Tonight saw me being pretty productive with the mix down. I hit two songs tonight, Big Tin Truck and Bordered in Black. Again, please note that I'm just looking for technical glitches that can be fixed via cubase. So if there's a drum hit out of place, or some vocal collisions, I fix them.
In Bordered, I found that I had misplaced a tiny patch we recorded for one of the guitar pieces. I found it, re-inserted it, and cleaned up the edges so that it blended smoothly. Now that I am one step above rank amature with cubase, I find revisiting the songs is very useful, as I can use tricks and techniques that were previously unknown to me.
In other news, Jeff More emailed me high res copies of the photos I would like to use for the front and back of the album cover. They look spectacular in high res, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the final product looks.
This weekend, I took a couple of photos that are going to replace the thumbnails that are currently on the covers. I figure there are twenty or so pics that need replacing. I'm sure we will slip in a "knob hill" shot or two. I'm hoping bill will have some travel-esque pictures that he would like to contribute to that part of the ablum
EDIT:
I finished off a few more songs a bit later. Come My Way and Drinks Are On Me are also all polished up and ready for some knob turning.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Finishing The Album: Step 23 - Rockville Is Outsville
I had a brief txt exchange with Bill today as he was out getting pizza. I guess this is the way albums are to be produced in the year twenty ten. We went back and forth on a few issues, and both agreed that Rockville was not only not one of the stronger songs on the album, but also adds a layer of logistical hassles as it is a cover song.
So we are going to take it out of the final release. I'm sure it will see the light of day in a web release somewhere, but until then, you can always enjoy the music video for it that we have on youtube.
So we are going to take it out of the final release. I'm sure it will see the light of day in a web release somewhere, but until then, you can always enjoy the music video for it that we have on youtube.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Finishing The Album: Step 22 - Last Sweep For Tech Errors
After listening to the CD this weekend on my way to Indianapolis and back, I picked up on a number of little technical glitches. Sadly, I did not write them down, so I have set myself to the task of going through each song one last time looking for little glitches that I am unhappy with, that I think can be fixed with the magic of cubase.
So far, I have worked my way through Above You, April, and Armageddon Is Here. The first two had no problems. When I got to Armageddon, I remembered something.
On many songs, I ran my voice through Autotune. It's interesting, because there's a little meter on the dashboard that shows how much "work" autotune is doing to correct the vocal track. It looks like on a lot of notes, I am a bit flat. As opposed to sharp, I mean. But sometimes, I go way out of whack, and autotune doesn't quite know what to do with it. Now, I'm sure that if I was really familiar with autotune, I could fiddle with the knobs and get to be just right. But I'm not, and I don't have the time to become a master. I find that when you put it on the default settings, it fixes 95% of the problems.
But along the way, it sometimes creates some. Like when it hits a note, which maybe is right in the middle of a specific range, and it choses the wrong direction to correct it. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying, but you get the idea.
In Armageddon, there were two spots where it kind of dorked up the line. It was right on "The world is gonna end today". I guess there's a not in there that is not easy for me to hit every time. Long story short, I found one of the refrains where I DID get it just right, and I grafted that part over on top of the two sections where I did it wrong. I tried un-autotuning those two parts, but it still sounded a bit wonky. I did indeed miss the note.
At the end of the day, the vocal now sounds really good, and it's all ironed out. I only did three songs tonight, and now it is time for bed. But this way, I will have some more work to do tomorrow.
So far, I have worked my way through Above You, April, and Armageddon Is Here. The first two had no problems. When I got to Armageddon, I remembered something.
On many songs, I ran my voice through Autotune. It's interesting, because there's a little meter on the dashboard that shows how much "work" autotune is doing to correct the vocal track. It looks like on a lot of notes, I am a bit flat. As opposed to sharp, I mean. But sometimes, I go way out of whack, and autotune doesn't quite know what to do with it. Now, I'm sure that if I was really familiar with autotune, I could fiddle with the knobs and get to be just right. But I'm not, and I don't have the time to become a master. I find that when you put it on the default settings, it fixes 95% of the problems.
But along the way, it sometimes creates some. Like when it hits a note, which maybe is right in the middle of a specific range, and it choses the wrong direction to correct it. I'm sure I'm oversimplifying, but you get the idea.
In Armageddon, there were two spots where it kind of dorked up the line. It was right on "The world is gonna end today". I guess there's a not in there that is not easy for me to hit every time. Long story short, I found one of the refrains where I DID get it just right, and I grafted that part over on top of the two sections where I did it wrong. I tried un-autotuning those two parts, but it still sounded a bit wonky. I did indeed miss the note.
At the end of the day, the vocal now sounds really good, and it's all ironed out. I only did three songs tonight, and now it is time for bed. But this way, I will have some more work to do tomorrow.
