On the Shelves in The Lounge
Current is in the eyes of the beholder: Yesterday's "blog" is today's "primary source."

November 25, 2006

I am once again reminded how little I know about this entire process. I had hoped that the CD would be done and out in early December, but I am now finding that the process still before us will take longer than that, and I'm not sure exactly how much. It's still an adventure, though! (I can't very well take the good parts of the adventure without the challenges, now, can I? But I AM sorry for how it affects you.)

While I am optimistic that we are relatively close to final completion of the project, I have now officially learned my lesson, and will not declare a new completion date. I WILL, however, keep you posted via the pantry.

November 24, 2006

Just realized I never mentioned how much fun I had playing "No One Else" for Tom's wedding (that's Tom Manuel, who plays trumpet and flugelhorn on the CD) back in October. What a beautiful ceremony—so many talented musicians, including a giant trumpet choir (16, I believe!) and more. So much good food at the reception—I don't think I ever ate quite so well at a catered event in my life. And FOUR LIVE BANDS for the reception, swing dancers from novice to expert all night (me and my lady somewhere in the middle of that spectrum), and a chocolate fountain that I nearly dove into (Sigh, I without my swimsuit). Way to go, Tommy James.

And we had a blast this summer at Melissa's (née Lamoureux, who took the pictures used for bobpadgett.com v1.0) beautiful wedding as well (I played during the cocktail hour before the reception). The whole wedding and reception was right on the water out at the eastern end of Long Island. Incredible views, incredible ocean air, fantastic dancing with my bride all night—all with great company, great food, great music. Perfect night at the perfect spot. The whole gang obviously had so much fun—you guys also definitely got it right.

November 15, 2006

Gavin is now DONE with the edits—it sounds great!—and the final audio master of the album is finished and ready to send on. The completion of this represents the final audio step in this process. Amazing, relieving, and exciting to arrive at yet another milestone.

November 14, 2006

WHEW! What a weekend!

Saw Bruce Hornsby on Friday night (amazing, as ever). Reminded me how much I want to play that kind of a role in other people's lives. Here's a guy who has been the invisible partner for 22 years of countless fans' lives. They still remember where they were the first time they heard "Mandolin Rain," they have a hundred associations with his tunes and people and events in their own past, and so on. To put it briefly, looking out at the faces of fans during his concerts, I get a small taste of the influence and involvement that Bruce has had in their lives over these last two decades.

The next day was the fall concert dress rehearsal for my Choir and Chamber Singers—a really great afternoon of music making. It's fun to see them start to "get it" at this point in the year, now that they have been singing together for a few months. Best of all is when their sense and show of drama start to match what they are singing about.

Sunday was my niece's senior recital at Ithaca. We made the long drive up on Saturday after the dress rehearsal, stopping to pick up a lot of family on the way. We had a great drive up, an interesting night (me and the boys watched the semi-finals of the paintball world championships—lousy camera angles, but we all wished it were us in the arena!), and an amazing recital on Sunday. She did such a fantastic job, from solo to ensemble pieces. Fine collaborators, and a lot of friends in attendance. Obviously she is much loved there, and it was a great show. Hurray for Ashley!

After the recital on Sunday, we had to make a beeline back home, because Monday night was the concert for my two choirs. They put on a great show! I don't think I have ever seen them sing so dramatically. We changed a few things up, too—rearranged how they stood for a couple pieces, hid them in the audience for one tune, and switched up the expected sequence. We decided that we wanted to do whatever we could to keep the audience on their toes. After all, live music only happens once—and we as performers want to keep the live music experience exciting and varied. All the students did a really wonderful job—it was fun to catch some of their eyes and see that they understood how well they did.

And so, I rest my case—what a weekend!

November 7, 2006

Wow! Matt and I may have a few tiny edits, but this is incredible. Every step of this process is an adventure! The mastered CD sounds great, if I'm allowed to say so.

November 6, 2006

Gavin has finished the mastering of the CD—Matt and I will get reference copies to review for any final edits before they create the final master of the album (for replication).

