I Play Music For Free

Well, Metaphor has been out for almost two years now, and has done exactly what most CDs of this kind do: It sold really well to my fan base (all six of you) in the first 4 – 6 months, and then worked its way into a trickle of sales from the online sources. It’s still a good impulse item purchase at shows, but shows have been scarce since the economy went south.

Speaking of which, I’m offering a couple of new and innovative (at least, I like to think they are) marketing approaches. For a limited time (What is a “limited time?” When I decide time’s up, that when.) I’m offering my “Recession Special.” You can check out the details on my home page www.noahbudin.com, but it’s really quite simple: Pay What You Can. I’ll work with any budget and, on top of expenses (travel, lodging, sound, etc.), I’ll accept pretty much any fee to come to your venue and play music. (Remember my motto: Music is not my sole means of income, but my soul mean of income.)

I’m also willing to give away my CDs. Yes. I said that.

I’ve been reading a blog by Derek Sivers. It’s mostly geared for musicians, but others can learn some really terrific life lessons there. This is the post explaining why giving away CDs might be a good business model: http://sivers.org/livecd.

I’m also offering a free download of one of my songs through the end of this year. You can read about it on my website as well, and you can go here to download it. (Right click to download, right click to listen.)

I have a lot of good musician friends in my little musical niche, and I might be pissing some of them off right now. Undercutting, prostitution…whatever. I’m OK with it. I’d like to think I’m also educating some of them. There is no shame in making a living, or even really good money, by doing what you love. But, for me, at this point on my unfinished timeline, it’s more about sharing what I love to do, my creative work of which I am really proud. And any – that’s any – monetary contribution to me goes a long way toward providing the necessities for my family.

I’ve said this before, and I don’t know to whom to attribute it (if anyone knows, let me know), but it’s one of my most favorite things I ever heard anybody say about being a working musician. He was being interviewed on NPR, he drives from town to town in an old car, sometimes sleeps in his car, plays anywhere that will hire him – coffee houses, book stores, festivals, house concerts, concert halls – and he said (and I’m paraphrasing): I get paid for driving my car for hours and hours, and for sleeping in seedy motels or on floors. I play music for free.

Party!

The official Metaphor CD Launch Party/Concert
Where: Nighttown, 12387 Cedar Road (top of Cedar Hill), Cleveland Heights, Ohio
When: Monday, February 26, 2007
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM, Pre-concert reception, media and invited guests only
8:00 PM - 9:30 PM, Concert, open to the public, admission $10.00
Musicians: Noah Budin - Guitar, vocals
David Budin - Bass, vocals
Ed Ridley, Jr. - Keyboard, vocals
Sam Getz - Guitar
Rob Ticherich - Percussion

And Yet Another Phase

On to marketing. I guess this is post-post-production.

Well, I’ve gone through my first hundred pretty quickly. I’ve probably given about half away for PR and marketing purposes and to people associated witht he project. The rest I’ve sold mostly to colleagues, friends and family. Especially my mother. I’ve given her some, but she keeps insisting on buying them.

David, as a writer, editor and publicist, has compiled a vast list of media and other outlets to whom to send the CD. He’s also got connections in the music, TV and various other related industries. We’re not only marketing this heavily to Jewish outlets, but also on a broader scale to places such as The Fish, Cleveland’s branch of a national chain of Christian music radio stations, and to its parent company. My music seems to “cross over” well, and the popularity of contemporary Christian music is such that it’s practically mainstream.

We’re putting together press kits specific to this CD and we’re hoping to get some good reviews in print for it, so if anybody has anything positive to say about the CD, email it to me. Not you, Mom.

We're still working on remodeling the website and putting PayPal up. In the mean time you can visit www.soundswrite.com and the Sounds Write e-newsletter where I’m the featured artist this month.

Our official launch party/concert will be Monday, February 26 at Nighttown in Cleveland Heights. There will be a media and invited guest pre-concert reception, with hors deurves and a cash bar, after which will be the concert. We’ve recruited the core players on the record – Ed Ridley, Jr., Rob Ticherich and, of course, David, my veritable A-Team of musicians, and San Getz, with whom I’ve never played live. (Sam did those great electric guitar parts on the record.) Watch this space (and various local news media) for details.

The CD is Done!

The CD is done! I’m holding it in my hands. It looks great. It sounds great. I’m very happy and proud of this product.

Mastering and pressing really worked well for it. It’s all about compression. I can’t tell you how important the Mastering process really is. I can’t tell you because I don’t understand it all myself. But, pressing (the act of creating multiple discs from one Master) usually results in some compression of sound, and a good mastering job will offset much of that, among other things.

I’m really happy with the whole package. The graphic design by Monica Silver is terrific. We ended up with a 16 page booklet (which my mother says is beautiful – she read every word of it).

The songs:

It starts with “Metaphor” and hooks you with that funky percussion intro. At least, that’s what I hope.

It’s followed by “Blessing” which is our commercially viable hit single. If not for me, then some other musician should pick it up and do it. I can hear a Nashville treatment of it.

“Haruach” is just cool. I love it. Refer back to the blog entitled “Picking Up” from way back in March of ’06. I waxed eloquent about Ed Ridley’s piano solo which leads into Norm Tischler’s sax part. I think it’s still my favorite moment on the record.

“Fire” is next. Beautiful cello arrangement by David. Someone recently said to me, “Every time I listen to your CD I get different messages. Your writing is really deep. I don’t always understand it, but it’s really deep.” I didn’t ask, but I think she was talking about this song.

“Let It Burn.” Other than the fact that I like the order of the song titles, this one contains (or can barely contain) Sam Getz’s smokin’ guitar solo.

If “Blessing” is the “hit,” “Edge of the Ocean” is the gem...I’ve been trying to think of a good analogy for days now. (Anyone got a good Metaphor?) But, thanks largely to David’s string arrangements, it’s emotional, evocative, moving, expressive, gorgeous.

“Reason To Believe” contains my second favorite moment on the record: Derek Poindexter’s bass riff at the end of the bridge. It probably lasts all of 3 or 4 seconds, but it’s so cool and funky. Derek just plays with so much technical expertise and adeptness, but with so much ease.

“The Silent Son” finally came out well after several remixes. There's a fine line between good producing and over producing.

A good, old fashioned, live take (with a couple of studio tricks thrown in) makes “Carry That Rock” a blast. This one is still so much fun for me to listen to.

“She Knows God” is one of my favorite mixes on the record. This is a good example of not over producing a track. It shows of my guitar playing (not an easy feat!) and just supports it and the lyrics with Ed’s piano, really spare percussion, and, the icing, Charlie Lewis’s sweet and simple mandolin part.

I still don’t know what to say about “Take Me Back.” But I still love listening to the Prayer Warriors on it.

“Every Step a Prayer” is long and tedious. But we did a good job with it. My guitar is “buzzy” on it, but I kind of like that. Ed’s synth part, Celia Hollander Lewis’s vocals and mark Frieman’s Flugelhorn really make it. And the message. Don’t forget the message.

Well, I’ve gone through my first 100 of them right off the bat. Probably around half of them were freebies for the musicians, people specifically named by name in the liner notes and PR purposes. Look for a launch party/concert coming up at the end of February at Nighttown in Cleveland heights (date TBA).

At this moment, they’re only available from me and at Merkaz Judaica in Beachwood. Look for upcoming changes to my website, including a way to purchase them directly from me online. They’ll probably also be in the Sounds Write catalogue pretty soon, too.

A Little Practice Blog

Someone recently commented to me, “you’re a little behind on your blogging.”

Since when did blogging become a requirement? I didn’t know there were assignments (other than working and dealing with one’s family – have I mentioned I have three teenagers?). Am I going to fail life and have to take it again if I fall too far behind in my blogging?

But, she was right. I am too far behind in my blogging. I’d love to be able to sit and write all day. Seriously. Songs, poetry, short stories, blogs. But after work, and dealing with my children (have I mentioned I have three teenagers?) I’m tired. On weekends, I’m tired. And now that “Idol” has started, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are spent with Mariah, glued to the television (it’s her fault. She got me hooked. But that’s another story…).

Anyway, here I am. And I suppose this was an inauspicious way to start a blog which really should have screamed: The CD is done! Yeah, lemme start over. Watch the space above this one.

Are We There Yet?

We’re almost there. As I’ve been saying from the beginning, this is a tedious, detail oriented process, albeit a labor of love. The mastering is done, so now it’s on to artwork and graphic design.

I’m disappointed to say that the artist who offered to do some ceramic artwork for possible use in the design did not work out. His work just wasn’t getting what I was after. Not that I knew what I was after. It just wasn’t right. I’ll take responsibility for that. I must have completely not communicated to him any conceptual thoughts I had. So we were back to nothing in the artwork department.

Fortunately, I have a very talented artist/graphic designer, Monica Silver, on board. Monica and I went to High School and college together. She is the Creative/Art Director for GE Consumer and Industrial – Lighting here in Cleveland. We’re working with some digital photos that my daughter Mariah took of me at and around the studio one day.

