Nearly wrapped up

After what seems like an eternity, though truthfully only a long 6 months, 'Lunatic' is in its final days of mixing before being sent off to be mastered. Recording in the studio was a completely new experience for me so I figured in todays post I would break down what it was like for me each month.

June 2021 - Up until this point, all the music that I had heard in over a years time was mostly online recordings & LIVE shows in the wake of yester-years pandemic. I was worried that, with my less-than-classical training, I wouldn't be quite up to par with the musicians normally taking their songs into a professional studio. I was worried that I wouldn't feel the weight of the songs I had written (truthfully all about the same terrible relationship) and therefore the producer, who I only barely knew, wouldn't be able to capture what it was like to feel the pressure of every chapter I lived through pushing in on me from every direction. So like any artist, I revisited the only element that had, up and to that point of my life, set my soul on fire and stirred up the emotional debris, the primordial soup needed to create something organic and went into the studio the next day feeling the weight of every decision the two of us had made to get to that fucked up point.

July 2021 - With the album starting to take shape well beyond what my drunken derelict could every have hoped to discover, I had the good fortune to call in and hire several notable musicians in the Dayton area to collaborate with. (like Brian Hoeflich on all drum tracks, and Trey Stone on the piano in Lunatic, She Can Have It, and LMWYD) Besides the tasty leads made up on the spot by the one and only Daniel Adams, and a few other lucky times we were able to work with David Payne of The New Old Fashioned, every other thing that sounds good in each song was written by Sir Patrick Himes. All of which were a pleasure to play music with and if you're reading this right now, please know how incredibly grateful I am for you.

August 2021 - In addition to working towards finishing these songs, we spent the most of this month tracking and adding vocals before having the analogue tape sent off to be digitized and put into Pro Tools. This means that we get the best of both worlds in the the eyes of most producers; the warm, fat tones of tape brought to life with the extreme measures of control that digital allows for. Like I've said before, this was all a new experience to me, and this hybrid analouge-digital method for recording wasn't the cheapest route at all; however, when I started this journey, I asked Patrick to lead me; to show me the way and not only that but to teach me all that I could learn. (Needless to say, looking back now, the education offered to me was well above and beyond what would have taken me decades of trial and error to learn on my own and developing trust with someone like that as not only a coach and mentor, but also as a friend was something that helped me to grow as well)

September 2021 - September was a busy month for sure. I spent most of the month preparing for a road trip to Colorado while the producer was on tour with the Black Jacket Symphony. (Blowing me away with the theaters and stadiums they were playing to!) I got some much needed time to myself and it certainly helped to clear my head while out west so that I could I could come back ready to fire on all cylinders

October 2021 - Fine tuning each of the songs, adding backing vocals (Thanks again Patty Doubles) Listening. And listening. And listening some more to what else could be added, tweaked, re-recorded and finally finish tracking. This was one of my favorite months because in my wildest dreams I had no intention of recording these songs to sound as full and well-made as they did. I was astounded that someone with enough vision, aka Mr Himes, could take my drunken ramblings, some pitiful version of self therapy (describing my own life back to myself in some kind of outwardly inappropriate release in barrooms and at open mics) and hear exactly what I didn't know I wanted them to sound like. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how 'full' a song could feel and then finding one more track that could completely change everything.

November 2021 - This had to be the most difficult month of recording for me. Mixing... Mainly because after 4 months of studio-therapy I had come to rely on my time allowed to drain the emotional reserve I had built up each month and during the mixing phase, I was not allowed to step foot in the studio. (As most of you who know me know, I wouldn't have let Patrick do his job because I would have talked, likely without much breath, for most of the time required)

Finally at the end of the month I picked up an extra day to finish recording the three acoustic jams on 'Lunatic' and lay down vocals before our last sessions of this year, which I will be heading for later this evening.

I should also mention that since the beginning of this process, my intrigue into musical gear has a new depth that I didn't know was possible. Reel Love Recording Co. is like a museum of sound and from the first day I was obsessed. My friends say I've got GAS... or gear acquisition syndrome. To go from playing the same passed down acoustic guitar for years and years, not even through a particularly nice amplifier, to understanding the depth of texture you can add to a song with just the right mix of old & new & red & blue gear. It all takes on its own personality and the variety spice sometimes adds just the right kick to certain things that are otherwise unachievable.

That being said, please DON'T send me any more cool gear to check out this holiday season as I am about a day and a half from saying 'fuck it' and wiping out a new credit line

Dak Janiels