April 17, 2019 Well, at this point we're heavily into recording the 6 love songs. "Beach Nut" is done, "The Bud" is done, although I'm not sure I am completely happy with the vocal. The title track is under way: waiting for the cellist to come to the studio, and may switch the vocalist. Queen of My Heart is waiting for the vocal and string parts. Working on the arrangement for "When", which will require a couple of rehearsals with the band on that one. "I Sing of Your Endless Love" with Rita Sahai was recorded last year, kind of kicked the whole project off. Praying for finances at this point.
April 20,2019 My daughter, who works in the Bay Area film industry, and I are headed back to San Francisco tonight to shoot footage for the music video version of "A Night in San Francisco with Karen". It's a Saturday, with the full moon happening last night. Praying for good results! Back to the studio next week for a mixing session with the song itself. I don't know how long it will take to get it all edited and out for public view, but I am hoping it won't be long!
April 30, 2019 Got together with Scott and Rachel and viewed the video we shot. It looks good! We will have to go back to San Francisco as soon as we can and shoot some additional footage. Then the process of editing the the video to fit the music, which I anticipate won't be a short process. I am anxious to get it out there so people can get a small feel of what the album will be. Meanwhile I have 4 people learning parts for 4 of the songs, and I can't move forward with those songs until they're ready. Little different that working with a band for sure!
May 7, 2019 Tomorrow is the first session of editing video for the "A Night in San Francisco with Karen". I am anxious to get this done. It has been a year since I started the album, and I want to give people an idea of what I've been doing. I have seen what we shot, and it looks good!
May 18, 2019 Have begun the daunting task of editing all the video footage into the music video. Wednesday I was at it until 12 am, so tired I don't even know if what I did made good sense. Another session schedule for this Monday, so I will find out then! Also, I got the news that it takes two months to go through the copyright process the U.S. Copyright office. Bummer.
A Night in San Francisco with Karen video is complete, but will need to have the final editing done. I want to go back and just review it without any intention of furthering editing so I can try and be objective about it as a whole. Waiting for Scott to let me back
in to do that.
June 1, 2019 Got together with Scott and did the final edits on the video. It is now in its completed form. The only thing left to do is to re-equalize the bass to get the rounder sound that fits the music well. Next I get it copyrighted and then can put it out to the public.
June 14, 2019 OK, maybe "done" was premature. Decided to make a few changes. Doing one last shoot this Sunday evening to get some footage that I wanted to add. There will be a special showing of the video, along with a night of chocolate, probably in August. Current looking for a venue and looking into an affordable way of showing it. Projector rentals are quite pricey!
July 12, 2019 The Night of SF and Chocolate is a go! It will be in the Alexander Valley in August. There is still one more shoot in SF left to do, and that'll happen in a week. Then it will be the mad dash to do all the final edits before the 10th!
July 29, 2019 With the last filming in SF done, it's time for the final edits for the video. Going to be a crazy 2 weeks.
August 7, 2019 Finished the final edits for the video, and it is actually completely done! Starting tomorrow, it's baking and final prep for A Night of SF and Chocolate. It looks like there will be 30-40 people in attendance, maxing out what we can handle. Cole and Angie Harrison of Corporate Meeting Audio Visual will be doing the presentation, and boy is it great to have pros handling that! Having to venture into doing it myself was kind of stressful.
August 11, 2019 A Night of Chocolate and San Francisco has come and gone. There were about 40 people in attendance, and it was a wonderful night. Cole and Angie Harrison, who did the presentation thought it would be better to have it outside. They were right. The weather was absolutely perfect for it, and it was better choice from every angle. The event raised about $2000. The Youngs, who hosted the event were the most gracious hosts imaginable. It was a lovely evening!
September 7, 2019 After waiting the better part of a year, Tim Hostetler came in to the studio and recorded the vocal for Queen of My Heart. Well worth the wait! Back to finalizing the string arrangement for that song, something that has been a struggle all along. "When" rhythm track and initial instrumental track are down, and Meesha is set to do the vocal on Monday. Coming along nicely! Hoping to get Michael Norton in this month to record the vocal for the title track.
October 5, 2019 Recorded additional percussion with Bill Dorsey last Tuesday for "When". Just the flute tracks remain. Kathy Hostetler and Warren Hays have recorded harmonies for Queen of My Heart. Now working on scheduling the cellist to come in a do the cello part for Karen My Darling, and later get her back for the string trio in Queen of My Heart. Beginning to gear up to the second half of the album. First song for that will be "This Heart" to be sung by Catherine Thode. Hope to get together with her and Chuck next week to see what key suits her. Unfortunately, I will then have to transpose the song into that key. Small price to pay.
November 13, 2019 Had Amelia the cellist came in tp record for the title track Karen My Darling. Eventually, I will find out her last name. I had never heard her play, but I felt pretty confident it would go well, and it exceeded my expectations! Michael Norton is scheduled to do the vocal for that track on November 24, which will complete that song's recordings. All that is left for the first six songs is a string trio part for Queen of My Heart. Maybe I can get that done before the end of the year.
