Session #2 at Orange Peel yesterday. Worked on ‘god is love’ and ‘with nothing left’. Initial vocal tracks for ‘god is love’ came out well. There has also been additional material uploaded to MySpace.
All in all, things are progressing well. More later.
[p]
Due to unforeseen financial issues, there will not likely be another recording session for two weeks yet. Amanda was in session with me last time, and can attest to what was accomplished.
The accomplishments, however, lend themselves to a new set of problems to solve. Such as the long-overdue hiring of a guitarist and either a keyboardist or drummer (on an e-kit). This presents even more challenges as I no longer have a regular rehearsal space in which to practice. And, living all the way the fuck up here in Alpharetta with the current fuel issues doesn’t help, either.
But, I’m not worrying about that right now. I’m not Trent Reznor finishing up an album and preparing a band for touring. Thinking logically, I can get away without additional band members for a while longer as I work on this record.
Also, there is some new material on the docket for the album. Originally, I sat down and wrote a list of 6 songs to go on what was originally planned to be an EP. But, after some work in the studio, I think that it’s going to be bigger than that. I shy away from such terms as “epic” because I cannot be so sure that it will be.
Also, I’ve been trying to remain optimistic despite the hourly rate I’m getting for studio time. I want to finish it as quickly as I can, but the pace is hindered by finances. I’m about to go back to school, and that’s going to eat up all my free time. I know that education is important, and that I need to be making more than I am now. At the same time, I don’t want to have to wait another year to do this album. The economy is a fucking mess right now, and I want to do it while I can.
Thanks for reading (whoever might be)
End of line
[p]
Yesterday, I started principal recording/mixing on the album. So far, so good.
Those of you more familiar with my music will be a little surprised.
Stay tuned.
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[p]
Begins with trying to nail down your engineer for studio time.
I’ll get there, but it’s going to take some work. I need to start getting these tracks prepped.
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[p]
I’ve been talking to Rahim (sp?) of Orange Peel Recordings about studio time. You’ve heard me mention it, and it’s finally happening.
Next Friday I am due to start initial recording for ‘doublethinktank’. More updates as events warrant.
So the Scandy/Accessory/Die Sektor show went well. Die Sektor’s mix was a little loud in places. The live drums are distracting too close up, so I opted to stand back when not taking pictures. It was good to see the guys, and I did manage to bring a couple of CDs for them – one was a show CD (which are sold at shows) and the other with some new material. Best of luck to you guys with your side projects (A Murder of Crows and Hexen Prozess) and the upcoming shows.
Accessory was interesting; they were very energetic.
Scandy (another Andy Laplegua side-project) was disco-tastic. He came out clad in silver and aviator glasses. The music was gritty (in that signature Andy way) and catchy (as always).
Had some good conversations with Andy and the guys from Die Sektor. The material for the EP is coming together still. I finally got everything set up at the new place, and will be spending some time writing, perhaps even tonight.
Though a lot of work is required to make this EP come together, I still want an unbiased pair of ears to assist in the final mix. I was introduced last night to a gentleman by the name of Rahim (sp?) who engineers and runs a recording studio F.K.A. Glow in the Dark Studios. From what I understand, their rates are very reasonable – and they’re local. Along with all of this, I can record my vocals there.
There exists a plethora of distribution options for the independent artist in this Digital Age™:
• CD Baby Digital with the option for physical media to be stocked upon request
• TuneCore Digital – straight to iTunes US, Europe, and Japan, etc…
• Or just plain physical media…which incur a lot of cost up front with limited distribution possibilities
I will likely do both CD Baby and TuneCore, or maybe TuneCore for digital and CD Baby for the physical release.
One last thing, I believe that I am slated for a performance at the Gardner Lake Music Festival (did a few of these last year) on April 19th. Details are as follows:
• $10 “donation”
• BYOB (no glass)
• Camping and cooking out
• And of course, live music
That’s all for now…
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nate (PXL)
Although there have been no planned shows, I will be heading out to the Scandy/Accessory/Die Sektor show tomorrow at Masquerade – anyone else going?
http://myspace.com/diesektor
http://myspace.com/scandy
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nate (PXL)
Despite being so busy as of late, there has been progress on the forthcoming EP.
You may have noticed that the original URL: www.pxlent.com, has gone away. I wasn’t really doing anything to actively develop the site, and it was just a waste of money. So, for the moment, I have registered a domain and it points here to this WordPress blog for the time being. Later on, as the EP nears completion, there should be content posted.
I have taken a hiatus from gigging for the first half of this year to dedicate to the recording of this EP. There has been written a metric fuckton of material, only 5 – 7 of which will actually be included on the final release. As time marches on, my recording process has improved with time as have the overall quality of the compositions. Although there is a lot of new material to wade through during the track selection, some of the old “standards” that are usually played live will be on there.
Where a large chunk of the money will be spent will be mastering and recording the final product. There is a producer in California, Hans Dekline (www.soundbitesdog.com) who is very capable of doing this, but I can’t afford to travel out of town to record. That being said, the mixing and mastering will likely be done in a studio here in Atlanta. Any suggestions for a local studio or independent producer/engineer who has experience with electronic music would be greatly appreciated.
Initially, the EP was going to be a limited release of about 300 – 500 copies in a special packaging available through CD Baby with digital distribution through Snocap or any partners of CD Baby. Today, however, I discovered TuneCore (www.tunecore.com) which would have my music available on iTunes (US, Canada, and Japan), Napster, AmazonMP3, etc. Being distributed through iTunes and others enables me to eschew the costs of having CDs printed. That does not mean, however, that this is a digital-only release – there will be a small number of physical packages available (likely limited to 100 or so).
So, thanks to everyone who has come to the shows, booked shows for me, bought CDs, and generally shown their support. I will do my best to keep this updated.
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nate (PXL)
This is a test. That is all.
