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Mixing Fun
Mar 17, 2009 by JeremiahPhew, it sure has been a busy couple of months for us here in Arkansas! Hannah just completed her final college exam, which means she is now done with her schooling! I am so proud of her diligence in finishing out her final two classes. She is now looking for work. Of course it is a difficult time to be looking, so we would appreciate your prayer in this area…
I’ve had quite the time keeping our vehicles running as of late. Fortunately this has taught me some much needed mechanical skills, and we are quite thankful for the fact that Hannah’s father studied car mechanics in college. He’s worked with me for several hours on both vehicles. Thanks Cliff! We look forward to when we can replace our ailing vehicles, but until then, are thankful that they are still running.
So life has been busy in many aspects. Despite this, we’ve been making significant progress on the album. It is almost halfway mixed, and it feels so good to be finalizing things! It’s so fun and rewarding to be putting all of the tracks together into finished songs. (Especially after waiting for it for over two years!!)
One huge benefit of doing the mixing ourselves is the ability to make changes up to the very end. “Perfection” is a great example of this… Nathan Miller did the electric guitar work for this song, and came up with a brilliant riff that I never would have thought of. About halfway into mixing this song, I decided we would start solely with the electric guitar part and bring everything else in later. It completely changes the mood, and really lends itself to the relaxed feel I want the song to be. There are so many opportunities to be creative in the mixing process, and I am learning more and more how much the mixing is crucial to a record.
I am hoping to record a few more of the final changes in the next week or two, at which point we will be well over halfway in the mixing process. It’s getting quite exciting!
Welcome to 2009!
Jan 14, 2009 by JeremiahWelcome to 2009! I hope you all had a good Christmas and safe travel! Hannah and I spent Christmas in Siloam Springs with her family, who moved here from California in July. It was so nice to not have to travel. Her entire family came out to attend the Christmas Eve service Hannah and I helped lead at Faith Journey Fellowship Church (where I am an interim worship leader), and it was a wonderful evening. We are enjoying our time of service at Faith Journey and are excited to see where the future takes the church.
Our Christmas was nice and quiet with Hannah’s family, and we enjoyed playing many games, sharing fond memories, and eating lots of food. The very next day, they packed up and took Hannah away from me for a ten-day trip to Los Angeles to visit family. 
Heading into this new year, we are thankful for several things, especially when we think back to last year; I now have a great job that is helping me continue to pursue music; Hannah is almost done with school; we are now in a nice, warm apartment with affordable utilities, and life in general is going fast because it’s so fun! It is crazy to think that, in six months, Hannah and I will be celebrating our three-year anniversary… Just… crazy! We were talking about it the other day and realized that we have been working on this project for the majority of our marriage. Also crazy…
As you may have noticed, I have not offered an exact date on when the album will be done… well, not since the previous three or four other times.
In fact, we actually did have The Sun Still Rises mixed and ready to go in May of 2007 with guitar, piano, and some sequenced drums (which you heard on the “Most Wonderful” demo). Lendell and I had such a great time creating what we had so far, and he thought the project could benefit greatly from a fuller sound. I agreed completly, but could not imagine how it would sound. It was at this time that Lifeword Studios was opening their brand new facility, and they worked hard to make it possible for us to track bass, drums, and electric guitar in their state of the art facility. We finished four songs in twelve hours, and it became clear we needed to have one more long session. Mark Malone and the rest of the gang went above and beyond to stay late (very late!) both times and cannot be thanked enough!
We got back from these sessions with so much material to sift through. It was a dream come true because it was the first time I had ever heard a full band on these songs. Perhaps it was due to lack of imagination, but I was just never able to envision it. Now the songs were reaching their full potential, and I could never go back. This was such a step up in professionalism and quality all due to the incredible players who were willing to work with us and Lendell’s hard work.
