The Perfectionist Awakens
I thought our first completely completed track was completely completed, but the more we listened, the more we decided we wanted to make it better.
We spent the entire afternoon adding new vocal tracks and adjusting reverb levels. In the end the song sounds even more powerful and full, and we like it even more.
I imagine the same thing will happen for each song…
At the same time, our mixer is busy and can’t do as much work on the album as they thought they would and our two backups are unavailable. In the end a lot of the tedious cleaning up (adjusting the volume and effect levels of every single voice and instrument) will probably have to be done by us which means an extra 3-8 hours of work per song if not more.
Never mind that all the other tracks have little parts that need to be re-recorded or otherwise fixed.
I think it’s POSSIBLE we could finish the album by October 1st, but it’s becoming more and more of a battle because we find ourselves wanting to push each song to it’s limit and seeing just how good we can make it.
I initially imagined this would be out of our reach because I didn’t realize my skill at ableton had improved that much. My ability to EQ is far better than it was just a few months ago and my desire to use way too many flavors for my own good is subsiding, I’m learning self restraint.
I didn’t think I could make it sound this good on my own, nor did I think I would have to do it on my own.
But here we are.
I keep going back and forth between whether or not I want to mix and master myself or wait for my friend to do what they can to make the album sound better.
It sounds pretty damn good right now, and if I can learn just a bit more about compression I think I can get it near the level my friend would get it to.
But if we do it all ourselves then it would be best to expect a much later release date, in late November or December.
I’m wondering if maybe we should focus half our energy into shows and promoting 2-3 singles before the album comes out. I don’t love the idea of having so many singles because there are only 7 proper songs (two tracks are short interludes), so 3 singles would mean almost half the album will be available before release.
Buuuut that would definitely help peak people’s interest, especially if we have shows in between single releases to get people paying attention.
I worry it would take the spotlight off the songs that don’t become singles. We don’t want to show our hand too early.
Good news is, every song is a banger in some sense. Some are more sleepers in that they may take a few more listens to understand and one of the strongest songs is 12 minutes so that will be 12 minutes no one gets to hear until release.
I want to release a song or two as soon as possible though because each and every song proves that we have come a long way.
Part of me feels terrified that nobody will care, but at the very least, I don’t think anyone can say that we moved backwards or stayed where we were. This album is such a massive leap forward in so many ways.
I don’t know if it’s a “professional” level recording (not that I care all that much about such standards) but I know that to the layman, most of the album will be indistinguishable in production quality. Perhaps seasoned ears might be able to tell we did it ourselves starting by out with very little knowledge (although we are learning each step of the way)
I put up a short clip that includes an early mix. We’ve already added some extra vocals and fixed some small things but this is basically how the song is coming together.
I hope you like it
Everyone starts out with very little knowledge and even at a highly professional level you're only doing the best you can with what you have :)
And you're at least moving so hopefully there's momentum being built up as we type.
Learning how to learn! The learning curve is insane, not in the sense that it’s difficult, but in the sense that I’m learning so damn much every single day.
Yesterday I learned how to get a better sounding bass, and the day before I learned how to bring vocals forward to the front. These are things I stumbled on for weeks but after learning 100 other things it became easy.
Ergh learning curves, they're so fun and frustrating, like learning stuff is fun but also sometimes I just want to know everything already so I can do stuff XD
Learning how to learn! The learning curve is insane, not in the sense that it’s difficult, but in the sense that I’m learning so damn much every single day.
Yesterday I learned how to get a better sounding bass, and the day before I learned how to bring vocals forward to the front. These are things I stumbled on for weeks but after learning 100 other things it became easy.