where the author acts like some authority on whatever topic they're talking about.  I'm the opposite; I'm just a guy, like everyone else, trying to navigate his way through creating, recording, and mixing music, along with doing the artwork and everything else.  I'm a one man shop because, well, I kind of have to be since no one else will do it (except for the videos, thankfully).  Therefore, I simply fumble my way through these things, trying to learn by doing and also by trying to find information online that actually does hold some truth.  Luckily, at least in mixing, there's a lot of it out there.

I've been basically tackling 3 Defrost Nixon songs each weekend, trying to get the drums mixed and then start on the rest of the song from there.  I personally think the drums need to be done first since they're so central to the song, and without it you can't really tell how anything else actually sounds.  I will say that I've been very pleased with running drums in parallel, with one buss being put through heavier compression and the Thermionic Culture Vulture plugin.  I would have never thought of using that plugin in that manner on my own but the UA tips videos really help at times and seem trustworthy, that is, when they're not trying to simply sell you yet another plug-in that you'll never use or completely forget about.

I still swear by the Cooper Time Cube plugin and I now use it all over the place.  I usually put it on that same drum buss as well and it makes a world of difference.  It is amazing how that plugin doesn't really seem to cause phase issues whereas the included Stereo Widener plugin that comes with ProTools (I'm spacing on the name right now) can wreak havoc on a Mono mix.  I consider the Cooper Time Cube an essential plugin to own, at this point.

I also finally spent the time on the artwork for "The Effects of Connection" EP CD's.  That task kept getting bounced around just due to lack of time.  I think at the very least I found the font I want to use.  For whatever reason, finding a font can take forever and is much harder to nail down versus the actual photos (you'd think it's the opposite).

I continue to be annoyed as hell with Photoshop.  Talk about a program that didn't need improvement...it was way easier to use back in the day.  Now, to do the simplest thing in the world tends to take me forever, and I'm constantly trying to write notes for myself since nothing seems to be logically where you'd expect it to be.  Personally, I'm not a fan of the layout at all but I'm not sure what the alternative is.

I have two more Defrost Nixon tracks to work on today and then some more "Mirror Land" changes.  Yes, those never seem to end...but hopefully will soon.  I'm actually to the point where I'm really pleased with the mixes; I just have a couple odds and ends that bug me.  Again, lack of time.