Advice wanted - Putting out an album

[destinytot]

My main goal is certainly not to make money on anything, I'm really happy with the quality of music and really want to do something physical. Since I love vinyl and listen to a lot of vinyl myself, it's definitely the most attractive format for me. The very, very few physical copies that I will sell at gigs will probably mostly be to people with similar format preferences to me. I'm definitely not expecting to recoup any money I've spent on this project, which is for sure just a labor of love and fueled by my desire to present my music in a formal way.

Sometimes I wish there were an applaud button. This is one of those times.

[christianm77]

@destiny - the book idea was suggested to me actually. I'm wondering if this will take off in the next few years. For the moment I'm sticking to a conventional digipack release.

[destinytot]

@destiny - the book idea was suggested to me actually. I'm wondering if this will take off in the next few years. For the moment I'm sticking to a conventional digipack release.

I was being practical; I've had some useful feedback, suggesting that non-native English speakers appreciate the opportunity to review the narrative and lyrics in the dual-language format.

I think it's wise to use a nice digipack unless you have a good reason to do otherwise.

Exploration of an idea (in my case, "Could you bloom wherever you'd been planted?") probably warrants a more elaborate format than the one I've used. A techie friend has produced beautiful versions with iBooks Author - Wikipedia which I think do the idea justice.

I'm trying out a scaled-down version of the show at a friendly local 'boho' joint next week. I'm using the dual-language projections, but I'm performing the songs solo. And using a looper for the narrative - probably going 'Tom Waits' instead of 'Noel Coward': bebop spoken here: CD Review:Mike McKoy - Ludwig Manhattan's Germaican Blues.

The hardest part for me is presenting an idea in a way that's entertaining for others without being frivolous. Lyrically, I feel I've gone as far as I'm prepared to go with satire, but I've made a conscious effort to be dignified and responsible about it - "The World Is A Loveless Toilet" is an important part of the story, but it's not the whole story.

The following simple lyric (sung in the video below), written for a reggae sound system dubplate, inspired the idea on which I'm currently working:

SHINE UPON THE WORLD
LIGHT THE UNIVERSE
HIGHEST STAR
DRAWING FOOTSTEPS FROM AFAR

DREAMS THAT FOLLOW YOU
DRAWN TO GOODNESS, DRAWN TO TRUTH
BRIGHT AND STRONG
LIKE THE MESSAGE IN THIS SONG

Styles seem to suggest themselves - but I'm hopeful the idea will prove be a catalyst for some beautiful music to be performed, recorded and released - ideally, on vinyl.

[Runepune]

Costs aside, in addition to hiring the studio and engineer, I'd also want to bring in someone with experience of mastering specifically for vinyl.

Many plants will do this last stage for you, however the cheaper ones won't.

If you master yourself: high pass at 40 Hz, lo pass at 16 kHz (or avoid too much energy up there), and keep audio in phase below 2-300 Hz (no stereo effects or signals recorded in wide stereo down there).

[cosmic gumbo]

All the kids in my neighborhood have produced their own cd, so I just don't see whats so special about doing so. There's much more interesting and creative ways to lose money. In the business, we mostly call these vanity projects.

It's not meant to be a putdown, I fully understand that artists just want to have something tangible for all the sacrifices they've made pursuing their art...it's a natural desire.

[pcsanwald]

I definitely don't think there's anything special about what I'm doing. but, that's not going to stop me from throwing my hat in the ring!

[pcsanwald]

In case anyone is interested, I put a rough mix of one of the tunes:
The Long Game — Paul Sanwald

it needs to be mixed, mastered, and all that, but all in all I'm happy with how the recording went. It's all original tunes and bass/piano/tenor/drums quartet, but, the tunes are pretty varied.

Hopefully will be out in the fall!

[citizenk74]

Nice tune! Definitely some good material there. Best of luck!

[pcsanwald]

thanks for listening!

[Larry Feldman]

How are you planning on releasing it? Physical or downloads?

[pcsanwald]

How are you planning on releasing it? Physical or downloads?

Going to do a physical vinyl pressing to sell at gigs, and digital release via bandcamp. I'll put it on iTunes/Spotify as well. No CDs, I don't want to do duplication and I don't want to do the volume that replication would require. plus, if everyone else is anything like me, they just rip CDs and throw them away. If I want something physical, I buy vinyl.