Simultaneous recording projects

 

There was a time many years ago when I'd only undertake one album recording project at a time.  Album recording projects are, for me, so all-encompassing and demanding in both physical and mental energy that at the time I couldn't imagine or grasp taking on more than one simultaneous album project.  

However, because I have several artistic partners, and they also have their recording schedules, it became apparent that I was going to have to learn how to either take on simultaneous album recording projects, or miss some recording opportunities.   

I began by taking on two simultaneous album recording projects.   At the time, it was overwhelming.  Not only was there obviously more work to be done, but it was all occurring at once.  There was, for me, a steep learning curve to all this.  There are multiple phases in an album recording project: writing, pre-production, the actual recording sessions, post-production, and activities surrounding the release.  When I was doing one project at a time, that process usually consumed most of a year.  I knew that timeline also needed to change.

As challenging and exhausting as it was that first time to work on two simultaneous projects, it was successful; both in the end result and in the learning process.  Part of the learning process was that the various phases of the two projects did not line up.  In other words, I might be analyzing the rough mixes in post-production for one project while juggling recording sessions for the other.

The first time was entirely a challenging trial by fire, but after those two projects were completed and released, somehow it didn't seem as overwhelming.  From that milestone, I began to undertake two simultaneous album projects as my standard course of work.

After a couple of years, a strange trend occurred.  By this time, I was working with more collaborators.  It became apparent that doing two simultaneous projects wasn't enough, and resulted in the same ultimatum: either I learn to take on more than two simultaneous project, or again face the possibility of missing out on some projects.  

I don't quite know how or when it all happened, but I quickly transitioned from working on two simultaneous album projects to working on as many as four or five.

As of this writing, I'm current at work on seven. 

Originally, I was a bit intimidated by and uncertain of how to work on two simultaneous projects, but now I'm very thankful that it all unfolded as it did.  I've come to find that I actually enjoy working on multiple simultaneous projects.

I can now say that not only does it feel very natural to me, but it's my preferred method. 

 

-kk