What’s Goin’ On

Ok, here’s the story… Around the beginning of August, after 23 days of recording (spread out over 2 months), I was listening to some of the tracks we were starting to build. Specifically, “Safe” and “War”. And they didn’t sound the way I had envisioned. It wasn’t a quality issue at all as much as a style issue. The tracks were good. They just weren’t in the style of music that I would like to present these songs in. So I decided, after a night of agonizing thought and prayer, to make one of the hardest decisions I have ever made: to put recording on pause. It was pretty devastating for me in many ways cause I had spent a lot of time choosing a producer in the first place. I spent days wallowing in regret for something I couldn’t have foreseen (until after we had done a couple tracks). I was overcome by guilt for having used so much presale money and not finishing the album. I spent days calling up close friends and getting their feedback. In the end, they helped me realize that I made the right decision. This album should sound like something that’s a part of my heart and I know that fans and supporters wouldn’t want it any other way. So I parted ways with my producer on good terms and tried not to get too discouraged.

What this means for the album is that I’m going to take all the stuff I recorded this summer (mainly scratch tracks and drums) and finish the album with another producer. (side note-apparently recording tracks with more than one producer is not an uncommon occurrence in the industry. Still doesn’t make the experience any easier.) Who I will work with and when is not clear yet. The original budget goal for this album was $15,000 and amazingly we’ve raised $8,000 so far! I can’t begin to say what an encouragement that is. But that means there isn’t much money left to continue with recording right now. But I can tell you, I’m much wiser and learned now- it was a good learning experience.

I so wanted to finish the album this summer… but that didn’t happen. *sigh* It’s funny, being unsigned means you have no one forcing you to hand in an album by a certain date, but I think I’m putting more pressure on myself than anyone could. I really want to finish this album so I can move forward with my music career- to start playing out here in LA, start making connections with publishers, not to mention, get a 2nd day job! So after recovering from this… ‘road bump’, I started contacting other producers this month and am trying to sort out scheduling and budgeting things, etc. I guess what I really feel bad about was not having an album to share with fans and supporters in October like I had hoped.

We set out to document the making of an independent album and that included as much transparency as possible. So this it. I have less than half an album in my hands, $3000 of presales in the savings account, and a hope and wish that I’ll be able to share AMAZING, truthful music with the world. Thank you everyone for holding me up and giving me strength through times of discouragement. So that’s the story… to be continued, not ending here!