The handful of you who know me know that I lean a little to the quieter side. A smaller group of you know that I can over analyze things. Well, for nearly a year I’ve been talking and thinking too much about making a record and not doing enough of making the record. This was making me a little crazy so I decided to do something about it.

What was holding me back? Part of it was cost. I had the cash set aside. But managing finances is about making choices and I was having trouble committing those funds to a producer or to studio time instead of towards travel, home improvements, etc.. The other aspect was good ole self doubt. What if others don’t like it?

So what changed? As I wrote more throughout the year, I recorded more. Recording is an art and skill itself and takes practice. The bad songs got an arrangement and recorded. The good songs that turned out to be just ok got arranged and recorded. And there were even a couple really good songs, in my opinion, that got tracked along the way. My workflow improved, recording makes anyone a better musician, and I got better at using my available gear.

My home studio, Sleeping Dog Studios, is a humble place, a 10×10 bedroom with some modest acoustic treatments, but I’ve somehow managed to cut down a bunch of the sound reflection. My studio gear is extremely humble. I tracked through Logic Pro X using a Behringer interface and old MacBook. Microphones used were an Audio Technica AT2020 and Audix i5. No thousand dollar mics here. This place was pieced together with value in mind. Plenty of amazing records have been made with cheap gear so why not my little project?

Getting quality recordings started to feel like reality so I began to project manage this thing. I researched distribution, made a task list, and took a day off to get the rest of the tracks recorded. It took more than a day but that’s an advantage of the home studio. It’s available almost anytime. Except when the dogs are barking instead of sleeping and the neighbors are mowing.

As with any DIY project, it’s good to know your limits and when to call a professional. For me this is in the mixing and mastering process. I know I’m pretty much guessing on those things. I took my tracks to Azmyth Recording in Indianapolis. Azmyth was recommended by other musicians I like both as people and musicians and this vibe was carried into the studio.

I’m feeling a nice sense of pride with this project which is the best way to beat ole self doubt. There are a few more tasks left but the list is getting smaller. We are shooting for an October 9th release date partly in homage to the now old days of Tuesday music releases. That’s the nice thing about being a truly independent artist.