Re: Good luck
glynb said:
Mid way through 2002 I set myself a target to get my own CD 'out' by end of 2003. Ha! How naive i was.
Knowing what i do now, after starting the long painful process of learning how to record at home, my question really is how on earth did you manage it in ONLY 3 years! LOL! I am WAY behing schedule and have revised my plan to somewhere towrd the end of 2004!
Oh, man. I busted my old band up in January of 2000, believing that by that time the following year I would have my new disc at least recorded, if not pressed.
Stupid, stupid, stupid me.
The thing is, all but one of these songs were already written when I started. That's why I wanted to do the record, because these were all songs my old band didn't want to do. And in fact, I had far more material than that, but I figured I'd whittle the track listing down during the recording process, depending on which ones were sounding better.
That part worked. Some tracks were shaping up better than others, and so I nudged the other ones onto the back burner. They'll probably see the light of day at some point, when I have more resources to record them the way I want.
My goals have had to shift. I wanted to have my first album out by the time I was 21, but with life being the way it is, I ended up shooting for having it out before I was 30. And I juuust made it by about 4 months. Dang.
glynb said:
I'm only at the recording and writing stage (often in that order!). Bits get re-written and revised, scrapped and re-recorded. The most difficult thing is to know when to stop and say, 'yes, that'll do' especaily as I keep learning more stuff from people here concerning the best way to track and record and master correctly.
A couple of questions...
Did you pay for 'outside' mastering or do it yourself (if the latter what techniques did you use?)?
Did you finish the actual writing of all the songs three years ago, or did the recording and writing go hand in hand over the 3 year period?
How did you decide which of your songs would make the final cut and which ones weren't suitable? Did you just ask friends or trust your own judgement?
- GlynB
It's hard to know when to stop. Trust your instincts. And your wife, if you have one. Or a close friend who won't lie to you, even when it hurts. That helps.
I did decide to use outside mastering (Arthur Winer at Canaveral Skies is great, you can find his website on my Others page), primarily because I wanted a fresh set of ears to catch any wacky bits if they existed. And because I don't know jack shit about mastering. Nor can I afford the equipment. It only ended up being about $850, which took a while to save up, but it was well worth it.
As far as choosing songs, only you know what songs represent you best. While recording this thing and hearing these songs eight million times, I found that there were some that spoke to me a lot more than others. That's the only reliable gauge. Screw "radio playability". If it doesn't come from your heart, people will know.
But that's just me. And I'm still a dayjobbing grunt boy, so you can take the above advice for whatever it may be worth. All I can say is that I spent 3 years making my ideal album, and I like it.
