#TodaysWork
mixing! that's it! how lovely!
i started a single mix for a new artist i'm working with.
what a nice way to spend a day ๐ค
#TodaysWork: transitions!
- got word that iโve finished the mixes on both the small dinosaurs album and the @thebenshawmusic album ๐ฝ on the same day!
- loaded tracks into pro tools and prepped them to start a single mix tomorrow for an indie pop artist from california. only 64 tracks โ about half the track count of take on me ๐ his big influence for this song, i kid you not, is bewitched. itโs rad ๐งโโ๏ธ
- recorded the last episode for this season of our podcast! ๐ ๐ป
#TodaysWork: grab bag!
- started the day with a minor freak-out about whether anything i do matters (it does; i know)
- had a long call with someone at a theater in vermont that we're thinking about doing our new show with. highly encouraging :pensive_party_blob:
- mastered two very different things for two different artists: one americana-ish songwriter track and one avant-garde/experimental track
- touched up four mixes for the small dinos record. SO CLOSE on this one
#TodaysWork: IโM BACK, BABY
i spent the first part of the day doing an eleventh-hour remix of the verse vocals on the new 80s kids song. itโs a huge improvement; it also means that the version that comes out worldwide tomorrow on streaming will be the old version ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ
but bandcamp and radio will have the new version! and streaming will get the new mix soon enough. so itโs fiiiine.
radio debut: 9pm pdt at https://949thebridge.com
#TodaysWork: more listening to things than touching things!
+ listened to our new 80s kids song a bunch. it's done and it's fantastic. so stoked to share this with you! release date is june 2, btw
+ did another round of mix revisions for the small dinos record. half the record didn't have any notes, and the half that did was minimal. nearly finished this one. it's rad
+ sent all my mentees many notes. they're all turning into badass producers ๐ค
#TodaysWork: grab bag!
+ listened to demos for the ep i'm recording for that lovely band from seattle & sent detailed notes. the songs are cool! there are elements of the doors and joy division in there, which i realize is redundant
+ in a fun twist, got a competing offer from a venue for our show
+ maybe finished the mix on the new 80s kids song for real for real? i suppose we shall see what i think tomorrow ยฏ\_(ใ)_/ยฏ
+ sent notes to mentees
+ recorded our podcast
#TodaysWork: #80skids #80skids #80skids
+ pretty sure we finished the new 80s kids song :pensive_party_blob: :pensive_party_blob: :pensive_party_blob: :pensive_party_blob:
(80s kids: https://shannoncurtis.bandcamp.com/album/80s-kids)
+ it hits so goddamned hard
+ STATS: 122 audio tracks; roughly 90 instrumental and 32 vocal, give or take
+ it doesn't sound like it at first? but there is A LOT of detail and ear candy
let's switch it up: here's some video of shannon's spoken stuff!
#TodaysWork: #80skids #80skids #80skids
+ continued negotiating with a venue in the philly suburbs. they want to have us and they are being super cool about the fact that we're independent / grassroots. i hope everyone we look to work with is this accommodating. optimistic!
+ huge strides on the new 80s kids song. you all are going to freak about this one
+ booked a studio for a new record i'm producing
+ got reached out to by two new people to mix records (!)
#TodaysWork: now that we're out from under our other obligations, we get to work on 80s kids stuff again!
(https://shannoncurtis.bandcamp.com/album/80s-kids)
+ i spent *all night* producing the bridge of this next song we're doing. 12 bars ... 6 hours. this section on its own introduced 9 new synthesizer parts to this song. ridiculous!! ๐ฅท
+ @shannoncurtis made a vocal map and recorded all the vocals.
tomorrow: WE PUT IT ALL TOGETHER ๐
here's another video from our recent show ๐ค
#TodaysWork: more mixing!
+ mixed 7 songs for this project i'm doing with @shannoncurtis
+ seriously. 7 songs ๐ณ my ears are tired but everything came out great and it's DONE!
+ exchanged messages with a person at another potential venue in PA
here's another video from our recent show. i love love LOVE the video that charles made for this song. what a leap of insight to pair this motion with this narrative. so emotional!
tomorrow afternoon: JOHN WICK ๐ฅท
#TodaysWork: grab bag!
