"The Elephant Diet" Day # 1

This morning I woke up around 6:00 a.m. with one of my Christmas songs on my 
mind.  It occurred to me that some lyrics could be stronger so I began to 
rewrite them in my head.  Another bite out of the elephant.

Years ago I was listening to a radio program about Christmas by Focus on the 
Family and in the midst of the show they used the phrase "A Night Of Miracles" 
and somehow it jumped out at me. 

I began to write a song with that title and that's the song that I woke up with 
in my head this morning. The Christmas story is full of miracles!  I have them 
numbered in my Bible and have over 33 amazing things that happened in that story 
and the song lists only a few of them.

When you're preparing to do a CD, you really want the songs to be strong so you 
work on making them the best even up to the moment of recording them.

Today I also communicated with a couple of different producers that I'm 
considering for the project.  Every producer brings something different to the 
song, so it's a hard decision.  

I worked on making a demo of the song with just a piano and vocal track so they 
get the idea of the song and sent it by email to one of the producers I'm 
considering.  I've never used him before so I'm having him do one song to see 
how it goes.  I met with him this past summer and really liked his music and his 
heart.  

Today I also listened to another demo that I was working on from last night in 
my studio.  It's always good to listen to your work with fresh ears!  I want it 
to have an "Enya" flavor.  Enya has inspired me so much over the years.  A track 
like that involves singing with yourself over and over....tons of stacked 
vocals.  You have to be sure to sing well each time because you are trying to 
match the nuances of each previous track.

The song didn't sound like I wanted it to today, so I have to figure out why and 
how to make it what I want.  A producer will certainly help get the song to the 
way I want it, but I want to have it close to what I want when I give him a demo 
of it.

Not every day will be this full of activities dedicated to a Christmas project.  
Saturdays are normally my cleaning day, bank errands and grocery shopping.  I 
got all that done, plus worked on songs in between cooking and caring for a sick 
husband.

Finishing up the day with a delightful piece of pineapple upside down cake that 
started out as a fiasco when I forgot to put the pineapples in first.  But it 
turned out ok and it tastes wonderful!

The Elephant Diet

I've always heard that if you want to eat an elephant, it's best if you eat it 
one bite at a time.  

There are two elephants I'd like to eat these days:

1) getting better and more consistent about blogging
2) producing a Christmas CD

I think the best way I can do both, is to combine the two. 

So here I go!  

I am going to blog about the journey of what it's like to do a CD project and 
let you in on the process: the decisions and hard work that go into something 
of this magnitude.  

This will be my 7th CD project.  I've also recorded 2 singles and 1 professional 
music video.  They are all big elephants, but I've eaten them all and without 
having to go into debt to do it.

Welcome to the journey of making a CD.  Hopefully as you read this, you will get 
inspired to eat your own elephant - one bite at a time.

(I have no idea what the calorie count is when eating an elephant).