Summer 2007
Hannah was studying in Washington State for most of July and part of August, so I spent the time with my family in Chicago finding whatever work I could. We moved into a small house in Bentonville in late August, and we both began jobs at Starbucks to help get us through while we determined the next step on the album and for life in general.
Throughout this time, we still continued to work on the album. One of the difficulties in adding a full band is that previously recorded material often needs to be changed. It’s funny how something can sound so simple on guitar but become quite complex once other instruments are added. We found that vocals which sounded great with acoustic guitar and piano sometimes did not cut it when the energy of everything else was added, so, in many ways, back to the drawing board. Fortunately not all of our energy was spent on redoing our work. The delays allowed the opportunity for Lendell compose string work for many songs which also had to be recorded, so while it felt like things were not progressing, we were taking care of a ton of important logistical pieces.
January 2008
Lendell and I had spent the end of December 2007 and the first week of January tidying things up, making final changes, etc. We then headed down to Lifeword Studios to begin the final mixing process. After listening to every single song and every single instrument for the last several months, I had a good idea of how I wanted it to sound. The final mix we received in February was not at all what we were looking for. While it was done well and appeared to have a lot of work put into it, we were looking for something entirely different.
So it was back to the drawing board… again. That seriously was one of the worst days of my life. I wanted to be done with this thing and was so ready to give up. There had been difficult moments before, but nothing like this. We were pretty much out of funding, and I just didn’t have it in me to push on. I got a job at a computer shop to help in the meantime, and we took a much-needed break from things. After a year of being so entrenched in this project, I had to take a step back and stop thinking about it for a while.
Lendell and I met and decided it would be best if we did the mixing ourselves. We didn’t have all the fancy gear we would have liked, but, then again, that’s not what the project called for. Plus, the recordings we did at Lifeword Studios were of such good quality that it didn’t need much work due to the great studio and outstanding musicians. I spent the next several months listening to CD after CD, reading articles about their producers and mixing engineers and learning just how vast the art of music creation and specifically mixing is. I also felt there were several changes that needed to be made to solidify specific songs, but could not yet place my finger on them.
Summer 2008
Lendell and I had met several times to discuss ideas and figure out how to finalize the songs. I now had a steady job, so money, while still tight, was not an issue like it had been previously. I stated on the website my plan to complete everything by the end of the summer, but I should have known better from experience. Had I not learned anything from the previous year!?
Sure enough, life’s circumstances prevented me from working much on it as we were preparing for a move at end of the summer, and life was very busy. Lendell was tied up when I was free and vice versa, but nothing could have been better for the album. It was during this time it became clear what touches the songs were missing.
Between August and December, Lendell and I worked a few times each month. Since Christmas, however, we’ve been working nearly every day. We are recording the final electric guitar parts in the next few weeks along with some percussion and perhaps a string quartet. I’m finalizing one final guitar track next week and finalizing the vocals when we have time. I have to say this is the first time I feel we are near the end. All the other times I set a date, something just did not feel right. I felt I had not been able to think through the material enough to know what finishing touches to add. I finally feel we are just about done with each song and have really been able to explore every possibility.
Looking back two years, I was so incredibly naïve on a million different levels. I simply expected everything to work out quickly without incident. I expected the money to come in on my time and terms. It’s been a huge eye opening experience to what real faith needs to look like. My confidence needs to be in Him and not in myself. We certainly have had our share of “misfortune” and difficult times scattered throughout, but I’ve learned this is not something to complain about. While I have done more than my fair share of complaining along the way, it would be foolish of me to not recognize what an incredible journey this has been and how necessary the pain was and is. I truly believe that I needed to experience this to learn how to care more about others. I’m learning I can always give even when it seems like we don’t have much extra. I think we will be much better equipped to reach out due to all of this.
