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What Happened to Last Weekend's Single?
Thu., Jan. 31. 2019 4:03pm EST
You know how they say stuff like "40 is the new 30"? Well, "last weekend's single" is the new "this weekend's single." Sorry, we're as disappointed as you are.
The tracks were all ready for final mixing by last Thursday, but it has taken longer to get mixes that everyone's happy with. We did approve a final mix of one of the songs this afternoon (Thursday), but we're still awaiting a revised mix of the other.
Here's how the process works: After all of the vocal and instrumental parts are recorded, Jimmy takes a great amount of care and time prepping all the tracks — multiple vocals parts, guitar parts, keyboard parts, drum parts, etc.
We asked Jimmy to tell us the average amount of tracks we put on a song, and he replied, "Average is 20 to 40. Many times there are more, but usually never less than 20."
After Jimmy has taken time to put all of those tracks at their proper levels, clean up any unwanted noises, and make sure everything is on beat, he sends them to Wayne for final mixing. Mixing is a delicate process, as different effects are added on various instruments and vocals.
Once Wayne has a final mix, he'll send it to the band members who played and/or sang on that particular song. Then the band members will send their editing instructions (i.e. "turn this part up, turn this part down, tune this part, add this effect, lessen this effect, etc.") back to Wayne.
Then Wayne will send a revised mix. Having multiple sets of ears listening to a particular song helps ensure that it sounds as much like the original as possible, but that also means Wayne has to make multiple versions before we get a final one everybody likes.
However, Wayne is such a perfectionist that he is always willing to make a new version. Our record for the most versions it's ever taken to get an approved mix is 13, but the average is about three to five, although recently "She's Got Cooties" and "Once We're Over the Line" were done in two.
Wayne's a single (as in "unmarried") guy, so he's able to mix well into the night, but he's also a single (as in "only one") guy. His day job as a guitar instructor also keeps him quite busy. He might have as many as 10-20 students in a day.
This past week, Wayne's teaching schedule increased dramatically, and he also had chiropractor and physical therapy appointments to attend. Furthermore, his aunt died. We'd appreciate your prayers for him. Wayne works very hard for us, and he's a real gentle soul.
The good news is that the new songs are sounding splendid. One of them just needs a little more splendor before we can send it to you. And we've already finished up the tracks for one of the songs on the single after that, and we plan to finish the other one next week.
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