CD Project Update #26 – CD Mastering Now Complete

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Corey Stewart

The recording part of my CD officially finished yesterday with the mastering of the recorded tracks completed by Neville Clark at Disk Edits. I was there with Anthony Stewart of Red Brick Music to witness the whole thing.

The process of audio mastering has always been a mystery to me. I know roughly what it is and where it’s placed in the recording process, but if you asked me to explain it to you in more technical detail, my mind would draw a complete blank.

However, by watching Neville at work, it gave me a little bit more insight into the mysterious world of audio mastering.

A t the end of the five hour session both and I were given audio reference discs with all the finished tracks on it. This was so we could give everything a final listen and make note of any changes that would need to be made before we both give the final OK.

That should take a week.

The songs are also in the final CD release order so listening to the disc will give me a chance to see if the proposed order actually works as a whole. I’ve loaded all the tracks onto my Mac and I’m listening to the songs as I’m typing this.

I’ve got to say, the songs are sounding AWESOME!

Now with the recording process officially over, I can now concentrate on:

Getting the CD Pre-Order campaign up and running
Start officially promoting my CD Launch at The Promethean
Anything else that needs to be done (my to-do list is growing every day)

Ah, the joys of being a performing songwriter… I wouldn’t have it any other way

CD Project Update #24 – Final Mixes And The Mastering Process

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Corey Stewart

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been helping Anthony Stewart at Red Brick Music complete the final mixes of all the songs in readiness for the mastering process which will be done later on this month.

The songs sound absolutely fantastic and the feedback from the select few people that have heard the finished songs is very, very positive.

The more I listen to the songs as they are now the more proud I am with what I’ve achieved.

For me, this CD will become the start of an amazing journey.

It will be a journey which will enable me to revisit what it is to be a performing songwriter and musician playing my own music rather than the music of other people.

It will also be a journey that will hopefully propel my music career up into the next level or two and with that, will come the profile, the touring opportunities and the professional satisfaction of doing my own thing that I have been working so hard for so many years.

All that needs to be done now with the songs is the CD song order to be finalised and a little bit of “top and tailing” of all the tracks and they are ready for mastering.

According to WikiPedia, mastering is “…a form of audio post-production, the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master); the source from which all copies will be produced (via methods such as pressing, duplication or replication).”

This means that once this process is over all that is left to do is to physically create the CD.

I’m really starting to get excited now.

Peace,

Corey

CD Project Update #19 – It’s Slowly But Surely

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Corey Stewart

Recording is now back into full swing at Red Brick Music for my CD last Wednesday (May 25th) and we’re now putting electric guitar onto the tracks that feature Stig Lindell’s keyboard tracks.

The two tracks we worked on were Don’t Turn To Me Now and Shadows.

The main challenge that Darren and I were facing on the day was to come up with guitar overdub ideas that successfully weave in-between what the keyboards were doing. This is so we can try and get some sort of balance between the two instruments.

I think we did pretty well on the day.

I even attempted to put down a lead solo in Shadows which was a daunting task with both Darren and our engineer, Anthony Stewart being gun guitarists themselves.

The end result however, is something that I’m really proud of and it was an experience that filled me with a little bit more confidence in my electric guitar playing.

Speaking about electric guitar, here are some more photos of Darren’s rig…

Darren’s Amps

Darren’s Pedals

Darren Jamming

Until the next time…

Peace,

Corey

CD Project Update #18 – The Marvels Of Modern Technology

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Corey Stewart

Yes, I know there’s been a long time between CD Project updates but (as outlined in a previous post) there’s not much I could do if I can’t physically get to the studio.

Anyways, here’s what’s been happening in the last few weeks

The initial eight Stig Lindell keyboard tracks done at Chapel Lane Studios have now been integrated with the tracks recorded at Red Brick Music and the results so far are stunning to say the least.

Thank goodness the tracks were all recorded with a click-track otherwise trying to match the recorded files from two separate studio locations would have been a logistical nightmare.

The rest of the keyboard tracks will be completed by Stig in the not too distant future but this time instead of recording them at Chapel Lane again, he will be recording them in his studio in Sweden.

I have put the rest of the files up onto my server. Stig can then download the files, do what he needs to do to them and then upload the results back up to my server again.

Ahh, the marvels of modern technology…

Speaking about modern technology, my car is now cleared of any defects and is allowed back onto the road which means that recording will start again from next Wednesday.

All that needs to be done now is for Darren to finish off his guitar parts (going for a goal of one track per week) and for the final vocals and other bits and pieces to be recorded and then we’re onto the next phase…

The creation of the physical product, which reminds me, I must organise photos, graphics then the printing, duplication plus, the venue for the CD launch.

Well, I’m off to create yet another list.

Peace,

Corey

CD Project Update #16 – On The Home Stretch

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Corey Stewart

Last weeks CD recording schedule had achieved much more than I anticipated and for that I’m very, very grateful.

