Recording 1 and Rehearsal 11

I drove to OKC Tuesday to meet with Steve and get a rough mix of the first show. Rough is the operative word. The entire recording was an hour and seven minutes long. We only had two hours to mix it. So we didn't try to make any corrections. At home I removed all the unnecessary talking between songs and got it down to fifty minutes. Everything sounded good, but there is a problem with the audience sound, which is that the microphones picked up more band than audience. This introduces phase problems and makes it really echoey if the audience track is brought up too much. So it will be a real challenge to mix.

The performance sounds much better on the recording than I remember it in person, but it still could be much improved. It's frustrating because we sound so tight in rehearsal & I want the recordings to come out as great as I know we can play. We are hoping it's a matter of spending a bit more time and focus setting up so that we can hear and see one another better during the shows.

We had a rehearsal Wednesday night and worked hard on a few trouble spots. We also wrote down the optimal tempos for several songs. Trick or Treat was a challenge to nail down - too fast and the verses sound rushed; too slow and the chorus plods. I was under the impression that as a solo act I sing the verses slower than the chorus, but Cody measured it with the metronome and if anything the opposite is true!

At one point while I was singing with the band it hit me that even if I spend all this money and don't get a stellar recording, at least I got to play with a band and hear my songs the way I imagine them - some of them really rock! It's fun. And I'm glad I took the risk. Better to try and fail than not to have tried at all. Plus, Lisa reassures me that the recording I already have will make a good live album, so I've really already succeeded. Now I just hope to make it even better.

One more rehearsal before I head out to Bartlesville. We're hoping to have a really great crowd there on Friday the 19th since I'll be visiting all the elementary schools that week. Then the following Monday the 22nd is our final show in Stillwater. After that, a short break, then I start editing and mixing! It's hard to believe we are so close to being "over the hump" and ready for post-production.

Wish me luck!