I don’t know if other people get this nuts about the details of things, but when it’s my product, and the product is me, and I’ve waited ten years since putting out my last product, I tend to pay attention to every detail. I’ll just share with you here some of the emails that I’ve sent regarding the artwork.

Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:26:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Noah Budin"
Subject: Re: Hello, From Monica!
To: "Silver, Monica (GE Indust, ConsInd)"

Thanks Monica,
Here's the web site with the specs: http://www.oasiscd.com/
click on the button on the right that says Music (Audio)
on the menu on the left click on Graphics Templates under the heading Forms & More
surf on down to see all of the different options.
We're looking at conventional CD packaging in a standard jewel case.
We're probably looking at an 8 or 12 page booklet. Let me know if you have other ideas once you see the different options and my design concept.
I don't think we want top spine.
Also, the first link in the text on that page is for the Graphics Information Form. That will need to be filled out eventually.
Also, we want to do the on disk imprint or the "label," and the tray card. Do you have a copy of my first CD Hallelujah Land? My favorite part of that design is the on disk imprint.
I'm sure you'll know how to surf the web site and more about the various finer points of the whole process than I. Which is why I want you to do it.
I'll send the text as we have it so far a little later. Little things are likely to change, but for the most part, it is what it is.
Thanks,
Noah

Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 13:23:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Noah Budin"
Subject: Random design thoughts and pics
To: "Monica (GE Indust ConsInd) Silver"

Here are some digital photos that Mariah took that we might be able to use somewhere in the design. You might even want to put some kind of "effect" (for lack of a better word) on them -- I don't know...sepia, blurry, line drawing...?
I want the overall design to be kind of edgy, contemporary, atypical. Jagged or blurred lines. I'd like some element to be present throughout -- like a line or design or pattern "traveling" from page to page "connecting" everything. Things can be off center, crooked, "out of frame."
Just some random thoughts to get the conversation going. Any of this making sense?
There are 17 photos in all. I'm going to send them in three separate emails. This is batch one.
Noah

Subject: RE: simpler?
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:08:07 -0400
From: "Silver, Monica"
To: "Noah Budin" nbudin@sbcglobal.net

Hey Guys -

I had some time over the last few days to put together what I feel is a pretty comprehensive first pass of all of your CD art. I never heard back from Oasis regarding the templates, so I measured a CD cover, back, tray graphics and booklet that I had and used those measurements to create your graphics. I even found and downloaded the "Chonker" font you wanted.

Please take a good look at the artwork, layout and design and let me know what you think. I tried desperately to keep the font sizes as large as I could, but due to the length of the lyrics, most of them ended up being 7 point or less. I'll tell you this, it certainly gave my bifocals a workout!

Talk to you soon!

Best Regards -
Monica SilverGE Consumer & Industrial - Lighting Creative/Art Director

Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2006 08:20:55 -0800 (PST)
From: "Noah Budin"
Subject: Ideas re: your first draft design
To: "Silver, Monica "

Were getting there! Really, really nice job!

(What follows is very long, but please read carefully because I've given lots of very general and very specific ideas I'd like you to work with.) (put smiley face emoticon here).

I like the cover. The photo is at an unusual angle and a little out of focus so you can't immediately tell what you're looking at. That's good. Also, the _expression and attitude is not immediately identifiable. Could be angry, could be in prayer or meditation. (Actually, the sun was in my eyes.)

The font is good, inside and out.

I like the tray card -- the effect will be good...when you open the CD case and take out the CD, you'll see the same picture that's on the front, only in it's original form (color, clear), except that it'll still be obscured by the tray a little bit. And it may take a little time to connect the two pictures. All good.

I like it better when the musician credits after each song are listed vertically rather than stretched like a sentence. For instance, look at page 3: On Haruach, you can list the players to the right, the same way you did with Blessing. Also, add "guitar" to David's credit on Blessing. (I will have some other small text changes for you soon).

Overall, I like the design. Here's what I think we can alter:
I like the look of the credits page. I like the use of that photo, but I think it's too clear. I think it should be slightly "off" in some way. Not a lot. Not as much as the front, say. Maybe the edges should not be so crisp? And/or the color muted a little. Or just a little crooked, or a tiny motion blur...or something. No, not crooked. I just looked at it again. Try a kind of "torn" edges look, maybe.

All of that being said, we should probably treat the rest of the pictures similarly. I like the color of the water pictures under the lyrics to Metaphor and Edge of the Ocean, and the inset is a cool idea...but I don't want to be able to tell exactly what it is at first glance. I think I'd like the whole thing to be a little more "abstract" if you will.

Some of the shots are a little too "Hallmark." Too stock, or cute. Like on the Blessing page (3). Doesn't work for me. Page 4 is good. I like the cropped photo of me. Again, the edges are too clean or something. And I like the look of the fire opposite and of the water on page 5.

But, and here's the BIG BUT (no offense)...When the album is all about Metaphors, and we've got songs with titles like Fire, Let it Burn and Edge of the Ocean, do we want very literal photos behind them? I guess that goes for the whole design. Keep thinking "metaphor."

I like the picture of me with my eyes closed, but not where it is, not with that song.

Here are some general thoughts about overall design (what, those weren't enough?)...and I hope I can communicate this in writing. It may take a conversation, at the very least, or a face-to-face-to-computer meeting. On the other hand, you may just "get it."

OK...I like the pages with a full photo behind the lyrics (but note what I said earlier about the photos). Maybe there should be some color or image on every page. I also like some pages black with white text. But maybe the photos or images, instead of insets, can be -- I don't know what you call it. Is it watermark? -- sort of translucent in the background. Or maybe it can just be a pale color with some sort of unifying element running through, like a jagged line or something, and insets (in stlye previously mentioned) at angles, with text wrapped around? Am I making any sense?

Take it from here. I anxiously await draft 2!
Thank you for all of your thought, attention and hard work on this project.
Noah


I don’t know if other people get this nuts about the details of things, but when it’s my product, and the product is me, and it’s been ten years since I put out my last product, and I have complete artistic control (sometimes one doesn’t, and sometime’s that’s good), I’m going to make sure that this product represents me in the way that I want to be represented.

Huh?

I’m not typically a detail oriented person. But this consumes me.

When everything on this end is done, we ship it off to be duplicated and packaged. Still aiming for that "before Chanukah" release. Get your checkbooks out.

Yes, Master

I got the mastered CD today. Either this guy (mastering engineer) is really good, or I just don’t have the ears to hear where I’ve lost any quality to compression and whatnot. I’m betting on a combination of both.

Here’s what I can tell about the mastered version: The songs have a nice flow from one to the other, and all the levels are good. Mastering is the part where you take into consideration how much time you want between songs. Sometimes it’s one second, sometimes a second and a half, maybe two, maybe more. Sometimes you go right from one song to the next without a discernable pause. It depends on the order of the songs and the feel of each song. There’s a rhythm to the whole album – when it’s done well. (Just listen to Abbey Road.) Also, and this is hard to explain, the overall level (for simplicity we’ll say that’s the loudness and softness, or dynamics) from song to song is consistent while retaining the individual character of each song. In other words, there is no dramatic drop or rise in volume from one song to the next making you want to grab for the volume control for a manual adjustment. This is one of those little unnoticed, “behind-the-scenes” things about a professional recording. You don’t notice it, because (when done well) it just sounds like it’s the way it should be.

But, consider two different songs – for instance “Fire” and “Let It Burn,” which are back to back on my CD. “Fire” is a “quiet” song – just acoustic guitar, vocal, piano and cello. It’s intimate, moody and mellow. I could be sitting in your living room playing for you. “Let It Burn” is all-out angry rock and roll. Think Bachman Turner Overdrive. It’s got the acoustic guitar in there, along with a searing electric guitar, driving percussion, a horn section, bass and organ. Live in your living room it would shatter your windows. So, here they are, these two songs, back to back. You’d think one would be louder than the other. Well, a good mastering job (which this is) gives the perception that one is louder and the other is softer by keeping the integrity and the nuance and the spirit and the soul of the songs intact, while making the overall level about the same. Got it?

There is one change we want to make. After weeks, maybe months, of playing with the song order, I finally had to give in to what had been bugging me since we wrapped the recording phase. I didn’t want to. I had been fighting it. But there was one song that just disturbed the rhythm, the pace, the general flow of the record. I just didn’t want to lose another song (remember “Light?”) even though I knew it would improve the quality as a whole. The song is “Every Step a Prayer” and it runs about eight minutes long. And it’s kind of tedious. In a good way. And our arrangement of the song is good. It’s got a cool synthesizer part by Ed, nice backing vocals by Celia and a Flugelhorn part by Mark. Thematically, it’s an important song. The message is pertinent. It’s not badly written…it just takes a little patience to listen to. I’ve done it live many times, especially for MLK events (I wrote it for an MLK event), and it works in that context. But it just disrupted the flow of the CD. I found myself skipping over it during listen-throughs.

