the days grow shorter

We’re in the endgame for the album now. Everything’s been recorded and sung, and most of the choices are behind us. These days my work involves hovering at a respectful distance while the engineer turns knobs, listening for hours so I can give a few seconds of input: turn the horns down here, more of the room mics on the piano on this song, I can’t hear the lyrics at the end of this line. Tonight’s the last night of mix recalls—final small adjustments before this thing goes off to mastering.

I’ve been getting plenty of sleep, eating well and all that, and the days go by at the kind of leisurely pace I imagine most of you would envy. Yet there’s this sense of depletion, like something was spent and needs replenishing. I guess I know why. More than the previous three records, I really put myself on this album. It’s the truest expression so far of who I am and what I want my music to be. Which is a hell of a lot of work and quite scary, to be honest with you. But also something to be pleased with and excited about sending into the world.

Much credit goes to Alex Wong, who’s thrown himself wholeheartedly into all aspects of this album and logged more hours than any sane producer ought to; and to Eddie Jackson, who is both perfectionist and fun to work with, that paradox that epitomizes good engineers. Look for the names of these two gentlemen. They are going places.

So these days I’m tired and happy and anxious and generally itching to take on a totally different project. Combine that with long periods of “standby” time in the studio and you get…VT turns political junkie! Stay tuned. (No soapboxing, I promise. Just useful links.)