October 26, 2006

Our (Matt's and mine, that is) work on the CD is now really DONE. The album is officially out of our hands! Matt and I both packed up everything from our respective ends of the project and shipped it all off to Gavin at The Mastering Lab today. In the days to come, Gavin, a gifted mastering engineer with two grammy awards to his credit, will apply his highly specialized skills and ears to the album, completing the final audio step in the process.

Gavin will pass the Final Master of the 7: The Live CD Project to Groove House Records, also in California, where a glass master of the final CD will be created.

Meanwhile, Maddy Sturm is at work finalizing the art design for the album and all its accompanying print materials. Maddy is a brilliant artist whose work with Matt on the NEOS Beyond project I mentioned here in the Lounge several months ago. (Some clever readers may have by now already made the keen connection between Maddy's and Ike's last names—yes, they are brother and sister.) After Maddy and I make final decisions on the album art, those materials will also head off to Groove House, where they will be set up for running proofs.

Once final proofs of all the audio and visual components of the CD are approved, Groove House will begin mass replication of the album—the album that so many of you have already ordered and now patiently await! As the final steps of the process unfold, I will try to keep at least the Pantry (the mailing list) posted!

STAY TUNED, intrepid fans—we're almost there!

October 24, 2006

 After working our way through a final round of edits on the final round of mixes, we are finally ready! Matt is making the last few changes today, and then we get the ball rolling out to California, where the CD will be mastered and replicated en masse.

Summer, 2006

 With the close of the school year and the beginning of the summer came a few days of TRUE recovery time—walls were stared at, friends again joined us on the porch for the peaceful suummer evenings on a quiet campus—before we packed up and headed to Rochester for a week-and-a-half visit with Matt.

By the time we were planning our trip up to Rochester, Matt had already thrown us our first curveball: due to a confluence of technical and acoustic issues, we would need to re-record vocals for a number of tracks. What was originally to be a trip focused on mixing quickly turned into a major recording campaign in Third Strand's Studio in Rochester. Rebecca, who had done all the Background Vocals on May 12th, graciously cleared her own calendar and came up for an intense weekend of tracking new vocals.

But what at first had appeared to be a bag of lemons quickly showed itself to be lemonade in the making, as our recording sessions moved more and more toward layering in additional background vocal parts and lines, creating a new dimension to the overall sound of the tracks. Rebecca's artistry shone brightly, as new lines were crafted into the overall texture. Laughter became difficult to control as Rebecca, Matt, and I were aurally joined by microphones and headphones—the opportunities for jokes and self-mockery abounded. And I'm glad to say that Rebo, the official living dog of 7: The Live CD Project, sat in on a number of the sessions in the studio. After Rebecca headed back, the bulk of the re-recording done, Matt and I finally turned our attention a bit more to mixing and other creative decisions that needed to be made.

It was also during this time that Denis and Becca came by to hear what was happening with the project, and before they had left Third Strand's studio that night, Becca had laid down some additional BGVs for Tell Them Again. Yet another new and exciting experience, watching someone else with only a brief encounter with one of my songs bring a whole new angle into the project.

The whole experience of this time in Rochester was a real treat for me. It was a whole new adventure tackling the studio-session aspects of this project, and it was really cool to watch as the album began to take larger steps in its evolution from a straightforward Live CD into a more complex Live/Studio hybrid project of increasing diversity.

And finally, having said our farewells, Matt and I commenced our summer long-distance creative relationship—Matt working through production, editing, and mixing aspects of the project while I listened to the works-in-progress he would post for me and then gave him feedback and other input. (It was also during this time that Matt joined forces with Ben Parris—the drummer from our live show in May—in the studio for the four tracks on the CD that Ben mixed.) This ongoing artistic interplay would blur over into the beginning of my school year back at home—an inevitable source of delays, or course.

Over the first few weeks of school, near final mixes and last editing suggestions passed back and forth between us as my own school schedule would permit. With the beginning of October came the realization that we were now looking at the very last, most minute details. A scary but fantastic realization that we would indeed come to the end of this part of the project and actually see it completed!