I finally came up with a solution. We decided to take it out of the mix but leave it on the album as a “bonus track.” It’ll be at the end of the record with a long space (5-10 seconds) between the “last” song and it. The track list will read eleven songs plus one bonus track. I think that will solve the problem. Only, I thought of this after we sent it off to get mastered and somewhere this communication got missed. But it’s not that big a deal (I think). Nothing about the mix or the master really has to change except song order, and that’s nothing these days since everything is digital (see: Where Are We Now?).

It won’t be long now. Depending on your definition of “long.”

Moving on to Mastering

It’s on to the Mastering Phase. We had our last studio (mixing) session today to do our final tweaks. I have not listened to it yet on crummy speakers, but that’s the real test. I know we cam make it sound good in the studio on several thousands of dollars worth of high tech, flawless equipment, but will it sound good in your car? Ah, compression.

Michael (studio owner/engineer) will upload it to the mastering house in New York, TurtleTone Studio. http://www.turtletonestudio.com/ I could really have a finished product by the end of next week. Well, a finished recording. I’m still waiting for some kind of finished product from my artist. And then it goes to the graphic designer. And then to the duplication and packaging company, Oasis. http://oasiscd.com/

I’m still aiming for a late November release, just in time for Chanukah.

I had an interesting experience at a gig the other night. I was playing a slichot concert at Suburban Temple – Kol Ami in Cleveland (slichot is the formal entrance into the high holy days) and I opened with the song “She Knows God.” I was playing with David (on 2nd Guitar) and Ed Ridley (keyboard), and when the song ended, there was a conspicuous, stony silence and what I first thought were blank stares. After about a second and a half (which seemed like an eternity) I realized that it was an awed silence. A reverent silence. A silence filled with holiness. That kind of thing doesn’t happen very often. Probably most performers don’t experience it ever. I consider myself among the lucky and privileged to have been a recipient of it. You can’t plan it, or even predict it. But when it happens, you are transported, for just a few moments, maybe seconds, into a whole new realm, a realm that is just that much closer to holiness. To angels. To God.

I can’t really explain. And it wouldn’t do any good to say “you had to be there.” But if all things happen, not by happenstance, but for a reason, then this could not have happened at any other time, at any other place or with any other song. (And if you know the song, there’s added significance. And if you know the story behind the song, well…) And I just thank God for have been granted that moment of silent piety.

Almost Final Mix

Well, I’ve just looked at my past blogs and it seems that I’ve missed the entire month of July. Blogging, I mean. I realized that it must have been a while when I got a phone message from Mark Freiman, a fine musician who contributed to this recording (and was an original member of The Promised Band, my first band), who wanted to know how the recording was going and did I still intend to release it? He also mentioned that he checks this site periodically and hadn’t seen any new posts lately. Jeepers. Someone is still checking this site. Hearing that hurled me into action. Well, propelled. Alright, pushed. OK. Nudged.

We’ve been in the studio three or four times since they finished their editing and mixing. We’ve revamped, overhauled and tweaked , and we’re finally at a point where we think we might actually have THE FINAL MIX. Or, as David put it, “anything else we do to it won’t make it better – just different.” So, that being said, I’ve got one more possible little tweak I want to make to one song.

It’s like that quote from some famous artist – I thought it was Picasso but I couldn’t find the quote – about when the artist knows when he’s done working on a painting. Answer: when he dies. I’m sure the Picasso (or whomever) quote is much more eloquent, but you get the idea. I did find this Picasso quote which is similar and worth the read:

To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de grace for the painter as well as for the picture.

So, we’re almost ready for the next steps – mastering, writing liner notes, artwork, graphic design, duplication and packaging.

My artist and I have been trying to get together but schedules are proving difficult. He told me that he’s got some preliminary sketches and a few tiles (he’s a ceramic artist) to show me. He’ll do some firing, photograph them and send me jpegs this week. He hopes by Tuesday.

As for liner notes…I just have to get busy and write them. Good idea. I’m going to get started.

Strings and Things

I’m listening to it again – for the twenty-fifth time since Tuesday. Most of it is very nice. Some of it is downright ready. Some of it needs major remixing. Much of it needs a little tweaking. But all of it is ready to move on to this next phase.

I’ve just gotta say again: David’s string arrangements are just beautiful. Breathtaking. And using real strings makes such a difference. Often, especially with lower budget, indie recordings, strings are synthesized. That is, they’re played on a keyboard – a synthesizer – that can imitate other instruments. You can almost always tell. Even if you think you can’t tell, you can. It’s that little subconscious, subliminal signal that goes off. It’s like when I’m tuning my guitar and someone says “Oh, just play it. I’ll never be able to tell the difference.” What they’re really saying is “I don’t have any musical training, so I could never tune a guitar,” or “I don’t understand the relationship between pitches to intellectualize what you’re doing,” or maybe “Hurry up. I’m bored.” But, for the average listener, music is not about intellectualizing. It’s about gut reaction. Play someone a song with an out-of-tune guitar, and then play it again with an in-tune guitar and ask them which one they liked better…they’ll pick the in-tune guitar without knowing why. It’s the same with synthesized strings. But I’ve digressed, so just take my word for it.

Along with David’s fine arrangements, of course, we were privileged to have had some fine string players as well. Cleveland is blessed to have at least a couple of top notch music education institutions, one of them being the Cleveland Institute of Music. CIM is a "leading international conservatory" which offers graduate and post graduate level classes for serious musicians. And it’s where David found the three young ladies, who play together as a trio, to record his arrangements on the record.

I’m harping on strings today (get it?) because I’ve been listening to the song “Blessing.” This song has a lot of magic going for it. I’m going to refer you to an earlier blog entitled “Soul-mates.” It’s about singing with the Prayer Warriors in the studio and then doing a vocal take of “Blessing” after they’d gone but while the “vibe” was still in the room. We did one take straight through. We may have gone back and punched one or two little spots, but this was a good take. The “spirit” was still with me. And now, as I listen to the final mix, it was a pretty amazing take. The whole song is pretty amazing (in all humility). I think it’s just gorgeous. From my guitar and vocal, to the strings, Ed Ridley’s piano, Rob’s percussion and the mix, the whole thing just works.

Needless to say, I’m excited.

More impressions of the near-final mix forthcoming.

Back to Blogging

OK. Here it is. Memorial Day. May 29^th. The studio has told me that I’d be able to pick up a copy of the edited and “mixed” CD today. I don’t know if they didn’t remember that this was Memorial Day, or if someone will actually be there to give it to me. They have not yet returned calls or emails.

In any case, it looks like we’ll get their close-to-final mix sometime soon, and the last studio work can get done. Then comes all of that post production stuff. Next for the CD is a trip to NY where it will be mastered. I can’t even begin to explain the process of mastering here concisely. (So, hen has that ever stopped me?) I’ll try to find a good definition of it and link it here. Let’s just say that the mastering process evens everything out and gives the record its clean, final sound. It’s very, very important and it can make or break the recording.

Writing liner notes – all the stuff you read (or don’t read) on the inside of the CD packaging or booklet like credits, lyrics, etc. – is my next task. Then we’ll send that off, with the cover art, to my graphic designer and she’ll put it all together. The cover art, as I mentioned briefly in a blog past, is going to be a 3D ceramic piece by an artist here in NE Ohio with pieces showing all over the world. H. Anderson Turner is the Director of Galleries at Kent State University (coincidentally my and my graphic designer’s Alma Mater) and has offered his services to create a ceramic piece for the cover. It will, of course, be photographed for use. I have no idea what he’s coming up with, but I’m very, very excited.

I hope to be blogging more often again as things take shape. In the meantime, I’ll refer you to a cool blog just started by my friend Lydia in Chicago. It’s about her life over the last ten years or so raising a pair of adopted Russian twins with a myriad of emotional, developmental and learning disabilities. It’s really well written and at the same time heartwarming, heart wrenching, evocative, and funny. Check it out here.

See you ‘round the corner. (Um, whatever that means.)

Things and Stuff

Not much to blog about these days. The tracks are still in the hands of the studio and we’re just waiting for word as to when we can get in do our final mix.

I had a cool idea which I think you’ll be hearing more about in time. I’ve run the idea up the proverbial flagpole and somebody saluted. It’s an idea whose economic time has come. I call it “Bartering for Gigs.” Details forthcoming. Interested now? Email me (noah@noahbudin.com) and I’ll send you info.

Speaking of sending info, Leon and I are working on an e-newsletter format for information about the CD, what I’m doing and, well, stuff like this. Well, for us to be working on it, I suppose it needs to move from, “Hey, we should put together a newsletter,” to the next level. It’ll be strictly an opt-in deal. We’ll post it on the website and send out a one-time email inviting you to sign up to receive the newsletters in your e-mailbox. You can sign up or not, and then, if you do, you can do what I do when I get yours: hit delete.

Light Is Out

We had a song called “Light” on the record. Did you notice the past tense “had?” It was a weak track. Musically and lyrically the song is ok, but “not earth shattering” as Sam Glaser told me. He’s right. Even when you take “earth shattering” in its metaphorical sense, not literally. And the arrangement we did was just not working.

We played around with several ideas about how to improve it, both within the mix (of existing tracks) and recording new tracks. Some of the ideas might have worked. All would have added more time, and possibly cost, to the project. I even sent it to Sam Glaser to see if he could “rescue” it.

