Well, I feel I have reached the end of an epoch and the first result is an Americana album called...Americana.


Americana

iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/americana/id1294634821

Amazon

Americana on Amazon

I feel a real sense of accomplishment on this, as I think this is the closest I have come to capturing a musical identity from beginning to end in a project, first note to last note.

Two songs are pre BIAB 2014 (Harbor Me and When the World was Real) and the rest show my evolution from 2014 BIAB to BIAB 2017. (I became a BIAB user in 2014.)

The feedback from this forum has been very instrumental in helping to shape and guide not only the journey, but also the final versions based on forum feedback. The forum is kind of like my own little writer's group, so I value it immensely.

Next, I have enough tunes left over for a "Greatest Hits 2016-2107" pop album (and the title is joke) but after that which will occur in November, I have nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs and wait for BIAB 2018.

You have all heard these before, but the preview features on iTunes etc will at least show how it all came together.

Thanks for being part of the process, gang. This is also on Spotify, though they messed two things up and I have to sort that out with them.

Congrats on the new release, David!

fj

David, 12 solid tracks with great consistency between them that stick to the theme! I appreciate the effort that obviously went into this work. I am partial to "Something To Believe In". I wish you many returns on your investment into this project! Thanks, Torrey

Congratulations, David!
Many of my favourites are gathered here ( and a couple I missed - Harbor Me is really good) and it definitely hangs together as an album.
You are my kind of Americana.

Robert
p.s.this rookie would be interesting to know if you remastered them all to get the levels seamless.

Awesome album David. So very well done. This some very impressive work. Congratulations. Incredible mixing as well...

Thanks Floyd!

Thanks Torrey, I really appreciate that!

Hey Robert,

Very interesting question on the remastering. Glad you asked.

The answer is YES and it took a long time. Some songs took almost a day to remaster because I have learned SO MUCH in between 2015 and today that the levels and EQing on some tracks in some older mixes were way off. So, there was a lot of remixing before even the final mastering session to make the levels consistent. 2014-2017 has been like a massive brain dump of learning new skills, many of them on this forum.

Going FORWARD, I have set some standards for what I will do on each individual mix track in most genres with settings and VSTs dialed into various mixing board templates. (One of my boards is called the "Bob Buford Board" because I transplanted his basic level specs from a lesson he gave on the recording forum directly to a board.) And I have all kinds of dials and switches and meters to pay closer attention to what is going on in each new mix now, on every track.

SO, next time (2018 era on) it should take me an hour or so to master those solid prefinal mixes for an album and not five days.





But, at least I am learning!!!

Congrats on the album, David! There's no feeling in the world like when a project you've been working on for months is finally done

It sounds very well done, and you can hear the effort you poured into this! I only had time to listen to the first couple for now, and I'm already very impressed I can't wait to check out the rest!

Hey David,

Somehow I missed this ... how in the heck did I do that???? Anyway, glad I came across it today.

Congrats and big kudos!

And yes, your approach to recording, and music in general, has a few twists ... and all them twisted in the right direction. I envy your multitude of musical and recording skills. Wishing you every bit of success and satisfaction with a fantastic project!

I take a lot of pride in belonging to a community of such gifted people, such as yourself. The truly creative and marvelously talented folks, such as yourself, give all of us a pretty face - musical face, that is. Some of of our real faces need more help than a great song!

All the very best, my friend!

Alan

Hey David,

I wanted to follow up on my post of a few minutes ago.

My favorites on the album are #1 - "At The Sound Of Your Voice" and #12 - "When The World Was Real".

#1 has, to my 71 years-old ears, elements of Bob Dylan, Don McClean and John Hartford- a true Americana stage. That's a tough lineup to break!

#12 just has a great message of the good old days of popular music and it's place in society, delivered as no one but you can.

Pretty cool stuff!

Congrats David!

very nice,

Kenny

That's great David, I wish you well with your future endeavors. Hope the next time you have a tomato soup; You'll Think of Me! :-)

David,
Thanks for answering that - heading over to find the Buford article.

Robert

Congratulations David!
Cool, and yes, we heard most of them.

Rob and Anne-Marie

Thanks Scott. I am so glad you liked it. I really appreciate your kind words!!

Thanks so much Deryk. I am really glad you enjoyed it!!

Congratulations on the new release, David. My favorite is "Like you own the World". What can I say. I'm A hopeless romantic. I'm still trying to come to terms with the inner workings of BIAB. Maybe one of these days I'll be confident enough to release a new project. BTW, I also picked up on Buford's presets, they have helped a lot. Be well and prosper.

Congratulations, David!

Great album!
As Robert says, it definitely hangs together as an album.
Remixing is also really nice.
I wish you well with your future endeavors.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Dittos!!!!!! It's a nice collection. When we hit the road this weekend we'll play them in order via Apple Music -- just checked and saw it's there for us.

J&B

David,

This one slipped past me! I hope that your album is doing well for you and opening those doors into the business side of the music world that seem so difficult to get through.

You really are a musical tsunami when it comes to songwriting and song production!

All the best,
Noel