Sahki Laal Qalandar Must Must...
I just realized that I haven't posted anything since March 5th...Yipes! I better get to updatin' here...
So...needless to say, I been busy...
Four weeks ago, I went into the studio with Orkestar Bez Ime to record my first album with them...We recorded twenty songs in three days...That was a monster recording session - I don't think I've ever had such a marathon experience like that; we were all pretty exhausted by the end of it...But the results are VERY good...We even recorded a great version of "MacAulay's Reel"...We go back into the studio for overdubs and mixing in a couple weeks, but we're hoping to have an album ready by July...
We've also got gigs coming up in a few weeks and all through May: lunchtime at MCTC, Festival of Nations weekend, and a small tour through Madison, Chicago and Michigan...
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I'm also still in the midst of mixing three tracks for the Dregs' Xmas album...Two of the tracks will be fairly easy to work on, but one song, "12 F-ing Days of Xmas" has so far taken me three weeks just to edit and tighten up: the song has 4 group tracks, and three to five tracks per individual voice (there's six voices, so you do the math)...It's not much of a mess, really - it's just that it's a long comedy piece, and comedy requires some precise editing; my work on it is proof of my opinion that comedy IS music...The success of a comedic interaction is dependent on whether you alter the individual tracks by .5 seconds or .2 seconds...No, I'm not kidding...Comedy is hard...My goal is to mix down the song (EQ, efx, etc.) in the next week...
I'm trying my best to have all three tracks finished by the end of the month...
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And then I'm in my second week of working on my solo album...I've laid down basic tracks for three songs so far; one of the songs has about seven guitar parts layered on one another...I'm going to record 12 tracks total for the album...
I've borrowed some REALLY nice guitars from my friend Peter Berge, including a beautiful custom 12-string and a Hoffman acoustic...Without Peter's help, I'm not sure if the sound of this album would be half as good...I'm very humbled by his generosity...
I'm having a great time working with Corey Benson - he's co-producing the album with me and is the engineer at his home studio...I'm recording most of the electronic tracks and loops at home, but doing all the guitar parts in the studio...
Next week, I'm bringing in Stephen Spaise to record some percussion and drum kit parts - I'm excited to hear what we'll get out of those sessions...I'm also going to record an improv duet on acoustic guitar with tabla player Gary Waryan (from Jelloslave) - also looking forward to that session as well...
I'm hoping to have all the recording done by mid-May and the album fully mixed by June...so that I ALSO will have an album ready by July...
Yes, that's right, folks...I'm going to have two albums out this year...Color me amazed...
And then, over the last month, I've had the occasional music circle appearance and even an impromptu performance with the Long Straight Forever last week (during their show with Shakespeare's Lovechild), but other than that, my excursions out in public have been rare...As I get more off my plate, I'm hoping to change that...
So...needless to say, I been busy...
Four weeks ago, I went into the studio with Orkestar Bez Ime to record my first album with them...We recorded twenty songs in three days...That was a monster recording session - I don't think I've ever had such a marathon experience like that; we were all pretty exhausted by the end of it...But the results are VERY good...We even recorded a great version of "MacAulay's Reel"...We go back into the studio for overdubs and mixing in a couple weeks, but we're hoping to have an album ready by July...
We've also got gigs coming up in a few weeks and all through May: lunchtime at MCTC, Festival of Nations weekend, and a small tour through Madison, Chicago and Michigan...
--------------------------------------------------
I'm also still in the midst of mixing three tracks for the Dregs' Xmas album...Two of the tracks will be fairly easy to work on, but one song, "12 F-ing Days of Xmas" has so far taken me three weeks just to edit and tighten up: the song has 4 group tracks, and three to five tracks per individual voice (there's six voices, so you do the math)...It's not much of a mess, really - it's just that it's a long comedy piece, and comedy requires some precise editing; my work on it is proof of my opinion that comedy IS music...The success of a comedic interaction is dependent on whether you alter the individual tracks by .5 seconds or .2 seconds...No, I'm not kidding...Comedy is hard...My goal is to mix down the song (EQ, efx, etc.) in the next week...
I'm trying my best to have all three tracks finished by the end of the month...
--------------------------------------------------
And then I'm in my second week of working on my solo album...I've laid down basic tracks for three songs so far; one of the songs has about seven guitar parts layered on one another...I'm going to record 12 tracks total for the album...
I've borrowed some REALLY nice guitars from my friend Peter Berge, including a beautiful custom 12-string and a Hoffman acoustic...Without Peter's help, I'm not sure if the sound of this album would be half as good...I'm very humbled by his generosity...
I'm having a great time working with Corey Benson - he's co-producing the album with me and is the engineer at his home studio...I'm recording most of the electronic tracks and loops at home, but doing all the guitar parts in the studio...
Next week, I'm bringing in Stephen Spaise to record some percussion and drum kit parts - I'm excited to hear what we'll get out of those sessions...I'm also going to record an improv duet on acoustic guitar with tabla player Gary Waryan (from Jelloslave) - also looking forward to that session as well...
I'm hoping to have all the recording done by mid-May and the album fully mixed by June...so that I ALSO will have an album ready by July...
Yes, that's right, folks...I'm going to have two albums out this year...Color me amazed...
And then, over the last month, I've had the occasional music circle appearance and even an impromptu performance with the Long Straight Forever last week (during their show with Shakespeare's Lovechild), but other than that, my excursions out in public have been rare...As I get more off my plate, I'm hoping to change that...