Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Finished

I've finished my album. There are 14 songs.
Aside from the 20 or so months of writing/demo-ing that went unlogged, this is a rough approximation of how my time breaks down for this project:
30 hours of tracking Hammond, bass and drums
35 hours of tracking flute, French horn, percussion, African percussion, strings, saxophones
30 hours of tracking guitar
20 hours tracking grand piano
140 hours editing (in 10 days) in Albany, OR
85.5 hours tracking, editing and mixing male vocal
62 hours editing in Fairhaven, MA
12 hours editing in Providence, RI
41.5 hours recording, editing, and mixing female vocal
3 hours additional synth tracking
51 hours mixing*
14 hours mastering
APPROX. TOTAL PRODUCTION HOURS: 524 (or 21.8 entire days)

There is, of course, no compensation for those hours. It is understood that I am donating that time to something I feel strongly about. And I'm not telling you this because I'm bitter about it, or to testify how ridiculously exploitative the music industry is... I'm telling you because a) I'm shocked at how much work it was, b) I want it to be clear how much of a labor of love it is for me and c) I want to have this published somewhere so I can return to it should I ever get the silly idea to try something like this again.

Anyways, we're done. I couldn't have done it without the generosity of Rob Pemberton and Brian Cass, who both matched (and often surpassed) my enthusiasm and precision with their own, and for that I am eternally grateful. We became close friends during the process and I like having those.

I'm ready to go home. hohoho


*Many of the sessions in Fairhaven consisted of my own editing/tracking/mixing in an upstairs room, Rob mixing the entire day downstairs, and Brian Cass synthesizing, sampling, and sequencing in another room. The hours listed above are only the hours I spent. Of course the album wouldn't be complete if it weren't for the time and effort of so many musicians and other engineers/technicians.

8 comments:

Steve said...

when can i get my hands on this?

Meagan said...

Congrats Gavin. I can't wait to hear it.

Anne C said...

Wow - I don't even understand what all those things are, but I'm your mother so I'm not expected to be knowledgeable. I can't wait to hear it and I am so happy to know someone who devotes so much of themselves to a labor of love (you were my labor of love:-).

metaghost said...

Congratulations!
Your ears must be damn tired.
I am hells of excited for this record.
Have you been shopping it to labels already?

Anonymous said...

my ears are longing for some new castletonian melodies.

...let me come home too!!!

patient renter said...

Congrats! I hope you do get the crazy idea to do this again, when you're so inspired.

Anonymous said...

congratulations

Anonymous said...

Does this mean we can finally go on that hike?