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.
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.
posted by Jeff at 2:26 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home