Dang it, didn't finish it. I was really hoping we would.

However, we are ALMOST, ALMOST done. All the lead vocals are now finished (which is a gigantic relief for your truly). All that's left is some touchups on backing vocals on a couple of things, and then a guitar sola, and then some "textural" guitar overdubs on a few other things.

And then we're DONE with the tracking. Two, three more sessions, MAX. Life Like Luster WILL see the light of day in 2007. I can guarantee you that much. For those of you still paying attention, I am so very grateful for your patience.

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That thing about the local job offer? I thought hard about it, and finally decided that I didn't want to go for it after all, for all the reasons I wrote about not wanting a full-time salary position months ago. Then I found out that the company was eliminating the position anyway, and hadn't gotten around to telling me yet.

Good thing I stressed about it for several days, huh?

Perhaps you've seen the news about the big wind storm we had here. Downtown, where I live, it was noisy, but I didn't see any effects other than an occasional tree branch on the sidewalk. Last night as the storm blew in there was some crazy rainfall, and it flash-flooded some areas, AND there was a football game, AND it took me THREE HOURS to get home from work. I'd even left early to get home. Urgh.

I got an email last week about a job that is in the neighborhood where I live. That's right, I could WALK to work. After sitting in that three-hour commute, I was VERY ready to talk to them. Actually, I just did - talked to a fellow on the team about technical stuff. Looks like after the new year, I may be going in for an interview.

I belly-ached a lot about the implications of this (leaving independent contracting for a full-time salary position) when I wrote about my current company offering me a full-time position some months ago, so I won't go into all that again.

I'll tell you what, though - getting back the two+ hours of my life per workday that I'm currently losing to commuting might make all the hubbub of going back to full-time work worth it. I can always quit, right?

The HZ kids gathered last night in an Italian place (also within walking distance of my building! Score!) for our annual Christmas/PnL Birthdays celebration. Those two have birthdays within three days of each other in early December, which is a nice example of Cosmic Kismet if I've ever seen it. We talked about lots of things, including what our Band Plan will be for 2007, because once we FINALLY finish up the new record it will be the first time since... EVER, actually, that we won't have THAT particular item on our collective agenda. I imagine we'll do that odd show or two around here, practice a lot, start writing new songs, and as I've been saying, hopefully we'll do the first of what I hope will be many short tours around the country. It makes more sense to try that now that we'll finally have THING to promote.

Three more sessions for the THING next week. I don't think we'll quite make the goal of being finished with tracking, so that means we'll need a session or two in January before we get to mixing. It's nice to really see that long-wished-for "light at the end of the tunnel." We really will finally have a new album done next year. I guess I'll finally have to find something else to talk about!

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92%.

That's what my MS Project file that I'm keeping track of album progress in says is the current amount of completed tasks under the "Tracking" category. There's still "Mixing" and "Mastering" to do after that, to be followed by "Manufacturing", of course.

But we are, I am, and Darin is, focused on "Tracking." I always feel that, as long as I can finish "Tracking" before I get hit by a bus, the album can be finished for consumption by someone else. I just want to make it through "Tracking." Please please please.

Anyway, we're at 92% completion.

I've mentioned in other places that last week's rare occurrence of winter weather conditions in Seattle ended up cancelling one of the scheduled sessions we had last week. But I was able to get to the studio Thursday night, and then I was there all day on Saturday and Sunday.

Thursday: completed almost all of the lead vocals on "Handbasket." We may have done something else, but I forget right now.

Saturday: Finally recorded the guitar sola on "Sublimeinal." It's a written part, but it needed to be double-tracked, and that always takes a while. We had some fun with some really tweaked fuzzy guitar sounds, and then we added some orchestration that occurred to us as we worked. By the end, we were both cracking up and hollering, so it went well. Switched to vocals, fixed the last verse of "Sublimeinal" (the part where we had inserted the vibraphone bit), then spent the rest of the afternoon tracking the lead vocals on "Only Shallow." This was tough work, four tracks of doing the exact same thing. My guiding thought was, "I want the vocals on this to sound... plural. Having completed them, I can assure you that they do. While tracking that stuff, Darin and I blissed out more than once on the ungodly fantastic sound and performance that Lizzy laid down. A fantastic bass track.

