It’s time to discuss bucket list item number 78: Record an Album. The reason for this is because plans are already underway to accomplish this. Just know that I have no idea what I’m doing. I have been chatting with John Carter of Thirth/Eight Productions, up in Logan, Utah. He and his wife Karen are musical geniuses- I was blessed to record with them a few times while I was attending Utah State University, years ago. I love them and miss them!
So here’s my plan of action (if you’re musical and have spent time in a recording studio, I could use your advice):
- Find a studio- √ Done! See the first paragraph of this entry.
- Find an accompaniest- √ Done! My awesome buddy Robert Stephenson has agreed to ‘tickle the ivory’ for me. He has accompanied me a few times, years ago. He is amazingly talented! Bonus: He already lives in the same zip code as John’s studio, so I don’t feel quite as horrible for disrupting his family life.
- Pick out some songs- I’d like there to be about 10 songs on the finished product. I have about 12 song ideas at the moment, but we’ll have to see what vibe this project takes on. I’m sure some songs will be eliminated and other songs will be added throughout the whole process. I wish I had more original songs. Sadly, I may have only one original on there. I’m just not that talented.
- Find a board of directors- This will be a group of people who know my voice and I know will tell me honestly what songs belong or don’t belong on the album. Also, I’ll have them listen to the tracks and ask for feedback.
- Organize and prepare songs. I’ve found much of the sheet music already, but there are a couple songs I need to have lifted since the sheet music for those songs doesn’t exist or was never published.
- Practice time with Robert.
- Studio time with John and Robert.
- Ask John to produce the crap out of recorded tracks to make me sound better. 😀
- If recordings are good enough for an album, then figure out distribution method. Should we do a physical CD? Should we just do digital? Should we do both? If we do a CD, figure out the artwork and all that… I have a guy in mind but don’t want to ask him until we decide what we want to do.
I’m not really sure how long this will take, but I look forward to learning more about the process and seeing what happens.
DavTravels 