+ spent an hour and a half doing detailed listening to comparison recordings for four different potential microphone positions for an upcoming classical piano recording, and wrote 1,300 words on my thoughts about each ๐ ยฏ\_(ใ)_/ยฏ
+ continued an ongoing long-range conversation with a potential future co-conspirator ๐คซ
+ sent notes to my mentees on their current productions
+ recorded our podcast
+ mixed two songs for @shannoncurtis
#TodaysWork: mixing and scheming
+ finished mix revisions for the @thebenshawmusic record. it's cohering! what a rad record. we outdid ourselves. the production is so ambitious
+ took a deposit to make an EP with a band from seattle
+ spent some time researching studios to record in; always fun
+ sent notes on works in progress to my mentees
+ had a first phone chat with a venue owner in PA ๐
here's a video from our recent show, shot by our friend amy w! ๐ค
#TodaysWork Recording credits (when things are quiet) and sorting out technical things.
Excited as I have this new laptop to record on. It's beautifully quiet and can make the journey to my improvised sound booth.
Less excited to be reading all of these credits, but it needs doing.
#TodaysWork: mixing mixing mixing!
+ did mix updates for 10 of the 16 songs on the @thebenshawmusic album. fun story: he had no notes on anything other than the vocal, and that note was "can we turn it up a skosh" on literally every song. ๐ i did some other stuff too though! with the benefit of a few months not having heard the songs, i immediately heard all the little things they needed.
here's another fun picture from our show last weekend. iconic, if i do say so myself
#TodaysWork: after a moment out of town cosplaying as a rock star with @shannoncurtis, i am back on my bullshit!
+ signed on to do an ep with a band from seattle. i like the easy commute! also the music is cool
+ did an entire album's worth of mix revisions for the small dinos. in one day!
+ helped shannon get some new merch up online
+ reached out to a couple venues on the east coast to maybe do our show in
here's another show pic! shannon's so cool ๐ค
#TodaysWork: we're ready!
+ did our last rehearsal; it went flawlessly
+ the uninterruptible power supply we got to run our show infrastructure off of is RAD. at a certain point i straight up yanked the mains power out of the wall, and the show kept right on playing. not a blip in the audio, not a flicker in the video. HELL YES
this door in the rehearsal facility spoke to me. music matters. so much. we are so lucky to do what we do and we do not take it for granted. ๐ค๐ค๐ค
#TodaysWork: more finishing touches!
+ rehearsal :perfect:
+ the rehearsal place has slightly dodgy power, which showed us another opportunity to failsafe things even a bit more โ and now we own an uninterruptible power supply :cdrr: :red_candle: :toot:
+ optimized a last couple of videos
+ hell yes thatโs a bedsheet video screen attached to the wall curtains with chip clips
#TodaysWork: show prep! just guiding everything into its final place.
+ weโve rented a rehearsal space for four hours each afternoon tues-thurs so we can load in, set up, run the show, break down, and load out. todayโs rehearsal went great. :sidekiq:
+ our amazing video artist charles caskey got us all the revisions we needed, and i edited them all into the show
+ made programs & various merchandise-related signage & collateral
+ locked in our merch seller ๐
#TodaysWork: weirdly, work for today was performing a song live on television? (????)
#TodaysWork: all the usual last-day stuff!
+ got our new merch in; nailed it. there is this one garment that is going to KILL ๐ฑ
+ did a last rehearsal at home; everything sounds amazing; good to go
+ made sure our stage clothes work and feel empowering; they do
+ made video and backing tracks edits for a tv performance that weโre doing on monday (!)
+ locked down a photographer!
+ packed! weโre ready to roll. so grateful for the opportunity to do this show. ๐ค๐ค
#TodaysWork: another long one, but i finished EVERYTHING ๐ฅณ
+ backing tracks for the entire show are finished, no more changes, and the show sounds fantastic. ๐ ๐ป
+ sent production notes to all my mentees, whom i had been neglecting for this past week. they were VERY PATIENT ๐ญ๐ค
+ finished mix updates for the small dinos record and sent them the new batch
+ had a successful stage makeup shopping trip for @shannoncurtis
+ got me a last piece of stage clothing
#TodaysWork: another excellent day today!
+ had an excellent strategy talk with the lighting director for our theater show. he's a big nerd and totally on board and it's great
+ may have finally found a merch person and a photographer! that would be good
+ did a bunch of coordinating no-cost tickets and brunch invites for supporters
+ had another kickass rehearsal
+ remixed 4 more songs for the small dinos record; just 1 more to go for this round!
