Alles neu

After a semester of back-burnering the album, I’m in the studio again with Wil Reeves to put the finishing touches on  The Juniper Tree. Last Wednesday we mixed and bounced five tracks, and in my opinion they’re more or less finished (minus a couple of tweaks and mastering, of course).

Another (disproportionately) thrilling announcement: I’ve officially earned my first dollar for the album! A whole $3.45, to be exact. It’s not profit, and in fact to break even just on recording costs, I’ll need to earn another $1378.55. (Oof.) But that's another post in itself, and it'll probably go up once I've decided whether or not to Kickstart this baby.

Other updates thus far:

• I’ve chosen a company to produce the physical CDs and packaging, and I've started designing the album cover and liner notes.
• I’ve upgraded this site to the entry-level paid version, which gives me a few more eCommerce options, among other things (in preparation for the no doubt massive hordes of fans just waiting to storm the gates when the album goes on sale)
• The page for my 2008 release Homage is up and running, complete with history, album art/liner notes, and a NoiseTrade widget so you can stream five of the 8 tracks. Consider leaving a tip if you’d like to support my music and the website. (And thank you to the folks who have already left one!)
• I ventured into that wretched hive of scum and villainy, Twitter. Tweet @ me, tweeters. 

I've also started researching digital distributors. Symphonic looks cool. They'll also distribute physical copies if you provide them. But I'm going to experiment with independent distribution for now, to wit -- an extremely non-exhaustive to-do list:

1. Create iTunes account for ease of digital purchase
2. Same with Amazon/CreateSpace 
3. ???
4. PROFIT

I'm pretty sure #3 has something to do with flinging download cards at random strangers like confetti.

I have another studio session coming up this weekend, which I can only hope is as productive as the last one.

Also, last night I had a highly enjoyable jam session with some folks from work, which was the perfect opportunity to field-test the Marshall AS50D with an SM58 I picked up last week. It was more than adequate for bedroom-level blues rock (even a slightly jazzified -- but no less loud -- cover of the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army").

The Vibro Champ XD was glorious, as always, especially with the fresh tube. Toasty!

My pile of gear pre-jam last night. The dolly setup was clever right up until I got to the basement steps.