With best intentions

Ok, so I missed the 1.1.11 deadline. I tried, I really did but inevitably things like artwork, mastering and my laziness inevitably stalled my best endeavors.
Anyhoo, the mastering session is now completed and I anticipate the master cd to arrive this week. In the meantime the artwork is being finalized. And by finalized I mean I am learning how to use adobe Photoshop elements and thusly in a never-ending cycle of correcting my own mistakes. Fun.
I've found a company that duplicates CDs and artwork at a low volume (a 'little' below the minimum 1000 most companies offer) so should have the final, tangible product in my hands by the end of the month. Pretty exciting. Well, for me at least.

I'm finding it very hard to be objective about the overall impression of the songs themselves now as I've heard them A LOT. The Mrs and neighbours no doubt feel much the same. Whatever the opinion others have, I can at least say I've achieved what I set out to do. Having other people dig it would be a bonus though.

Come Together

Hey, it's been a while. I've made a little progress you know.
All songs are now recorded and completely mixed (save one). I spent a little time at my brother's place going through each song and tweaking (no nipples involved) here and there. My brother has a critical pair of ears and is not burdened by such extravagances as tact, so his comments were forthright and pretty constructive actually. He did suggest that the album needs an 'upbeat' song as it was sounding too depressing (does he not even know me?!) which initially I chaffed at. However, on reflection there was a need for a change of pace so I decided to resurrect a 'dance' song I had half-completed about a year ago. When I say 'dance,' it's really more Screamadelica inspired than influenced by the current flux of gym music. Anyway, this has led me to drop Into the Night from the album, as its overall feel is too similar to Acres and does drag the pace a little. I'm sure it will live on in another format though.

I've decided to send the tracks off to a mastering company, as I kept reading that mastering is an art of its own and as much as I have loved developing my production and mixing techniques over the last couple of years, I really don't have the patience to start again. The company I've gone with are an online outfit called www.audiomaster.co.uk and the process seems simple and reasonably priced. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm also in the middle of creating the artwork for the album. I'm using Photoshop Elements 9 (trial!) and it's quite frustrating as this software is FAR from intuitive for me. I shall persevere.

Laters Gators.