Having done most of the recording sessions on the Troubadour project, I now have to move on to the more arcane details of physically producing the album. I’m now contacting the songwriters about publishing information, some of whom are friends, some of whom are drifting in the ether. It’s an important part of the process to acknowledge their special work.
I’m also experimenting on the order of the songs on the CD. The flow of the album is a paramount design, and informs the totality of the project. Unfortunately, this is considerably less important these days since few folks listen to an album all the way through. There used to be substantial thought put into this process (Sgt. Pepper’s comes immediately to mind), but nowadays, people remember the cut’s number more than it’s title. Parents tell me that their kids ask for #7 on my albums in the car, instead of the song title. So it goes. Still, it counts heavily. It’s important for radio programmers and the way they select songs to play on the air. I know.
I’m working with Dina Hall on the design of the CD jacket and I’m giving her a rough cut of the CD so that she has a sense of the music. Good idea. I enjoy involving graphic artists in these projects. They are so important. I do remember staring at album covers for hours: drinking it all in – the players, the songwriters, the lyrics, the art work. Gone but, again, it matters to me.
At Hybrid Studios, with everything in the can, Kevin and I now start the final mixing process. Kevin’s been great in pre-mixing all the tunes as we’ve gone on, so it’s now down to tweaking the tunes, adjusting the volumes, finding the best takes, etc. A very important part of the process. The final canvas.
We’ve been doing this all along, and Kevin intuits what my preferences are. Thanks to the internet, we’ve been able to listen to and digest everything we’ve recorded and work from there. That’s why Kevin and I work together so well and for so long. Simpatico.
Soon there will be the physical production of the CD’s, after Disc Makers vets the artwork, the song attributions and legalese, and I come up with the money to do it. it will happen. I’m lucky that I’ve had the extra money to toss into this project. I’ve paid everyone and have been glad to do it. I’m livin’ small on the planet.
I don’t expect to make money on this. This culture doesn’t respect the actual artistic performance of music and the people who produce it. It only consumes music, regardless of the artistic process. It should be free, no? 
I only hope to get some airplay, use it as a business card for future gigs, and gain respect from my fellow performers. And that’s not too bad.