This past week, John finally received the master disc for his upcoming singer-songwriter album Wide Open Door. This physical copy is with the manufacturer now. The cover art is designed. And, most importantly, John is feeling really good about the final feel of each track.
When the first shipment arrives, hopefully late June, our first priority will be delivering CD and digital copies to about 100 private backers and Kickstarter donors who helped fund the production back in 2018. It’s been a long journey, and you all made it possible! Thank you!
Recording the guest artist tracks went fairly quickly. What took time was the work required to layer all those tracks with each other. John spent much of 2019 in the studio working with Gil Stober of Peak Recording to balance and equalize all the tracks. The album was co-produced by Third Path and Peak Recording, and it wound up a true collaboration.
It was a massive learning experience for John. “First you mix the individual tracks, clean and equalize them, and balance them, give them a sense of space—where they’re coming from in terms of the right and left speakers” he explained. “You need to look at the song order too, how songs mesh, or don’t mesh, as one ends and then another begins.” Lastly, the whole album needs to be mastered, making sure the sound is consistent throughout. “We started to get very picky!” John said.
By this spring, it was time to set a deadline. John decided he wanted a summer release, rewarding all his Kickstarter supporters first and then formally launching the album to the public with a house concert series heading into the Fall. John and Gil worked long hours on final mixing and fine-tuning levels. For weeks John and Gil test drove copies of the album on various sound systems and in multiple car stereo systems, always finding one more nit-picky adjustment to make.
Finally, in mid-May, it was time. The album is truly done now. We’ll let you know as soon as it’s available online and wherever you like to download music. Again, thanks everyone for helping to make this happen!
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