May, 2006

 What a thrill the weekend of the show was! Such a great crowd came out for the May 12th recording and concert. And what an amazing experience for me to hear these tunes start to come alive with the whole band. So many dear friends and faces came out—I wish I had been able to spend time talking to each of you! Thanks to all for your support, and to all who invested in this project that night with their pre-orders of the completed CD project.

After everyone headed home, we finally had some food, and then we headed back into the hall for a few back up takes to make sure the bases were covered for the CD aspect of the project. We wrapped at about 2 AM—then we got some burgers and breathed a collective sigh of relief. I don't know if a couch was ever so comfortable than early that morning.

After saying goodbye to dear friends and collaborators over the next day or two, I had to hit the books—with only three weeks left of school, just about every moment was spoken for. Meanwhile, Matt began working through the raw files, laying the groundwork for the editing, post-production, and mixing to follow during the summer and beyond. What a thrill as Matt began to share samples of the beginnings of the work-in-progress. Even before I joined him in Rochester in June, Matt had done a considerable amount of production work, including layering in additional keyboard parts and quite a lot of editing.

April 21, 2006

 Wow. The CD Concert/Recording Session is now 3 weeks away. I have been longing to get back here and tell you more of the story behind 7: The Live CD Project. But there are still too many details to wrap up right now, so I'll resist the urge to lie back on this shaggy pink floor for an hour or two of story telling—but I'll be back soon enough to pick the tale up where we left off. In the meantime, our action-packed home is all abuzz with the activity of spring, the demands of my School's heavy concert season, all my wife's involvements, and the industry of putting and keeping this exciting debut CD project in motion. Promotional materials (the project's art director, Melissa, has outdone herself! Watch the site soon for a downloadable version of the promo poster!) should be going to press on Monday, if all goes well, and will start to appear in some local stomping grounds around here shortly after that, shopkeepers willing. Plenty to finalize for the band, coming in from all over New York, too. Still, I couldn't stand to go to bed tonight (and I'm ready for the sleep!) without stopping by to mark the beginning of the final three-week countdown!

While I'm here, though, I also have to take a moment to brag about my boys. They made me proud tonight. The boys of the dorm I run at Stony Brook were competing tonight against the rest of the dorms on campus, and, despite a cautious start, actually had a good shot at winning (some clutch first place victories in the middle of the evening gave us all hope). In the final tally, though, we came up short of the victory and walked away with the invisible silver medal (read: invisible tin foil). But, to my fatherly delight, the boys took home the far more important trophy—the prize I was actually watching, and praying, for all night. They handled defeat with the honor, dignity, and maturity of true men, men of humility and character, men who have life and it's foibles in perspective. Their character, and how that impacted their behavior in the face of defeat, was more important to them than the momentary prize. They set aside this prime opportunity to argue, whine, quibble over possible discrepancies, and talk smack, and took the high road. Personally, I think they chose well. And in this choosing, I think they won. Tonight, I saw the MEN who make it a joy, year after year, to be All Around The Table. Indeed, the Power of the H is alive and well. Lads, thanks for who you are—from a proud wannabe dad.

April 8, 2006

 It has been an exciting week! The website has been launched. The first message has gone out from the kitchen to my beloved pantry mailing list. The site has seen a lot of activity, and i have heard from a LOT of you this week, mostly in response to the kitchen announcement. It does my heart good to reconnect with old friends like this.

It was great to see some of you at Samantha's on Thursday. The last two weeks have been SO full that it was a treat to get back in front of an audience and do what i love most. Hoping, if all goes well, to get in one more open mic at Samantha's before the big CD Project takes wing on May 12th (5 weeks from yesterday)...

March 11, 2006

 Holy mackerel, it is so beautiful here today, for the second day in a row. I can't stand to be inside—I just spent the last 15 minutes setting up three extension cords so I could keep working on the website outside after my battery ran down. What a gift this weather is.

