Quick Life Update

Originally postedon http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on June14, 2007.

Let’s see, since the last time I posted, you will be pleased to hear that there are no apparent ramifications from the killer wood tick. Outburst is his normal self, with no symptoms of the feared Lyme’s disease. For that, we are all thankful. We are less thankful that he is acting the way he normally does. The head of the tick appears to have either worked its way out on its own, or has dissolved or something. No scab remains, and no redness indicating infection is there.

I have continued to work on the CD. Yes, it takes a while. Here is the progress report: After the very initial mix, I realized every song needed to be completely re-mixed and pre-mastered. Some songs needed a new lead vocal recorded. All this was completed, and the last week to ten days has been spent listening to the new versions on various sound equipment. I am pleased to report that 2/3 of what was done is being considered final! Only one song needs a complete re-mix and pre-mastering effort. Four other songs need a re-mix of the vocal level only. The music and vocals are mixed separately, so this enables me to bypass working from scratch. Tonight I think I completed the song that needed the complete re-work. I am now backing it up along with another song I did not back up previously. The other four should not take too long to re-do, so I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll have this next phase done by the end of the weekend. Then, I’ll spend a few more days listening to make sure it’s what I want.

I can afford to spend a few days listening, though, because the graphic design is in its infancy. I have the cover concept in the hands of the designer, but I have yet to take the pictures I need to choose from to complete the effort. I am hoping to get the pictures done this weekend as well so that on Monday I can get her everything she needs to get the design completed.

In the meantime, life moves on. It is summer, and the weather here has been generally fantastic. Last weekend was spent up in the northwoods at our camper. It could possibly be the nicest weekend we’ve ever spent up there as a family. Perfect weather! The kids loved swimming and fishing all weekend.

This week has been busy for my dear wife. Morning has brought Bible Camp at a local church. Kids 2-4 participate in that, and our oldest is an assistant. It’s hard to believe one of our kids is now old enough to assist rather than participate! I guess that happens, though. Then, in the evening, the top four have skating lessons at the local skating arena. yes, they are skating in the middle of summer. It’s actually kind of nice, though, because by offering these lessons throughout the year, the kids really learn it well, and you can also skip a session without waiting for a long time to get back in. The 4 and 6 year old are in the beginner’s group for the first time. It’s kind of funny to watch them. Outburst has taken a couple of nasty falls because he always thinks he can go faster than he really can. So far, no blood or broken bones, so we’re doing OK.

Next week brings Orchestra Camp for ByTheBook. She’s excited to play the violin in a real setting. In July, there will be swimming lessons.

Now, we typically do not make a special effort to get the kids into too many things. We prefer to let them be kids. The skating thing was their choice. It’s one of the few things they all seem truly excited about, and us adults both agreed that it’s one of those nice things that you can reasonably do forever once you learn. Swimming is a safety issue, since we are up at a lake often during the summer. Orchestra Camp was a special add-in since ByTheBook really loves music and is doing well. It just so happens that all these things hit at the same time!

So, that’s our life in a nutshell. Oh… and we bought another new-to-us used minivan. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that.

Yes, I’m Still Here…

Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on May 30, 2007,

Way back when, a few months ago, when I started a blog, I read somewhere that if you hope to establish a widely read blog you must find subjects of interest to others, find a niche, and be committed to writing every day.

Not one to follow the rules, I decided to write whatever i wanted to write about, cover nearly any subject imaginable – both on public matters and personal matters, and take extended vacations.

Now, I’m not saying I have a widely read blog.  In fact, I know by my view count that I don’t.  Apparently, my approach isn’t working. 

 Oh, well.  I guess it takes a special kind of narcissism to keep a great blog going.  This would be opposed to the kind of narcissism that starts a blog that isn’t great.  I’m not sure there’s much of a difference, unless you consider one kind of narcissism the successful kind, and the other kind some weird mental sickness that drives a person to write things that few people will ever read.

Armed with that preface, I’ll catch you up on a couple things.   You see, I do have some reasons for my laxity.  The primary reason is the CD I had mentioned in my last post.  You know, the one where I was really excited to be “done.”  Well, that post was the kiss of death.  Oh, I was done all right…  until I started listening to the master I put together. 

Maybe it’s me being overly perfectionistic for a CD project that almost nobody will ever hear, but I just didn’t like the way the vocals came out, and the music mix needed some work.  This drove me to purchase a studio compressor microphone, which in turn has driven me to re-do at least half of my vocals.  In addition, I have really spent a great deal of time mixing the music and applying all the necessary effects, and mastering each song to the desired sound.  This is no easy task.  The whole process takes hours for just one song.   You wouldn’t think it would take that long since everything’s already recorded, but it does.   For one thing, one mistake during the mix necessitates starting over.  For another, I’m only working with 16 tracks, and four effects that can get applied.  For yet another, I have found that I don’t like the sound of an entire mix with the vocals with mastering effects applied to the whole mix.  So, I’ve now been mixing the music as desired, then mixing the vocals as desired, and then doing a final mix where mastering effects are applied to the music, but not the vocals.

If all this sounds confusing, just nod your head and say, “I see.”

Anyway, the whole point is that I was NOT done.  It’s a bit frustrating, I guess, but I would rather take the time to get it as right as I can, given the time I’ve put into it.  I’d kick myself forever if I’d listen to something and know that it could have been a lot better had I just spent a couple more hours here and there.

So, tonight I finished the master mix of the tenth song.  There are five more to go.  I’m getting there.  And I’ve listened to these songs enough to believe I have them the way I want them.  There is one song I may re-mix again, but 9 out of 10 ain’t bad.

