3rd album update: Here we are.

Well here we are, or rather, here I am.

I'm finally at the home stretch, after four long years. Yes, over four years of having a vision, a story, a musical direction that no one has been able to hear but me. Something that has pushed me out of my comfort zone, and challenged me to do things in a way I have not done them before. A musical vision that has pushed each of my musicians to their limit, only to demand even more from them.

It's almost surreal being at this stage now. For the longest time it seemed as if being this close to finally hearing something the way it's been in my mind would never come. In fact, all of my musicians thought the same. Oh ye of little faith.

With some relief, I can tell you that the vocals are all finished, which concludes any and all recording needed for this album.

I've been working almost constantly, prepping every song, sound, and tone across the journey. And it looks like I may begin mixing as early as . . . . today. I'm both apprehensive and excited. It's going to be a major undertaking and I'm predicting my brain hurting by the end.

The down side for you ladies and gentlemen, is that you still may not be able to hear the album for quite sometime. Even once it's finished, I have a lot of work to do to ensure that this album does not end up like the other two, due to my reluctance and apathy.

So with that I bid you farewell, and disappear into the magical realm of listening fatigue .

You'll hear from me again soon.

NIKO

3rd album update: everything is now on me

I'm happy to say that all of the instrument recording is finally complete. It's quite a sigh of relief to have everything that is not directly in my control out of the way, and to put the pressure back solely on my quaint shoulders where it belongs.

Just minutes ago, John and I completed a very long day in which we wrote and recorded the last three remaining solos (out of a total of about 8 on this album, not including the written leads). I'm quite pleased with the results, as writing that many solo ideas, and trying to give each one a unique style and voice in context with the song was very challenging. Thankfully, these days are over and done.

Bryan and I finished the last bass parts just last Thursday. Again, we pulled a long day and finished two long songs and several lines we missed from other sessions. I'm feeling very productive at the moment (which will only last me about five minutes, and then I get frustrated with myself). Bryan should feel good about what he has been able to accomplish and how far he has come, even just considering where he was when we started recording. To steal from Tim and Eric: Great Job!

So what now? I'll tell you. Some of you read my last blog in which I almost died. Because of that trifle, we lost some time and have to deal with that. But I've already picked up where I left off, and started getting back in the flow of recording vocals. I've completed three songs so far, but I move quickly, unlike my musician brethren, and if I have no distractions, should be done in no less then a week and a half.

Then I have some final tweaking to do to a lot of the sounds before I can waltz into the mixing stage. I've been getting irritated with certain aspects of the sound, and as a result, I have to spend several days adjusting minute things and listening carefully for hours at a time, which is both tedious and boring, trust me. But the end result is worth it, and who else is going to do this but me?

Once I'm satisfied again (which I mentioned, lasts only five minutes), I will move on to the overwhelming job of mixing this beast, which seems daunting right now.

Yar, that be tha news for now. Hopefully everyone is doing somewhat alright in these strange times.

Talk to you again when there are things to talk about.

NIKO

3rd Album update: I Fell On My Keys.... Man.....

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME UPDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATES!!!!????

*ahem*

Hello guys and dolls. Another little update on where we are on this crazy ol' 3rd album of ours.

I just finished the first pass keyboards and sampled parts only a few moments ago. I've updated not only the sounds themselves, but in many cases replayed the performances from scratch as some dated back to 2004. All of the new parts have benefitted from a lot of the new virtual instruments I've been amassing lately, and I'm quite pleased with the results! I'm still going to go through them again soon and make sure the new parts I added are working well with the pieces, and maybe edit or adjust a part or two, but overall it sounds wonderful.

The rhythm guitars are all finished, along with all of the clean electric parts and acoustic phrases. All that is left for John is a few solos and a stray lead or two we forgot to get on our previous passes. One would hope that this will not take too long.

Bryan still has a decent handful of songs to complete for bass though. I assumed this process would go much quicker then the guitars, but life for both he and I got in the way for a bit. We'll start working again tomorrow and try and pick up the pace.