Earlier in the project, Sam had offered to donate a cameo appearance on the CD. When “what should we do about Light” started to become a mantra, I had the idea to send it to Sam with the instructions “Please Rescue.” I suggested that he would be free to do anything to it – rerecord it, write new words, just sing – anything to save it. In the end, I would still have creative control. We all went back and forth on it for a while and finally decided that instead of throwing all of our time and resources (and Sam’s tremendous talent) at the weakest song, our time and resources and talents would be put to better use on the other stronger songs, making them even better and stronger. So we’re dropping “Light” from the mix. There are still twelve songs, and the whole project will be stronger for it.

I can’t thank Sam enough for his time and energy and input. We may still be able to use him somewhere, but we’re pretty full.

In other news:

I’ve finally been in contact with the studio. They tell me my project is a priority and that they are working on it. The editing, that is. I’m hoping that by the end of the month it’ll be ready for David and me to get back in and do the final mix.

I’d love to set a release date, but am reluctant to do so until I have something a little more concrete. That’ll be my next major announcement about the project. Until then, adieu.

Where Are We Now?

I don’t know.

I had thought to make that the whole blog today, but decided that my readership wanted more (since my readership consists of my mother and Leon, one of whom thinks everything that comes out of my mouth – or keyboard – is a gem. And it’s not Leon.)

My recording is in the hands of the engineers now and I’m just waiting for word about when it will be ready.

Ready for what?

Ready for the final mix.

So what are they doing now?

Something called editing. Actually I have no way of knowing if they’re actually doing anything. They could be sitting around, isolating all of my guitar tracks and laughing. They could have put the project in a prominent place where they’re sure to be reminded every day that they have to get to it, work on some other project until it’s time to go home, make a mental note about making it a priority, come in the next day and work on the other project just to get it to a place where it makes sense to stop, use up the day doing that, jot my project down on the TOP of the to do list, come back in the next day and become distracted by some new project.

Not that that’s ever happened.

I really don’t have much to write about. (WARNING: THAT LAST STATEMENT TURNED OUT TO BE A LIE. IF YOU CONTINUE READING, YOU WILL BE ENGAGED IN THE LONGEST BLOG I'VE EVER POSTED. NOW BACK TO THE BLOG.) But that’s OK. I make up a lot of stuff to worry about. Ante Up Audio is a fine organization. I trust them. They’re wonderful. My worries are all just a part of an overactive imagination and anxiousness to get this project done.

So what is editing?

If you really want to know…it goes some thing like this: Editing is the process by which they make the recording sound “clean,” (not as in “Parental Advisory,” but think of detailing a car, only instead of appealing to the visual senses, appealing to the auditory senses) track by track, note by note, beat by beat.

Each song is comprised of tracks. In the old days (like, back in the 1990’s) songs were recorded on tape. Every track you recorded was literally assigned a physical space on the tape. Think of ribbons rolled out across your living room so that they are all parallel and all flush, edges touching, to form one wide piece of ribbon – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and a little white one with silver and gold threads (the colors don’t actually matter, but it will help with the illustration). Now, you go into the studio and start to record tracks. You start with a click track (see glossary). That’ll go on the red ribbon. Then you record a reference guitar track on the orange ribbon, and a reference vocal on the yellow ribbon. (These three tracks are usually not “keeper” tracks. In the days of tape, when we were done with these tracks we’d just record over them if we needed to.)

Now we’ve got our three main guidance tracks so that any other musician can come in and put his or her part down. You will go back at the end and put down the keeper vocals. Usually, you’d start with the rhythm section, drums and bass. The drummer puts his track on the green ribbon. The bass player records onto the blue ribbon. Let’s put a keyboard player on the indigo ribbon, and maybe you want to add an accordion to your song (who would do that?) so you put Mr. Lady Of Spain on the violet ribbon. Now you have all of your tracks, each one a separate entity unto itself, yet meshing perfectly with all of the other tracks (well, almost – that’s where mixing comes in). Each musician puts on a pair of headphones to hear the other tracks so all you get is the one instrument on any one track (no bleed). There, now we can begin to…

Wait, your producer wants to add bagpipes and a banjo? Thankfully, you’re out of tracks, you think. You could use the red ribbon and record over the click track. But, you’d better not. The bagpiper might need it to stay in rhythm (I know, I know. This is just a fantasy.) You can’t use the orange or yellow ribbons, the reference tracks. And you can’t use any of the other tracks because they contain all of the other instruments. Whew! (Uh, oh. There is that little white ribbon with the silver and gold threads. But didn’t the engineer say not to use that for some reason…?)

But wait! Your ever-so-helpful engineer says there IS a way! Great. Before we get to that, we need to talk a little bit more about the other tracks…

So, why did we record everything on separate tracks? Can’t you and your band just go into a studio, sit down, tune up and play? Well, yes. That’s the way they used to do it in the early days of recording, into the early 1960’s. Some bands still do it that way, but because they want to, not because they have to. The advantage of having everything on separate tracks is that it gives you – the musician, the producer, the engineer – more control. Let’s say everything is going along swell. All of the musicians have played everything perfectly up to the final chorus. You’re about to finish the song and the keyboard player plays the wrong chord. If you were recording live (all of the musicians at one time) everyone would have to stop and do the whole song over. And that’s the way they used to do it. Now, all you have to do is record the keyboard part over, or maybe even just that one little part he got wrong (see glossary for “punch”). Every musician gets as many chances as they need to get their part perfect (“takes”). You may even have several takes that are all good, but have different feels or “vibes” or “grooves.” You now have choices, and more importantly, control over those choices, as to how the final mix comes out; the final product; the way your song will be remembered.

To come out with a good product (let’s not even talk about song writing skills, song choice, vocal ability, etc.) in the studio, every detail really does matter, every beat needs to line up, every note needs to be in its proper place. Shortcuts rarely work. Non-musical people may tell you that they can’t tell the difference. But every hearing person’s ears, whether or not they can discern and describe exactly what it is – a misaligned beat, a dampered string, a slightly under pitch vocal – can perceive something; Something that is the difference between ordinary, mediocre, merely good, or excellent. Everyone can.

OK, good segue back to the bagpipes and the banjo. Now that all of your other tracks are perfect, and you’re absolutely sure you want to keep them as they are, the engineer can maneuver a technique called “bouncing” or “bouncing tracks.” Remember the little white ribbon with the silver and gold threads? This is why the engineer wanted to keep it open in the first place. But, there are two more tracks to record and only one open one. True. But we’re not going to record directly to the open one. We’re going to bounce some tracks to it, and open up some other ones. Let’s say you like the bass and the drum tracks just as they are. Bounce them, that is, record the two of them together, onto that open track. Now you’ve got one, unalterable, track with the bass and drums, but you’ve two open tracks. It’s a good idea to always keep an open track, so let’s bounce a couple more tracks. Now you’ve got three open tracks. You could bounce the two bounced track to one track, opening another track. Ostensibly, you could bounce infinitely, but I don’t think anybody’s ever tried it. The Beatles came close.

Footnote (I know it’s not at the end, so call it what you must, but I’m calling it a footnote): Let’s put a little perspective on this. In our little fantasy recording, I’ve given us eight tracks to work with. Depending on the year, that was state of the art. It grew, as technology does, exponentially (I don’t know if that’s the right word. Mathematical, I’m not) – 16, 24, 36, up to about 136 (maybe more) tracks. People rarely use 136 tracks, but it's not unusual to use 20 or 30 or more on a commercial pop-rock album (the most I used was around 12 - 15). But, in 1967, the Beatles recorded the entire Sgt. Pepper album on...are you ready?... four tracks. Four. Listen to the record today. It stands up against anything recorded before or since. They, along with George Martin, were geniuses.

And consider all of those early Blues and Rock and Roll records – Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thorton, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Bill Haley…no way to name them all here. One live take. After take after take after take…That’s why we’ve got compilations or multi-disc sets coming out with “alternate takes.” Those are the takes that were good, but weren’t chosen to be released. Some of them got saved. And some of them, even though it’s the same song (same artist, same day), sound very different from the songs our ears have gotten used to.

Obviously, the more tracks you have available, the less bouncing you have to do, and the more control you have. But it’s not magic. You, the artist, still have to sing well, play well and hit the beats. Recording is a tedious and time consuming process. If you got the front half of one take of a song the way you want it, and the back half of another take, a skilled engineer could splice the tape for you – find the exact spot, physically, on each piece of tape, cut them with a razor blade, and tape them back together in the right sequence.

Well, that’s the way it was. That was state of the art on through the ‘80s and a little into the ‘90s. Now, the word is: Digital. Along with the computer age came digital technology, and it was, and is, applied to everything. Most recording is done tape-less these days. So now, it really kind is like magic. The computer program that most in the recording industry use is called Pro Tools. Its functions and possibilities, along with companion programs, are limitless. That’s not hyperbole. Really, really infinite.

