Saxophones!

This weekend we were overdubbing the saxophone on 3 of the upcoming songs.  Kristen Prince did an AMAZING job!

I found her through my engineer, John Jamieson.  John and I had been listening to the demos I recorded for the album, and I had programmed a sampler to play the saxophone lines on Gravedigging, You’re A Star, and My Clown.  There was something ‘strange’ about those tracks, something we couldn’t put our finger on.  John works with Kristen pretty frequently, and recommended her.

She got the lead sheets and a rough-mix MP3 a week beforehand, and then on ‘recording’ day we just went over what worked best for the songs, and hit the RECORD button!  It wasn't quite a "1-take wonder," but she knew what we wanted and laid down some beautiful work.

Our next mixing session is booked for over a month from now, but I’m anxious to get these last songs finished.  I couldn’t be prouder of how this album is coming.  Having another musician play on it is a huge leap for me – even more so because she was a stranger!

Songwriting - Solo or Group?

For the last 15 years, my songwriting has been solo.  The songs (for the most part) have been cohesive, and exactly what I am trying to portray.  Or exactly what my inner demon wants to shout through me... 
Either way, I’m extremely proud of them.  I have written these songs myself.  I have recorded these songs myself.  The real boost has been in the mixing and pre-mixing stage, where the songs are shaped by fresh ears (belonging to John Jamieson) and become what you eventually hear.

Co-songwriting makes sense.  One person has an idea, the other builds on it, the first builds on that, and so forth.  You end up with new and exciting songs that evolved significantly from the basic chords or riff that started the whole thing.

Having four or five songwriters seems to go too far from the original seed that started the entity.  I’ve had that happen once or twice in the past, and you could actually take that seed as it originally existed and it is an entirely different song.  This just seems disappointing.

Here's a BBC article writing about the average number of songwriters in today's hit songs. 

Progress on the Album

It's May 1st, and in the time since my last post, Gravedigging has been moving along well.
It's a pretty slow process, but is having some surprising results.
John Jamieson is mixing the album.  I've been listening to various incarnations of these songs for about 5 years, while he's hearing them for the first time.
This is a huge bonus, because he's not following the assumptions that I've always had about them.  For example, if I've added a trumpet line at the end of a verse that I'm using to help build into the chorus, I might assume that it'll be a subtle thing for texture.  The type of thing that the listener wouldn't focus on, but I'd feel that something was missing if it wasn't there.  John, on the other hand, sees it as a hook and puts it in a prominent place in the mix.
Suddenly it's a part that you're humming when the song is done!  It has changed from being "that acoustic guitar song" to "the one with that Bah-bah-BAAAAH trumpet!"

Gravedigging For Two has been a long time in the making.  I wrote the songs and realized that they should be combined into one project, an album.  But then I spent years trying to make them fit.  it wasn't easy, and I took time away to write and record The Scars That I've Earned as a way to distance myself from Gravedigging, to have a breather.  Not My Song, for example, went from being slow, dark blues, to klezmer, to reggae, to a faster blues...  And now it's a great rocker that disappears into a weird 70s spaced-out thing.  It's a totally different beast than when it first emerged from the black hole of inspiration.

My biggest surprise is how energized and fresh these songs are sounding.
So far we've mixed Little Rose Tattoo, Not My Song, Kill Me, You And Me, and Tonight.  Next up will be recording the saxophones on My Clown, Gravedigging, and You're A Star.  It's still a month away, but I'm really looking forward to that - I don't normally have another person play on my albums, but I'm sure she'll add another spark to it.

That's it for now, thanks for reading.  Thanks for listening.  Thanks for Supporting.
It's a long slog, but I couldn't be happier.

Matt

The Gravedigging Has Started!

Today is the day!

All ten songs for my upcoming album are recorded!  All tweaks have been done, all arrangements completed.

In 2 hours I'll be heading over to Soundhouse Studios and giving John Jamieson a USB key with 300ish individual tracks.  Then we'll start the sonic jigsaw puzzle of putting them together and mixing Gravedigging For Two.