#TodaysWork: as trying as yesterday was, today was good in equal measure. excellent day!
+ did some highly intensive stage clothes shopping for @shannoncurtis and got some stuff that she both looks killer in and also feels strong and comfortable in. not always the easiest thing!
+ had an absolutely kickass rehearsal. we're starting to feel in command of the show now. and we still have 6 more rehearsals! this show is fierce. SO excited to share it with you all. ๐ค
#TodaysWork: frankly? tough day! but not existentially so. tomorrow's a new day. i think it's important to keep it real; not every day being aRtIsTs is candy and rainbows.
+ got all the remaining v1 videos edited and into the live set! BIG WIN
+ rehearsed the show & had basically no remaining adjustments needed to the backing tracks. also a BIG WIN
+ hooked some more people up with ticket angels for our upcoming show. people buying strangers tickets! THE BEST ๐ค
#TodaysWork: okay, holy SHIT are we tired. and we actually have to wake up early tomorrow?? on a saturday?? BUT: this was a fantastic end to a great week. we're beyond wrung out. but we accomplished A LOT:
+ had a killer rehearsal. we could do the show tomorrow. and we still have 8 more rehearsals!
+ did mix updates for fully half of the small dinos record ๐ฑ
+ facilitated a bunch of ticket redistribution for our show. people are buying strangers tickets. wow ๐ค
#TodaysWork: another day of massive steps toward getting the show locked in!
+ did rehearsal BEFORE DINNER (๐ฑ) and listened back to the entire thing and refined our backing tracks some more
+ finally recorded all my vocal doubles for the live set. of course we're really singing live; also, it's much more fun if there's A GANG OF US coming through the speakers at times
+ got another new video, WOW
+ adjusted a t-shirt design and got a merch order in
#TodaysWork: this show has been literally MONTHS of "how the fuck do i do this" and "oh my *god* there's so much to learn." and then, today, everything just sort of came together!
+ @shannoncurtis & i had what i would call our first really good runthrough of the show. all the way through, no stopping, sounding pretty damn good. ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฑ
+ figured out some key video export and sync stuff
+ remade a few backing tracks
+ received a couple more A-MAZING show videos
#TodaysWork: productive day! if long.
+ we have been promoting the shit out of our show to our people. to the point where a dear friend asked us, โIs someone promoting this show?โ haha. but when you come up the way we have โ 600+ house concerts over the last decade in the living rooms and back yards of the people who support us โ you are hard-wired to diy/grassroots everything. so we got out there & sold some tickets.๐ช๐ช๐ช
+ prepped our taxes for our cpa
+ recorded our podcast
#TodaysWork: back to the show grind! things are COMING TOGETHER though.
+ edited+integrated a bunch more videos into the ableton master show
+ spent a lot of the day programming synth sounds and working out parts for the interstitial score bits while shannon's talking
+ zoomed with @thedragstate for a couple hours about his record
+ rehearsed (1.5 hrs), scrutinized rehearsal tape (1.5 hrs) ๐ณ
please enjoy this pic of me and @shannoncurtis looking like goobers!
#TodaysWork: we have been working too much this week. it's been good, but we needed to take a half day today. so that's what we did!
+ decided upon the (multiple!) colorways for our "good to me" vinyl run and got the quote submitted โ
+ spent some quality time with the ableton manual ๐ค
+ received a couple more videos for our live show from the amazing video artist we're working with; holy SHIT this show is going to be so gorgeous and moving :pensive_party_blob:
#TodaysWork: today was one of those days where it felt like we spent the whole day swatting flies! but, like, in a really good way?
+ tweaked a couple of bios and promo pics
+ had a strategy meeting with our digital marketing people
+ launched our new single! >>>>> https://shannoncurtis.bandcamp.com/track/drive
+ started working on score cues for the talking bits in the live show
+ made some new video ads for the usa + europe
+ upgraded ableton (that escalated quickly!)
#TodaysWork: simple! focused!
+ figured out how to reconfigure @shannoncurtis's wireless microphone frequency allocation for maximum channel redundancy ๐ค
+ mixed four (4!) songs for a side project shannon and i are working on
... and that's it! it's nice when i'm doing a million different things ... it's also nice every once in a while not to do that ๐
#TodaysWork: everything is starting to come together for our theater show and it feels VERY GOOD.
