Turns out that I’ve neglected two important steps in the process: Mastering and copyright. Unfortunately, this may mean a delay of a couple weeks in getting One Man Garage Band out the door.

Mastering is an interesting process whereby the album’s sound frequencies are manipulated to—for lack of a better phrase—sound better. This has to do with compression and equalization of the audio. It’s not the same as mixing the tracks, but it can be used to bring out certain sounds in the mix and “punch up” the overall recording. I’ve listened to some before and after samples and consulted with my friend and professional musician Garr, and it’s obvious to me now that I need to have One Man Garage Band mastered.

Having the album mastered will cost several hundred dollars, and depending on how many copies are sold may end up eroding significantly or erasing entirely any profit. Nonetheless, I’d rather turn out the best work I can than make a fortune. Hopefully I and everyone else will be able to hear the difference.

The copyright process is not terribly difficult now that everything’s been moved online. It appears that once I have the final versions (post-mastering, in other words) I simply need to fill out a form, upload them, and pay $35 fee. This is, of course, copyright registration I’m talking about. The actual copyright itself already exists.

A demo copy of the album was delivered to my graphic designer a week ago and I should have some preliminary album art by the end of the month. Once we’ve got that sorted, I’ll be putting together a PDF booklet of album liner notes and lyrics that will accompany the album should you choose to download it from CDBaby.com. We’re still on schedule for a mid-April release, which if you’ve read previous entries is later than I’d hoped, but still not so far away that I’m despairing. These things always take longer than you expect, especially the first time through.

With the completion of Floating and Dreaming and America Flags only Purge remains before the album is completely recorded and mixed. I may change the track order—New World Redux now opens the set—but realistically this matters a lot less in an era of iTunes Store music singles. Regardless, you can see the current track list in the One Man Garage Band section of the website.

I’ll be meeting with my graphic designer to discuss album cover ideas (I have several) in the next few days. After that, we’ll be moving things to the distributor and sending out a one-time-only email to family and friends regarding the album’s availability. Stay tuned, we’re getting close now.

Finished up the lyrics to Floating and Dreaming this afternoon. Time permitting, vocals get laid down this weekend. More work still needed on Purge and America Flags, so looks like a mid-March wrap date. Don’t worry: I won’t be quiet when this thing is finally available.

Progress on One Man Garage Band. We’re down to the final mixing, and, although Purge and America Flags are proving difficult, we’re aiming to the album out to online distribution by the end of the month.

Additionally, we’ve redesigned www.TyDavison.com using WordPress 2.7.1 in hopes of providing fans with an accessible means of learning about Ty’s music. The site includes this blog, a biography, merchandise for sale, and—most importantly—information about the music. 

Now back to mixing….