Finishing The Album: Step 21 - CD In Transit
I have a tiny update as of this morning. Today I dropped off the new CD for Bill at the post office. MAN, postal rates have gone up! A single CD, with no jewel box ran $1.44! I was expecting it to be like 45 cents or something. Whatever.
Though not album related, I've sort of gotten back on my video capture kick. I guess I am getting all fired up for all things MNI right now. I made a DVD for operation mexicali, and needed some empty DVD boxes. I picked some of those up today. My goal is to have a copy of that DVD out to Bill in a few days. Should make for some good watching, even though it's terribly embarassing.
That's all I have for today!
Though not album related, I've sort of gotten back on my video capture kick. I guess I am getting all fired up for all things MNI right now. I made a DVD for operation mexicali, and needed some empty DVD boxes. I picked some of those up today. My goal is to have a copy of that DVD out to Bill in a few days. Should make for some good watching, even though it's terribly embarassing.
That's all I have for today!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Finishing The Album: Step 20 - New CD Burned
I spent about 2 hours tonight working on cleaning up a couple drum fills on G134. I think it sounds a lot better, but it is not perfect. CuBase is no substitute for Don Varner! Put that in your quote book, fancy boy!
Still, I think it's getting much closer.
I also re-output Above You, which was the song that showed up as blank on the CD. I burned another, new copy of the CD, and have it all packaged up and ready to ship to Bill.
I think here's what I have in mind for the final stretch of the process. I get the songs ready for the final knob turning, and bill does the final knob turning. I think a lot of the songs are really close, and wont' require much work. But who knows. My fear is that once I hand the mixes over to Bill for final knob turning, he will find himself unable to attend to them, due to the many non-trivial distractions he has in his life, like work and his family. I know, snore. :) Still, such is the facts of life.
If we are shooting for an end of June delivery, that means we should have the songs and artwork finished, packaged, and uploaded to DiskMakers by the end of May. That gives us a little over one month to get everything done.
I will take another listen to the CD and see if I can see any gaping holes. yeah, you read that right. If after the next listening, I find nothing I feel is a showstopper, I will transfer all of the files onto a drive and mail it to Bill. It will then be up to him to do his knob magic. Then he mails them back to me, I give it my once over (I doubt I will have any changes) and then we go to press.
I worry however, seeing as how over the past two weeks I have recieved few communications from Bill, and I understand there is a looming threat that he may be shipped out of country for a bit. That would certainly interfere with our plans!!! :)
Onward and upward, I suppose
Still, I think it's getting much closer.
I also re-output Above You, which was the song that showed up as blank on the CD. I burned another, new copy of the CD, and have it all packaged up and ready to ship to Bill.
I think here's what I have in mind for the final stretch of the process. I get the songs ready for the final knob turning, and bill does the final knob turning. I think a lot of the songs are really close, and wont' require much work. But who knows. My fear is that once I hand the mixes over to Bill for final knob turning, he will find himself unable to attend to them, due to the many non-trivial distractions he has in his life, like work and his family. I know, snore. :) Still, such is the facts of life.
If we are shooting for an end of June delivery, that means we should have the songs and artwork finished, packaged, and uploaded to DiskMakers by the end of May. That gives us a little over one month to get everything done.
I will take another listen to the CD and see if I can see any gaping holes. yeah, you read that right. If after the next listening, I find nothing I feel is a showstopper, I will transfer all of the files onto a drive and mail it to Bill. It will then be up to him to do his knob magic. Then he mails them back to me, I give it my once over (I doubt I will have any changes) and then we go to press.
I worry however, seeing as how over the past two weeks I have recieved few communications from Bill, and I understand there is a looming threat that he may be shipped out of country for a bit. That would certainly interfere with our plans!!! :)
Onward and upward, I suppose
Finishing The Album: Step 19 - Multiple Updates
It has been a few days since my last blog update, as I have been out of town. But there is progress.
First, I managed to listen to the CD. The same as the one I burned and sent to Bill. I have two main concerns. First is the fact that one of the songs is blank. No sound. I must have exported it wrong from cubase. That's an easy fix. The second thing I noticed is that the drums on Girl #134 need some help. There's a few fills that sound pretty clunky. I need to clean those up in Cubase. Not that big of a deal.
I think I also need to soften the base on one song. I forget the name.
I am also in contact with Jeff More, the photographer whose work we are hoping to use. I showed him the concept designs, and he likes them. Next step is to ask him for high res versions of the photos.
I picked up another padded envelope today so that I can ship bill another copy of the CD. the one that is on the way can probably just be thrown out.
UPDATE:
I've emailed Jeff and asked for the high res versions. Also, the song that is blank on the album is "Above You", and the bass line that needs some reduction is "Come My Way". I say that because it distorted the speakers in my car. Then again, it could have been my speakers.
