I really thought I’d slow down on recording after I released Covers, but that hasn’t been the case at all. Not sure how or when it happened, but I already have a nice large batch of songs. Who knows, I may even release that too.
The thing is that I’m always trying to get better at this whole music production deal. the last album is still something I’m super proud of, but only because I did it. There’s plenty on it I knew I’d want to change but the goal was learning experience more than polished product.
So, everything I’m doing is still about learning. This time around, I’ve been working on “bigger” sounds. Covers was largely acoustic and I only started to dabble with layers and textures towards the end. I’m using more electric guitar, drums, backing vocals — things like that — to make things sound less like a basement project and more like something that may be reasonably assumed to be done in a proper studio.
I have ten songs in the works, nine covers and one original. They’re in fairly good shape, but still rough in the sense that I need to put a bow on the mixing and mastering before they’re fully baked.
Anyway, another part of Covers was learning to share more of the stuff that interests me and what I’m doing outside of my day-to-day work. I shared a few early demos of songs back then and it’s only right I do the same now.
So, here’s one from the batch, Tom Petty’s (yes, another Petty) “Yer So Bad” off the Full Moon Fever record. In this one, I’m learning:
- how to balance frequencies for a more balanced sound
- how to work with a wider variety of instruments
- how to bring drums and percussion more up front
- how to layer multiple vocal harmonies
I’m having a ball with it. Maybe you’ll even enjoy it a bit.