I’m blessed to be a full time musician. I am living my dream of playing guitar and making records for people. The production side is still a lot newer for me though than the guitar. Currently, I’m simultaneously wrapping up my first and second projects.

Because of the newness, every step in the process feels like a milestone for me. Yesterday was another one for me. I got to hold in my hand a mastered copy of Sarah Banks’ EP “For Your Kingdom.”

Let me explain what that means.

Mastering is the final process of making a record before the physical copies are made. It basically makes the indivual songs into a cohesive album. It insures that volume levels are the same on all the songs and that they all sound relatively similar in terms of EQs and such.

Sarah’s mastering was done by Rob Burrell who did a fantastic job. It was great to work with him and glean from his years of experience. He talked me through the whole process and was super encouraging the whole time.

Now the EP is done, at least on my end. Sarah still needs to finish with artwork and get final copies made. However, my part of the process was completed this afternoon. I was able to hold in my hand a final copy of my first album I’ve produced.

It was a great feeling, and I’m so thankful to everyone who contributed to it. I’m so excited to share this project with everyone.

There is a myth in music that the most talented people work alone, and for the longest time, I bought into it. I would hear John Mayer talk about sitting down and writing one of his biggest hits in an hour. I would read liner notes of artists playing almost every instrument on a record, and I thought that was the pinnacle of success in artistry.

For me, that was a really discouraging way of thinking. I’ve wasted so many hours sitting in my room by myself trying to write a great song or produce an amazing track. While I can create things on my own, I do it better with other people involved, and it’s more fun. Still, I thought going it alone was the way it was supposed to be.

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It is difficult to put my experience from Friday into words. I find that all I can do is repeat the same phrases over and over again. “I’m so proud of these songs” and “I can’t wait to share this with you” keep coming to mind.

Friday really was a spectacular day, and it was so cool to see these songs we wrote really start coming together under the incredible talent of Ben Phillips, Brian Yak, and Travis Cullman.

Programming and overdubs begin tomorrow.

Again, I can’t wait to share this record with you.

I posted on Monday about why I want to see Greg Wells’ EP funded through kickstarter. In that post, I mentioned that I will be producing the album if it is funded.

I often take living in Nashville for granted and assume that people understand what I mean when I say I produce music. That is not always the case. Since I am asking people to contribute to Greg’s Kickstarter Campaign because I will be producing the album, I want to make sure everyone know what that means.

The easiest way to explain it is that a producer is to music what a director is to a film. I take an artists screenplay (the songs) and am in charge of the overall vision and completion of the project. I hire the musicians and the audio engineer (who actually selects mics and turns knobs during recording), oversee the editing, and select who mixes and masters the album. I also guide all of those people creatively through the process to ensure that the end result matches my (and the artist’s) vision.

For Greg’s album, I also cowrote 4 of the 5 songs. So to say I have a lot invested in this project is an understatement. I very much want to see it through, and can only do it with your help. Please consider preordering the album (or more). It would mean so much to me for you to hear the album that I have already worked so hard on, and we haven’t even started recording yet.

Just finished guitar tracking on Sarah McCary’s EP today!  We’ll start vocals soon, do a day of strings, and then it’s off to mix.  We’re getting so close!  Can’t wait to share this project with everyone.

For those of you who don’t know, I substitute teach during times where music work isn’t as abundant.  It’s the best part time job I could possibly have.  I was requested to sub in a classroom of kindergarteners today, but the snow in Nashville cancelled that.  So since I am snowed in today, I thought I would post more than just a picture of what I’m doing today.

I actually have a few exciting things to share.  First of all, the picture I posted yesterday was from the final day of work on Dana Jorgensen’s record before it goes to mix.  He was tracking BGVs with legendary producer Monroe Jones.  Though I wasn’t actually a part of that tracking, I wanted to be there to hear the final pieces of the record that I’ve worked so hard on be recorded.  I played a lot of the guitar parts on that album, and did a ton of programming on it.  Once it is completed, I’ll post a song or two up here.  I’m excited to share something that I’ve worked so hard on.

The next exciting thing is that I just got a mix back on a song I wrote with Jeromy Deibler of FFH and the guys from WatersEdge that was recorded on their new album.  I am just getting into songwriting a fair amount, so this is the first song that I have written that someone else has cut (instead of just me recording it at home).  It’s so exciting to hear that.  Hopefully sometime soon I can post the song, or at least a sample of it on this site.

Finally, next week will begin preproduction with Sarah McCary. The next week we’ll begin tracking her new EP.  I’m really really excited to produce a record for such a talented writer and singer.  On top of that she’s a good friend.  As we really dig into this process over the coming weeks, I’ll be posting onto this website regularly.  Look for video, audio, and pictures from the studio.

That’s all from me today.  I’m going to relax and enjoy my snow day.