If I could go back two years and do one thing differently, I would not put a date of completion on the project. I would say, “We do not yet know the scale or complexity of this project, so we don’t know when it will be completed. However, we would appreciate your support as we delve into this new journey.” Of course, I could not have known the opportunities that would arise, and, perhaps, that’s what gave me the tenacity (and stupidity) to pursue this thing, but it was certainly a mistake to put a date on it especially the second, third, and fourth times, and I am deeply sorry for that. I cannot thank all of you enough for sticking with us through everything. You’ve stayed by my side while I learned these lessons, prayed for us, and have gone out of your way to be a support. This project would not be what it is today without each and every one of you.
We are incredibly close to being done, and many exciting opportunities are already showing their face. I’ll be determining a release date when the album is back from mastering and is on its way to being duplicated. I will do my very best to keep you informed of what is going on as we take these final steps.
And thank you all, again, for everything. Who knows where all this will go? Regardless of what happens, this has already been the journey of a lifetime despite being only the beginning, and makes everything more than worth it.
Rejoicing
Nov 2, 2008 by JeremiahI mentioned several weeks ago that my Father had been let go from his position at First Free, Chicago due to financial constraints of the Church. I have been very proud of my parents with how they have graciously dealt with such an abrupt change of plans. For the past couple of months, my Father has been interviewing for the Administration position at a church in Leawood, Kansas. It’s no secret that our country is facing tremendous financial uncertainty. This further has exacerbated the difficulty in his (short) search for his next assignment.
Despite these concerns, Christ Community Church chose this past week to formally extend to him the position of Pastor of Administration. It is unclear at this point the exact timeframe, however, the transition will be taking place in the next couple of months. I am also thankful for this development on a selfish level: For the last Four years I have lived more than 12 hours away from them. This move will put them no more than 3 hours away.
Several of you have been praying for the next step my parents would take. There are still many details to be worked out, but the most major hurdle has been crossed. Thank you for your support, prayers, and concern.
More Randomness
Oct 29, 2008 by JeremiahLife has certainly been a whirlwind for Hannah and I lately, but fortunately that’s a wonderful thing! I’ve been busy working, which has included helping my boss, David Allen, in his campaign for Mayor of our wonderful little town. Despite the added work of the election, he has been very gracious in allowing me the time to push forward with the album. He’s been involved in various capacities to make The Sun Still Rises possible, earning the title of Executive Producer.
As far as work is concerned, I have also been looking into a possible part-time worship leader position at a local church. Hannah and I visited a couple weeks ago, and then last Sunday were invited to lead the service. It’s been nice to take a break from live performance/leading for the past year or so. Now it is refreshing to be back to share, and we are thinking and praying about this decision.
On the album side of things, I’ve spent many evenings with Lendell to work towards finalizing the mix. For all of you audio nerds out there (like me!), we have chosen to use Logic Studio and are very pleased with the results. We did all of the initial recording with Pro Tools, which allowed us to go between studios easily.
Lendell and I really love the interface, features, and plug-ins included with Logic, so we figured we would migrate everything over and give it a shot. We’ve been quite pleased with the results. Beyond the immediate benefit of the ease of use and tools available, it has enabled me to do some of the work from home. From an early age, I have been intrigued by the process of creating an album: the recording, the mixing, the effects used, the technology, etc. It’s been incredibly rewarding to not only learn, but to be able to learn on my own material.
The sheer amount of audio we have recorded can be overwhelming, but the results well worth the work. Most Wonderful is a prime example of one of these songs, as it’s gone through the most revisions. This was the track we sent out as a demo nearly two years ago as an example of what the record *could* sound like. At that stage, it was comprised of: one vocal track, guitar, piano, synthesized bass, and a pre-recorded drum track. We went back and tweaked the piano and re-recorded the vocals and guitar. Then, at our second (long!) session at Lifeword Studios last year, I went ahead and slipped Most Wonderful into the itinerary. We came back with an awesome bass track (John Houser) and much better drums (Matt Outlaw). Something was still missing, and we decided we needed a full orchestra.