+ rehearsed the show for the first time with fully automated synthesizer program changes and it went flawlessly!!
+ went over @shannoncurtis's show script and it's killer. ๐ค๐ค
+ had a long phone call with the main guy at the theater โ from 11:30pm-12:30am โ MY KIND OF GUY โ and he was *so* into scheming with me about ways to enhance the show๐
+ recorded our podcast
#TodaysWork: I'M BACK, BABY ๐ค
the little emotional valley i was in is a couple days in the rearview, and it's good to be me again! thanks to everyone who sent kind words. i try to be frank about mental wellness stuff; i don't think we talk about it enough as a society. ๐ค๐ค
+ finalized a tee shirt design
+ got video working over ethernet and synced to backing tracks
+ programmed all the synth parts for the live show and got them all program changing automatedly ๐
#TodaysWork: i have some episodic depression in the mix! hopefully it departs soonish? i'm busy๐
+ redesigned a bunch of synth sounds for the new song in the first part of the day
+ kept working on my live rig
+ integrated softsynths into ableton and figured out a schema for automated program changes
+ rehearsed the show with @shannoncurtis
+ sent production notes to a couple of mentees
+ spent the rest of the night working on the new 80s kids song. IT RULES
+ iterated a couple of t-shirt designs
+ kept nurturing a relationship regarding touring plans later this year
+ upgraded my live rack with faster hdmi and data
+ rehearsed the show playing out of ableton for the first time ever โ flawless ๐
+ spent the final 5 hours of the day continuing on the new 80s kids song. working on getting the synths juuustt riiight; learning the ppg wave :pensive_party_blob: :pensive_party_blob: :pensive_party_blob:
#TodaysWork: firmly in the groove and firing on all cylinders (we are apparently in a millimeter-long race car careening around a spiral vinyl racetrack? ๐ค)
+ talked with a couple of media people about some promo for our show
+ had a great meeting with our amazing video artist, who is making SUCH COOL SHIT OMG ๐ฑ
+ spent the rest of the night programming for the new 80s kids song. got all the drums done and the bass. this picture is the session so far ๐๐ค
#TodaysWork: today was a fun balance of things i love doing. but also challenging!
+ i rehearsed the live show with @shannoncurtis for the first time โ we've been working on it separately until today. it's SO FUN to sing together ๐
+ recorded our podcast (which is up: https://misfitstars.com)
+ started recording song 3 for the 80s kids project. it's an all-time classic and we are going to KILL IT ๐๐๐ we spent 5 hours and got the basic drum sounds designed. ๐๐๐ฌ
#TodaysWork: i think whatever planetary disturbance was going on last week seems to be in the rearview; i'm feeling like things are clicking again. :pensive_party_blob:
+ @shannoncurtis & i checked in on the path we'd sketched out at the beginning of the year; we're further down it than we'd thought!
+ talked with @thebenshawmusic about the best way to do mix notes
+ sent some thoughts to a mentee
+ mixed 4 songs for this project shannon & i are doing. FOUR ๐
#TodaysWork: today was the light at the end of the tunnel! i finished all my stupid outstanding tasks. ๐
+ finished designing the labels for all the products in our @shannoncurtis "good to me" personal care line: bath salts, body scrub, body butter, meditation candle, soap, lip balm ๐ฑ
+ second outreach to press for our theater show
+ designed+ordered some secret pinback buttons
+ redesigned the backup scheme for our network
+ sent notes to a production mentee
#TodaysWork: how the fuck is it 2am already??? it feels like 9pm ๐๐๐๐
today was another in what has now been a series of weird days. not bad weird? just ... weird
+ mostly we spent a shitload of time getting up to speed on various aspects of how lighting works (for live shows). shoutout @controlfreak ๐
+argued with @shannoncurtis about how to allocate our time across the many plates we're spinning (arguing is work!!)
+ that's about it. WHERE DID THIS DAY GO
#TodaysWork: more random odds and ends!
+ designed a new merch shirt with @shannoncurtis. it was hard and we were both tired but we got through it. ๐งโโ๏ธ THE SHIRT IS BLACK ๐งโโ๏ธ
+ sent production notes to a couple of mentees
+ got on the phone with a mentee in sweden and explained how to mix into the master bus limiter as a means of shaking out eq and transient-management issues
+ did about half the graphic design for our "good to me" personal care line collab (!)