There still are tracks. But now, they are unlimited. And instead of tape, they show up on a computer screen. You see a visual representation of everything you’re doing. I don’t know if I can get this across without you having actually used it, or at least seen it in action for a session or two. Same concept as tape – that is, individual tracks. Not only are they unlimited, but within one track, you can keep an unlimited amount of takes. Punching in is virtually seamless and instantaneous. If you want to lengthen a song, say, add another instrumental break or double the intro, it’s just a matter of cutting and pasting, like in a word processing program. Same with getting rid of something. No more razors and splicing. Also, since every sound is now a visual representation, with the click or drag of a mouse, you can move beats, shift pitches, take out breaths or noises, change the tempo without affecting the pitch…it’s endless.

This is not to say that one doesn’t need to sing and play well anymore. Although there are plenty of manufactured stars out there (but there always has been, because the bottom line in the industry is always money). But good music is good music. If you’ve got a good song, and you execute it well, and you know your audience, and you know how to use the technology, and you know when not to use the technology (sometimes less is more), you will only enhance your product. Sure, if you sing one note flat in a great take, you can shift it, but you gotta have that great take. You can’t manufacture passion and emotion and genuineness. Real talent shines through.

The tediousness and time consumption has not disappeared because of the technology. It’s evolved. If anything, it’s greater. It’s like when offices switched over to computers and everybody thought that we’d become a paperless business culture. In fact, we’re using more paper. And dealing with different headaches. Or that computers and other mobile technology – cell phones, Blackberries, email, etc. – would be time savers. They’re not. They’re time suckers. Since the option exists to create a “perfect” product, the pressure’s on. Recording is hours and hours of sweating the small stuff.

And this is where we are today: the editing process. This is all the stuff I don’t want to be involved with: aligning beats and cleaning up noises, brightening the horns and tuning the piano; when my finger picked guitar part, and David’s finger picked guitar part don’t align in one measure; when I sang one wrong lyric in an other wise really good take and you have to go into all of the alternate takes and find that one word and make it match…this is all the stuff I don’t want to be involved with. Thank goodness for dedicated and talented engineers. This is what they are doing now. The editing. Then, the head engineer (and studio owner) will get all of the songs close to what he thinks is a final mix (it’s good to have “fresh ears”). Finally, David and I will go back in for the final mix.

This was a pretty long blog for not having anything to write about. But heck, it’s a pretty good Intro to Recording 101. Feel free to point anyone interested toward this blog. Or cut and paste it, for that matter. You have my permission, as long as you cite the source. And please feel free to use the comments feature and respond to any of these posts in a public forum. Point your mouse to the grey number next to the title of the blog and the word “comments” will pop up. Click on it and leave a reply. At least send me an email and let me know that you’re reading this. (Not you, Mom).

So, where are we now? I still don’t know. The emails have been vague. I’d love to set a release date. Maybe I’ll call the engineer tomorrow.

Too Much Information

It’s Friday night and I actually called in sick to all of my places of employment today and to Shabbat tonight. Well, Shabbat happens with or without me. And while I miss the people, food and Torah study with our usual Friday night group, I feel like crap. I just needed a whole day at home to recover (just a bad cold, but when the throat goes, I can’t work). So here I am, Friday night at home, blogging.

So now it’s the next morning. I don’t mean that it was midnight just a moment ago. I mean that I guess I felt more like crap than I thought. I went into the bedroom to rest a little before finishing this and couldn’t get myself back out to the computer. It’s 7AM and I woke up a half an hour ago coughing, not for the first time. So I took some Robitussin (the gel-caps) and I took a shower. I’m planning to go back to bed after this, but I wanted to let my hair dry and this seemed like a good forum in which to do that. I may also be delirious.

OK, this is supposed to be about the recording and I’ve gone too entirely way off on a tangent, even for me. I may have shared too much personal information in the above paragraph, but now I’m about to share too much information about the business of recording. Or more specifically, about the business of my recording.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog (Light at the End of the Tunnel) I have an Executive Producer, Doug Furth, who is putting up all of the money for this project. He didn’t just show up one day and hand me money (although that’s what I wished someone would do for the last eight years). Doug is a Temple member and we’ve been acquainted for the last two or three years as I was the substitute song leader for the Shabbaton program. This year I took on a more permanent position (as song leader and fourth grade teacher) and had more opportunities for conversation. I didn’t know what he did for a living, but it had come to my attention that he had produced a movie. I struck up a conversation with him about the movie and, half jokingly, asked if he wanted to produce a Jewish CD. To my astonishment, he said yes without hesitation. OK, now I’m in “this how the script for the Noah Budin bio-pic goes” mode. He actually said it was a possibility and that I should call him so we could meet. I’ll spare you the details of the meeting here, but after talking and playing him some of the songs, he asked me to do some research, find a studio and write up a budget. I didn’t realize he was actually saying, “Yes. Tell me how much you want and we’ll begin.” I took it to mean he wanted a proposal. So I wrote one. It’s more of a prospectus . And it included a proposed budget. I tried to keep it low, but realistic.

This prospectus, however, is a good document to have. It put, and keeps, the project in focus. And this is where I’m going with this whole blog. You can find the prospectus at this link. I’ll have to revise the budget soon, but it should give you some (more) insight into the kind of detail, organization, time and energy that goes into a project like this. A lot of research and leg-work, especially when it came to the studio choice, went into this. Hope you find it useful or interesting or both.

My hair is dry now. I’m going back to bed.

Soul-mates

Tonight I have an interesting gig. I’m playing for a group of teens called Ambassadors For Unity. There are 16 kids from Cleveland and 16 kids from Beit Shean, Israel, Cleveland’s sister city. They are Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews (their ranks may include Reconstructionist and secular as well, I’m not sure). They visit each other’s cities at different times during the year, but I don’t know if they visit more than once.

(Here’s an article from a previous year.)

I’ll post the rest of this blog in Noah’s Attic so I can get back to the recording here.

So, recording with the Prayer Warriors…On Saturday, March 11, Herb Thomas shows up with four of the Prayer Warriors. There are about 25, I think, in the group, but obviously, we couldn’t get all of them. However, these four shook the rafters all by themselves.

Herb is an interesting guy. He’s an award-winning television journalist and videographer and works as a camera operator for one of the local network affiliates here in Cleveland. I guess his title with the PWs, aside from “founder,” is Artistic Director. He plays congas with them, but doesn’t sing and is not the Musical Director. Anyway, he sat in the booth with us while we sent them into the studio to sing. More about that in a minute.

After all of the introductions and business matters were out of the way, we got down to the business of making music. First, we played the version of the song as we had it recorded with my truly crappy scratch vocal. I told them that I wanted them to put their mark on it; that I didn’t have charts or anything for them (it’s a pretty simple, repetitive song), I just wanted them to listen and sing what they felt. Then we’d start picking and choosing and honing. (See: "Picking Up," 6th paragraph down)

I really didn’t know what to do with the song. I knew generally how I wanted it to sound: Gospel. But I had no idea about structure or who would or could sing what. I wanted it to grow organically. It did.

First, we gathered around the piano and found some parts and put together some “ooohhhs” for the background. (When I say “we,” I mean “they.”) Then we recorded all of the “ooohhhs” on all of the verses. Then, we went to the end of the song, the play-out, or fadeout, and we had them do all kinds of gospel-y improvisation. They were standing in a semi-circle, all four around one microphone. These are people with big, fat, rich gospel voices. I didn’t know how big. That is, until I stood next to them. We had done a couple of takes and weren’t quite getting it (you know…”it”) when Herb said, “they seem a little intimidated.” So I said I’d go in and sing one with them. Like I was going to teach them something about gospel singing. The track started, we all took a breath, we all opened our mouths, and out came this gorgeous, big, fat, rich gospel sound. Only, nothing was coming out of my mouth. Talk about intimidation. I stood there with my mouth hanging open and no sound coming out. When the take was over I said, “Uh, that was great. Gimme more like that,” and I turned to leave the studio. They said, “But you didn’t sing!’ I told them they didn’t need me. And they didn’t. We were all laughing at that point and on the next few takes they really delivered.

At one point, Herb turned to me and said, “Watch this.” Then he pushed the “talk” button so they could hear him in their headphones. “Gimme some LOVE, Elma!” On the next take, Elma held this one, soaring high note for a long, long time. It was perfect. You’ll hear it on the record.

We had Elma solo a couple of verses, Gloria, who was scared and unsure of herself, gave us one really cool take on a verse (she’s got this great tenor voice) and Ron, who sounds like Preacher (Amen!) sang the bridges.

I got the ultimate compliment (once they sang it and heard how it could sound with the right voices.) They told me how much they liked the song. It was unsolicited and genuine. That made my day. They all hugged me as they left.

Then, I went into the vocal booth to record my parts for the song. Man, the vibe in there was awesome! I sang well. I was comfortable. It felt easy. Just before we left for the day, I asked if I could, or should, re-sing the vocal for “Blessing.” It was OK, but I just wasn’t happy with it. I could tell that David and Jimmy didn’t really think it was necessary, but I said I wanted to. I wanted to do it while “the spirit” was still in that booth. I did one take all the way through. For the most part, that’s the take you’ll probably hear on the record. I made one lyric mistake (which I didn’t even notice until a couple of weeks of listening to it) but it was a good take. It just felt right. And it still feels right when I listen to it. It just has the right “vibe.”

