Full Circle...

It seems a bit strange to finally be at this point. The album is finished and ready to go, release date coming VERY soon, the new website is nearly finished and some other important developments have taken place.

Probably the biggest development in the last week was moving out of the studio. Yes, the space that was my second home for the last 13 months had served its purpose and it was time to move on. It is a bit sad, but I had never intended to stay there too long and although it was fine for getting the album done it was far too small to start working with other people to get the live set ready. So, with a slightly heavy heart, I packed up my things on Monday and handed in the keys. I will not be looking for anything new right away, it is not necessary and I can do most of what I need to do right here for now. When it is time to start the next album - probably next spring - I will definitely be looking for something, hopefully a bit bigger. We'll see how things go...

The new website is nearly ready and will probably be launched late next week, so this will be the last entry on this blog page. From now on the blog will be part of the new homepage which will have all sorts of other treats as well. I will keep this site alive as www.fineprintpariah.blogspot.com with a link on the new site. It will serve as the "Blog Archives". Even if no one else is interested I am sure I will want to go back and read it every once in a while, just to remind me of where I was, where I am and what I did to put myself there.

And that is just what I did this week. I had a look back at the old entries to get a perspective on things. That is why this one is called "Full Circle", it also could have been called "One door closes and another opens - Part 2" because that is just what is happening. One major phase has ended but it is really only the beginning of something which I hope will get much, much bigger. So, 95 blog entries, 33 demos, 10 official releases and some other "works in progress" and "unplugged" goodies later, it is time to say good-bye to blogspot which has served as Fine Print Pariah's online home for quite a while now. But the end is only a beginning as they say...

See you soon...on the other side!

Album Update...the last!

Yes, it is true, the album is finished! Just got the master the other day and now it is time to do something with it which means a lot of administrative stuff like registering the songs, getting the artwork finished up and off to have the digipaks printed up, uploading to all the usual outlets...etc... This will all take some time so I still haven't decided on a final release date but I can assure you it will either be very late October or very early November.

So even though the album is now ready it is really only the beginning, kind of a strange way to think of it after all the work that was put in to get to this stage. It was definitely an arduous process, extremely frustrating at times but extremely rewarding in the end. I can finally say that I have got these songs in a form that I am very proud to present to the rest of the world...finally! And although the process was difficult, I learned a lot and all of that experience will make future albums much easier to produce. That is not to say that there won't be frustrations and setbacks, but I have really developed a production style and got pretty comfortable with the technical aspects so that will help a lot in the future.

There are some other things going on here that should be mentioned but can be better explained at a later date. Until then!

Album Update #7...

Considering that the mixing is basically done, this will probably be the second last of the "album updates". I am heading into the studio today to do some final tweaking and checking and unless I run into problems the mastering can start next week. This process should not take too long as I want to keep it relatively uncomplicated. I have been careful to get the EQ just how I want it in the mix to avoid any further corrections in the mastering phase so a bit of compression (but not too much, don't want to end up with a "Death Magnetic"! ;-), some stereo widening and obviously some limiting should do it. I also have edited the beginnings and endings how I want them so that will save some time as well.

I have a rough idea of the release date but still want to hold back on setting anything solid for a couple of reasons. For one, this whole process has been very time-consuming and has left little time to get the live lineup sorted out. Steps have been taken, but there is a lot more work to be done before these songs will be ready for the stage. So my dilemma now is whether or not to try for a show to coincide with the release or simply to release it and let the live aspect come later. Not an easy decision. Another consideration is leaving enough time between the intial promotional phase, i.e. sending it out for reviews etc. and the actual release to allow interested reviewers to listen to it and get an article written. It is much more appealing to them if they have something that is "exclusive", in other words, not yet available to the public. I am hoping to get everything sent out in the first week or two of September and want to leave at least 6 weeks open for them to get their reviews out. For established acts, this review phase has become obsolete - at least in theory - but for me it is necessary and will hopefully get some positive attention and get the word out.

Anyway, if I want to get this thing done once and for all I should probably not be sitting here writing when I should be in the studio...

Til next time!

Album Update #6...

The first mix of the album was finished this past weekend and I took a day off to try and get some perspective before listening to it which I did last night. I can generally say that I am happy with the results, at least there were no glaring problems and everything is in the "ballpark" so to speak. As I knew I would, I still found lots of room for improvement and began tweaking a bit right after listening while the ideas were fresh which led to a pretty late night. There is still a lot to do but I already here the difference and will go into the studio tomorrow to make some more adjustments. After that though it is time for a real pause, at least 3 or 4 days to get the songs out of my head so I can come back to them next week with a more objective perspective hopefully.

I made the first mix CD in the running order of the album and I am quite happy with that. It is a bit of a roller-coaster ride going back and forth between slower, more intimate tracks and then back up with some real heavy rockers. All in all a pretty "dark" album, very moody and atmospheric but that is exactly what I was aiming for. Hard for me to imagine any of these songs on the radio but that is not a priority - maybe internet radio but not the dying, commercial-driven dinosaur that is traditional radio. Another thing that struck me is that it is definitely an "album" and not just a collection of songs thrown together - again what I was aiming for. I like to believe that each song is strong enough to stand on its own, but the experience of listening to them all together is definitely more powerful and, in my opinion, makes a lot more sense.