I’ve learned a ton through this whole thing.  I have learned that perseverence pays off.  I have learned that if you have some good equipment with a capable punch-in button, you can be a subpar musician in real life and sound like a professional “on tape.”   I have learned that even the songs you write, and songs you think are really cool at the beginning, you will start to hate after hearing them for the thousandth time.   I have also learned that spending 4-6 hours a day with music blasting into headphones will give you a constant ringing in your ears that you pray to God will not affect you for the rest of your life.   I have learned that it is easy to forget Who gives us our talents, and it is easy to take credit for “our” creativity.

The Project I Thought I’d Never Finish

Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on May 1, 2007.

Not that millions of people out there follow my blog, but for those of you who check in every now and then, you may have been wondering why I haven’t posted lately.

 Laziness would be a reasonable guess.  It would also indicate that you know me well.  That, however, is not the reason.   Work would be another likely culprit.  And while it has been busy at work, that also is not the reason for my absence.  Thankfully, it is not health related, either.  And my dear old Dad is recovering slowly but surely from heart surgery (and he didn’t want all that many visitors anyway) so it wouldn’t have been a big deal to throw out a post here and there.   Surely, six little rugrats and family life is to blame, right?   Well, as much as I’d love to say that I am Superdad and have spent all my waking moments trying to re-create “It’s a Wonderful Life” at my house, that would be a lie.

So, what would it be that has eaten up all my free moments?

The answer, my friend, is burning right now.  Not making smoke burning.  Making a CD burning.   As I am wont to do, allow me to elaborate with the history of the project that has now come (mostly) to fruition, and of which I am – as the youngsters say -”like, totally psyched!”

About 8 years ago (yes – 8 years!) my sister, Cyndi, approached me about doing a CD.  You see, Cyndi has been a singer (a darn good one at that) for as long as I can remember, but she never really put together a professional music project.  I am a songwriter in my spare time (as if I have “spare time”) and she enjoys the music I write.  And so, after some discussion, I agreed that I would do this and she would sing vocals on the music I wrote.  We both agreed that we wished to make it a Christian CD.  However, this would not be typical “easy-listening” Christian style.  I simply don’t write that kind of music.  I go with what I like, and while I will write some toned-down material, I’m an 80s rock guy-slash-keyboard player.  Basically, there were no rules about what I was to write.  I do what I want, and it’s just our little project.  So, it’s admittedly kind of weird telling people that you have been working on a Catholic/Christian Rock CD.  But it is what it is.

 And so I began on my 6-track cassette recorder.  But obviously, a professional project requires something fancier than that.  Should we rent studio time?  That is not inexpensive.  After further discussion, Cyndi decided to purchase a Roland VS-1680 in home Studio.  This was given to me, in return for the promise of a future CD.

Well, at that time we had two children.  We now have six children.  I took an actuarial exam and passed last year, which takes a ton of time.  Between more responsibility at work, more kids, a wife, life in general, outright laziness, and any number of other things, this project went forward in fits and starts.  I’d go strong for a period of time, then things would interrupt the project, and pretty soon it would be back on the rear burner.

Well, I never let that weight fall off my shoulders.  Cyndi had purchased this Studio, and I felt an obligation to make good on my promise.  One of my issues is that I can’t help but be a perfectionist.  I spent a lot of time trying to get these things just right.  Now, keep in mind that I’m pretty much a schlub who doesn’t necessarily know what he’s doing.  It’s not as if I’ve ever produced music before on a professional basis.  And so, trying to get things perfect when you aren’t familiar with all the tricks can be difficult.  I will not claim that it all came out as perfect as a true professional’s recording, but I did what I could.  Also, I’m mainly a keyboard player.  Yet, I programmed all the drum parts, and played all the other instrument parts, including the guitar.  What do I know about drums?   Pretty much zero.  How good am I at guitar?  All I can say is “Thank God for the punch-in button.”   So, being a perfectionist and trying to accomplish all this, you may well imagine that it took me a lot of time and effort to figure out how to get this right.  And you would imagine correctly.

To make matters worse, I kept writing more songs.  I should have made this a ten song project.  It ended up being a 15 song project, and I haven’t added it all up yet, but I don’t think all the songs will fit on a single CD.  Yes, I also write some long songs.  Hey, it’s my music, I can do what I want!

Well, despite all these imperfections of mine and the hurdles I put up for myself,  I finally reached a point about two months ago where I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.  This really energized me.  And with that energy came somewhat of an obsession to finally get this thing finished.  My poor and saintly wife has endured endless hours of me at the studio recording music, mixing music, mastering music, and sending my hearing south in a hurry.

But tonight, the time has finally come.  The music is done.  I am recording a version with my vocals, and that is done.  Everything is mixed.  Everything has been mastered.  I have now started the CD burning process.  I am thoroughly excited.

Now, a couple caveats here:  Cyndi still needs to put on her vocals, and so the actual project as originally defined is NOT completed.  And once we get near the end of that, we still need to decide what the heck we’ll actually do with it, if anything.  Do we order copies and make a nice cover and try to sell it and all that stuff?  Or is it just a personal project?  A final caveat is that I am not even ready to declare my version finished until I have a chance to listen to the mastered CD and see how the EQ comes out and all that.  I may even re-mix things altogether if I feel it’s necessary.   But all that said, an initial final version is complete (if that makes any sense) and I feel a huge weight off my shoulders.  It’s now up to Cyndi to find the time to put on the vocals, which takes the pressure off me.

So, anyone who is interested in hearing some music, let me know.  I’ll figure out something so you can check it out.