Sometimes you just have to be open to receive.

Writing About What I Plan to Write About

Well, there’s not much going on studio-wise these days. At least not for me. I listen to the rough mixes until I can’t stand them and then I put them away for a few days. Then I email the engineers some more notes about how to edit the tracks. And then I don’t hear back from them. I have no idea at what stage the recording is in at this point. I guess it’s time to hound them by phone for a while. I’d like to set some deadlines and a release date but I want to be realistic (Ha! Manishtana halila hazeh mikol haleilot?)

I do owe you some blogs. These are the things I plan to write about… a) soon b) someday c) whenever:

• Recording with the Prayer Warriors.
• What’s happening with the song “Light.”
• I’ve got an artist with pieces showing all over the world to do the cover art.
• I have a graphic designer, a wonderful friend from high school and college, to do the layout.
• More about the business of recording. I’ll even share my prospectus and budget that I wrote.
• And more about songwriting in the “Noah’s Notes” blog spot.

My webmaster wants me to remind and encourage you to use the “comments” feature available for each post. There’s a little grey number (all zeros at this point, except for this one because I’ve posted an example) next to the post title. Just click on that and you can write a response and post it. I think it’s a moderated forum so don’t look for it right away. Leon will let you through when he’s good and ready. He’ll also make sure your comments are appropriate. So don’t leave anything stupid or linguistically unsuitable. And you know who you are.

Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch

So, OK. I haven't blogged in a few days. So, Robbi Sherwin sends me an email kvetching that I haven't blogged in a few days. Who knew anybody was actually reading? I mean besides my mother.

I'm at work right now. It's Friday, Shabbos. And I've got to go and bake some challah and lead a Shabbos sing-a-long. See -- wouldn't YOU like to live at Stone Gardens?

But, I just want you to know that I have blogged. I blogged in Noah's Notes. I've started blogging about songwriting. So go there. Now you'll have to keep checking both blogs. All -- I think my readership is up to six now -- six of you.

What? Kvetch. Complain. Now I have to add a Yiddish dictionary?

Sweating the Small Stuff

Saturday, I worked an administrative day at Stone Gardens. It was a relatively short day for an administrative day. Only 11 hours. Sunday, I worked at Temple in the morning and then worked on some detail stuff at home in the afternoon regarding the recording which I’ll share with you shortly. I’m going to post some of the things I was working on in lieu of writing about them for lack of time. I think it might be interesting anyway. At least to you die hard Metaphor blog fans. Both of you.

I’m not sure I’ve blogged all I can or will about our studio time, but we’re into the editing and mixing phase now. As I’ve stated so often in past posts, it’s all about the details. The other day I was thinking about these stress management workshops that I do with the residents at Stone Gardens. I’ve taught them the phrase “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” and it struck me that recording is all about the small stuff. It’s all small stuff. In the last three or four days, I’ve spoken to a couple of duplication companies about things like bar codes, Universal Product Code, the Uniform Code Council, top spine, glass masters, and graphic design features and costs; I’ve spoken to a friend and respected musician about different duplication companies and the difference he’s heard from master to finished product – compression, tonal shift, etc.; David and I have gone back and forth about song order – a little thought about (by the consumer), but very important aspect of the overall product. (Soon will come the discussion about how many seconds, or fractions of seconds, to put between each song. It’s a little different between each song. It depends on song order and how one song ends and the next one begins…)

On March 12th , our last day in the studio, we came home with the rough mix of all the songs in their potential order (which will likely change). We’ve been listening to them and taking notes. At the studio, they are working on the editing, a process I can’t even go into here. Talk about minutia. They will get the tracks clean and close to a mix that could be final, then David and I will go back into the studio to tweak and render the final mix. What I’ll post here are our combined first round of notes to help the engineers get the songs to a point where David and I can work on the next phase. This will give you some idea about nature of detail in this process. Remember, these are the big notes, the general ones, the ones that are NOT so specific.

MiXING NOTES

Font = David
Font = Noah

Some basic notes, starting from where everything was on the pre-preliminary mix of Sunday, March 12 (and not addressing reverb and any other effects – these are mostly about structure, not sound):

In general: Noah’s guitar should be up a little from where it is.


Blessing

Sang wrong lyric in vs. 3. “May our journey…” should be “May their journey…”

The word “bless” in the second vs., right where the strings come in at about 1:27, is it OK? It has no discernable pitch to me.


Edge of the Ocean

Strings, on the first chorus only, should come in 2 ½ measures (or 6 beats) later. Strings could come down a little all the way through.

Piano, should come in on the 2nd verse, but out for 1st half of 3rd verse.


Every Step a Prayer

David’s single-string guitar part, that comes in on the 2nd verse (?), should be up a little.

Does my buzzing guitar bother anybody else?

Love the delay and the placement of the vocals.


Fire

My favorite track on the record so far.

Listen to the cello at the end of the third vs. just after the word “fabric” at about 2:55. There is a note that sounds funky to me. The intonation is not right or something.


Haruach

This is my other favorite track on the record.

At the end of the second vs., after the word “dance” there is an audible breath, like “haahhh.” Is it something to take out, or leave in as one of those things that you don’t really notice but becomes part of the landscape of the song in a subliminal kind of way?


Let It Burn

Lead guitar needs to be trimmed a bit – out in spots; maybe out for whole bridge, etc.
Horns should come down a little throughout. Can they be made to sound brighter and/or harder-edged? And in the last measure of the song, can we use the horn part from earlier in the song, where the figure descends, rather than ascends (in other words, the top line now goes: Bb-A-Bb, but should go: Bb-A-G)?

Also, another alternative for the horns on the guitar break: right now for the first time through, it’s the horn part from the second verse, and for the second time through, it’s the part from the third verse. Another possibility is: on the first time though, no horns; second time through, the part from the second verse.

Also, didn’t Ed record an organ part? Is it there at all? Do we need it? I don’t think we’ll use any of the organ solo on the break.


Light

I’m not sure what to do with this one. I don’t quite like it yet. It’s not sounding “folky” or “PPM” enough for me.

First, try taking the drum out of the intro completely. Let it come in on the 1st vs. It’s nice and light there. I don’t know about the choruses. Do we need it at all on the track?

I don’t know if I like the sax at all. I might like it not as a solo instrument, just under words. Is there another instrument that can take the break, or do we need the break at all? I don’t know if it’s a strong enough song to sustain itself for that long. It made the cut originally because it’s a new, easy to sing, somewhat catchy Chanukah song. It needs to be more accessible to the general song leader/music teacher community.

Metaphor

Intro: Should we bring the drum kit in one measure earlier? Lengthen the whole percussion intro?

Lead vocal needs to be up in the mix.

Love the fade on the outro.


Reason To Believe

Possibly trim out some of the lead guitar throughout.

David’s piano part on the intro and between verses, and outro could come up a little, just so it has a little bit more presence amid everything else that’s going on.

This is my other favorite track.

Maybe we should lengthen the intro, double it, with just my guitar, David’s piano, bass and percussion 1st time through, add elec. Guit., organ 2nd time through. The piano could start lower in the mix the 1st time and build.

My backing vocal on the bridge can be up a little.


Silent Son

Noah’s guitar should be a little higher than 2nd guitar. First accordion part (chords) should come in later, in between 1st and 2nd verses, and should be a little lower throughout. Second accordion part should be lower as well.

Take Me Back

My humming at the beginning could be lower in the mix or even out completely or partially.

Background vocals may be able to come up throughout, especially on the
a capella verse.

Is the outro too “busy” with both of those takes together? We might be able to trim a little out of each of them and use them together. Or that might be hard since they sang around one mic.

Does it bother anybody that I don’t pronounce the “K” in the word back in that last verse?

She Knows God

Bring mandolin in on bridge.

Is the first verse (a capella) strong enough, in tune enough?

Please fix my guitar hesitation at around 0:40.

The piano might be able to stay out longer, too. It can come in right before the bridge after “she knows God” at the end of the 2nd vs. when he plays those 3 ascending chords that mimic the mandolin. The mandolin can come in on the 2nd half of the bridge or in the 3rd vs.


Carry That Rock

We’ll get to this when we get to it.

