Album update

We have another show this month and then we will take off awhile and focus on the album. The amount of work for properly prepping this is overwhelming.

So much of our songs are works in progress when we play them live. Ill try a little different guitar part here, a different vocal line there. Its just how we do things.

When it comes time to record the album all of those little nuances are going to have to be planned out. And that gets hard when you are not married to any certain thing you did. Sometimes I think one way is better than others. Others times not.

Then there are whole songs that we are pretty shaky playing live that we will have to nail in the studio. Tempos need to be figured out. Vocal harmonies fine tuned to laser precision.

Its going to be a huge undertaking to make 11 songs. But we can do it and we will do it.

Finances are a big concern. We dont want to be cheap but we dont want to overspend. We figure its a three phased undertaking....

Tracking - the focus in this is to get everything recorded correctly. Tone, tempos etc. Some concerns I have are guitar tone, amp choices, and just getting things down without losing our minds or killing each other.

Mixing - When our work is done its then handed off to someone who knows what the hell they are doing to mix it. Do we use a different source for this? Or the engineer who recorded us? We know this is where the magic happens with albums. We cannot afford to skimp or shortcut around this in any possible way.

Mastering - The fine tuning of the final stereo mix to give that extra ooomph into the realm of professionally recorded stuff. Once again another art completely out of our hands.

Its actually 4 phases if you count the couple months we are going to spend just deciding which instruments go where and what parts to leave out, add or correct.

So that initial prep phase is upon us. We have to craft the songs into their finished and concrete ideas before ever stepping foot into a studio.