As you all must know by now, I had been finished with the music for my album
since November 25. But WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD is now in the hands of a
SWEDISH
DRAGON!
I received an E-mail from Dragan Tanaskovic, whos been hired to Master my
recording. He wrote to tell me hed received the disc Id sent of the
completed
album.
When wed last discussed the album's progress, I was told Atenzia Records
planned
on releasing the WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD February 2004.
1. THE DISC.
Atenzias Magnus Soderkvist said he needed the music all in by
mid-December. I
sent Mastering Engineer Dragan Tanaskovic the disc in mid-November and weve
been
waiting ever since to hear his mastered version.
2. THE CD EXTRAS.
After Dragan completes the mastering and we all agree (Plinky, the record label
and myself) on the final version of the mastered audio, I hope to add the
additional CD-ROM material to the Master Disc. As you may recall, Ive been
planning on including an MP3 of a bonus song, and "The Making Of Welcome
To
via computer.
Now, this means either:
A) I'll need Dragan to mail me an open version so I can have my own mastering
engineer add the additional CD-ROM data to the mastered disc and 'close' it or
B) I'll send Dragan the extra data and have him include it and 'close'
the disc.
Once the disc is closed its ready to be duplicated (manufactured).
3. THE DESIGN
Atenzias layout artist Johan Lindberg and I have agreed on using photographs Id
found for the albums cover. These are vintage shots of a somewhat
surprising
perspective of an LA icon. I was sent Johan's first mock up of the cover
months
ago. It was a very good start.
Were discussing type of font and ideas for the inside. As of yet, Im
unaware
of any decision regarding size of the jacket/liner notes. If it were all
up to
me, Id include as fat an inner booklet, with as many pages as we could squeeze
into the jewel case. However, its the record label who has the decision
of
how much they wanna spend on printing and packaging.
4. THE DVD
Atenzia Records has generously agreed to include a bonus DVD disc (a
compilation
of videos I've been working on for songs from the album all currently in
production, in various stages of completion and hopefully soon to be
finished).
It is unresolved as to whether my engineer in the states will author (master)
the DVD disc or if the team in Sweden will take care of this. I have
learned the
European DVD format is PAL - different from the USA standard (NTSC). This
may
affect who should take care of this.
This may also affect if you Americans ever get to actually SEE these videos
were
working on. There is, right now, a very good chance you may never see
these
videos, Im afraid.
As for the videos, the first one was for ANOTHER, by my friend Megumi Furihata
in
Montreal. She shot me one afternoon while on tour in Buffalo and finished
editing it at home. It features me as well as a Canadian actress.
Megumi did a
great job, and her video started this entire DVD concept rolling in my head.
The second video started was SUPER BOY by my friend John Rossi, who does live
video and lighting for tours (Styx and currently Luis Miguel). This cool,
experimental video is almost complete.
CRY came next, but isnt finished being edited. I had Sally shoot me
driving in
my car while lip-syncing the song, and that'll be it...
HEART IN 3 is currently being worked on by George McMorrow, Cinecall
Productions
in Red Bank, NJ. He shot me onstage at the Stone Pony with a band,
lip-syncing.
THE MUSE is being worked on by a guy Rob Lamastra whose really having Scott
Roskovny Direct it - Scott's gotta biz called Garden State Video North.
I had Beau shoot me at a piano for INTERMISSION, which I plan to edit in iMovie
(but my Mac has been acting highly unstable recently so I need to clean this
thing up soon).
BAM my son Beau's doing this one, based on my concept to steal the Dylan/cue
card idea from his classic SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES video. Its been done
before often - INXS rehashed it among others. Another home iMovie edit.
ROSES is being done by another live tour video guy, SKIP TWITCHELL, who in his
spare time on the road (doing live video for the Simon & Garfunkel tour),
has
been coming up with a cool video on his portable laptop computer.
My friend Jerry Heer is doing KISS YOUR ASS GOODBYE. This is where I
appear as 4
different members of a band.
Its possible we might shoot a live video of me singing ALL THATS YET TO COME
at a songwriter-in-the-round night at Harrys Roadhouse in Asbury Park on
January
14, if it comes out alright and its finished quickly.
If these are all done in time to make a DVD it should be interesting (and I'll
be
a lucky guy)
December 26, 2003
George McMorrow shot a performance video for the song HEART IN 3 at The Stone
Pony in Asbury Park. The band performing the song (lip-sync style)
featured
Chris Sparta on bass (from Jersey Shore Punk group The Youth Ahead), James
Wells
on guitar (from New Brunswick band Clever Hans), Beau Burtnick on drums (from
New
Brunswick band dibs), and his father, who showed up at the Pony with purple
hair,
singing.
December 28, 2003
George asked for a second day of shooting. So I took Rosie and Sally
along and
we visited beautiful Red Bank NJ to get some outdoor shots.
December 30, 2003
I encountered a bit of a problem regarding the Mastering of WELCOME TO
HOLLYWOOD.
Dragan wanted to send me an MP3 of two of the songs hed worked on (Super Boy
and
Welcome to Hollywood) as an example of where he's heading with the mastering.
This disappointed me, as I don't believe MP3 is a sonically accurate way to
judge
a CD master. I told Dragan I'd much rather he MAIL me a physical CDr via the
Postal route, but he said if we did it that way he wouldn't have time to get to
finishing the album until the 19th of January.
My Email service wouldn't accept files as large as the MP3s Dragan was trying
to
send. So, with Paul Holts help, there was a way for me to receive these
files
(thanks again Sir Holt!)
I had sent the completed album to Dragan in November, over a month earlier, and
I
was now being asked to make judgments based on an inferior audio format.
I may
be holding up the release of the album if I demand hearing a good copy of the
disc.
This is all unfortunate. Had I known this were to be the scenario, I
might've
chosen to take care of the Mastering over here with my own engineers.
I am beginning to assume the CD release will be pushed back. And that's
too bad.
Part of the month was spent wrestling with my computer losing data Id spent
hours on to create some of the extra material I so badly wish to be included
for the audience wholl purchase my album.
And thats pretty much the news.
Most of December is taken up with my annual charity show, all that entails, and
preparation for the Christmas holiday. In the aftermath of the Xmas
Xtravaganza,
while sorting through the giant bags of items donated by the audience, it
occurred to me just how amazing the audience was. So many contributed a
small
mountain of terrific items including beautiful new toys, clothes, piles of
food,
sometimes even money, to be passed along to total strangers. Such spirit
of
giving really is humbling for me to behold. It is a blessing to be a part
of
that kind of kindness, and I am very grateful for that.
Its been a very dramatic year for me, and I thank all of you so supportive, so
encouraging, so sympathetic, so patient, and so faithful.
Mazel tov, my brothers and sisters, and Happy New Year!
-Glen Burtnik
Jan 2004