200 Posts and 2 songs

I picked up my repaired M-Audio board tonight, or should I say brand new board, which was a relief. When I brought it in for repair under warranty the good news was that the fellow at Long and Mcquade said hat he had never sent anything in to M-Audio before. He was actually referring to the fact he did not know how fast their service levels were, but I took it to also mean he rarely saw their product go south. I was a little nervous though, because if even a good manufacturer can have a lemon, and I did not want to suffer after the warranty was out with a machine that was serviceable but not overly reliable on a fluke.

Well the good news is they replaced the board all together, so hopefully I will have no future issues, as I have big plans for this thing. Four or five Cd's worth or more if I can!

Needless to say, I was very pleased with both Long and McQuade and M-Audio. I feel well treated and taken car of in the process. Always a good feeling.

And 2 songs! In the end I only missed one mini-session, and I have rough mixed the second track we captured drums on. It too sounds amazing, so I am looking forward to the next session which will hopefully net us at least 4 songs, maybe more.

Oh yeah, and this is my 200th post. I am slow, but what can you do.

Woo Hoo!!

So I had a successful drum tracking session on Saturday - really successful. I am using a loaner board (same model as the one I have in for repair M-Audio Project mix I/O - picture in previous post) Obviously there is some fear and trembling as I go deeper into this project. Drums will be the hardest thing I do in terms of capturing sound. I have a limit of 8 inputs so choosing the placement of the mics is a big deal, and with a little experimentation and a drummer with some studio experience knowing how he has found great sounds from his drums in the past, it was a real treat. We did some things that I haven't seen before, but to be fair I haven't paid a lot of attention to how drums were mic'd in my own studio experiences.

It was a short session, something we won't do again because the set-up and tear down time is intense, but we still got two tracks in the can. Listening to them over the last two days I am getting more and more excited. They sound really great. My drummer has a great kit which always helps. I have some serious learning to do on the editing side of things, but now it is play time. Create some back-ups and learn - I am having a blast. As the beds go down instrument by instrument this thing will start to sound really different. I remember that being an amazing process with Noticing the Sky as songs went from an idea to a produced sound.

I am really enjoying be the producer this time. I think I have been blessed with solid producers over the 5 projects I have done. In some respects one of my first and the last being the strongest of those. It was time to grow into this role though for both artistic, desire and logistical reasons, and did I mention I am loving it.

I will keep you posted - pardon the pun.

Minor? Setback

Like so many Canadian musicians I am a moonlighter. You take some of your precious "personal" time and you work away at creating something. Unfortunately that puts an emphasis on high productivity to get things done when you do have the time.

Last Thursday night was my first session recording the drums for my new CD. Unfortunately, despite my testing and preparation, I had equipment failure. My new M-Audio Project Mix I/O just quit. Now I have been incredibly happy with this board through pre-production and love it as an interface, but was obviously dissappointed. Drums set-up, sounding amazing and then - system failure.

It is still quite new, so warrantly should get me back on my feet and Long and McQuade will lend me one until it is back, so hopefully minimal down time on the project, but man a disappointing night.

Back at it soon, I will let you know how the next session goes.

The Cliff Cline Jazz Club Gig

So the Club is playing this Wednesday night. Really excited about that. We have played less than we would have liked up to this point but the gigs have been evolving more and more into who we are. This Wednesday should be an amazing progression from Christmas as we continue to develop our sound. You can still get tickets I think. Click on the FTC link on the bar to the right and contact them if you are interested.

I think this year is going to be a very interesting and promising one. We will definitely be hosting another Christmas gig, but we will need a bigger venue, and it will be much more of a concert. We will also be hosting one or two other concerts in yet to be determined venues so you will have to keep posted.

This year is supposed to be the year for my next solo "pop" release. Next year should be the Jazz Club's turn for a CD, so over time we will let you know how those plans are building.

Anyway, trying to write once or twice a week these days. I hope to see some of you out at the FTC gig. Good cause and it will be a great night.

Simplicity

I have been wrestling with this topic for years. I think I have made some spiritual progress in growth along the way, but I am amazed at how slowly my understanding and successful implementation of Biblical principles on this matter has been.

I certainly think it can be over-simplified into a discussion about how much is too much, what is necessity and luxury, but that quickly becomes a discussion about rules or opinions and boundaries (legalism) and stops being about why one should approach life, Biblically with simplicity.

Tomorrow I have to go deeper and preach on the topic at church. Link through here mid next week and the mp3 should be there for a listen if you are interested.

I think it will be an interesting time of reflection.