My favorite part of this whole process is mixing. You can make or break a song with the mix and sometimes find a whole new song in the mix. I will always choose a well-recorded album over a live performance.

I've been recording for a long, long time and have been a student of learning new techniques. For this project, however, it needed to be TIGHT and I decided to level-up my game.

First up, I took a class from Frightbox Recording to improve my baseline skills. This improved my mixing processes and procedures and filled gaps in my mixing knowledge. Using my new skills, I applied them to all 10 songs and established a rough mix.

Next comes the extremely long process of taking something "good" to something "great". The last 10% of any project is the most difficult and typically the longest. Just to give put in perspective, this phase took an entire year and repeated listening of 75 different versions of the album mix.

Once I got the album to a point I could listen to it without the desire to make more changes, I uploaded a draft version to SoundCloud and solicted feedback from friends. This stage was valuable and made me realize the path from 98% done to 100% done will still require more help.

At this point, I reached out to David Taylor, an audio engineer that I had met at a music festival. David graciously listened to two or three mix versions, giving me practical feedback and then eventually some "magic dust" album mixing tips you hear in the final release.

And now, finally, we're done! But, in my typical fashion, I want to make this release special so now it's time for artwork...


TECHNICAL DETAILS