First, I managed to listen to the CD. The same as the one I burned and sent to Bill. I have two main concerns. First is the fact that one of the songs is blank. No sound. I must have exported it wrong from cubase. That's an easy fix. The second thing I noticed is that the drums on Girl #134 need some help. There's a few fills that sound pretty clunky. I need to clean those up in Cubase. Not that big of a deal.
I think I also need to soften the base on one song. I forget the name.
I am also in contact with Jeff More, the photographer whose work we are hoping to use. I showed him the concept designs, and he likes them. Next step is to ask him for high res versions of the photos.
I picked up another padded envelope today so that I can ship bill another copy of the CD. the one that is on the way can probably just be thrown out.
UPDATE:
I've emailed Jeff and asked for the high res versions. Also, the song that is blank on the album is "Above You", and the bass line that needs some reduction is "Come My Way". I say that because it distorted the speakers in my car. Then again, it could have been my speakers.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Finishing The Album: Step 18 - CD In Transit
Not a big update, just a note to say that I have dropped the concept CD into the mail today, and it is making its way to Bill's house.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Finishing The Album: Step 17 - Mock Up Finished
Here are a couple pictures of the CD mock up I have prepared for Bill.
Inside is a CD-R that contains mix downs of all of the songs, in the order that they are listed on the jacket. I will try to get this into the mail for Bill tomorrow.
I got an email from Bill today with some feedback on the artwork and progress. Looks like he is ready to sign off on the concept and implementation, so I guess I can move forward on the final version. That's cool.
Ok, that's all I have for now.
Inside is a CD-R that contains mix downs of all of the songs, in the order that they are listed on the jacket. I will try to get this into the mail for Bill tomorrow.
I got an email from Bill today with some feedback on the artwork and progress. Looks like he is ready to sign off on the concept and implementation, so I guess I can move forward on the final version. That's cool.
Ok, that's all I have for now.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Finishing The Album: Step 16 - Internal Artwork
After my last post, I got to thinking what if there ARE lots of liner notes and dirt we want included with the CD? Which frankly, we probably do. So I put together a concept for what the inside of the main booklet would look like. Here's what I've come up with:
As with my other concepts, the text would need to be changed, and the pictures along the bottom are simply place holders. The idea behind those photos, by the way is that they are candid travel snapshots. Pictures that document a cross desert journey.
There's also lots of room for interpretation on what those pictures should be, or what they should end up trying to convey. We could always just drop in tons of pictures of Bill and I, documenting our adventures over the years as Black and Blue. The possibilities are endless, though the concept for what is in place is travel pictures. Pictures you took while you were driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Or to Carlsbad, or something like that. Or following Route 66. You get the idea.
As with my other concepts, the text would need to be changed, and the pictures along the bottom are simply place holders. The idea behind those photos, by the way is that they are candid travel snapshots. Pictures that document a cross desert journey.
There's also lots of room for interpretation on what those pictures should be, or what they should end up trying to convey. We could always just drop in tons of pictures of Bill and I, documenting our adventures over the years as Black and Blue. The possibilities are endless, though the concept for what is in place is travel pictures. Pictures you took while you were driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Or to Carlsbad, or something like that. Or following Route 66. You get the idea.
Finishing The Album: Step 15 - front cover concept complete
It's not DONE, but the concept is done.
Granted, there will be numerous changes to be made before we go to press. The pictures of Bill and I are temporary, and bad. The text is of course total nonsense. The thumbnail pictures along the bottom of the design will need to be replaced with pictures that we have clearance to use.
BUT, I am diggin' the overall layout and design. Depending on how much text we want to drop into the liner notes, we can probably shrink the font by a few points to fit in more. I know Bill is a fan of liner notes, but I'm thinking the web might be a good place to put those. Dunno.
Recall that as of right now, my vision is that there is NOT a booklet type fold out for the front cover of the CD. what you see above would not be printed as is and folded. It would be one sheet, with the BB part on the back, Desert on the front. If there is huge need for more liner note real-estate, we can do that. It'll just cost a bit more, take more time, etc.
I must confess though, i think it looks pretty cool.
Granted, there will be numerous changes to be made before we go to press. The pictures of Bill and I are temporary, and bad. The text is of course total nonsense. The thumbnail pictures along the bottom of the design will need to be replaced with pictures that we have clearance to use.
BUT, I am diggin' the overall layout and design. Depending on how much text we want to drop into the liner notes, we can probably shrink the font by a few points to fit in more. I know Bill is a fan of liner notes, but I'm thinking the web might be a good place to put those. Dunno.
Recall that as of right now, my vision is that there is NOT a booklet type fold out for the front cover of the CD. what you see above would not be printed as is and folded. It would be one sheet, with the BB part on the back, Desert on the front. If there is huge need for more liner note real-estate, we can do that. It'll just cost a bit more, take more time, etc.
I must confess though, i think it looks pretty cool.
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