#TodaysWork: continuing on the theme of planting seeds!
+ got our first test video back from the artist who's designing the video for our show AND HOLY SHIT ๐ณ๐ณ๐ณ๐คฏ๐คฏ๐คฏ
+ made first contact with someone to potentially partner with in sweden as we continue to grow what's happening there
+ worked with our film person to get all the rental cameras reserved that we need to film our show
+ started learning my parts for the new songs :blobwizard:
+ recorded our podcast
#TodaysWork: because i sent the record i was mixing to the band (!), i am being intentional this week about doing random/playful work stuff!
+ i had a younger producer by the house to talk for a couple of hours.
+ not only does he produce, but he's a digital signal processing coder. he likes how i mix, and he's interested in making a plugin that encapsulates all the processing i do on vocals! interesting.
+ i helped @shannoncurtis build out her new work area. ๐
#TodaysWork: i got everything done! all the loose ends are neatly tied up.
+ finished the mixes for the small dinos record ๐
+ finished the mix for our new 80s kids song (which fucking RULES; you are going to love it *so much*)
+ iterated some graphic design elements for a couple of projects
+ redesigned our bandcamp (now with more joy!)
+ mastered a single for someone
+ sent a mentee some ninja-level production notes for a new song in process
now: WEEKEND ๐ฅณ
#TodaysWork: again, a bunch of different stuff. there's just a lot of moving parts at the moment!
+ more press/tv setup stuff
+ iterated+improved a bunch of design+branding stuff
+ helped a mentee finish mixing her song
+ more radio outreach follow-up ... maybe added a station in denver??
+ finished the mixes for four more songs on the small dinos record; only one to go! (!!!)
+ started scheming on some interesting diy but high-tech lighting ideas for our show
#TodaysWork: how are the days going by so quickly right now??
+ i reached out to 133 radio people to pitch them "wouldn't it be good" (one hundred and thirty-three!!)
+ i confirmed our first tv appearance in sacramento for the week of our debut concert!
+ more press outreach
+ i increased the doneness of the mix for the new song from 99.2% to 99.7%
+ i designed new single artwork
+ i worked with a mentee on fine-tuning the production on her new single
#TodaysWork: another grab-bag of a day!
+ recorded our podcast
+ reconfigured our basement show prep area for ever more optimized rehearsal conditions
+ reached out to a filmmaker friend about shooting our april concert
+ sent press enquiries to a bunch of people re the concert
+ kept guiding the mix into place for the new #80skids song. only four tiny tweaks today!
+ prototyped the design for our upcoming @shannoncurtis "good to me" personal care product line
#TodaysWork: i was all over the place today!
+ i drafted a press pitch for our sacramento theater show
+ i started learning ableton and videosync ๐
+ i ordered a couple of pieces of needed gear for our stage show
+ i optimized my live rig a bit
+ i most likely finished the mix for the new #80skids song (!!!) (you guys are going to flip the fuck out)
+ i finalized mixes for five more small dinos songs
my aide+muse buff the studio bear sends love ๐งธ
#TodaysWork: a good day to cap off a good week ๐ค
+ connected with a soapmaker friend to scheme out a line of "Good to Me" personal care products to go with the album ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฑ
+ finalized and started bouncing mixes for the small dinos record ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฑ
+ went through the marketing plan for our california theater show
+ brainstormed with a lighting director
thank you all so much for all the kind words about the new single. you've made today very warm for us and we're grateful. ๐ค๐ค
#TodaysWork: you all have heard from me plenty today, so i'm going to keep this brief.
+ we put out a new single and surprise-launched a new side album project. thank you for all the kind words. ๐ค๐ค
+ we're working through a trailerized version of "Wouldn't It Be Good" with our brilliant composer friend @brianstecklermusic. it sounds like if "Wouldn't It Be Good" were a movie ๐ฑ
+ i sent song notes to a bunch of mentees
https://shannoncurtis.bandcamp.com/album/80s-kids
#TodaysWork: random!
+ i talked with a mentee in sweden. after a time in the wilderness (a business-y higher ed thing that wasn't his vibe), he's recommitting to doing music hardcore. which is good, because he's fucking amazing and has a very bright future.