Sunday: lethargic start, both Darin and I were pooped. But. Work to do. More guitar solas. Started with "Right Outside" which I knew I wanted slathered with very giant delays. On my 2003 demo of the tune I played a million-note-guitar sola; I haven't had time to practice in weeks so I have no chops right when I would need them to do something like that. Also, there's a big difference between the LLL recording of the song and the demo: the solo section is nearly entirely in quarter time: SL-O-O-O-OWWWW MO-O-O-O-TION. Playing a million notes in that context would sound retarded. So, I we slapped on a delay and I played long, slow, whole notes everywhere. I didn't feel creative in a lead-guitar-kinda way all day Sunday, so I responded to every suggestion co-producer Darin made. As I played conservative and "tasteful" take after take, he reminded me that I could stick in some of the "rock star" stuff that I pull out all the time when I'm noodling, but never, ever do when I'm recording or playing live. So in one section I did some EVH-style tap harmonics. They sound cool, but remain subtle. Most people will never know I did anything that shockingly "guitar-hero-ish." So we got that solo done, but it has lots of cool bends and things that hurt to play, so now my fingers hurt.

Too bad, Big Baby. More solas on the menu.

Now it's "Handbasket" solo time. I had no clue what to play on it. I threw a solo down on the demo I made of it, but mixed it really quietly when I gave a copy to Pete n' Lizzy, cuz it really sucked hard. I have never played a solo there when we rehearsed the song, cuz the solo has a rhythm guitar part going on that I needed to practice. So.

OK, I did have ONE idea. I thought I'd play the chorus vocal melody, all "Smells Like Teen Spirit"-style. The solo section is similar to the chorus section, but not exactly the same, so I thought the chorus melody might work, and it's something I've never done on a solo before, so why not?

So I sat there and fumbled around, trying to figure out what the melody was, while Darin ran around changing mics and amps and fuzz boxes and preamps, and all that other stuff that he does, that I don't ever pay attention to. Darin described the way we work to someone else the other day, and it's exactly on point: when I'm in the studio with Darin these days, I let him worry about getting whatever the tone is, I just worry about playing my parts right. I'm not the guy who has to mix all this stuff and make it sound good. I let him know if something he's got dialed up bugs me, but generally, I don't care. I don't care what amp we're using. I don't care what guitar I'm playing. I don't care, I don't care, I don't care. I say: "Dude, it needs to be the biggest monster sound EVER," and then Darin goes out and makes it happen. If it works out that we end up using the tiniest amp in his place to get the snarliest guitar sound, GOOD. I don't even need to know. All I want to do is listen to what is coming out of the speakers, and LIKE it.

Man, I am a different guy than the one who made Any Raw Flesh? Which is good, cuz this new album is going to kick ARF in the pants.

So anyway - I started playing the melody for the chorus, and DDP and I both agree that it will work. DDP gets animated; it is obvious he has many ideas in his mind. I make the decision to surrender myself completely to whatever those ideas might be. He tells me what he thinks we should do - I agree every time. He sings parts, I learn them and play them as quickly as I can, with no argument. It turns out really great. There is an awful lot of stuff in there on that "Handbasket" sola, I sure am glad I don't have to mix it. And honestly, except for my initial "Teen Spirit" germ, and the fact that I played it, that solo is really Darin's solo. You guys shoulda seen him, he was conducting it, like a... um, well, like a conductor.

But now my fingahs really hurt. Time for vocals.

We return to "Only Shallow", where I need to add ONE more track to the previously done FOUR, only this time singing everything one octave LOWER. We get it done. Then there's a harmony for the very end, the BIG FREAKIN' CLIMAX. It's right at the top of my range. I make many valiant attempts, wearing myself out, cuz it's too hard to sing if you're me. I give up. Hopefully our friend Liz Aday, who's going to come in and do lots of cameo vocals in a few days, can manage it. I really like the part, I just can't get there.

So. 92%. Two days off, I'm back in there on Wednesday, Thursday, and then all day Saturday, before we're off for a week again.