i finished off "constellation" on monday
with lars goransson
my 4th full-length "solo" record
in as many years (and quite possibly my favorite to date)
it brings the grand total up to 7
if you chip in a way to your heart
live at pleasantry lane
and ciphers
so i've decided there will be no "salim" recording for me
next year
i feel like it's time for me to go play other parts of the country
and europe armed with all of this music me and my comrades
have been cranking out
by the time 2009 rolls around there will hopefully be
2 more
salim vs. shibboleth plus live at pleasantry lane 2
so enough is enough!!
it's time for me to try and spread the word more
not keep spitting out more records...

anyway, i showed up to lars' place at 9:30
AM
a cool two story house in south austin
with a great view and rooftop pool
he immediately gave me the tour of his studio
starting with his vintage mic collection
which was pretty amazing
it turned out he's been collecting mics
like the ones the beatles used
for many years
he had the only neumann U47 i've ever seen
(this single mic is probably worth about 15K)
and is one of the most prized items in rock'n'roll
recording history
he also had a slew of other ultra-rare vintage mics
he told me the stories of each one
i was really impressed with his dedication
to the beatles recording ethic

after the grand tour L.G. suggested we go for some breakfast tacos
you know me - i was IN!
he took me to maria's
which happened to be 2 minutes from his house
this time around the place was empty
...much better...
we grabbed the tacos to go
and went back to his studio
around 10:30 we got started on mixing
i got lars to 86 some vocal effects on "the wrong road"
then we did the same on "the man who learned to love"
we spent the most time on "it's not enough"
the "bear" of the record
this song was a bitch to mix
with all of its vocal tracks and crazy bridge
we finally sorted out the psychedelic bridge vocals
the way i wanted them
we also tweaked other parts of the mix
i was really happy with the end result
the song sounds GREAT
"in the blink of an eye" was next
this one had been particularly bothering me
the end didn't have the impact i'd wanted
it was only 50%
i also wanted to lead vocal to be less effected
and more natural
lars tweaked the end and now it ROCKS
everything we changed was definitely for the better
i was feeling really good after "blink"
because this song had really been bugging me
i guess because it's about carter i felt more precious about it
than the rest
i wanted it to be just right
my mind was finally put at ease
"saint georges" made me feel even better
once again i asked lars to drop all of the vocal effects
when he heard what that did he liked it
a little more raw
and personal
we took out some distracting cymbal hits on
the intro of "stranger in my own skin"
and finished with some minor vocal tweaks to
"be here now" "endless dream days" and "don't mind me"
lars also took about 15 minutes and mixed "home"
the billy/bob/me live snippet i'm gonna tack on the end

the best part of it all was i felt like i'd made a new friend
it turns out lars and i shared a lot of the same music influences
and hit it off fabulously
he's a funny smart uber-talented cat
i hope we get a chance to work again someday
on another record
who knows? i guess we'll see...
in the next couple of weeks
he's gonna bounce the final mixes down
to the revox quarter inch tape machine
(like wreckless eric had mentioned all the STIFF
records and all of his since then were bounced to)
but that's just a technical side-note
for all intents and purposes the artistic process
of making this record
is now officially done

i feel great about this record
i couldn't have done it without the love
and support of jayme
and rip
plus (of course)
all of billy's hard work talent and friendship
i feel really lucky to have gotten a chance to do this
it was a beautiful experience
and in hindsight
perfect timing
because billy's moving to california now
after my session with lars
the nagging voice telling me what i needed to still fiddle with
is gone
ahh...peace of mind at last
"constellation" is finished

goodnight...