Suburban 2-Step involved 12 musicians in total, making the last step in the process--the mixing--especially delicate. As you listen to the song for the 100th time, and you bring the mandolin up and pull the tuba down, you're not quite sure if it wasn't just yesterday that you did the opposite. As performer and writer, I also know the lyrics backwards, so may not be as demanding as necessary in terms of audibility on that front. There's a reason that the classic division of labor has an objective pair of ears or two making final judgements about levels and sound treatments (EQ and reverb, for example). In these days of self-recorded and self-released albums, however, these roles (producer and recording engineer) often get rolled up and handed to the songwriter / singer / musician. This is both a good thing (wow, the control!) and bad (the blind spots). Not much choice, in many cases: sustainability doesn't apply only to energy use, at some point the ledger has to balance, and that is increasingly problematic for musicians, either from performing or recording.
The CD Release Concerts will happen in Pittsburgh and Lexington, with a follow-up duo event at Harmony in the House in Zelienople in June, so things will be properly launched. Both physical and download version will be available on-line mid-April.
Next step: new tunes! I've written three already: The Best I Got, Dans la ville (first song in French) and The Blackstone Rangers (about the Southside Chicago legendary organization). Never a dull moment..