So here is my tentative goal: to have all of the parts recorded before the end of this month (including all of my vocals) and begin mixing bright and early in September. I think this is reasonable enough, but as I have experienced before, things can change in a heartbeat. Please remember, because I may be mixing in September, does not mean you will be hearing it in September. In fact, I will probably wait a bit to release the album, as I have a lot of work to do with promotion, building a new website from scratch (the old one has not been updated in well over a year), plus we need to location scout, take lots of photos, possibly do some filming (I'll tell you later) and create something new for a presentation. So maybe by the very end of the year you can hold this sweet goodness in your hand (or whatever part of the body you hold things with).

I'll post again once more progress happens.

P.S. I posted an interesting blog on the topic of self-perception on my personal page if you want to check it out.

NIKO

3rd album progress report: Bass, etc

Greetings again mouskateers,

Although John is not quite finished recording all of the rhythm tracks (he's slow, I know) we have started our first bass session with Bryan.

Things went very well (I think), and I aim to get things done quicker then the pace of the guitars. One thing I aim to do on this album is to have the bass take a more active role and really try and put some great, interesting and at times, showy bass lines in there. The more ear candy, the better.

The exciting thing for me is that after putting this album on the back burner for a while due to life getting in the way, now we are really attacking the recording of this with a very ambitious pace. Here is what I mean:

As opposed to doing each element separately, we are now doing them simultaneously (which by the way, sounds sexier too).

Weekends are reserved for guitars, which at this point we have one last song for rhythm guitars left, then a pass with acoustic, then finally, leads and solos.

During the week we will record the bass, which we only started.

Between bouts of that, I am reworking all of the original keyboard parts and re-recording them.

On top of that I have been revising my final pass of lyrics, and should be able to start vocal takes in the next few weeks.

So, a lot of stuff lined up. Although we are all getting restless and want it to be done as soon as possible, I think you will all agree that the most important thing is that it is done well, not fast.

I'll post again, once more significant accomplishments are made.

Thanks for sticking with me over all these years. I hope this album will be as impactful to you as it already is to us.

Soon my pretties, soon.

NIKO

Guitar recording underway for 3rd album

Yesterday, we completed the 2nd day of guitar recording out of what is sure to be a decent amount of days in total.

At the moment, John and I are only able to work on the weekends, mostly due to his work schedule, but also in part because he wants to have the whole week to make sure he is playing the parts as accurately as possible.


We worked on the 3rd song on the album this time, and it proved to be a much bigger challenge and frustration for him then he intended/wanted. There are some really crazy parts in that song, and it only ramps up from there.


At this rate, we won't have the guitars completed until late June, but hey, at least they are finally getting done eh?

Then we are on to bass, guitar leads/solos, and then it's probably my turn. . . which reminds me, I have some work to do still (looks embarrassed).

I'll update you all again when we make some more progress.

NIKO

Drum recording finishes, drum editing commences

Late last week on a very tiring Sunday, Eric and I finished the last remaining drum recording for the upcoming 3rd record.

Eric was nearly destroyed by the end of the sessions, his leg muscles a bit swollen and sore. I, of course, think that the idea of the third album material bringing him to the point of death (slight exaggeration) is a pretty cool badge to wear.

To get to the point, we got some really great performances and now I am in the tedious and dull process of drum editing. I’ve been pretty hard on myself to get this done quickly, and I aim to begin working with John and recording the guitars starting in a week or so.

NIKO

Drum recording begins for 3rd album

Word to the upward direction people and peoplettes,

We’ve been hitting the grindstone pretty hard the last few days, as drum recording is finally commencing.

We have scheduled working through wednesday or thursday of next week, depending on how things go.

So far, things have gone very well, and poor Eric’s legs are half dead. We will break tomorrow to let his legs heal a bit and hit the books again on sunday (weather permitting).

We already have two of the longest and most complicated songs out of the way, but there is plenty of crazy double kick and odd time signatures to come in the next batch of songs. I’m just glad its him instead of me.

Once we finish, I will be taking some time to do some editing and EQing, and will soon start up again with guitars.

It’s nice to finally get this beast going I can tell you.

NIKO