process

Songwriting, like all creative endeavors, is a highly individualized process. The songs on Noël/It's Just a Phase are constructed via intensive collaborative creativity sessions with album co-producer Peter Wilder. Once song concept/target material is agreed upon, several levels of revision take shape. When the final music bed/melody line is arrived at, ornamentation, both vocally and instrumentally (with much experimentation) is added. Much discussion, arguing and persuasion occurs during this process, along with constant questioning (about holding true to the concept and the best way to phrase a line, etc.)

Once the artistic and performance aspects are defined and agreed to, then things turn over to the technical expertise of the team. Rough mixes develop into a pre-process mixes - the blending of two dozen sources down to a stereo digital master. This mix is then digitally edited and subtle adjustments to frequency response (equalization) and dynamics are defined. The mix, now in a pure digital format, is then taken to the mastering facility, Charles Eller Studios, where it is scrutinized (resulting in another level of even finer adjustment to equalization and dynamics).

The songs are then arranged into a manufacturing-ready Master List. Next, a glass master of the entire CD is burned, and brought back to several "real world" listening environments to survey the "listenability" of the project. Simultaneously, finalizations are made to the artwork - run time of specific songs - song order/sequencing, legal and copyright issues, etc. Any final audio changes (requiring a trip back into the digital editing systems) are completed and a new glass master is produced. This, along with finalized/proofed graphical mechanicals, is sent for CD replication at a manufacturing plant in Canada.