If you don't know, Tara and I have been a two-person rock band for over a year now. We record original songs, and we are working on an album.

I finally made a demo CD this week, so Tara and I will be practicing the songs and gearing up to record the definitive versions that will go on the album. So that's where it stands now. I had hoped to try and finish the album by New Year's, but then we became youth ministers, so that's not going to happen. Right now it's hard to predict when we'll be finished.

You can hear clips and some older songs here.

This weekend stands out as being the one in which we officially began work on our album! I got a lot of work done on a shorter song that we performed at my parents' church this time last year. This version sounds pretty rocking! I've learned a lot since I started recording the demos, and I think this is sounding somewhat professional for a change. Tara seemed impressed when she heard the mix I worked on. It's miles beyond what we have on MySpace right now.

I think we're going to have a fairly unique sound. I can honestly say that I don't know what bands people will compare us to (assuming people actually listen to us, and judging by the number of people who have listened to our first songs, which are modest by comparison, I think we'll have an audience). I don't think we'll be easily pinned down with a one-word label (other than "rock", or "awesome").

We plan to have twelve tracks on our album, and they're fairly short, so it will only be around forty minutes long. It will probably take around forty hours to record, though! Which means I could get it done in about a week if I didn't have a day job. But since I do, it might take five or six months! If every weekend was like this last one and I could keep up this rate of work, it would be done in about three months, but with the upcoming holidays and youth events, that just won't be possible. But I'm very encouraged by what I was able to accomplish this weekend.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.


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We haven't drawn up a contract or anything, but it looks like we may have a graphic designer for our album art and web ads. I already work with her on medical communications, she's already our friend, and she already likes our music. I like her work, too. This could really work out. We'll give her a cut of CD sales, so the better she does for us, the better she'll do for herself. We'll throw a free CD in there for her, too. ;)


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Things are moving along with the album, slowly but as I'd expected. I have most of the instruments recorded for three songs now, and the vocals for one of those. I'm going to record all the instruments for the whole album before I do much vocal recording, and then I'll do all the sound engineering after all that. That way I don't spend hours and hours working on one song until I never want to hear it again.

So I haven't had Tara doing much yet except preparing herself mentally for our open mic performance next month. The instruments for the album will probably take three to four months to record, and the end of football season will speed that along greatly. The vocal recording should only take a couple of weeks or so, and then the engineering...I have no idea. But I've been reading up. I've been learning how to use the equalizer technology I used to be so afraid of. I figure I have all this technology before me, and if these guys who go to school to be sound engineers can learn it, why can't I learn just a little bit? There's no reason our album can't sound almost as professional as what you would buy in a store, really. It's just going to take a lot of time and work.

And after we finish making the MP3s, there will still be a lot to do before we can get it in your hands. CD art, CD burning, registering a copyright, publishing the songs, and I don't even know what else yet. It might be next Christmas before we can actually make it available, but it will be worth it. Even if we don't sell any, it will be worth the work to have something we put our hearts and souls into, something that will be around long after we're gone.


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scottntara.blogspot.com