+ @shannoncurtis and i filmed a spotify canvas for the new song
+ i installed a mesh network in our house and holy *fuck* is the internet fast now ๐ณ
+ i got the mix for our new song in hand. swoon :BlobhajHeart:
#TodaysWork: first some scheming, second some mixing
+ we spent the first part of the day continuing to do all the mind-numbing promo setup stuff you have to do when you have new music coming out! omg there is SO MUCH RANDOM BULLSHIT. but it helps more people hear our music, and that's A Good Thing, so we do it cheerfully.
+ we recorded our podcast
+ and then we worked all night on song 2 for our top-secret new project! shannon brought me 34 vocal tracks. goodness ๐
#TodaysWork: i woke up to the best email regarding our upcoming debut theater show, and it made me stoked for the entire day.
long story short, the venue's tech director is using our concert as an excuse to create an entirely new 50'x21' full-stage rear-projection video setup for the theater. ๐ณ the video art that's being made for the show is going to look *bananas*.
+ i am zeroing in on final mixes for the small dinos record (!)
+ promo for new single: FRIDAY! ๐งโโ๏ธ
#TodaysWork: today was a day for odds and ends. perfect for a friday!
- i made stems of our first new secret song to send to our friend @brianstecklermusic. he's going to make it sound like a movie trailer ๐ฑ
(you guys get to hear the new secret song in ONE WEEK btw!!)
- i wrestled with some uncooperative technology. i won! it sucked some time though, the fucker.
- and i mixed another small dinos song!
i'm glad it's the weekend. this week was very long. ๐ค๐ค๐งโโ๏ธ๐งโโ๏ธ
#TodaysWork: we finally finished the programming for this new top secret song we've been working on this week! we clocked 19 hours total. NINETEEN HOURS of hardcore synthesizer sound programming, drum programming, sound design, and sequencing. fucking hell ๐๐
i learned a LOT in the process about how to program a fairlight cmi though! it had a shocking amount of editing for a 1982 computer instrument.
also i talked a young artist through strategies for first recordings.
#TodaysWork: more programming on the new top-secret music project. we're currently at 30 music tracks and counting. it's just a ridiculous amount of work. it's probable we'll do >20 hours of programming on this song before i hand it off to @shannoncurtis to do vocals.
prior to that, i talked a young producer through how to budget for an album and talk with artists about money. it took two hours, and i think it worked; i believe she pitched a gig tonight and got it. ๐ค๐ค๐งโโ๏ธ
#TodaysWork: HEY, GET A LOAD OF EIGHT-EYES OVER HERE ๐ค
my sweetie @shannoncurtis and i started the second song in our top secret new music project! we spent about five hours on it and got four measures in. we are being ... um ... very exacting in the production ๐
+ we recorded this week's misfit stars podcast episode; it's up! https://misfitstars.com
+ i started figuring out ableton
+ i made first contact with a potential lighting director for our sacramento concert
#TodaysWork: i imagine that it might appear from the outside that the life of a working artist is very romantic! wake up at noon, eat bonbons, maybe do an interview, consult our astrologer, etc.
and some of that is true! we do wake up at noon. ๐งโโ๏ธ
but, also: a lot of days are... very not romantic? like today! it was really just all software installs and bullshit. interrupted only by a lovely confab with our new co-conspirator @controlfreak โ which made it all worthwhile.
#TodaysWork: today felt like a big turning point on the record i'm mixing! i ended the night with just two songs that i haven't touched ... and if memory serves, they don't need as much sound design and i probably won't need to do a lot on them.
but i had to pay some dues to get to that point! the song i opened up tonight needed SO MUCH HELP, and i had SO MUCH TROUBLE finding a way in. ๐ it took me literally four hours to figure out the drum sound. i did it though! ๐งโโ๏ธ๐ง๐งโโ๏ธ
#TodaysWork: all i did was mix. mix mix mix. i mixed three entire songs from scratch to masters for shannon for a sync project we're doing. i am so goddamned tired ๐ my ears feel great though; i'm solidly in the groove. if i didn't need sleep i could mix an entire album right now. :sidekiq: :sidekiq: :sidekiq:
also, we hatched yet another scheme โ this time with a dear composer friend who's going to trailerize some stuff with us. coming soon to a theater near you! ๐
#TodaysWork: today was a day for planting seeds!
first i had a conversation with a dear old friend who works in the actual music industry, about potential contacts that might help with our touring in sweden (!). ๐ธ๐ช
next shannon and i had a zoom with a video artist friend, to scheme on the visuals for our new live show. spoiler: it's going to be SICK. ๐
then i made the v1.0 instrumentals for our live show! ๐ฌ
and finally i mastered things for a couple people. ๐ค
#TodaysWork: back on mixing the small dinos album! i'm checking off about two songs per night atm. this is the second round of mixes; i imagine that there will be a quick third round, and then i'll most likely send it to the band. eeep! ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ
@shannoncurtis & i did some calendaring for valentines day. sexy!
sent some notes to a few mentees.
adjusted a master for that rap remix ep.
sent @controlfreak stems for one of shannon's songs. RE-MIXXXX!
recorded our podcast.
