In December of 2011 I started a plan to record my show OUR COUNTRY. Soon this project will be a reality. I am so excited, I can’t help but share the news!
MONKEY BUSINESS by Tony Asaro (Composer/Librettist)
Add “record producer” to the list. Again, “do it yourself” seems to be the only way to get things done. Armed with nothing but elbow grease, and a frequently grindstoned nose, I made myself a record producer. Waiting for some big record exec to pluck me from obscurity would not have been prudent. That only works on TV.
Come on, Iowa! Let's show 'em what the chorus can do!
When doing something yourself that you have no idea how to do, I’ve learned that you should always start at the same place. No. Not “Research”. You have to start with “Money”.
I set a goal of $8000. Frankly, it was hard to know what to budget. Having produced the OUR COUNTRY demo three years prior, I had a bit of an idea what I’d need to pay, but believe me, I was ballparking.
Once I figured out how many songs I wanted recorded, and speaking with some friends who had recording experience, I could figure out about how much time I needed in the studio. From that, I could anticipate the money I needed to pay my musicians, and I added all that up together. I had no idea—and still don’t—how much time will be required for mixing (the studio engineer’s editing process) and mastering (the process of taking a final audio mix and transferring it to a storage device—ie the master CD.
Beyond that, there are the costs of the actual CD replication, the T-shirts I promised to donors, the CD release party costs, and incidental expenses: water for the musicians, binders for the sheet music, etc.
So $8000 was an educated guess, but a guess nonetheless. So far as I can tell, though, I think I’m going to be on target.
I chose LoFish Studios in Manhattan, and my engineer WHOM I HIGHLY RECOMMEND is M.P. Kuo. She’s amazing.
We started recording the band on February 17th. I did two sessions with the band. We recorded all of the instruments except the fiddle. Then we brought in the vocalists. We will record the fiddle this coming tonight (since you’re reading this on Tuesday, March 27th.) Then we being the mixing process.
The album will be ready in early May!!!
Jeremy Pasha and I in the studio.
Justin Utley, singing "Hittin' The Highway". Here, he's hittin' a high NOTE!
2 of our band members, Jeremy Yaddaw and Vince Peterson. (Not pictured: Eric Day on bass, Matt Hinkely on electric guitar, and Justin Smith on fiddle.)
Our back up singers: Nic Rouleau (left) and Brian Michael Flanagan (right). Brian's "Rush Limbaugh" might be my favorite part of the album.
Most importantly, here's our engineer, M.P. Kuo!!!
I am very happy to announce that the CD release party will be held on Monday, MAY 7th at BLAZING SADDLES in Hells Kitchen from 8:00 to 10:00! Get it in your calendar now! At the release party, we’ll have some live performances, some drink specials, and some dessert. If all goes according to plan, the CDs will be available for pick up for those of you who donated to the campaign and are in the NYC area, and there will be CDs for sale there for the rest of you.
(Also, because of the proximity to my move back to CA, this party will also double as my goodbye party. So I really hope you’ll all come out!!!)
TONY ASARO is a composer/librettist currently working on various musical theatre and opera projects including the award winning Our Country. To learn more about Tony's writing, please visit unrelentingmonkey.com. NEVER STOP SWINGING!
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