Plans For LIE

I think one more day in the studio should finish mixing Love Isn't Enough.

I have a cunning plan:

LIE: Status: LIE

Oh, are you still here? Wow, thanks. I've had my head stuck up my studio for so long I wasn't sure if anyone would be reading when I returned....

I've got LIE half mixed so far. I posted The Dream and All That Mattered on a production forum to get advice on my mixes. Some of the suggestions I followed, and some I didn't. However, I've now got a baseline set for the 8 others to follow. The really strange thing is that the two songs are very different but both got 'sounds like Pink Floyd' references. Don't get me wrong, I think The Wall is a fantastic album, but I don't get the comparison at all. This isn't as weird as the guy who once wrote "Matt must have a TON of Tom Petty on his iPod."
Then again, my favourite comparison was being called "Bryan Ferry on crack." This was especially flattering since his cocaine-fuelled 'Let's Stick Together' is one of the greatest pop albums of all time.

Anyway, here's the status:
All That Mattered - done
The Dream - done
Love Isn't Enough - done
What To Say - done
Swagger & Twirl - almost done, a little tweaking needed
Welcome To The Nighttime - almost done, a little tweaking needed
Home - tomorrow
Don't Pity Me - almost done, a little tweaking needed
Wow - tomorrow (hopefully - this one will be complicated. I'll be saying 'wow' once it's finished)
Burn - tomorrow

And if you're curious to hear The Dream and All That Mattered, click HERE for a temporary preview.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

When I wrote my last post, I was about to re-record the vocals to my new album. I woke up early on that Saturday morning, blogged while having my coffee, then got to work setting up for a day's recording. Mic set up, levels checked, lyric sheets found (I have a terrible memory), backing tracks levelled…
The upside to singing these songs so often during the 'development' and 'recording' stages is that I'm pretty well rehearsed at this point. I quickly ran through What To Say, All That Mattered, and Wow. Tracking took a few hours, so I stopped to give my voice a break. While resting, I started listening back. I was pretty angry when I heard the same sonic issues that made me re-record in the first place!
Then I randomly spotted a wavy icon in the corner of the monitor. WTF was that???? It turns out that I had a strange filter automatically set on all my vocal tracks! As soon as I clicked that off, the original tracks sounded great. I didn't need to redo all those songs. I guess this is one of those errors that they teach you to avoid if you actually get propper schooling for this task...

So now I'm half-way through the mixes, and getting more and more excited by the day.

More good news: Jonathan Barrie has offered to create the album cover. I've been a big fan (and a close friend) for years now, and I'm flattered that he's interested in this project. He listened to my rough demos for inspiration, and came back with some fantastic ideas! He also had some new questions about my sanity, but that's a whole other story... One sketch was so good that it inspired a name-change. The album will now be titled "LIE: Love Isn't Enough." Once you see the cover, you'll understand the need for change.

Anyway, back into the darkest depths of the studio. See you soon!

Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

I made rough mixes of Lies & Speculation. Then I fiddled with the mix. Then I fiddled again. And again.
No matter what i did, I couldn't make the vocals sound the way I want to. They're pitched properly, but have an awful brittleness that I can't get rid of.

I recorded this album with the same microphone I did Overture with: An AKG 2000B condenser mic (nice, fancy). This time, I've also recorded some last-minute clips with my Shure 58 (industry standard, indestructable average mic) and they sounded much better.

So i've realized that I have to re-record almost all the vocal tracks AGAIN. And i have to do it this weekend, as it's the last one i'll have until mid-june at best. This schedule is brutal....

And of course it's the first nice weekend Toronto has had this year and i'd rather be spending it outdoors. But, this is the choice I've got to make.

Dream Analysis

Permit me to be a little self-indulgent here. Because it’s MY blog… haha.

I’m really loving ‘The Dream’ at the moment. It’s the only song with a decent mix, and it’s getting some incredible reviews. I was just out on my balcony smoking a Monte Cristo, and listening to the song again. Suddenly I saw (imagined) it on another level.

The introduction: steady, like a freight train. If you work hard, you’ll get what you want.

The first verse follows suit: Put your nose to the grindstone, slow and steady wins the race.

The first bridge section: a crash, an explosion: Life gets grandiose, but there’s a trip-up, a stagger. Don’t worry, you caught the beat fast enough and kept to the path.

Guitar Riff: Who’s that cocky bastard that jumped the beat, getting in before the starting gun? Flashy, showy SOB aren’t you?

Second Verse: You’re still following the path, the straight and narrow. But that cocky guitar keeps interrupting, jumping in and out, distracting you. Something’s not right. It’s not flowing as simply as it did.

The second bridge section explodes: Similar to the first graduation, but there’s a little more tension in here. Stumbling again, catching yourself and moving on. But you know what’s wrong.

The chorus: That’s right, this is life. Speak your mind, it’s the only way to get what you want. Need help? Ask for it. Wanna barrel through? Try that too.

Afterwards: What’s this? This is weird, and it’s not comfortable. Pretty isolated and lonely huh? Way to go, you’ve really locked yourself into something haven’t you?

Another bridge section: This one’s got a little more struggle in it. You know what you’ve done wrong, now fix it.

Chorus number two: If this song was a Rocky movie, this would be the training montage. Get yourself back into shape. Remember that man you used to be? The one you respected? Let’s get you back there.

Guitar Riff: Yes, that cocky SOB is back. And he’s not deviating this time, he’s unstoppable. You know he’s going to end it with a balls-out bash! When he’s good and ready.

I hope that wasn’t too arrogant, I just really felt the need to express that. It wasn’t too far from my thoughts when I wrote and arranged it, but some introspection came to me tonight. Maybe it’s the beer and cigar, maybe it’s because I just hit a major milestone in my life tonight (finished my university qualification), or maybe I’m just full of it.

Pre-Release

I'm not a patient man. I can't wait to get Lies & Speculation mixed. So here's a rough mix of 'The Dream.' Enjoy!

The Dream

Yesterday I was in the studio, mixing ‘The Dream’.
It’s one of my favourite new tracks at the moment, and changes constantly. I originally wrote it as a swampy slide-guitar song, set incredibly slow and morose. Then, on a whim, I played an upbeat, almost rockabilly, version. That one was a lot more fun, and exciting. I developed both the fast and slow versions at the same time, preferring whichever one I was playing at that moment.
I suddenly had a brainwave – do BOTH in the same song. A little quick math, and a lot of slow practice, and I figured out how to do make it work.
However, recording two different songs as one means a complicated mix. Lots of settings, equalizers, compressors, and even instruments change mid-way through the song. So it took quite a while to get it right.

And here’s the beauty of self-producing: when my wife came home, I was really excited and asked her to critique the track. She made a good suggestion, EQ’ing out some high-end frequencies from the bridge-section acoustic guitars. A couple of quick knob-turns and the result proved her right. After the song ended, she commented that the lead-guitar ending was too long. She might be right, but I can never resist air-guitaring Keith Richards-style when it gets to the end of The Dream. It’s some great playing, and I can’t bear to pare it down.
With nobody to answer to, I get to write, arrange, and produce my songs my way.

This mixing process is really slow and time-intensive. And every once in a while you need something like this to reinvigorate, to give that electrical charge that makes artists do what they do.