March 6, 2020 Hard to believe how time goes by! Would you believe the string part mentioned above still hasn't happened? Well, should get to that soon. Michael Norton recorded the title track vocal, and he sounds wonderful! May need a couple of edits, but that's just small stuff. Psalm for a Modern Era, the first of the second half of the album has been recorded, with the exception of Chuck Thode on mandolin, and that will happen this Wednesday. "When" got it's flute part for the couple of instrumental breaks, and Scott Daley is scheduled to put a proper flute solo at the intro. Larry Natalini has also come on board to do a guitar solo for the other place on that song. Scott and I did a mix of "When" this week, and it sounds great! Multi-layered and rich. Warren Hays is working on the piano for the very last song, but I'm not sure how long it will take for him to get comfortable with it. We'll work on that together. It is interesting and challenging to involve so many people in this project, but the difficulties inherent in that process are out-weighed by getting to choose just the right artist to fit each segment that whispers their name. I ask myself regularly if I think that Karen would be pleased with my endeavor, and I always conclude that she would be. I have crafted this album to be as I believe she would approve of. That is a source of happiness for me.
April 10, 2020 My news, at this point, is the same as everyone's, the viral pandemic has shut down everything. No recording dates can be scheduled until this it's over. I work at home still, working out arrangements and "Storyboard recording" for my artists to work with, which can be emailed. Like everyone else, miss the things that were available before this. It pretty much dwarfs everything else.
June 27, 2021 Over a year?!!! Darn you COVID! So shut down! Well, it's over. Vaccinated and scheduled for the first recording studio session tomorrow night! We'll be editing and mixing Queen of My Heart and, hopefully, adding the short effect intro to When. Hoping to do the flute intro to When in the very near future. Let's do this thing!
September 5, 2021 Back into the swing of things! Laying down tracks for Every Single Day, which leaves 3 songs to be recorded, Located a tabla player for this song. Pretty happy about that. I have been working with Amber LeDonne, who will be doing piano in one upcoming song, which is great 'cause I don't want to! Things are moving forward and towards completion!
November 12, 2021 So, a couple of things at this point: The title track of Karen My Darling has never been right, and I have struggled with that for years. The reality that I needed to sing it has bothered me to no end. Michael's voice was very likeable, but I just couldn't settle into it, and my singing just felt like nails on a chalkboard. As was working on my voice, recording it on my iPad in my home studio (ie: walk-in closet) with the strum stick accompaniment, and suddenly, as I listened back, the revelation that THIS is what it should be. I ended up recording it at home with my digital multi-track and a couple of Shure mikes in the pre-dawn hours (when my voice is an a completely different form than any other time), and, with minimal tweaking, transferred that onto Scott's system. Sad to loose the lovely cello I worked so hard to get, and the penny whistle, but the gain was worth it! Mixed Every Single Day to an accepted place last night, and now I can get the tabla part recorded. Yay! Warren has bowed out of doing the piano part for All Said and Done, so I have undertaken learning the piano part. I figure, if I practice it daily for a year, should pull it off. . .
February 12, 2022 Exciting! After writing the strings parts for Queen of My Heart 4 years ago, we're actually recording them tomorrow! Yay! Will be working with another cellist, Kathy Vast, who was enthusiastic for the project. Have some sample tracks fro tabla player William Rossel and I'm stoked at how those sound! So, good stuff. Hoping to add audio samples to the website here in the near future, which is something really needed.
April 10, 2022 Samples added! Just waiting on the final version from William. Had a last minute change in personnel for "This Heart": Catherine Thode, who was originally slated to sing, feeling that her voice had lost its potency over the years, bowed out. I asked if Amber LeDonne Steffen would be willing to do the singing for it (already had been the pianist for the song) and she was. So we're working together on that and hoping to record that in the next month or two. Fluidity continues.
August 11, 2022 This Heart has been completed. At this point, there is one vocal to be added to Every Single Day, the live recording of "How My Soul Longs", the guitar solo to "When", and then the final segment of the last song, which, uniquely, will be recorded at a different, studio. I'll need all 8 singers there at the same time. A logistical nightmare. Then, the long process of mastering. At least progress continues!
March 30, 2023 Wow, it been a while! My life has become overfilled with things to do, and it's almost unmanageable! So I pray God will part the Red Sea that is my life! Every song has been recorded . That last acapella mini-choir piece took several months to put together and was finally recorded this March at Jason Reed's beautiful studio in Occidental, and was just the most fun of all the recordings! l lost one female vocal who ended up with the flu, and her replacement also canceled at the last minute because she took ill also. I was short one vocal, but it worked out okay! The guitartist who was going to do the solo for "When" had to cancel after finding out he had cancer. He is a dear soul, and my prayers continue for him during this time. So, there's a
tiny bit of mop-up recording, but really looms ahead is hours of mastering, and more money for that than I have currently, but God will provide!
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