I'm very excited.
This album started in 2012 when I wrote 6 or 7 solid songs within a month or so.  I added one song that I actually wrote in 1999 but was never truly happy with (until 2012), and another couple of songs showed up while I was working on the initial 6 or 7.
The project was pretty discombobulated - there was a country song, a punk rock song, and the sounds didn't seem to fit together well.  I wanted to keep them as one project, since the lyrics and melodies hinted that they should be one family.  So I tried, and tried, and tried a little more.
I took time out in 2014 to record The Scars That I've Earned, a collection of songs I had written since Gravedigging started, and were recorded over a span of 2 weekends.
Focusing on Scars let Gravedigging have some breathing room.  Slowly, through lots of edits, trial and error, and rearrangements, the true soul of the project came to light.
One song actually went from being a Depeche Mode-like electropop track, through slow blues, klezmer, reggae, and then to it's final form (which is none of the above)!  I loved every version, but the final cut is the one we'll keep.

John did a fantastic job mixing Scars, his creativity drew him into playing keys on about 1/2 the album, and totally re-shaped at least one of the songs.  He took the project from the "decent" level that I had it, and pushed it far above what I would have ever expected.
So he's got some tall expectations to fill today, as we start our second project.  But I'm sure he'll wow me again, he always does.

Alright, time for me to put on my Rock N Roll face and head over to the studio.  See you soon!

Inching Towards The Finish Line

I woke up this morning at 3:15.  Almost 3 hours before I needed to wake up, almost 6 hours before I WANTED to wake up.
What to do?
Put on a pot of coffee, and head into the home studio.

I've been having trouble getting decent rough mixes of Gravedigging For Two.  I want these so I can play them endlessly to myself as I rock out on the subway.  It gives me time to process how I want the mix to end up when I finally have John Jamieson mix it (and when I can finally put it to bed and move on to the next project).
I spent my spare time this morning working on Little Rose Tattoo, and think I've got a solid feel for how the song wants to be heard.  VERY happy, for me.  Now I can move on to the other 9, trying to combine the urge for each track to own itself while shaping them as a cohesive album.

I guess I shouldn't be anxious to rush this - I wrote LRT more than 15 years ago.  It's gone from a cool swing, to a chugging dark rant, to something that (to me) brings out some old-school R&B/Soul.

Either way, I'm excited to have reached another milestone.  I think.

Replay

As I waver back and forth on how to finish Gravedigging For Two...

Yesterday morning I was watching TV and plucking away on a guitar.  Playing one of the new songs (You and Me),   A new countermelody came out, so now I'm redoing the trumpets and trombone.

The beauty of writing and recording music:  Songs can take on a life of their own, pulling in unexpected directions and evolving like a child.
The pain of writing and recording music:  Songs can take on a life of their own, making more work for you and evolving like a child.

I hope this one grows up to be strong and resilient.

Rock N Roll Dropout

I finally finished recording my new album, Gravedigging For Two.
Ten songs that I'm really proud of, that have evolved from sketches, through a few different iterations and styles, to a cohesive package.

Now it should be time to mix and master the project, then putting it out in the world for sale/ consumption.  SHOULD...

Along with music and my wife, I have a huge passion for sailing.  And I'm not a rich man.
If I pay to have Gravedigging mixed and mastered, that will take a huge chunk of cash away from my sailboat fund (that will actually come into existence once my credit card debt is paid).
I waver on my choice daily, but for today I'm planning on doing a rough "monitor mix" of Gravedigging For Two.  Something I can listen to on my headphones, but not put out to the world.  Then, I can get closer to buying my sailboat and feeding THAT side of my soul.

I'm also planning to spend the winter re-recording Love Isn't Enough, and possibly Overture and Reflecting The Broken Mirror.  Other albums that I've written and am really proud of, but which had less-than-stellar recordings.

For now, I guess I'm climbing back into the woodshed to be a musical hermit.  But I'll be back!