Musicians

Not much time to write this weekend. But I did finish this. Here is the musical personelle on each track:

Blessing

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

Edward Ridley, Jr. – piano

Sarah McElravy – violin

Sarah Ludwig – violin

Kimberly Patterson – cello

David Budin – string arrangement

Edge of the Ocean

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

Celia Hollander Lewis – 12-string guitar

David Budin – bass, string arrangement

Rob Ticherich – percussion

Sarah McElravy – violin

Sarah Ludwig – violin

Kimberly Patterson – cello

Every Step a Prayer

Noah Budin – guitar, vocals

Celia Hollander Lewis – 12-string guitar, vocals

David Budin – bass, guitar

Edward Ridley, Jr. – piano, synthesizer

Rob Ticherich – percussion

Mark Freiman – flugelhorn

Fire

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

David Budin – bass, cello arrangement

Edward Ridley, Jr. - piano

Kimberly Patterson – cello

Haruach

Noah Budin – guitar, vocals

Celia Hollander Lewis – 12-string guitar

David Budin – bass

Edward Ridley, Jr. – piano, synthesizer

Rob Ticherich – percussion

Norm Tischler – saxophone

Let it Burn

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

Sam Getz – electric guitar

Derek Poindexter – bass

Edward Ridley, Jr. – organ

Rob Ticherich – percussion

Mark Freiman – trumpets

Light

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

Charlie Lewis – guitar

Celia Hollander Lewis – 12-string guitar

David Budin – bass, backing vocals

Rob Ticherich – percussion

Norm Tischler - saxophone

Metaphor

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

Sam Getz – electric guitar

David Budin – bass, guitar, backing vocal

Edward Ridley, Jr. – organ

Rob Ticherich – percussion

Celia Hollander Lewis – backing vocal

Charlie Lewis – backing vocal

Reason To Believe

Noah Budin – guitar, vocals

David Budin – guitar, keyboard

Sam Getz – electric guitar

Derek Poindexter – bass

Edward Ridley, Jr. – organ

Rob Ticherich – percussion

Silent Son

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

David Budin – guitar

Rob Ticherich – percussion

Walt Mahovlich – accordion

Take Me Back

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

Elma A. Flemister, Ron Ferebee, Gloria Ferebee, Sharon E. Chalklett (of the Prayer Warriors) – vocals

David Budin – bass

Edward Ridley, Jr. – organ, synthesizer

Celia Hollander Lewis – banjo

Charlie Lewis - autoharp

Rob Ticherich - pecussion

She Knows God

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

Edward Ridley, Jr. – piano

Rob Ticherich – percussion

Charlie Lewis – mandolin

Carry That Rock

Noah Budin – guitar, vocal

David Budin – bass

Edward Ridley, Jr. – piano

Michael Seifert - drums

Celia Hollander Lewis – banjo

Charlie Lewis – mandolin

Picking Up

OK. Here's the missing text, new and improved!

Well, we sort of left off at Friday, March 10^th. I talked a lot about some of the business details. I’ll talk more about that later, but let’s get back to recording.

Friday, we brought Ed Ridley back into the studio to finish up his keyboard parts. Ed is one of the best keyboard players around. David, who’s been in the music business since the 1960’s, in NY and LA among other places (check out David’s bio), says he is the best keyboard player he’s ever worked with. As I listen to the roughs, I love listening to Haruach for two or three reasons. One is Norm’s sax part. But the main thing is Ed’s keyboard parts. On Friday he added a synth part to the front of the song. It’s kind of the old Vox Humama sound that James Taylor used on the Walking Man record. “Vox Humana” literally means Human Voice and it’s got this eerie, windy, sparkly quality (words don’t do it justice). Windy is one of the qualities I wanted to fit in the whole “ruach” thing. (My standard concert intro to Haruach: The word Ruach means “spirit.” And the word Ruach means “wind.” As in the breath of God.) As we were searching for the right sound (Ed was pushing little buttons on his Roland keyboard and playing with different combinations) and came up with the one you’ll hear on the record, Ed said, “Yeah. This one sounds like the moment right before creation.” I knew it was the right sound.

But it’s his piano solo in Haruach that gets me every time. In fact, we added an instrumental verse so he could take a solo. Haruach was the last song I thought we’d add a verse to because it’s so monotonous. And I mean that in the best possible way. It’s built mostly on two chords, the I and the VI, and then the V is thrown in there at the end of the verse, and the melody line is built around one note. (I don’t recommend beginning songwriters do this. You’ve got to have some experience and know about structures and how they work. I’ll say more about songwriting in another blog some day.) There are four verses and no chorus (I have a habit of writing songs without choruses). Thankfully, there is a bridge. And the bridge is strong. Right after the bridge is Ed’s solo. It’s only a single line. No big chords or flourishes or arpeggios. It’s not impressively speedy. Nothing particularly fancy. But it is perfect. It’s perfect in its simple eloquence. All in that one line, it is smooth and silky and gorgeous. It builds in tension and expectation without being brash, and almost resolves, leading you right into the next verse, hungry for more. That’s where Norm’s sax come in and takes over. It’s a perfect climax.

And that’s Ed’s genius. He can do whatever you need, but he can give you exactly what you need, with nothing extra, nothing superfluous. It’s all usable. He captured all that in a single line of piano. It’s great just to watch him work. He becomes the music. He listens to it, take after take, and his eyes close and he sways. He breathes the music. He tastes the music. It becomes a part of him. He knows when to stop and try something new. Each take gets better and better. There’s very little punching with Ed.

This goes to my philosophy of hiring musicians. I don’t want people who can just read a chart. I want people who will make connections and leave their personal imprint on the sound. I encourage spontaneity and creativity. I’m purposefully vague, especially at the start of the session. I’ll have them listen through the song once or twice, talk a little about it, and let them have at it. When we start getting something we like, then we can begin to hone and pick and choose. Most of the musicians were able to do that and come through, most notably, Ed, Norm, Derek, and the Prayer Warriors.

Ah, the Prayer Warriors. That’s another blog for another day. They were everything I’d hoped.

We spent the rest of that Friday working on my vocals. It took, on average, about an hour to get a good vocal for one song. We fell into a pretty good pattern. I’d sing all the way through the song a few times, recording and keeping each take. Eventually we’d come up with one complete take that we liked. Then we’d go back and listen through that one punching in the spots that weren’t right – a missed word, a stumble, bad intonation, funny pronunciation, ahead of or behind the beat, etc. We’d end up with one really good take with a few alternate vocal tracks from which to pick and choose. You always hear something later, with fresh ears, that you didn’t catch at that moment. We got all the vocals done except for Take Me Back. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with that song, but I had the Prayer Warriors coming in on Saturday, and I was hoping they were going to bring what I needed, even though none of us knew what that was.

Missing Text

I'm having some blogging difficulties. I just published one but it was missing some text (I'm trying to find it...behind the couch? No. Under the bed? No. Floating around in Cyberspace? Maybe...) so I unpublished it. I'll republish when I find (or rewrite) the missing text.

It's 5:36 PM right now. I started this blog at 8:00 AM. I'm still at work and will be until 9:00 PM (it's Bingo night). I tried to intersperse work with blogging. Multitasking is proving to be too taxing.

Crap. That reminds me. It's almost April.

Purim's Over, Life Goes On

Sorry for my absence from the blogsphere these past few days. I should have a chance to write more tonight. I’m still trying to adjust to getting back into the real world, and it was Purim on top of that. Not that Purim is anything like the real world. Check out my photo gallery for me in my Purim costume. Gives a whole new meaning to the title “Queen” Esther.

Things should be settling down a bit now. I’ve been doing nothing but working and listening to the rough mixes to the point where I can’t stand them any more. Time to give it a break. I don’t know how the editing is going, but I’m looking forward to getting in there to do the final mix. At Temple, we’re just beginning the process of recording Rock My Soul Shabbat. So, here we go again.

Just a reminder: If you are new the blogsphere and are confused trying to follow this, you need to know that the most recent blog is posted on top. To catch up, or read the posts in chronological order, scroll down, or click on the archives and start from the bottom up. I started this blog back in January of 2006 to chronicle the recording process and progress. I’ll be back later to fill you in on the last few sessions.

Email From Mom

Short blog tonight. Much more forthcoming.

It was a weird day. We had our Purim carnival at Temple, so I started the day in drag. (if you are uninitiated in the ways of Purim…well, don’t ask. I’ll have pics up soon in the photo gallery.) Then I went into the studio for a couple of hours and worked on the rough mixes. (I have all 13 songs now on a disk. We put them in their potential order to see how it works. More about that later.) Then I led a Laughter Workshop at a birthday party. (I’m a Certified Laugh Leader. More about that sometime, too – in another section of the site. Check out
www.worldlaughtertour.com. ) Then I went to play Mahjong. Sunday is my Mahj night.

Now I’m home. It’s late. I’ve been working on the not-so-exciting producer stuff, like musicians’ fees, etc. I have to be back at the real job tomorrow morning. No, it’s already this morning.

Can’t wait to tell you about the Prayer Warriors’ session. The track Take Me Back went from being my least favorite to my most favorite. Although, it’s hard to say that. It’s sort of like choosing which one of your children you love best.

Don't forget about the glossary. I try to remember to create a link when I use a technical word you may not know. It'll take you to the glossary Like this.

I’ll close tonight (this morning) with this. I got an email from my mother the other day. At least I know somebody’s reading this thing. And her perceptions are so good. Here it is:

Can't wait to hear what you and David are producing - I am reading your blogs everyday (do you think anybody else is?) - I think it is fascinating and you are both geniuses - all this from an unbiased source, your mother.

