Where Are We?
Every day someone is asking me “When will you have something to listen to?” or “When will your CD be finished?” So I have began updates on the process and where we stand. I am posting these updates on our Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/One-Source/238095160181
The song Tell A Different Story has been in the works for months… It is near completion and should be finished in a few days. As for our other material, we are far from complete. The long wait has been attributed to many factors. Number one - The need for the proper resources to record a project of this size (we have 7 members). (More about our setup and recording equiptment in another blog).
How Did We Get Here?
We all agreed before recording to allow me to produce and engineer the project. “Why not go into a studio?” One Source is a band that is comprised of working class individuals who have no experience in professional studio work (including myself). For many of the members, it is their first experience in a band.
The amount of time that it would take to record a project of this size professionally would be very costly. We could settle for a less than professional studio, but the final results would be just as less than professional. I have listened to a thousand demos recorded in nearby studios at a cheaper rate (it’s really not that much cheaper) and they just plain out SUCK!
Our choices were obvious, either pay out the buttocks for a really great quality product produced by some great Nashville or Atlanta studio, or give me a shot at it. I’ve been playing around with digital home recording for several years and had some experience at recording with analog equipment since I began playing music in the late 80’s (old four track cassettes and reel to reels and such). I’m not schooled or trained by any means but I have a bit of knowledge in the subject.
Since none of our band has any studio experience, it made since to me to allow them to learn the processes and get an idea of what would be expected of them in a for real professional studio situation and environment. It also gives me the opportunity to experiment and expand my knowledge of home recording which will aid us in our creative ventures.
Are We Sure We Are Heading In The Right Direction?
Many will disagree with this approach (especially big time studio engineers and producers). I would totally love to have a great studio engineer/producer record One Source but imo we are just not ready for that experience at this point. Many of these songs are still being developed and going through the fruition stages. One Source learns more and develops more every time we play the songs, and when we record we are finding that we are actually honing and shaping the songs into the way they should sound.
With a professional studio, you are paying by the hour… sure they will allow you to work with your songs they will even help you and pull the best out of you…but you are still paying by the hour, and then, you have time constraints, traveling, lodging, etc etc. It could add up to a very costly adventure very quickly.
Many bands spend months in the studio to produce that great CD that you just stuck in your CD player, here is a prime example from one of my favorite bands Alice In Chains. This is an excerpt from their website updating their “now” newly released album….
Monday, April 13, 2009
As most of you who have been paying attention have already figured out, the new Alice In Chains album is finally complete. We’ve been in the studio since October, and since it all began we celebrated 6 major holidays, elected a new President of the United States, crowned new World Series and Super Bowl champs, endured fires, earthquakes, & blackouts in and around Los Angeles, took a 2 1/2 week break to go to Australia, and to cap it all off, William & Jerry finally euthanized their beards.
link to the article here…
http://www.aliceinchains.com/content/?cat=3&paged=4
Great albums are not recorded in a day! As you can see above the serious players spend some serious time in the studio. I’m not a mathematician, but I’m pretty sure from Oct. to April is 7 months! Also consider that these cats have been a band and have been recording professionally for many years, they also don’t have regular jobs to do every day and the limitations of an ordinary person…I think I’ve made my point.
Final Comments
Ultimately, pro/signed bands like Alice have the backing of a label/record company who will foot the bill for the time spent in the studio while all of these creative processes are growing and expanding. The One Source team doesn’t have this type of resources (YET!) but we still want to produce the same type of magic that would go into a creative studio experience of this extent.
Once we capture this type of magic we are sure that someone will recognize our abilities as a songwriting team and invest towards the expansion of these creative abilities. The One Source team is a songwriting team that is unique and fresh in it’s approach to writing. One Source songs could easily be performed by Pop, Country, and even Christian or Rock artists.
The magic or chemistry is absolutely and positively present in the One Source experience. Capturing that magic and delivering that experience is the challenge.
Releasing the One Source recordings is a very difficult task for me since I see the total package and not the work in progress. Never the less we are closing in on the release of Tell A Different Story My personal pick for the song with the most potential, and I’ve used it as the guinea pig. This project may not be a National release where thousands/hundreds of thousands of people may hear it… but in many ways it feels that important to me…And I find myself treating it that way.
There, now your in my head…
David.
