A lot of things have happened in the process of recording my new album since my last update. Since they are all things that mainly involve me and not other people doing stuff, I decided not to sit down in front of a camera again just to shoot me talking. So this update is a non-video one, purely for you readers out there.
The image above is how I organized and kept track of all the song fragments that fell out of me in December. I used the lovely ability of my iPhone to record over 150 voice memos, which I then had to go through in order to work from. The songs all came together very fluidly, but in order to stay in the creative space I wasn't switching gears to record them. Thus paper, pencil, and iPhone all got together and organized where audio snippets of verses, choruses, bridges, etc. were to be found.
After finishing the writing process (which is where I left off with
Recording a New Album -- Part 2), the next step was to record rough, acoustic demos of the songs. The idea was not to create a concrete arrangement, but rather to sketch the song, putting the different pieces and sections from my memos together into a starting form. This allowed me to get an idea for what each song sounded like in it's entirety, as well as the whole group of songs as a unit.
It turned out that the arrangements that fell together from my notes worked out pretty well. I only spent about an hour recording each song, but the initial arrangements felt good, and worked as a good place to start. This is also allowed me to share the songs with those whom I needed to, which brings me to what happened next.
I contacted a producer, who I learned about through a friend,
Derren Raser. He had recorded his last record with this producer, and I was blown away by how good it sounds. This producer's name is
Chris Hobson, and we spoke about the possibility of working together. I told him about me and what I do, and he did the same about himself. We've been working out details and logistics, and while we haven't signed anything just yet, I'm about 99% sure Chris will be producing.
I also nailed down a rhythm section. My good friend Robin Everhart, who played bass on "Spare Time," will be joining me once again, and another good friend,
Chad Wright, will be playing drums. I've made charts for all the songs, and the three of us will be getting together next week for our first rehearsal. Together we will start to figure out how to approach each of the songs from a band's perspective. While I have a general idea for how to approach most of the songs, my plan in leaving the songs raw with the demos was to allow this rehearsal period to shape the songs and the record into something that each of us influence. I'm choosing the producer and band members purposefully -- picking guys who's input and creativity I respect and admire. After a few rehearsals, Chris will be joining us for the final rehearsal before we track bass and drums... which gets talked about next!
Another accomplishment was finding a studio to record "basics" (aka bass and drums). A friend introduced me to a great studio here in L.A., and after confirming dates with everyone, two days were booked for the end of February. On those days, the three of us will go in and lay the foundation for the record. I'll be playing guitar and singing, but they won't be "keepers." The focus will be on drums and bass (which require the bigger studio setup to do live, which I wanted to do), and everything else will be done in overdubs at various locations where a large room and setup is not necessary.
As if all that wasn't enough for me to be doing, I also thought ahead to what other content I would need to go along with the release of this new album. After realizing I needed new photographs taken both for album art and promotional use, I contacted a photographer who I've worked with before and admire greatly:
Rob Mizell. Rob lives in St. Louis, and thanks to my large collection of frequent flier miles, I will be flying out there in early February for a couple days. We have a basic direction for the album cover, and we'll also be shooting a bunch of other stuff for me to use on the web and for promotional materials. Speaking of the web...
Most of what I've talked about so far has been done with phone calls and scheduling, but this next thing I've been up to is more creationism: I've been working on redesigning my website. Thanks to massive help and wisdom from my good friend,
Cameron Mizell, I've been learning how to use WordPress and at this point have a new site design that is about 85% finished. Once I have new pictures, I'll be able to finalize a color scheme and finish entering content. Originally I thought I wouldn't have the new site ready until after the new album was done, but it's been going so smoothly I think I might launch the thing within a month or so. Rad.
So there it is. A lot has happened, and I'm excited about everything that's coming up. It appears as though I did enough thinking ahead to get this new album recorded and released in a pretty efficient time frame, including a new site... not bad. Stay tuned for more updates, some of which will be in video form, complete with other people in them and everything!
This is fun... I'm glad I'm doing it.
