Topsy Turvy
Aug 22, 2009 DIY
I guess it’s a matter of my schedule to why Saturday is generally the day I sit and banter with myself about what’s going on, and write a blog entry that might make sense or entertain me in a couple of months when I come back to re-read it. This past week was no less hectic than others, but did provide time for preparing to get into the studio to cut tracks for a 4-song EP, so I’m excited, and a bit overwhelmed.
A couple of weeks ago, Bruce Johnson sent a timely email to our NSAI Yahoo group with a link to an excellent document from Disc Makers titled “Planning Your Album from Beginning to End”. I won’t be producing a record, per se, baby steps for now, I’m still feeling my way through the indie forest. But reading through the document a couple of times helped me list out key focal points necessary to even the mini-project I’m about to undertake.
Picking only 4-songs is one of the toughest parts. But financially, it’s all I can do for now, and I’ll take that stepping stone across the stream. One thing I am forcing myself to do, though, is write one new song as part of the first four. The main reason for making this a self-imposed requirement is to try and infuse a fresh edge to the overall set of songs.
I’ll be working with producers Jimm Mosher/Alan Grossman at Hit Music Studios in Spencer, NC. We are scheduled to meet on Monday for pre-production planning and perhaps lay down some scratch tracks for the first couple of songs we settle on. I’m working on narrowing down the list of songs to choose from, plus writing charts for the couple of songs I’m pretty sure we’ll do as well as finish writing at least one new song to throw into the mix out of the batch swirling in my head.
Truth is, since this is my first studio effort with my own material I’m trying not to envision the end state because I want to let things unfold rather than make them happen. Not that I don’t have any idea what I want but heck, Jimm and Alan are way more experienced and will open my ears to creative possibilities I won’t think of on my own.
A few weeks ago we bought a Topsy Turvy, and upside down planter for tomato plants. The thing works great, but oddly enough the tomato plant we bought was mislabeled and turned out to be a green pepper plant! The peppers taste great and I didn’t have to dig a hole to grow them. Just threw a bunch soil in the Topsy Turvy and watered the plant every day. It’s kind of like this indie thing… plant seeds in good soil, water daily and enjoy what grows — even when what I get is the unexpected.
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