I always feel good when I have a new subscriber to my newsletters (Wow, someone is interested in hearing from me). k I always feel great when someone buys my music (Wow, what I've recorded has made a connection with someone). And.. I always feel vindicated when the press takes an interest in me. Thanks to Eric Schelkopf of the Kane County Chronicle for this! Article Link |
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Hey folks, I hope this newsletter finds you well. I'm happy to announce the mixing and mastering of True North is finished and are now being duplicated. It was great to work with Brian Zieske of Off Axis Audio again. Brian mixed my last 2 EPs Souvenirs & More Souvenirs. He was very aware of the artistic sensitivity of this record as well as making my guitar sound better than I ever could. Press the play button below for a short teaser to True North. As you may have noticed by the pics below.. the artwork is complete. It took some tweaking but I think the art represents the music quite well. Thanks to Chuck Bennorth for taking time to shoot some photos of my for the project. I'm very lucky to know Chuck for not only being a good guy but also a photographer that will work for food.. particularly, Chipotle! Thanks again to John Michaels for letting me borrow his guitar. When I mentioned to John that his guitar made it in the artwork.. his reply was, "You mean my guitar is going to be famous?!!" :)
I’m all done recording!
Ahh.. feels good to type that. Don’t get me wrong, I love recording but there are different levels of doubt and stress that creep in during the process. It’s a relief to be nearly done and be happy with it. This will be my 7th album and I’ve definitely noticed a general theme of thoughts and emotions when recording a new record that goes a little something like this.. Pre Recording: I’m going to create the greatest record ever recorded. 1st Starting to Record: Why can’t I decide on a mic placement? It’s been 2 weeks with nothing to show for it. Maybe I should go to recording engineering school.. A Few Songs Completed: These songs sound great. Who needs recording engineering school? Thank you Youtube! All Guitar Tracks Recorded: Or are they? Maybe this and that song would sound better faster or in a different key? Nope.. it’s all good. J Mixing and Mastering: Damn, this is a lot of money. Maybe I should go to recording engineering school? I don’t have time for that! This is sounding really good.. bank account almost empty. Artwork and Duplication: Now I must find one picture that represents the record.. Impossible. Eureka! That’s the one! 1000 CDs are on their way. Bank account empty. Back to my Ramen noodle diet. I hope this is all worth it.. Finished CD in My Hand: This is not the greatest recording ever made. This is the greatest recording I’ve ever made. I can’t wait to share this. J SAVE THE DATE. TRUE NORTH CD RELEASE PARTY WILL BE AUG 2ND 2:30 Details to follow.. until then.. smile, Jim www.jimgreenmusic.com I’m happy to announce all the guitar tracks on this new project are done! I took a different approach to recording these than in previous sessions. Instead of using any click tracks or fancy editing.. The idea behind recording these was to capture the feeling of the piece in one continuous take and not worry about any little imperfections. So, my hope is that this record will have a live but intimate vibe to it as if I was to play the songs right there in your living room just for you. I chose to go with some takes that might not be perfect from a technical sense but they represent the overall feeling I’m trying to get across better than any of the more perfectly executed takes that to me seem to lack feeling. It’s funny how I can play the same song 10 times in a row and each ones sounds different to me. In the past I might try and edit together the best parts of each to make one SUPER TRACK. Not this time.. these guitar tracks are going to be all natural and organic. I want to feed your brain a sonically wholesome meal of acoustic goodness.
Surprisingly sometimes natural and organic can be a bad thing though. While recording the last couple songs, my guitar mysteriously developed a natural and organic buzz from within. It’s suddle but, when you have the mics close and play as quietly as I am playing, it becomes an issue. Things were looking pretty grim for a couple days. But I was able to continue thanks to my friend and fellow musician John Michaels for letting borrow his Taylor guitar. Thanks Johnny Boy! Okay, now for the fun part of decorating these tracks with a few other instruments. Wish me luck. Cheers, Jim Hey there everybody,
I thought I’d not only give you another update on how I’m progressing with the new CD but also clue you in to how I hear this record sounding. First of all, I have a title in mind for this project that I’m basing everything off of including song selection, mood and instrumentation. Unfortunately, seeing how this is an ongoing work in progress, I hesitate to tell you until I’m done recording. I’d hate to feel pressure to keep the original title in case this thing takes an unexpected turn and requires a more appropriate title. What I can tell you is that all these new instrumental compositions will be relax and calm in nature. Half of the record will be solo guitar pieces and the other half I'm hearing a lot of string parts and maybe some harmonica and added guitar parts. I think they are the most beautiful finger-style guitar pieces I’ve written to date. In keeping with the quality of song writing and mood of the CD, I’ve decided to include two cover songs rather that add any songs of my of mine I don’t feel are as good as the rest. These covers I’ll be including are Don McLean’s Vincent and Alex DeGrassi’s Turning. If you have been to see me live in the last 3 years, maybe you’ve heard me play Vincent. It’s Chet Atkins beautiful guitar arrangement that I use and tends to be a crowd pleaser in the right setting… aka, quiet setting. If interested.. Below is a sneak peek of that song I recorded a number of years ago for fun using my nylon string guitar. OK.. that’s all for now. Time to get back to it if I’m going to have this ready and available this summer. Cheers!! Jim https://vimeo.com/41071647 Hey all,
I've dialed in a nice wide stereo sound here at Jimmy's Bedroom Studio and things are progressing nicely. Although I do miss my bed. As you can see I've propped in up to give myself some more room and it also serves as lovely noise buffer from the computer. These songs require a quiet light touch so, these mics are set pretty hot. They pick up every little noise. I swear I can hear it when I blink. Anyways, I've got 2 songs done and 9 or 10 to go. It's hard work but I love the whole process of recording and capturing a moment. I've begun recording songs for a new CD. Although I've released 2 EPs a couple years ago, it has been 6 years since my last full length recording! I guess I'm due. So here I go... I've got the mics set up, some new recording software and of course.. a good batch of songs I really like and are just itching to be recorded.
I'll be giving updates as I progress and telling you how this recording is shaping up. Cheers, Jim www.jim |
AuthorJim Green - musician, runner, cyclist, vegan, tax payer. Archives
February 2017
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