How did this happen?
This reinvestment in my music--13 Questions--probably seems sudden, maybe even rash, but it has brewed for a while. I never meant to stop making music entirely. But raising kids and my huge (and ongoing) commitment to teaching/learning, not to mention writing the nonfiction novel Buskers (more on its publication to come) simply took up all the creative space I had. But when I finished writing Buskers, a funny thing happened: songs started coming with regularity. And as they did, rather than ignore them I indulged those streams to completion.
So by the summer of 2010, with a dozen-plus new songs in hand I set up a home studio and set out to learn the ins and outs of high-end recording. I quickly surmised that some things, drums and horn sections for instance, or mixing the final product, were out of my equipment and skill leagues, so I left those to pros at a few big commercial studios. The rest, though, was done the newfangled way, in my home studio or in one of my beloved "orange-box" sound rooms at IU; or exchanging tracks digitally with a variety of players who are similarly equipped; or sometimes travelling the country with my mobile recording unit to catch performances where my favorite old friends reside. It was ALL a labor of love. Even the false starts that stopped the project cold at two important junctures. All of it led to here. I am lucky to be here.
The new possibilities of direct-to-fan communication now make this possible without having to scuttle family and career. I'm happy to be "out there" again. I will do my best to blog up a storm on all topics, short and long. And I hope you'll add your thoughts. That's the beauty of this. Cheers.
So by the summer of 2010, with a dozen-plus new songs in hand I set up a home studio and set out to learn the ins and outs of high-end recording. I quickly surmised that some things, drums and horn sections for instance, or mixing the final product, were out of my equipment and skill leagues, so I left those to pros at a few big commercial studios. The rest, though, was done the newfangled way, in my home studio or in one of my beloved "orange-box" sound rooms at IU; or exchanging tracks digitally with a variety of players who are similarly equipped; or sometimes travelling the country with my mobile recording unit to catch performances where my favorite old friends reside. It was ALL a labor of love. Even the false starts that stopped the project cold at two important junctures. All of it led to here. I am lucky to be here.
The new possibilities of direct-to-fan communication now make this possible without having to scuttle family and career. I'm happy to be "out there" again. I will do my best to blog up a storm on all topics, short and long. And I hope you'll add your thoughts. That's the beauty of this. Cheers.