Joh Joh Noh Doh

Good morning good morning good morning. Today is exciting---we're doing drafts of the last two songs! We're starting with The Freshman and then doing Everytime We Touch, a fun arrangement that quotes a lot of other songs. (Not that quoting is particularly original. The arrangement is fun anyway.) After that, all that we still have to do is go back and take a second listen to our drafts, tweaking the mix based on things we hear now that we didn't hear before. Then Bill will master the album, using some extra compression and equalization to make sure the tracks come together to form a cohesive album.

Right now Bill is laying the groundwork for the Freshman. He just set basic compression and equalization levels for the Trio, which isn't in the original song--Steven added two extra lead vocals to form block chords with the solo in the last chorus. It rocks. (If you can't tell, I like writing about what Bill is doing. Gives me something to do between real paragraphs.)

(Now he's putting a filter on one of the snare tracks in the vocal percussion to make it sound scratchier.)

(Now he's letting it play and moving knobs and things on his mixing boards. Must be important.)

(Now Woodstock just jumped up on Emily's lap. He's the orange cat in the pictures that I'll put up in a couple of days when I have my camera cable.)

It feels crazy that we're wrapping things up, and that in less than 48 hours the album will be finished. It basically consumed the last six months for all of us, and it thoroughly consumed my summer since mid-June. I'm not complaining. I've learned a lot, and most of it has been very fun. And it's been really cool to see each song come together piece by piece.

Alright, we're getting into the fun stuff. Time to pay more attention.