A Simple CD for Summer Shows... A project journal...

Introduction

I was really looking forward to finishing a recording project before summer. Really was. I just wasn’t counting on all that might occur between inception and production…

The story in – journal entries – below.

April 7, 2022 - From Livestreams to Laser-Beams?

After just north of 50 episodes  Freewheelin’ w/J Oscar, and 2 years of pandemic isolating, it’s time to record a bunch of newly written and past favorite songs.

Though I’ve had lots of time to work on recording and production skills; Freewheelin’ comments indicate the unvarnished, solo versions seem to be what many relate to most directly.

Well, alright then! With new live shows to play, a “laser-beam” playable recoding of songs “the-way-you-hear-it-live” is what I’ll work on.

The first 3 songs to be magnetized are “Some Distant Town“, “River of Delight” and a new/old one – “Home from the Fields” (a lyric co-write with Lauran Hardin). More as things progress.

May 16, 2022 - Works in progress

More recording and Added lyrics to the website for “Some Distant Town“, “Walkin’ Down a Country Lane” and updated “One More Year (On Your Way)” – all songs being recorded for the Where You From CD.

It’s become evident that recording even “as-you-hear-it” versions is not as easy as expected. (Who reading this is surprised?)

First off – in a house (not a proper studio) there are a lot more “extra” sounds that appear on recordings than just the singer and the song. Did you notice when the heater kicked on in the last verse? (Not until playback). What about the neighbor’s dog when the mailperson came by. Recycling doesn’t happen today, does it? (Yep. it does). Boom box or bad muffler car? They seem to drive down my street more frequently then I was aware before this (and at non-preferred times…)

Then there’s the singer – and the vagaries of the seasons – allergies and all that. Plus the aches and pains of lots of sitting (for other work, then for recording). Sitting and staring at a computer for long periods.  

And the song. I thought I knew this better? What if I changed this word?… Ooops messed up that verse – again! Ohh, that’s how the melody should go, eh? Maybe try it in a different range than I could sing it when I was playing with a band. A little slower? A bit faster?

Perhaps we’ll talk about computer and software issues another time.

Wow. Still working – but time moves like a bullet train!

June 10, 2022 - Re-assessment (pt.1)

Up to now, the slow pace of progress is somewhere between “to be expected” and “OMG, where has the time gone!”

While I’ve gotten initial takes of 11 of the hoped for 14 songs, there is only one that I’d call “done”. Other are somewhere “in progress”.

The likelyhood that a full length CD is going to get done in time I have to have to finish it is very slim. 

In many DIY projects – CD making is no exception – misjudging the time it takes is the grandest illusion.

For me setting a deadline is a mixed blessing. It makes me spring into action, which flags as I encounter problems, both outside and inside myself. (I am not lonely in this consideration).  And there have been more than I care to write about here and now (perhaps a future entry).

So is there something I can do with the work done? A 5-song EP-length disc perhaps? A Bandcamp release. TBD.

June 21, 2022 - Re-assessment (pt.2)

On Saturday June 18 I did a “CD build plan” with the disc maker. It showed a fatal flaw in my projections – the July 4th holiday. (Interesting that an “indie” project might be brought to ground by the vagaries of shipping – due to Independence Day.)

The driving force has been to make a CD to offer at a particular show on July 8. Which means I’d have to have the discs “in hand” by the “day-before-the-gig” – July 7.

It could happen… But it might not.

I’d already had my luck tested once before – with the Oxter/Mahone “Pint of View” CD – and it was crazy-making. (In that case it “worked out” – the delivery came as we were loading the car to go to the show. But that was exhausting.)

Perhaps I could dub a couple of cassettes to sell. (Might work if it were 1982.)

So it’s time I admit/accept it – the project, as conceived, is not going to happen at this time.

Sigh. There, I said it. 

It brings a certain sense of release, but there’s still want to do something with what I’ve made, so the story isn’t done yet. Put a mark in the book/web here – check out Freewheelin‘ in mid-July for the next chapter.