Prayer Warriors

Saturday, March 11th is our last session (putting down tracks -- we'll be editing and mixing as mentioned). I promise I'll fill you in on what happened these last couple of days, but I wanted to let you know about the Prayer Warriors. We finally booked some of them to come in for a session to record vocals on Take Me Back. They are an amazing Ceveland group rooted in Gospel but pushing all kinds of boundaries. I'm reprinting this description that I found at
http://www.esquirerecords.com/artists/feature/pw.asp
Here is what it says:

Blending the power of gospel music with the modern sounds of pop, rock and R&B, Prayer Warriors - as many as 25-voices, backed by the Thunder Band (piano, bass, drums and percussion) - perform what they call "inspirational groove - music with a message."

This unusual group, which has been in existence for more than a decade, crosses musical boundaries and stretches limits to deliver a message of brotherhood, peace and understanding. Although rooted in the musical traditions of the church, Prayer Warriors speak a contemporary language in non-traditional places - nightclubs, festivals and fairs. Their approach is fresh and inspired, taking a cue from their obvious mentors The Staples Singers, who rose to fame in the 1960s, bringing their similar message out of the church and to the general population.

Prayer Warriors' ability to capture the attention of diverse audiences is no doubt due to the group's concept and broad musical base Always fresh, their repertoire runs the gamut from the traditional "Amazing Grace," to the O'Jay's "Love Train," to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall." Gospel music is the foundation of their show, but the music - gospel or not - aims to stir souls, with a rich blend of harmonies and inspired solos.

While an essential element of the music, harmony is also an essential message of Prayer Warriors. "We never go out preaching but we do want to share a positive message through our music," founder Herb Thomas says, "We want to remind people that we can all do a better job of living and working if we do it together. That we need to be there for each other. That we can be better people, better parents. We can make life better in the world we live in."

It's easy to see the power these self-dubbed messenger angels have to move an audience. "When we can stand on stage and do everything from "Amazing Grace" to Pink Floyd, and have people in tears, coming up to us after the show and telling us, 'I really wasn't expecting that,' that's a great feeling," says Thomas.

Now an award-winning television journalist and videographer, Thomas' love of gospel music was fostered in the church. As a child, growing up in Alabama, he embraced the music and decided early on that he wanted to share his love for it. He began by creating and directing multi-media stage productions featuring gospel music. He first realized his Prayer Warriors vision in 1989, when he assembled a group for one of his gospel productions. The program was so successful, Thomas decided to establish the group. In the beginning, his company (H-Factor Productions) would present the concerts. However, it wasn't long before Prayer Warriors reputation took hold and they were getting bookings for festivals and special events throughout the region.

The group's performances have included some thrilling moments in the spotlight, including being asked to perform back-up vocals for the Foreigner music video, "I Want To Know What Love Is." The invitation came after delivering a performance at the 1993 National Rib Cook Off, doing back-up vocals for the rock group. "They gave me chills," singer Lou Gramm said afterward. They got the call for the video, which was shot a few months later. Other career highlights include providing vocal support for a Diana Ross Cleveland concert performance in 1995; opening a Cain Park concert for gospel recording artist Lynette Hawkins Stephens; and an unlikely but successful pairing as the opening act for a Buckwheat Zydeco show at Peabody's DownUnder.

In between working full-time for the Cleveland Fox Network affiliate TV 8, running his own video production company, and producing Prayer Warriors and other concerts, the ultra-driven Thomas composes and writes lyrics for the group. He is also their percussionist.

Prayer Warriors Musical Director since 1983, keyboardist and arranger (along with Thomas) Clifton Beasley has served as musical director for a number of churches in Cleveland. He is an accomplished composer and lyricist, whose original songs are often featured in the group's repertoire.

Whether their performance is inside a church, at a festival in a park, or in a smoke-filled saloon, Thomas Beasley and their Prayer Warriors make events memorable for their audience. Thomas remarks, "'It's satisfying when see that we've touched someone. If we can calm a troubled soul, lift someone's spirit, touch their heart, or get them to sing along, even for a moment, then we've accomplished something."

Check out this site too:
http://www.balancedlivingmag.com/2004/Sept%20-%20Oct%2004/The%20Prayer%20Warriors.htm

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Today is Friday. My children have all had colds and I woke up with a sore throat. Damn.

BTW, this has really been an extraordinarily short period of time to produce a full blown recording. I was lucky enough to be able to take two full weeks off of work (you know, that real job thing) and put in eight hour days at the studio almost every day. There are still hours and hours of editing and cleaning and mixing to do. But after Sunday we’ll have all of the raw tracks down, and some of the rough mixes I’m coming home with sound pretty darn good.

I called my (real job) supervisor the other day and she said “I can’t believe you’re calling me on your vacation!” To which I said, “Vacation? I can’t wait to get back to work so I can get some rest.”

Some bigger name artists who do have this luxury of time, may take more time to produce their recording. They may have the backing of a label. And some may spend the same amount of hours as I will have in the studio, but they need to spread it out over weeks or months due to schedule.

Also, I do have another luxury. I have a backer, an executive producer. Doug Furth, an investment banker (or something like that) with an interest in producing family quality entertainment (he produced the movie “Come Away Home”) became interested in my music and agreed to back this CD. Having all of the money up front is a tremendous luxury for small independent artists. I constructed a fairly conservative budget for this project which came in at around $15,500.00. I’m already a little over budget for musicians’ fees – I underestimated the number of musicians and their time in studio and their inherent value to the overall recording. But I’ll find other places to cut (perhaps in the artwork department) and luckily I built in a “Misc.” line in the budget; funds for undetermined use. I’m glad I did that but I didn’t want to use it all up in the beginning because I know that something else unforeseen will come up. It always does.

Well, I didn’t post much about the actual recording going on in the studio, and there is some pretty cool stuff. But I’ve got to get down to the studio now, so I’ll write more later and fill you in.

Past the Tipping Point

Tuesday, March 7. My horns came in. (Insert tacky and tasteless ethnic joke here).

Started the day with Norm Tischler. If you know Norm, you know that’s a helluva way to start the day. He’s a ball of energy…or something. I kid. I’m not saying anything here that I wouldn’t say directly to Norm. He is a great guy and one absolutely terrific horn player.

David wrote a horn arrangement for Let it Burn and needed a low horn, like a trombone. Norm had not played trombone for years, but he borrowed one (a huge thank you to Academy Music. Sorry, no web site to point you to.) and came in ready to read the chart. He did pretty well. Sax is his main instrument and he’s the kind of player that can hear a piece once and know what to do. He’ll also give you what you want. You can say “give me a little David Sanborn” or “play it like Clarence Clemence” and he’ll give it to you. It took him about an hour to get the charts right for Let it Burn (that comes down to about a minute and a half’s worth of music) but he nailed the two sax solos in about two takes each. We’ve got sax solos in Light and Haruach. We just let him have at them and he was awesome.

Then Norm hung around for no apparent reason and ate our pizza.

Just kidding.

He ate the garlic bread.

(Which he bought.)

Just giving Norm a hard time. He loves it.

Time for an Ed Ridley session. He came in at 1:00 and was only available until 3:00. It was a little frustrating because we were having some technical problems with the keyboard and the interface (or some technical word like that. It has to do with how the electric keyboard was reacting, or not reacting, to the computer program). We lost about an hour of Ed’s time, and Ed’s time is so valuable (to me) because it’s so limited and he’s so good. We only had him booked for one more hour and a half session, but he graciously agreed to come on Friday from 10 – 3. We should be able to finish up with him then. Thank you Ed.

Here’s a little more behind the scenes with the piano problem. (I want to keep this blog relatively positive and upbeat while still touching on the realities of tedium, frustrations and setbacks while trying to create a beautiful, seamless product. It is not my intention to cast doubt or blame on any company or individual. Everyone’s been great). There is a beautiful baby grand in the studio. That is our preference to use for acoustic piano parts. However, while it’s not badly out of tune, we’ve been waiting for the piano tuner to call back. We didn’t want to start piano sessions until the piano had been tuned (perfection, remember?). So, with Ed in the studio, and the piano not tuned, we went to plan B – the electric, weighted keyboard (weighted keys that react like real piano keys to the touch) with some kind of MIDI software. It wasn’t working properly. Something to do with the polyphony. (I checked. Polyphony is legal in Ohio). Anyway, we went to the baby grand. It has a great sound and was not too out of tune to our ears. Recording technology, specifically the software, is completely amazing these days. Within this software, called Pro Tools, there is something called an auto tuner. You can put it on any track and it will tune all of the pitches to where they are supposed to be. Even on a vocal track. (Now you know how people who can’t and don’t sing well and shouldn’t be famous except that they look good get where they are. (I won’t mention any names, but the initials that come to mind are Brittany Spears. Oops (I did it again). I hope I don’t get sued. But I’ll challenge them to play a raw vocal track in court.) What I’m getting at, however, is, we’ll put the auto tuner on the piano once it’s all recorded to insure that its pitch is perfect. I don’t think it’s cheating. Ed plays so beautifully. It’s just like tuning the piano, but after the fact.

We worked on some of the lead vocals until Mark Freiman came in and did some trumpet parts. He, as always, was terrific, both his playing and to work with.

We are almost done with all of the instrumental tracks! Vocals remain and I’m still trying to line up some vocalists. More about vocals next blog.