Well, dear readers, I spent a wonderful evening last night nitpicking and finessing the final mixes on the East Coast Singer’s new album. I love this part of the process, getting everything to sound just the way I like it. It’s very personal and when you finally get a blend just right, or come upon something that makes magic, there’s nothing like it. The engineer’s mixes were very good to begin with, so that makes what I do all the easier. So, we mixed in the order in which we recorded. John Adams would play the mix, which I would listen to intently, eyes closed. Mentally I’m taking note of what doesn’t sound right, what I need to hear more of, where a vocal is too loud or too soft, and how everything feels emotionally. Then we start at the beginning and I begin asking for things – more strings here, digging out a nice reed line there, finessing the vocal levels and basically just shaping everything into a smooth and fulfilling final mix. Sometimes once through gets it all, then we listen again and either continue nitpicking or we move on to the next track.
The good news was that all that hard work on comping the vocals paid off – they sound great. The orchestra sounds absolutely fantastic. Sometimes I won’t like it if instruments are getting in the way of each other and muddying the clarity – for example, if a guitar and piano are playing together, sometimes they just clash so we remove one for the cleaner sound. It doesn’t happen that often, but there were a few examples of it. But I make sure I can hear everything in the orchestration – all the colors and the fun little countermelodies and shadings. We decided to tough it out and finish everything – it took about four hours but it’s done. I now get copies of the mixes tomorrow and the next day and I’ll play them and live with them for a few days. Then if I have any further notes, I just e-mail them to John and he makes whatever tiny adjustments those may be. Then on Sunday, Lanny and I go in and Lanny hears what we’ve done. If he has any notes or wants to hear something he’s not hearing, we do those adjustments (Lanny usually has very little to say about the mixes – but sometimes John will miss something and if he does then I may not be aware of it having gone missing), listen and then if I agree, that becomes the final mix. If I disagree or think the adjustment is messing something up in terms of clarity, then I state my case, but Lanny is really wonderful about trusting me to make the final call on everything. His work on this album is absolutely superb, some of his best, I think. What he did on my song, Simply, is simply ravishing – it’s a beautiful track.
Prior to that, I was up at six to announce our new title. I never had time to try and get back to sleep because Sandy called at eight-thirty and then ran the act she’s doing this evening, the Ira Gershwin evening. The structure works really well, and so does the patter. I took a lot of notes, but we had to stop about four songs from the end because I had a breakfast meeting to go to. So, I went to that at nine-thirty, then came home, did a three-mile jog, picked up one package and some mail, then came back home.
Then we Face Timed again and ran the final four songs – I took more notes, and then we had a long notes session – very detailed notes on performance, patter and pace, which Sandy wrote down and will address on her own. I had a few tempo notes for Lanny, and I gave directions on when to use the mic on the stand, when to use it handheld and when to sit on the stool. I also gave her stage manager my suggestions for light cues. As long as the notes get reasonably addressed I think the show will be very good. I hope they’re taping it, and there is a chance I’ll be able to watch it on Face Time or Skype.
Then I did a few other things, had a nice visit with the Staitman girls and their mother (the girls are home from three weeks away at camp and now they’re off on holiday for another week), and I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the first half of Body Double, the Brian de Palma movie just released by Twilight Time – I’ll have a lot to say about it when I finish tonight.
Here’s another Writer’s Block song, the ballad from the musical I created for the book – it’s called I’m Here. It’s sung by Guy Haines and that’s me on the piano.
That was a ballad, wasn’t it? Oh, and I also got word that before we’ve even done the first announcement for the Kritzerland anniversary show that we’re twenty seats from being sold out. I’ll do the Facebook event page this morning, but that’s pretty incredible.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, then I’m sure I’ll have a couple of telephonic conversations with Sandy, then I’ll do a jog, I’ll eat, I’ll write some liner notes, and I’ll relax and I’m really hoping they’ll be able to set up the Face Time thing so I can see the show.
Tomorrow I have an event to go to, an evening with Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Thursday is the lunch meeting that I thought was last week, and then I have a lot of other stuff to do, meals to have and I think I may be seeing some show this weekend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, talk to Sandy, write, hopefully pick up some packages (some are definitely due), and then relax and maybe see Sandy’s show via Face Time or Skype. Today’s topic of discussion: Food. Let’s play a game – if you could, without fear of calories, health or any other concerns, have any meal you wanted for dinner, what would you have for each course and for dessert? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, very happy and satisfied after finishing the mix.