In a couple of weeks I will reveal the track listing and maybe a bit of background about each song and how it came to be what it is today.

All for now.

Album Update #5...

Oh what a week it has been! My throat is raw and my voice a bit hoarse but it doesn't matter anymore (at least I hope so) because the vocals are finished! I don't want to celebrate too much even though this basically means that the recording phase is over and all that is left to do is mix and master. I know how these things go, especially with vocals, and I have a feeling that during the mixing stage I will probably come across a chorus or two and the odd verse that could be a bit better and if so I will redo them. Good enough is just not good enough this time around. But I might get lucky and this may not be necessary. I was very diligent during the recording of everything and constantly listened back several times right after the take and then again later to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Phrasing was adjusted, and then adjusted again if necessary, lyircs were re-written and takes were redone until that one note particular note was finally hit. So, as far as I can tell, the vocals are "in the can" and all I can say is: Ya-freakin'-Hoooooooooo!

Taking the day off tomorrow, it is Sunday after all, but on Monday I am going to get the studio ready and comfortable for the mixing phase. I have been a bit negligent about keeping the place tidy and am getting a bit sick of tripping over water bottles and food wrappers along with all of the cables, old drum heads and whatever else is scattered all over the place. So I will do a bit of a clean up and bring in a bigger desk. The new monitors finally arrived last week and are a bit too big for the desk that is there now. Once I have all that sorted out I will do a bit of editing, i.e. trimming the dead air out of all the tracks etc. I might also need Tuesday for this considering that each song is running on about 25 tracks right now! I have never used that many before but in the rough mix it sounded pretty good so I might just keep them all. I am planning on having the first mix done by the end of the month and then putting it on the shelf for a week or so and going back to it fresh to see if it needs tweaking. If so I will take another few days for that and then all that is left is the mastering so the finished product should be done by late August. After that there is a lot of administrative stuff to take care of before it can actually be released, but a date sometime near the end of October looks good.

All for now. Have great weekend!

Album Update #4...

I was back in the studio yesterday working on the vocals after a slight setback. As luck would have it I got a bit of a cold last week and had to take a few days off. Not really surprising considering the dismal weather we have had here this summer. Yesterday was the first day I can remember when it didn't rain! And it's not just the rain, it is constantly cool and windy with short breaks when the sun peaks through and you would actually think it is summer. Oh well, nothing you can do about the weather.

Anyway, feeling better this week and back at it. There is still more soundchecking to do and the final edit on the lyrics isn't quite finished (funny how that works, these lyrics have been around for years but I find now that I have to seriously consider whether they work or not). I have also been concentrating hard on the phrasing to make sure the vocals sit well in the mix and this has meant some pretty major adjustments but I am quite sure they are for the better. I see a lot of potential for backing lines too so once the main lines are in I am going to go through each song and see about putting in some backing lines - probably in the choruses to give them some extra ooomph but maybe in a few other places too.

If all goes well this should all be done by the end of next week and then all that is left to do is the final mixing but I won't rush that. I find the best thing to do is a good, thorough first mix and then put it on the shelf for a week or so and then come back to it fresh to see if there are any adjustments needed.

So as you can see there is still a lot to do. Better get down to the studio and get at it then...all for now!

The Story of Anvil...

If you haven't heard about this film, it is a documentary about a heavy metal band called "Anvil" from my hometown of Toronto. The band hit its peak in about 1983 and toured with all the big rock and metal bands of the time but while almost all the other bands went on to great fame and fortune, for some reason Anvil faded into obscurity. The film was made by a fan who was about 15 years old when they were big and had gone on to a career in film.

I watched this film last night and it touched me on many levels. I wouldn't expect any non-musicians to really "get it" but if you have ever played in a band or tried to "make it" as a musician in any way then I strongly recommend watching this. At its heart it shows what true passion and dedication are necessary to keep at it even if nobody else seems to care and you get stuck playing to 20 or so drunks in a scummy dive in Prague.

But what really stood out for me was the tragic results of bands and musicians living in the past and trying to do things the way they did back in the 80s. Several scenes of the band basically pleading and begging to be signed to a record deal with a major had me squirming in my seat - yes, I was that uncomfortable (kind of the way you would feel if you had to watch somebody being slowly tortured). And I was also angry, not so much about the reactions of the record execs but the fact that nobody had bothered to tell these poor guys that all of that nonsense is absolutely unnecessary these days! There they were with a finished album, a fanbase and the internet! What else did they need? Well, they obviously figured it out in the end and some of those scenes at the record companies could have been a bit staged to show these companies for how useless they really.

So at least they got with the times and are probably doing better than ever before but I had a quick peak at their website and was pretty surprised to find something that looked like a high school computer science project from about 1995 so there is still some work to be done. But at least they have gone from being stuck in the 80s to being stuck in the 90s! ;-) Another couple of years and they might actually make it into the new millenium...

Anyway, good luck to my fellow Canucks with their newfound success. The film will also help a lot with this, another example of just how important the relationship with your fans is!