The fun thing about this song is that by using all these instruments, we are achieving much more interesting dynamics in the song, and a full sound that was simply not possible with just guitar and piano. The mix is most of the way done for this one, and all that remains is to record electric guitar and make a few more tweaks.
There is certainly lots more to be shared, but I am waking up in less than six hours to shoot some more pictures for the album cover. I’ll try to keep the updates flowing a bit more regularly as we near completion of this two year project. As usual, your prayers are much appreciated, and feel free to get in touch if you would like to know any other details.
Random Tidbits
Oct 16, 2008 by JeremiahOver the last couple of weeks I have spent considerable time in the studio. Once again I am reminded how thankful I am that we have gone with a more flexible finishing date. This has allowed us to really get in and (yes, once again) revamp key parts of a few songs.
I am learning how much of a balancing act mixing really is. A few of our songs have upwards of 50+ individual audio tracks. Each must be eq’d, checked for consistent levels, effects applied, and then placed properly in the mix. What is so fun is that Lendell and I are working side-by-side to complete the mixing process. He certainly is more skilled than me in most mixing and technical aspects, but it is still fun to contribute. His faithfulness all along the way in seeing this through, combined with his giving spirit, has opened up to me such a world of possibilities on how to mix this. We have gotten to the very end of working on a song, and more than once decided to completely overhaul the string part, for instance.
This time has also helped me become much more familiar with mixing techniques, fx, etc. Some of the things we are accomplishing are only feasible due to some of the latest technology available.
Lendell is an accomplished composer, and I have to say that I am beginning to really develop an itch to go back to school if time/finances allow some day to study composition. (And choral arrangement).
I was originally going to title this post “Tidbits”, but I think “Random Tidbits” will be a much better name. Please get in touch if you would like some more specifics on exactly where we are on the project. I should have some more exciting announcements in the coming weeks. Thanks again for your faithfulness in support and prayer.
Moving, the big day
Sep 12, 2008 by JeremiahFirst off, I was going to post this yesterday, the 7 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It both seems so long ago, yet so recent. While this was a terrible tragedy, I cannot help but be thankful that we have not experienced anything to this scale since! It is sad that these kinds of disasters take place all over the world, and it makes me all the more thankful for the safety we do enjoy.
A couple of months back, I mentioned Hannah and I would be moving to Siloam. It took a bit longer than we expected to find a place, but we have, and we are feverishly finishing packing. Today at 4 I will be picking up a moving truck. Hopefully this time I won’t run into any light poles or stop signs…
These last few weeks have been quiet on the CD front due to our efforts to move, and some happenings in my family. After the move, we will be back in the studio full force to press on. At this point I cannot offer an exact date, but it is getting closer and closer. We just solidified our plans for completing the electric guitar work, and are working out details on re-recording a few critical pieces. This extra time has allowed us to continue refining things, and I have to say I think the project will be much better because of it.
Speaking of family happenings, it was announced a couple of weeks ago that, due to budget constraints, First Free of Chicago needed to let my Father go. His last day in the office was in August. If you could keep him and my family in your prayers, that would be greatly appreciated.
During his time there, my Father helped oversee the building of a new Family Life center. He also had the opportunity to deliver several sermons, and serve in other capacities in ministry.
These last few months have been intense times of uncertainty and of change. Hannah and I are so excited to see what the Lord has for us, as well as my family. Thank you for your prayers during this time.
Bruce Hornsby Live!
Jul 8, 2008 by JeremiahSo the last week has been fairly busy. A week ago today was mine and Hannah’s two year anniversary! It is so hard to believe it’s already been this long. But then again, so many things have happened, so many things have changed. Last year we celebrated our anniversary by moving out of our apartment. This year, we were able to visit the “Inn At The Mill” in Johnston, Arkansas. We stayed in the Frank Lloyd Wright suite, which is comprised of architecture inspired by his work. It was a beautiful design made primarily of wood.
