It’s All in the Mix

the pressure of final decisions

The things we never thought we’d do. Never say never. Am I right? I never thought I would write an album that would became the ultimate therapy session for the two most difficult years of my life. I never would have guessed that terror and distraught, panic and sleeplessness would transform into what I feel is the deepest, most raw and ultimately most hopeful album I’ve ever put out. Ever. In 40 years of writing songs. (Yes, I started writing and performing at 13 years old.)

Writing is easy when it comes. As any writer knows, when it flows, it’s beyond compare. And that’s how an album of songs suddenly came flying through me after two heavy years of stress. Easy. Like lying back on a recliner, baby. What a gift.

The recording aspect, however, is always a little harder for me. I’m with engineer and producer Thom Flowers, my dear friend of nearly 35 years whom I knew when I was just barely in my twenties. We were connected through music then, too. I know him, he knows me. Makes it easier when you’re comfortable.

But recording is still harder than writing because …this is it. This is how you choose to share the song. Not unlike a visual artist who knows what they are going to paint but still has to pick a medium, colors, style… all those choices speak loudly to the finished product. As recording artists we focus on: what style? What instruments? What players? What sounds?

Once the parts are recorded, then we start to mix. We take all those tracks of individual parts (e.g, vocal, backing vocals, acoustic guitars, drums, electric guitars, bass, keyboards, etc…) and we make them a cohesive whole through edits, levels, EQ, volumes, effects and more that I don’t even understand because that’s really Thom’s job. Maybe this analogy kind of works: writing the song is the creation of an art piece, recording the song is taking a photograph of it, and mixing is color correcting. I think there’s a much better analogy out there, but you get the gist.

Mixing makes me nervous. Always has. I know the song is good, I know the sound quality is good, but there’s a lot of moving parts on a big production like “Healer” - my first single off the new album. There’s a lot of tiny decisions to make. And one tiny decision can flavor the recording for better or worse.

Last night I played Brad an early mix of Healer. Brad has great ears and was in the music industry himself way back. Funny fact: we had the same LA music attorney in the 90’s and didn’t know it until we were dating! Anyway- we sat together for an hour on the bed and listened to the mix over and over as I took notes and felt like I was going to throw up. Brad said I was a little edgy and reminded me firmly that this is simply part of the process …….…Like I don’t f-ing know that, bro??!?! Yeah, well- I may know it but I really needed to be reminded about 10 times last night. (Thank you, honey.)

Thom and I will go back in next week with notes and tweak the mix. Then we’ll sit with it for another day or so until eventually we know we’ve got it as good as we can get it. And then -whoooosh, I’ll let it go. The final decisions on Healer will be behind me and the song will go through a distribution process for a few weeks and then- you get to hear it on whatever streaming service you use.

And…I’m nervous, of course. Making those final decisions in life is always hard. In this case, I’m taking my most personal and challenging experiences and creating something for me, yes…… but also really for YOU. So that you can feel yourself through my expressions. That’s the gift of good art. I want my gift to be good. (Actually, like most artists, I pray for greatness.)

“Healer” is likely the most “pop” song on the album. If you are into singer-songwriters and you like a bit of pop influence (and meaningful lyrics) I think you’ll love it. It swirls and lifts and inspires me. And it tells the truth, as all my songs do.

I’m going to do my best to make it perfect for me…and for you. And I promise to do so with every single song that is unveiled on my new upcoming album.

The title of the new album has it’s own AMAZING story….I’ll tell that story, and talk more in depth about the story behind“Healer” as we get a bit closer to release day!

In the meantime, thanks for being part of this journey with me. It means a lot!

xo,
c