Actually, it’s probably not part two. I don’t know how many parts there are but, on Monday we finished all of the recording and mixing on the new album. Let’s talk a bit about my recording process.

When I go into the studio to record, the writing for 75% of the songs is complete, I usually have one or two that need some lyrical/vocal medley experimenting, and on every album I seem to commit to a song that is only a fragment but I know I want it on the album. I start by recording guitar and lead vocals for all the songs. I record 3 or 4 guitar/voice songs per session (2-3 hours each). After that we start bringing in guest musicians. After everybody has recorded, we mix. Rather, Zack mixes as I sit on the couch, read about The Beatles and play iPod games.

This is why I do very little home recording. Recording, mixing, and mastering an album at home by myself is like an author writing, editing, and formatting a book alone. Chances are the glaring errors will shine through, sapping any appearance of professionalism.

Next up is the mastering. This is when Zack (and not me) opens up all of the songs and does a side-by-side comparison to make sure they work together. Ever listen to an album and have to turn up the volume on a song and then on the next song turn it down? Bad mastering. What if the different chapters in your book each had a different font? Standing alone, possibly acceptable. Put them together, people will notice. If I sent you a song a week, if they weren’t mastered together, no biggie. Put them all in the same playlist, you’ll notice.

Simultaneously, we’re working on laying out the CD. Using a new manufacturer this time and a CD style that 99.9% of you have never seen before. And of course, a limited number of creepy Christmas cards & T-Shirts will also be available. All, hopefully, available at the same time. But no one will know about it unless I book and play some more shows, and somehow get the songs into ears.

So, I have no idea how many parts there are to this. But one or two of them are done.