Record an album

Decided to bounce down some MIDI last night to audio, makes it feel more tangible working with audio, if I feel the need to change the MIDI I can just bring it back up and edit and rebounce.
Forces you to make a decision.

I recorded an acoustic EP in my room and named it ‘The Untold Story” then I put it online (http://kristybrannon.com/) for my friends to download for free.
I think I’m gonna keep trying. I want a real album with good quality and cds and promotions and a tour and a band. But it’s a start.

The band has a few song demos together. The key is to finish up what we have, and get really comfortable playing them before we try to record them “for real”. Once we lay it all down, we should have a decent bit of material. I don’t want to timeline this, as distance hampers a lot, but I feel we’re moving in a fairly timely manner.

I am currently recording my debut album. I am using an in home studio. I spent about 3 grand on my studio and my macbook pro cost me about 2 grand. Garageband is awesome, i find it useful in beginning stages of the writing an mixing process. I am using logic pro 9 to do all final production work. So far im about 15% done, but it has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.

Ok so this is a dream i have had for ages. Sometimes i get a lot of energy around this and go hurtling towards it, and other times the momentum is lost. A number of people have told me in no uncertain terms that i SHOULD record an album. That i need to get my music out into the public sphere. And this is where i have an artistic angst moment…fear seems to stop me every time. But it still remains a goal, and it’s not fair to my creativity to let this goal go. Ok enough angst for one day.

ive written for years, never done a proper album, outside of a highschool project. its high time, im due for a record.

But, I do have a few of them saved somewhere else. I think 4 or so. And if your interested in hearing what they sound like you can always (uh-oh, here comes the shameless plug, lol) check them out here. Keep in mind, my motto is that hey, if Bob Dylan can be a singer, well then damnit so can I lol. But yeah I think I have 3 or 4 of them up there. Which means I gotta get at least 8 to 10 new ones now, completely from scratch. (sigh…) (fuck…) (lol…) well, I guess that just means the ones I was comin up with weren’t the ones to put on the album. So, back to the drawing board I go. Wish me luck. :)

I’ve decided that the album is done. It gets to a point where you just have to say “I could work on this forever if given the opportunity.” At some point, however, you just have to release it out into the world.

I’m releasing the album a an EP. I have more than enough songs recorded to fill an album, but there are so many problems with those other songs that I doubt I will be able to fix within in the next year. It’s time to move on.

That said, I think this will be my last album. I recorded two others and had big release parties and did all the hoopla associated with getting a CD printed and there hasn’t really been much of a return. I like the idea of doing just digital distribution. If I can get a group together soon, perhaps doing a printing will be something I should consider for the future to have something at shows. I just like the personal freedom associated with selling products with ZERO overhead.

Having dispensed with the business end of things, I believe this is a good record. Good sounds, good songwriting, good instrumentation—I think it is a good representation of “indie rock.”

I’m hoping to get a good initial rush of downloads when I first release. The release date is set for 05.08.2009. I set this date because besically anyone who would actually buy the album is in law school with me. 05.08.2009 is the last day of finals, so I figured it would be best to not try to sell something to people when they are stressed out and tired. We shall see.

For those following this post and my progress, please follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/holliswebb

To hear some tunes and read some other blog posts, go to my MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/holliswebb

And finally, on 05.08.2009, this is where the magic will happen: http://www.hollismusic.com/

I have played on many different albums. Rap, Rock, R&B and the like. I have a scillion ideas but not time to truly formulate them. I think I’m going to buy equipment. A piece at a time until I can record the whole thing on my own. I will need a drummer (that’s not my strongest instrument) but I can lay down the bass, keys, vocals and guitar on my own.

I decided I really, REALLY want to do this.
I want to re-learn the guitar, I want to work on the piano, and I want to write an record some kickass songs this summer.

GONNA GET DONE.