Hey Everyone!
We're at the end of 3 weeks here, and at this point, we have half the album mixed! 6 down, 6 more to go! Looking forward to finally getting this thing out for all to hear!
So far, it's sounding fucking great,exactly as Steve and I wanted it to be! The mixes we've received so far still have some fixes needed to them, but they're minor readjustments. A little spot of this, a little dash of that... We picked the "hardest" of the 6 for Kent to go through, in terms of song length, and other oddities that popped up while he has been mixing, and he's been able to deliver for us! Right on Kent, keep it going man!!!
We have 6 more to go, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, we look to remain on schedule to have this thing done by the end of the month, mix wise. The it's on to mastering. More on that area soon, and who will be handling this area soon!
This has been a great learning process for me so far,overseeing practically every area of production, and I look forward to taking newfound knowledge into future recording projects with me!
In other news, the album artwork has been started!!! Handling artwork duties for the record is Asgeir Mickelson! A lot of you may know Asgeir as the drummer for Borknagar, Spiral Architect, Vintersorg, and most recently, Scariot! What some of you may not know, is Asgeir has been the one responsible for quite a few album covers in recent times as well, most notably for Borknagar, and Scariot, in addition to others as well.
I got to know Asgeir when he did a tour with us in Testament, the No Mercy Festival tour 2003, and was witness to his highly developed artistic side, in addition to the fact that he's one hell of an awesome drummer as well.
Steve and I are very proud to have Asgeir on board with us to do the album artwork; we've gotten a first pass of the album cover so far, and it's looking excellent! Exactly what we wanted to have happen! I don't want to give away what our concept is, suffice to say it will go with the music perfectly, as will the rest of the artwork throughout the album!
It is our hope, in this day and age, to bring an interest in the actual enjoyment of buying a CD, and experiencing the album as a whole (artwork being a really big factor in that experience,IMHO) ,back in some small way, with this album. Just that whole experience of having the album physically in front of you, hearing it,(and knowning the quality of a CD is infinitely better than that of an mp3 download), and viewing the artwork that ties into a theme_ around the album.
I think it's one thing when you download an album, and maybe get a low res image of an album cover for your iPod or other device,and I'm not knocking that concept, as it's now festered it's way into the music world.Not to worry, DLer's, we'll have that available too!
But to actually have more than that, to have the inside panels of artwork, the back cover, even the CD itself, is entirely another thing. Call it old school, I really don't care. It's the imagination of Steve and I putting our music to images that we feel represents the album, that concept, that I think has been lost in this day and age, and has been proven in all genres of music. The imagination and magic of music and art to me, has been lost to technology, in some way.
Anyway, off my soapbox of opinion for now.....
I'll be back soon with more updates, as this album moves towards completion!!!
We're at the end of 3 weeks here, and at this point, we have half the album mixed! 6 down, 6 more to go! Looking forward to finally getting this thing out for all to hear!
So far, it's sounding fucking great,exactly as Steve and I wanted it to be! The mixes we've received so far still have some fixes needed to them, but they're minor readjustments. A little spot of this, a little dash of that... We picked the "hardest" of the 6 for Kent to go through, in terms of song length, and other oddities that popped up while he has been mixing, and he's been able to deliver for us! Right on Kent, keep it going man!!!
We have 6 more to go, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, we look to remain on schedule to have this thing done by the end of the month, mix wise. The it's on to mastering. More on that area soon, and who will be handling this area soon!
This has been a great learning process for me so far,overseeing practically every area of production, and I look forward to taking newfound knowledge into future recording projects with me!
In other news, the album artwork has been started!!!
Handling artwork duties for the record is Asgeir Mickelson! A lot of you may know Asgeir as the drummer for Borknagar, Spiral Architect, Vintersorg, and most recently, Scariot! What some of you may not know, is Asgeir has been the one responsible for quite a few album covers in recent times as well, most notably for Borknagar, and Scariot, in addition to others as well.I got to know Asgeir when he did a tour with us in Testament, the No Mercy Festival tour 2003, and was witness to his highly developed artistic side, in addition to the fact that he's one hell of an awesome drummer as well.
Steve and I are very proud to have Asgeir on board with us to do the album artwork; we've gotten a first pass of the album cover so far, and it's looking excellent! Exactly what we wanted to have happen! I don't want to give away what our concept is, suffice to say it will go with the music perfectly, as will the rest of the artwork throughout the album!
It is our hope, in this day and age, to bring an interest in the actual enjoyment of buying a CD, and experiencing the album as a whole (artwork being a really big factor in that experience,IMHO) ,back in some small way, with this album. Just that whole experience of having the album physically in front of you, hearing it,(and knowning the quality of a CD is infinitely better than that of an mp3 download), and viewing the artwork that ties into a theme_ around the album.
I think it's one thing when you download an album, and maybe get a low res image of an album cover for your iPod or other device,and I'm not knocking that concept, as it's now festered it's way into the music world.Not to worry, DLer's, we'll have that available too!
But to actually have more than that, to have the inside panels of artwork, the back cover, even the CD itself, is entirely another thing. Call it old school, I really don't care. It's the imagination of Steve and I putting our music to images that we feel represents the album, that concept, that I think has been lost in this day and age, and has been proven in all genres of music. The imagination and magic of music and art to me, has been lost to technology, in some way.
Anyway, off my soapbox of opinion for now.....
I'll be back soon with more updates, as this album moves towards completion!!!