#TodaysWork: aahhh so much energy today!! we announced our first theater show and all our people were so excited and engaged and had a million nice things to say and we fielded comments for what felt like hours and it was lovely and also i got very keyed up. so then i put the internet aside and worked on music! i did a quick stem master for someone. i finished mastering those rap remixes. i mixed a couple more small dinos songs. and we finished book club! now: WEEKEND ๐งโโ๏ธ
#TodaysWork: more mixing on the small dinos record! it's coming along great. the more songs i work on, the more i'm getting a sense of where the album wants to land overall. i had an idea, of course โ i mean, i did produce it ๐ โ but it's never not the case that the album's personality makes itself known after the songs' personalities do.
i listened to things for some people and sent them notes.
and then i started mastering some rap remixes! a lovely palate cleanser.
#TodaysWork: mixing all day today on the small dinos record! ๐
i'm starting to finish mixes. it's rewarding to have that starting to happen; we've been working on it for four months, not counting pre-production.
i had a minor triumph with one song; i ended up achieving a super distinct texture by way of two different tape emulations on the mix bus, one of them being a model of cheap cassette tape. i feel like people would pay me less if they knew i do shit like this ๐
#TodaysWork: today was a day for imparting big truths to a mentee! we did The Money Talk (i.e., how to talk about it with new artist clients) AND The Producer Talk (i.e., what it actually means to be one, what and to what and to whom your responsibilities are, and what the job can mean if you do it right) โ and we did both talks IN ONE EVENING. that's a lot!!
also we recorded our podcast, i mixed the small dinos record more, and i talked with an artist friend in berlin.
#TodaysWork: lots of work today with people i'm mentoring and/or working with!
- rose, in new york, who's getting so fucking good at mixing
- wonder, in arizona, who has started getting asked to produce for other people ๐ฎ
- trevor, in minnesota, who stretched out of his comfort zone with some production prompts i gave him (and did great!)
- kelly, in texas, who's readying a dreamy new song for me to mix
- devan, in sweden, who's 21 and making a fucking *great* album
I didnโt have time to post yesterday as we were really excited, having the wonderful Hugo Danin in the studio recording drums. Today is more of the same, but with less formed and more experimental tracks.
Also our latest article and podcast have been released on our blog. Itโs all about David Crosby. Worth a read an listen if you are a fan, or want to know more.
#DavidCrosby #Podcast #Article, #Substack #HugoDanin #Drums #Music #Recording #NewAlbum
#TodaysWork: kind of a grab-bag sort of day! lots of emailing with artists about works in progress. sent a mentee some detailed notes on a couple of mixes she's working on. sent @thedragstate some ideas for a song in progress. furthered a couple of schemes with some co-conspirators on some upcoming projects. worked through a graphic design idea with @shannoncurtis.
book club today for shannon's book was deep. people were excavating. it was deeply rewarding. ๐ค
#TodaysWork: mostly mixing today, again on the small dinosaurs record. i worked too late and i'm exhausted and my ears are shot, but i feel like i finally turned a decisive corner on the album's magnum opus. this fucking song has 75 tracks!! and there's no one to blame but me, because i'm the asshole who produced it! why do i do this to myself ๐
in all seriousness, though, it rules, and it's starting to sound huge. yay.
and we did book club! people got deep tonight. ๐ค
#TodaysWork: our hardcover books finally arrived! so in the afternoon we packed up orders and shipped them out. @shannoncurtis and i worked all day on our New Top Secret Project. it is kicking ASS. shannon absolutely destroyed the vocals for it. the mix is in its basic form. tomorrow will be a fun day of detail work and automation. can not WAIT to be able to share this with you. you all are going to flip the fuck out. :sidekiq: :sidekiq: ps yes, it's 3:45am