March 11, 2006

 7: The Live CD Project:
The Story Begins

While I was up in Rochester (see February 6, 2006) for the big NEOS Ensemble Beyond premiere (and to visit my good friends the Curlees) I gave Matt a copy of my demo. After he'd had a chance to listen to it later in the week, we spoke on the phone. He liked the songs, and wanted to help me make a really serious recording of the tunes. He offered to come down and do all the recording for a live CD concert. The idea was born. We found a date on the calendar, and started putting the steps in motion. Soon after, Ike Sturm (bass) and Rebecca Padgett (BGVs) signed on for the gig, and in the days that followed we squared away details with Tom Manuel (flugel/trumpet) and Ben Parris (drums).

Melissa Lamoureux (album and promotional art) was already on board for the project—she was planning to do album art for the demo before 7 had come onto the horizon. The visual theme for the album art is still up in the air, but we have decided to borrow from the website theme for the promotional materials. Melissa pointed out that it's a good idea to have my face on the poster, in case people know the face but not the name (what, they've never heard of me? hahaha).

And now, here I am, telling stories in the Lounge, making leadsheets for the band, and starting Clamchop Creative Studio (yes, it's a real company, but it'll be a while on THAT website...). It's a handful, but a lot of fun, too.

Feb. 17, 2006

 Last night I got in (NYC) to see Alarm Will Sound in their Carnegie Hall debut concert in the very cool Zankel Hall (where my wife and I first saw Bruce Hornsby live, in a solo recital/concert—that concert is another story, for another time). Alarm Will Sound is comprised totally of graduates of my undergrad alma mater, The Eastman School of Music. What a great night. The concert was incredible—AWS has become known for their dynamic, all-over-the-auditorium staging and varied programming, which included works by John Cage, Frank Zappa, and many more. They have made leaps in the effort to revive the "serious concert music" scene, and have been accused of being the future of classical music, or something along those lines. Their site is well worth a look, and you might check out the NYTimes review of their concert.

Also got to see a number of good friends, some from the old days, including Kevin Puts, a classmate of mine from Eastman and a prolific, gifted composer; the important artist Maddy Sturm (see February 6, 2006); and Courtney Orlando, a violinist with both NEOS Ensemble and Alarm Will Sound and a faculty member at The Peabody Institute in Baltimore. The evening was a veritable hall of fame of Eastman alums of the last 15 years, far too many to number all of them. What a joy to catch up.

To finish off a classic night, I fell asleep two stops before Stony Brook on the 1:49 AM train home, and got to spend a half-hour in the dead cold of coastal Port Jeff, the terminal (felt like it) stop on the train line, before the 4:45 AM train from Port Jeff took me home. Go ahead, laugh at me. It's healthy. Teaching the next morning? THAT was not healthy.

Feb. 6, 2006

 Just came back from a great trip to Rochester to see my buddies from the NEOS Ensemble premiere Matt Curlee's new work Beyond, a musical collaboration between Matt and gifted visual artist Madeline Sturm — their websites are well worth a look. NEOS is one of the most unusual and hip groups around today, and hard to categorize (I think that's a good thing). The group is comprised of (all gifted and accomplished soloists in their own fields) Matt Curlee on pipe organ, Courtney Orlando on violin and vocals, Lalo on vibraphone, Ike Sturm on bass (look for him at my upcoming 7: The Live CD Project Concert in May!), and Ted Poor on drums. Their music is a striking fusion of jazz, world, classical, and rock colors, flavors, and sensibilities—a pleasure to listen to, and full of interest for even the most intellectual listener.

The concert was fantastic, and Beyond was a great success in its maiden voyage. As a self-appointed roadie for the weekend's preparations, I not only mastered the art of taping down wires, but apparently brought it to a new level, far Beyond what they were looking for. Sorry, Matt.

Also had a fantastic time riding Amtrak to and from Rochester. Got so much done it was ridiculous, including the first draft of some of these pages. Ahhhhh, Amtrak. I'll never drive again.

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home
kitchen
living room
hall
library
  » lounge (in the archives)
my front door

bobpadgett.com
your Home away from home away from Home
all content © Clamchop Creative Studio
photography by Lisa Baker
album cover art by Madeline Sturm
design by Enriqué Palazzo