Project Status of CDs by Raker john

Welcome to Raker john's CD recordings project status page! This page is provided as a source of information relating to the production and completion of recordings by the aforementioned artist. It is anticipated that progress will be slow (knowing how he works) but progress will be made, nontheless... This page will resent (in tedious detail) the progress being made and the excuses being offered when no progress can be documented. Should be fun! This is also the page referenced in the hidden main web page section of No Bozos Racing...

Introduction

There are currently three (3) projects in the works. There is the double-CD, How I Got To Here Volume 1 and 2, It Was Easier Back Then, the early songs, and Closet Musician, songs from the "middle period". A fourth project, Daybreak, the later works, is still only in the planning (dreaming) stages and has yet to be fully visualized...

A summary of the current CD activity follows:

2013

• May - December: Recording of basic tracks for many of the songs on "How I Got To Here"
• October - December: Recording and mixing of Blue Ridge Bakery Boys "Lightly-Toasted" CD

2014

• Jan - September: BRBBoys - recording & mixing of "Lightly-Toasted" tracks
• Jan. 23: Recording Mike Guggino's mandolin parts on "Jug Band Music", "I Was A Square" and "Last Thing On My Mind" (what a BLAST!!!)
• Jan. 23-26: Mixing of the above songs
• Jan. 28: Recording & mixing of backing vocals on "Jug Band Music"
• Feb. 16: recording and mixing of the initial versions of Sir Richard's Song for the It Was Easier Back Then CD.
• Feb. 22-23: Recorded harmony vocals, overdubbed rhythm guitar and lead vocal of Reason To Believe.
• Feb. 27: Recorded autoharp and harmony vocals, remixed instrument & vocal submixes and remixed complete song of Pamela Brown.
• Mar.: Recorded additional instrument and vocal tracks for Find Me A River, Roll On Baby, Ten Degrees And Getting Colder and Take It Down.
• Apr.: Recorded and mixed various tracks on Six Black Diamonds, Pamela Brown, Drunk Lullaby, Grand Hotel, Louise, Handsome Molly and Devil Got My Woman.
• May: Recorded and mixed various tracks on Archeology, Pamela Brown and Bad Dream Blues.
• June: No recording/mixing done on Raker john projects.
• July: Recorded/mixed various tracks on Royal Canal, Bad Dream Blues and Bottle Of Wine. Also recorded John Austin's mandolin part on Six Black Diamonds.
• Aug. 6-7: Recorded basic rhythm parts and lead vocal of Don't Fly Past The River.
• Aug. 27: Remixed Six Black Diamonds and Take It Down.
• Aug. 29: Project created at Disc Makers for BRBBoys "Lightly-Toasted" CD
• Sept. 4: Remixed Take It Down.
• Sept. 21: Final master of BRBBoys CD received from Tim Gardner
• Sept. 22: Master recordings uploaded to Disc Masters
• Sept. 25-27: Recorded all tracks for Bob Dylan's Dream; final mixing remains undone.
• Oct. 4: Recorded all tracks but harmony vocals for the Beatles' Hide Your Love Away.
• Oct. 5: Decided to record The Hermit since it was a staple in my early sets and is actually fun! Recorded instrument tracks.
• Oct. 8: Rcorded the lead vocal on The Hermit - sounds pretty good as it is!
• Oct. 26: Additional mixing on Everybody Wishes and Love's A Word I Never Throw Around.
• Nov. 18: Recording of Mike Guggino's mandolin parts on Ten Degrees & Getting Colder, Stuff That Works, Love's A Word I Never Throw Around and Drunk Lullaby (again, a total joy to work with Mike - he's the total professional!)
• Dec. 2: Mixing of Love's A Word I Never Throw Around for final review.
• Dec. 4: Recorded vocal harmonies and remixed Stuff That Works.
• Dec. 11: Did overdubs of guitars, bass and vocal on Royal Canal and remixed.
• Dec. 12: Recorded vocal harmonies on Hide Your Love Away and remixed vocals.
• Dec. 15: Rerecorded rhythm guitar track on Hide Your Love Away and remixed all tracks.
• Dec. 16: Edited the bass track on Hide Your Love Away and remixed instrument submix and song.
• Dec. 18: Overdubbed mandolin track, recorded harmonica track and remixed Six Black Diamonds.
• Dec. 27: Edited guitar and bass tracks on Everybody Wishes and remixed entire song.
• Dec. 28: Recorded harmony vocals and remixed Drunk Lullaby for final review.
• Dec. 29: Overdubbed ending lead vocal line for Bob Dylan's Dream and remixed.
• Dec. 31: Recorded autoharp, remixed instrument submix and remixed complete song of Hide Your Love Away - Happy New Year's Eve!

2015

• Jan. 5: Having second thoughts on some of my selections for Volume 1 of How I Got To Here; a lot of the very early stuff is not represented...
• Continuing recording and mixing of songs for How I Got To Here and It Was Easier Back ThenCDs

As of today, February 8, 2015, most of the recording for the first two CDS, How I Got To Here - Volumes 1 & 2, has been done - at least for the rhythm tracks. There are 33 songs in some state of mixing with about a dozen being final mixes. No mastering has been done on any songs. Most of the missing tracks are instruments I do not play myself (fiddle and banjo, mainly) so the ETA is hard to estimate. I want to go out on a limb and say these CDs will probably be available for Christmas of this year. Some work has also been done on the original songs written between 1960 and 1974, It Was Easier Back Then, but very little. I have to relearn (sounds better than "try to remember") a few of them so it may take a while...

In the mean time I am assembling my 24-track digital studio and learning the new board which, hopefully, will speed some things up. So

Stay tuned and keep the faith...

Well, here it is, November the 1st, 2015 and I have yet to get back to the CD projects. While I have still been playing, mostly Celtic and Old-Time, I have not been recording. I think that it may be a good thing as it has given me a bit more objectivity and a fresh set of ears even though the recordings come around in the mix that I have on my mp3 player that I use at the gym. That allows me to listen to the songs in rotation with other artists and recordings and compare them in terms of both performance and production. Hopefully, this has been time well-spent rather than wasted. New recordings are planned shortly to finish some of those lacking banjo and fiddle and begin some that have been on my mind for a while - stay tuned!

*8o)
Send comments to: Rakerjohn@comporium.net
Changes last made on: Sunday, November 1, 2015 at 9:27am