IF I HAD TO PICK

Thought it might be interesting to look at the songlist and ask myself which songs I'd pick if I had to make the EP tomorrow.

Of course, this forced me to look at my finished tunes. (In addition, I realized that if I was actually making the record now, I know I'd be able to finish the tunes tonight!)

Here's what I'd pick if it was time to start tracking....

1. AND HIGHER (D)
2. GIVEN TO ME (G)
3. MY SAVIOR (A)
4. WAITING FOR ME (F)
5. FOREVER FAITHFUL (G)
6. ONLY LAMB (E)

I feel the strongest about these - they're the most memorable/hookiest, I have the most arrangement/production ideas about these, and I think they've got the most congregational appeal.

WHERE WE ARE

So far, I've had two very good conversations about taking on a new project.

Conversation #1 - Ross Strader, Senior Pastor

My conversation with my boss was a good one. He had some great questions - mostly about cost, planning, turnaround on a finished product. These were great questions for me to think through and it gave Ross S. a chance to get a handle on what I'm suggesting.

Ross had some great things to say about fundraising...it put my mind at ease regarding trying to save enough money to do a record or EP or whatever this thing will end up being. Now, it's not like somebody's gonna' write me a giant check or anything, but I do feel a sense of peace about rounding up funds to make this happen.

Conversation #2 - Ross King, Producer

My second conversation was with Ross King, my friend and the guy who produced "All The Freed." I had emailed Ross K. a few days ago with some logistic questions and he was very gracious to call me back as soon as he could.

At this point, there are still many things "up in the air."

1. First off, how "good" do we make it? Do we approach this smaller-type of project in the same way we would do a full-length album? Do we have it professionally mastered? What sort of players do we use? Hired guns? Friends who work cheap? These may seem like silly questions, but for a record that will probably be an online release, I'm not sure how much investment it needs? Ross had great thoughts here. It was basically one thought: people deserve quality. Do it up right.
   
2. Secondly, is it too soon? In February, "All The Freed" will be one year old. Not many artists are back in the studio after one year. With a song coming out on SongDiscovery in January, is it foolish to start a new project when the first one might actually pick up in sales and exposure? The reality is that I probably wouldn't start this for another 4 or 5 months...which would probably put us close to the 2yr. period between albums, which tends to be pretty normal.
   
3. Third, how many songs? If I'm able to raise the money (and I think that would be pretty easy) how many songs do you put on an EP? And if it's more than 5, would I just want to go ahead and do a full album's worth of material? Ross also said to leave room for new songs...on the off-chance that I write one during the recording process...the number of songs is still perplexing me a bit. As an additonal question, I wonder what an EP does to overall workflow...if I make half-an-album, would it be hard to wait a long while before a full-length? Would it be better just to wait...raise money and do it full-length?

These are some of the things running through my head. If you look at the songlist to the right, you'll see a lot of unfinished stuff. So that's a real priority right now...get a pool of songs good to go.

ANOTHER BLOG?

Okay, if you're reading this, then you are special.

No, really...I promise.

The fact is that you are here for 1 of 2 reasons:

First off, you've been invited...I told you about the blog and want you to follow it.

Or secondly, you clicked on my profile to see all the blogs I manage and you clicked to read this one.

Here's the deal...I am now beginning the process of thinking/planning/praying/writing/arranging/fundraising for a new worship record.

At this time, my plan is to do this as an online album...perhaps as an EP that I would offer online completely free or even a pay-what-you-want sort of deal.

I'm going to try to document my thoughts here (perhaps more for myself than anybody else...) but I think you'd find it an interesting peek inside the making of a record.