perfect.

So lately I'm a stay-at-home dad. My wife is working and I'm unemployed (which is a really nice gig except for the pay), so Aiden and I are getting lots of father and son time. I see it as a gift, because I know a lot of dads who would really like an opportunity like this. Let's face it, the kids grow up ridiculously fast. I mean, I swear just yesterday he was just pulling himself up on things and taking his first steps. Today he is talking a mile a minute and running through the house like a crazy person.

Yesterday was one of those days with him that was just perfect. He had a minor little temper tantrum in the morning, but once we got past that he was just an angel all day. Now not every day is like that, so you have to grab those good days while you can.

Some of our highlights yesterday:

- carrying him through meijer, where he proceeded to blow big open mouth raspberry noises on my face, cackling very loudly after each one. If you were one of the people yesterday looking strangely at this father son pair, I will not apologize for our volume. The kid was having way too much fun to tell him to be quiet.

- Running out of meijer and trying to unlock my car and get us out of the rain, I made the statement, “Aiden, this is not our car!” He laughed and as I buckled him in reminisced, “We tried to get in the wrong car, daddy.”

- After putting him down for a nap, I turn on the baby monitor and sit downstairs to hear him singing, “I not go night-night. I not tired. I want to go downstairs.” Followed by, “BE QUIET DOWN THERE!” when the dog shook his collar too loud outside his bedroom door.

- After small group last night he was still awake, and we had a great jam session. We turned on Aaron Shust's, “My Savior My God” (which Aiden calls, “my saviow wivs”) He plays his heart out, and knows the song so well that he plays all the breaks perfectly. There's even a build part to the song, and Aiden beat the floor tom and snare – in rhythm, I might add – and slowly builds along with the song, pausing for the break going into the chorus, and then wailing on the crash cymbal on the downbeat. It's so good it just makes you want to laugh – not quite 3 years old, but the boy has rhythm:)

December 1st Release

To anyone who may have been wondering about the release of the live recording... If all goes according to plan, it looks like December 1st will be the day.

There are still a few things to do between now and then, like finalizing the artwork and a couple finishing touches on the audio. But barring anything strange happening (like shipments getting lost or something) the CD will be available on my website on the 1st of December.

Check www.steelesongs.com for updates on this date. At the moment, all you will get there is a picture of the cover and a release date, but the rest of the site is almost finished being put together as well. You will be able to order the CD online, as well as get all the lyrics and chords charts and listen to some audio samples.

Thank you to everyone who has put up with me this long! Considering we started this whole thing somewhere around May, I'm really excited to get something finished and in your hands.

Things that make me smile...

- walking with my son, holding his hand, and watching him take 2 steps for each 1 of mine

- looking out the window to see my neighbor's yards on either side completely covered with leaves, and mine completely picked up and clean

- seeing my wife take off with something she's great at, and get excited about soething she really loves

- looking in the window while out working in the yard, and seeing my wife and son playing together

- having a riding lawn mower with which to work in the yard and pick up the leaves

- watching my son pick up a guitar and try to imitate me

- playing hide and seek, and seeing Aiden's legs sticking out from under the pillow when he thinks he is hiding

- a dog trying to change direction quickly on a laminate floor

We're Getting Close...

Several people have been asking me about a release date for the CD lately. I still don't have one... but we're getting very close now.

The recording happened on August 13th, and of course I had some idea of the amount of work that would be involved after the trackes were recorded, but never having done it before still didn't know what I was in for. The mixdown process has been challenging and fun at the same time, and I have learned a lot. I learned a lot about the art of mixing and about the equipment I was using.

After Aug 13, we had about 45 minutes worth of audio on 20 tracks (that's 45 minutes x 20, or 900 minutes of audio recorded.) The next task was to mix each song until they were down to 2 tracks (right and left.) Then once they were mixed down to 2 tracks, cimbining them into a single stereo file and applying final effects and compression. Once this was done, I would listen to the mix on every different kind of sound system I could get a hold of (headphones, car speakers, home stereo, church sound system, etc), take notes, and then go back to the beginning and make adjustments and start all over again.

I've probably listened to this recording 8,000,000 times in the last 2 months. The hard part is that I could listen to it another 8 million times, and tweak it for another 6 months if I wanted to. Just a little more bass here, more compression on the vocals there, maybe an eq adjusment on this track or that track. It's hard to find the balance between perfectionism and an anything goes attitude.

On one had, we've put a lot of work in to this CD. From fund-raising, to rehearsal, to post-production, I don't even want to count how many man-hours have gone into this thing. Plus you have all the people who pre-ordered them, and you really want something quality to show for 3 months of waiting. On the other hand, this was a live recording with non-professional musicians. None of us make a living on our musical ability alone, so there are going to be mistakes here and there. Some you can fix in post-production, some you can't. That's part of what you have to live with in a live recording like this.

So I've tried to find the balance as best I could. The balance between nit-picking the thing to death so that it's never good enough to release, and throwing my hands up in the air and saying, "oh well, it was our first try." There's good enough, and then there's good enough.

I just finished listening to what may end up being the final version of many of the tracks. There will be a few more tweaks, but they will probably be minor adjustments. For the most part and with only a few minor changes, the CD I just finished listening to will probably be the CD that the rest of you will be able to hear.

That means we are close. I hope that I have sweated the appropriate details and have not given up on places I could have gone back and fixed again. We all made mistakes the night of the concert. We all played bum notes here and there, and if I had my wish I would go back and do my entire vocal track again:) Probably each one of us will listen and say, "ooh, i could have done that part better."

At the end of the day, though, the whole thing still makes me smile. I hope that the others who played on this incredible project, and everybody who had a part from running cable to sitting in the audience will be able to listen to it and say the same thing.