All of the vocal tracks were completed last Wednesday at Red Brick Music and on the Thursday at Chapel Lane Studios, Stig Lindell put down keyboards on 7 of the 15 tracks.

He went back to Sweden on Monday however, he has suggested that I send the remaining tracks over for him to finish off.

I want to publicly say a big THANK YOU to Stig for his time and dedication to my CD Project. The tracks sound absolutely superb and the whole process has inspired me in ways that I can’t adequately express in words.

Here are some pictures I took of the sessions at Chapel Lane Studios last week…

The Control Room

Stig Laying Down A Track

Chord Chart (Seeing Stars)

Gabe (The Engineer) = Lightning Fast!

I can safely say that in regards to the recording part of the CD Project, I’m now on the home stretch.

Darren and I have to finish off the electric guitar tracks plus backing vocals, some percussion and miscellaneous production tweaks need to be completed before the mixdown and mastering of all the tracks take place.

Then the fun starts…

Artwork, printing, CD duplication, promotion, CD launch organisation and everything else in between. I’ve got to start making a list.

Peace,

Corey

CD Project Update #9 – Mixing The SCALA Exclusive Song “Billboard Angel”

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Corey Stewart

I just wanted to thank all of you who passed on feedback regarding which song should become the “SCALA Exclusive” release. I’ve now finally decided and the winner is Billboard Angel.

As Darren wasn’t able to make it to the studio to do his guitar parts yesterday I took the opportunity to finish off the vocals, minor tweaks and final mix-downs on the song.

I now have a CD of the final mix of Billboard Angel for me to review over the weekend and it sounds fantastic. I’m very happy with how the song has turned out.

Billboard Angel is a song that I co-wrote with a dear friend of mine and amazing instrumentalist/studio producer, Jeff Smith. The song is about a man who falls in love with a picture of a woman on a sexy billboard hence the title of the song.

The concept of the song was Jeff’s idea which demonstrates beautifully his off the wall sense of humour.

Doing the vocals was a bit touch and go at the beginning as I hadn’t properly warmed up before attempting the take but after a few run-throughs and a hot lemon and honey drink to help the vocal chords along I was able to complete the vocal tracks and do some harmonies in the bridge section.

Personally, the mixing process is a fascinating one for me to witness but one where I have no real clue as to what really goes on. My hearing is not that flash at the best of times so it’s wonderful to have Anthony’s ears working on the job at hand.

With every session I’m learning something new. It’s back to overdubbing electric guitars and keyboards next Wednesday.

Peace,

Corey

CD Project Update #8 – Electric Guitar Overdubs, The Fun Begins

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Corey Stewart

The recording session went very well yesterday however, I wasn’t quite prepared for the time it was going to take to get things done. Right now, it seems like it’s going to take forever to complete this CD.

In a 6 hour period Darren and I only completed one and a half songs and I was really feeling the frustration early on in the day after being so used to the immediacy of live music. I tell you the temptation to just say “yeah, that’s good enough” on any particular guitar track we recorded was high on my list but I remained strong.

I’m glad that we’re taking the time to get this part of the recording process just right.

We arrived at the studio at 9:30am started recording at around 10:30am after Darren finished setting up all of his guitars and amps that he and I were going to use for the day.

We started off proceedings with Billboard Angel

Overkill? I think NOT!

A nice rack

Once we finished Billboard Angel we had pizza for lunch thanks to Fat Pizza and Yiros (staple studio food) and by 2:30pm we started on the second song Back Of My Mind finishing up at around 4pm.

Anthony Stewart loves his pizza

Darren Zaza

I learnt a lot about patience and tolerance yesterday but I also started to learn the fine art of music production and how to use the recording studio as a separate musical instrument. It’s amazing what you can do to change the overall ambience of a song through the layering of sounds on top of one another.

By the end of the day I was absolutely worn out due to the amount of listening and concentration that was put into the session but somehow I had to get home and get ready to run the Open Mic @ The Dan that night.

The recording madness continues next Wednesday…

Peace,

Corey

CD Project Update #6 – Acoustic Guitar Tracks Done!

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Corey Stewart

The last couple of days have been very, very busy on the recording front.

All of the acoustic guitar tracks are now done and in my possession is a CD with the all of the songs recorded so far. just the guide vocals, bass, drums and acoustic guitar. All I need to do now is burn a copy of the songs for the other musicians.

I’m in the process of putting the updated songs up on the CD Project page but in the meantime, here are some photos for you to check out

The Studio Setup

Another Angle (with Anthony’s De Gruchy in the background)

As it stands at the moment, recording wont start again until the beginning of September because Anthony Stewart (owner of Red Brick Music) will be away for the rest of August as he is a guitarist for hire in his own right and will be busy touring.

This will give the other musicians (Darren Zaza on electric guitar and Victor Oria on keys) time to work out what parts they will be playing plus, the time away from the studio will also allow me to finalise the songs for the CD.

By all means though, keep the feedback on what songs you’d like to hear on the CD coming. It’s really helping.

Peace,

Corey