As I have written elsewhere, this album began to take root during a time when I had quit writing songs (which for me was like quitting breathing). A number of forces converged on me in a short period which swept me up like a whirlwind and sent me off in an opposing direction.
So despite the fact that I have good recall for most events, I cannot relate this period in any kind of orderly fashion. But two major elements were at work: First the return of a flood of songs in a relatively short period; and second, my discovery of the new developments in recording technology.
And that removed an huge obstacle in my path. When the first songs began to come, I naturally asked myself, "What the heck am I supposed to do with THESE?!". This led to me researching new methods for recording, and everything began to snowball.
You must understand that my last project was the 45 rpm record that I produced back in the mid-80's. A year and a half and way too much money was spent on that project. It was exciting & educational but in the end the outcome was quite dismal.
While I was anxiously awaiting the finished product to arrive, the TV announcer intoned, "The vinyl record is dead, killed by the new wave of the future, the "CD" or compact disc! Goodbye to those old 45's!"
Now, I wasn't completely out of touch with what was going on in the music biz, but I wasn't an "insider" either. Only a couple of years earlier, my teachers at Berklee had spoken of the coming of the CD, but always in terms of "something way down the road".
I could only console myself that when they had asked if I wanted to order cassettes as well, I had said, "No".
The last I had known, digital recording was very promising, but there was no way to edit effectively. It was still being recorded to tape, not hard drives. But now it had caught up and a small desktop unit could do everything that the big studio could & more at a small fraction of the cost of even the cheapest place.
If I had attempted to make an album back then, it would easily cost $20-30,000, impossible for me without label backing. Now making your own album was in the realm of possibility.
Still, when I told my wife I was going to make an album, I explained that I might as well have said, "I'm going to flap my arms and fly now". Along with all the chores of daily life, I would have to add writing, arranging, recording, mixing, mastering, graphics as well as being my own engineer/producer. Building a moon rocket might be easier.
That's only a slight exaggeration. When I told a friend of mine, "I'm going to make my own album" he also told me, "I'm going to build my own house."
A year later, his house was essentially finished and he was living in it. But I was still in the process of sorting out tracks and would be for several years. "Losing Game" alone took six months to complete, and several other tunes nearly as long. There are six months in the first mastering just to get the tunes transferred, spaced, levels correct and match them sonically. Later on I did a second mastering on "top" of the first one after living with it and becoming more familiar with the results. But I don't want to give away all my secrets.
There was one tune, "Empty Spaces", that at the time I really began to think that there were "evil forces" bound & determined to see that it never got made. Not only did the most impossible, ridiculous, and outrageous things happen to foul up production, but after that I got deathly ill and thought I would never finish it.
I must be nuts: I am looking forward to getting back into making the next album!!
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