We went to dinner at their 5 star restaurant, “James At The Mill”, which was quite the experience! It was wonderful to get away for a day, to take a break and reflect on our relationship; the last two years in particular. The Lord has truly provided for us in some difficult times, and we are so blessed with such supportive friends who have helped us along the way.
Also last week, Hannah’s family moved to Siloam, where we will soon be moving as well. It is wonderful to have them near, and we stayed busy helping them get settled in. After four years of being very far away from all family, this is a wonderful change.
On the CD front, Lendell and I have been busy making plans to finish the final touches. Next week, most likely on Tuesday, we will be getting together to brush up on a few more vocal parts and make a couple final changes on the guitar parts. Our goal is to have all of the mixing, hopefully all the way, complete by the end of the month. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
And of course, finally, the thing I am the most excited about at the moment: Hannah bought us tickets for my birthday for us to see Bruce Hornsby (with Ricky Skaggs) live on October 3rd. I am quite excited, as Bruce is one of my most favorite artists of all time. Thanks SO much for the amazing gift, Hannah, but the wait is gonna kill me!
Moving!
Jun 18, 2008 by JeremiahFirst off, I gotta say I love blog posts that require little to no thought for the title. I can’t recall the last time I had the title worked out before the content… Anyway, last week I mentioned some of the good news we have had, and the new job I have started. Last year we moved from Siloam Springs to Bentonville for the fun of it and for work.
My job will be taking us back to Siloam Springs, hopefully for quite some time to come. Our lease ends August 13th, so we are already busy with our house search. As it turns out, Hannah’s folks are moving to Siloam July 1st, as her father has taken a position at JBU. It will be wonderful to be near family again.
So as you can imagine, all this is keeping us quite busy. We have also been hard at work on the CD, and things really are (finally!) drawing to a close. Tomorrow evening after work, we will be shooting the final images for the CD cover (and case). It will be nice to celebrate the completion of “The Sun Still Rises” with our move. Now to get through the next two months…
Answers
Jun 7, 2008 by JeremiahAs many of you know, I’ve been working multiple jobs for quite some time now. This last week our prayers were answered, and I will be working at only one now. In addition to taking care of our needs, it will allow all the flexibility we need to finish the CD and tour when the time comes. It is quite an amazing blessing.
We also got my Honda up and running again. Turns out there were two parts bad and not one. While working on it, our buddy Ralph took another look at the A/C unit in the car, and was actually able to repair it! This is awesome, because it routinely gets well over 100 degrees here in the summer, and I drive a couple of hours for work each day. And yes, for those of you wondering, I can finally start the car without popping the hood. My father-in-law was with us this last weekend and helped us figure out the issue. This car will only get us so far, as it has 230,000 miles on it, but we are thankful we will be able to continue to use it for the time being.
A lot of changes will be taking place in our lives soon, and we are excited to see where the Lord leads us. Wednesday I will be spending an entire day with Lendell working on some more things for the album. There are some more changes we wish to make, and we will be laying out a schedule for what needs to be done.
I look forward to sharing more this next week in this exciting time.
Finishing for real!
May 16, 2008 by JeremiahThis has been a long time coming… But I can finally say we really, truly, definitely are finishing the album now. I finished working out some financial details today, and we are on track to cruise through the finish line!
Next week I will be working with my photographers to solidify the cover shot. Their work back in September was excellent, but I really did not know quite the direction I wanted it to take. Over the last few months, I have gotten a much better idea. They have been quite patient with me while I have figured this out, and it is going to be amazing when done. (Thanks, Aus10!
I will be spending most of the weekend preparing some of the newer material to be mixed. Lendell will be in Little Rock, as a film he scored is premiering. When he gets back we will continue the mixing.
I will keep you all posted step by step as we complete this. I am not entirely sure what the timeframe will be, but we should at least be done with the mixing and the cover design in the next couple of weeks. Then we go to mastering, and printing. Almost there…
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