Dream of a Far Light... studio update!

[tollermom]

Taking a page from cadhla's book, here's the current rundown on Wild Mercy's upcoming "Dream of a Far LIght" project, bringing min0taur full Lightship song cycle to life for the first time...

Short version... 26 tracks total, 11 completed and mixed, three more ready to mix, all vocals complete, most instrumentation complete, only fiddle and some percussion left to record.

Tonight we were all in the studio for the first time (we've been going in random groupings depending on what needed to be recorded or mixed), and we got my harmony vocals re-recorded on "Lightsailor," Jen's and my harmonies on "Your Cosmos, Cavalier" and "Out From Under" (which we had recorded once and then we completely rewrote the harmonies, so now we have two sets), Jen's descant harmony on "World Too Blue", Jen's bass on "World Too Blue" and "Doomsday Blues". Recording the harmony vocals on "Out From Under" was big fun, 'cause we recorded them together and we locked in so much tighter than we'd've done if we'd recorded them separately. The few things that we ended up punching were nailed on the punch 'cause we could watch each other to get the exact timing for cutoffs, plus we could feed off each other for energy, which is important on that one. Such a fun song!

So here's what's where, track-wise...

1. Nobody's Home. FINISHED AND MIXED 1/29.
2. Lights in the Sky I. (ready to mix unless a fiddle part flings itself at Amy)
3. Down at Hot Rod Blue's. FINISHED AND MIXED 3-11.
4. Come to the Party. FINISHED AND MIXED 3-11.
5. Doomsday Blues.NEEDS FIDDLE.
6. Mad Marquis I. FINISHED AND MIXED 1/29.
7. World Too Blue. NEEDS DRUMS.
8. Sunwings. FINISHED AND MIXED 2/5.
9. A Star for the County Down. NEEDS FIDDLE .
10. Wider Than We Know. NEEDS DRUMS.
11. Space Child Lullaby I. NEEDS FIDDLE.
12. Sign of the Burning Tree (ready to mix)
13. Mad Marquis II. FINISHED AND MIXED 1/29.
14. Burning Tears (1000-Year Blues). FINISHED AND MIXED 3-11.
15. Anthem Zero I. FINISHED AND MIXED 2/5.
16. Lightship Yarrow. MIXED but NEEDS FIDDLE and possible DRUM FIX
17. Anthem Zero II. FINISHED AND MIXED 2/5.
18. Passage to Xanadu. NEEDS BAR CHIME and FIDDLE.
19. To Poison Bedlam. NEEDS FIDDLE.
20. The Mad Marquis III. FINISHED AND MIXED 1/29.
21. Lightsailor. NEEDS FIDDLE.
22. Anthem Zero III. FINISHED AND MIXED 2/5.
23. Lights in the Sky II / Out From Under. ADD FIDDLE (possibly coming in during transition?)
24. Your Cosmos, Cavalier. NEEDS DRUMS
25. Ultraplanetary (ready to mix)
26. Space Child Lullaby 2 (reprise). NEEDS FIDDLE and FINAL HARMONY TWEAKS (BARRY).

Sally's going back to Rick's on Friday night to record the remaining percussion tracks, and fiddle tracks will be recorded at Dodeka on Saturday, which should complete primary recording, leaving just minor fixes and punches to be done while mixing.

Here's where the rest of the production elements stand...

CD booklet copy has been written, proofed, proofed some more, and probably will be proofed again, preferably by someone not in the band (we've all seen it too many times... after awhile even mistakes look right). 12 pages, full-color outside, b/w interior, includes all lyrics.

Cover artwork from Ray VanTilburg is beautiful, and 300dpi version has been received for use on booklet and tray card.

CD booklet layout is complete, pending final check by proofer and approval by Barry.

CD traycard copy is written, layout is based on back of booklet, art is complete. Layout needs to be finalized (remembering to leave room for barcode).

CD label layout needs to be done. CD label art is complete, I think, pending receipt of high-res version from Ray.

Friday, I head for Chicago, where I'm meeting up w/ sweetmusic_27 and we're spending the weekend with billroper and daisy_knotwise so that we can get fiddle tracks recorded, then Amy's coming back to Indy with me so that we can rehearse as a group (probably our only all-together rehearsal before Marcon!) and so that she's here for mixing fiddle tracks on Tuesday.

All files are due to Groovehouse by early May, and if we finish primary recording this weekend, that leaves us all of April to finish mixing and mastering. Sweet!

Comments

[min0taur.livejournal.com]

When I look at all the enthusiasm, dedicated/multifaceted hard work, and rich results that have come to this project from my Wild Mercy bandmates and all our formidably creative friends, I am repeatedly delighted and humbled. But don't tell 'em I said so; they might think I'm just buttering them up.
;-)

[catalana.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear where you stand now! I have to admit that I do hope that you don't end up doing the day-by-date status reports on the album that cadhla was doing (and may still be - I'm not reading at the moment), since that's way more detail than I really want. But I'm glad to hear that things are on track!

[tollermom]

Heehee! I don't have the time (or the attention to detail) for that level of reporting on a regular basis. We've sold a number of pre-orders, though, so I figured some folks might be interested in knowing how the process was coming. Future updates will probably be more along the "Hey, we recorded X rockin' fiddle tracks this weekend!" or "OMG, it's been shipped to Groovehouse!" variety, so don't worry... since we've been recording for the better part of a year and in the studio for a couple of months and this was the first big update, I don't think I'm in any danger of posting many more like this. :-)