Dave Morehouse (ASCAP): News in the Studio

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I just spent an hour working on an acoustic set for the release of the new album. The official release parties (two) will be in April. I am planning on an acoustic set (through the PA) that will feature most of the songs from the album. There will be the traditional wine and cheeses and other snuffies. More later..... If you would like to be included on the Guest List then just use the contact form here to let me know and I will get invites out to you with firm dates and times.

"Stop running every day and give me a bit of rest", he muttered to the 40 tapped maple trees. Seriously, we have all the syrup we need for the year but I just can't stop making more. I may have to include some with the purchase of an Out From Under the Covers album. Next week I will pull the taps and get serious about working on the boat. Oh yeah....... Did I forget to tell you about the boat???

Today I took a day off and went ice fishing on the Big Lake. I caught a limit of Lake Trout including one very nice 7 pounder. Now it's time to heaad outside again and start boiling the sap from Saturday and today. It will be a long night.

The liner notes for Out From Under the Covers are online at the following link:
www.inthechipsproduction.com/Liner_Notes
Just click and wait and you are there. Enjoy, Dave.

.........unless it warms up enough for the sap to run. Then I will need to shift gears and start boiling. I worked on the song I wrote yesterday for a while again this morning. A couple of accents and minor words were changed.

Today was spent boiling down sap into syrup. (I'll post a picture in the near future.) This afternoon and evening will be banjo, fiddle, and guitar lessons up in Houghton. I wrote another song today but it is too early to decide if it's a keeper or not. My new process is to write, then wait a week, then rewrite, then record something rough and see if it still is something that I like. Those that make the cut get filed in the 'someday' file which I go through every couple of months. It has helped me to build more quality into my material and kept me from embarrassing myself at later dates.

The new album cover for Out From Under the Covers is in the Photo Section. Click in and take a look.

RAAAAAATZ! Tracks 10 and 11 were swapped out on the first 45 copies of the album. Fortunately, the folks at CDBaby, Rhapsody, Napster, and itunes were contacted and the swapped copies were thrown out. What this means to the rest of us is that the album will be a week later to all the online providers. The GREAT NEWS is the the first 45 run will now become SIGNED COLLECTORS COPIES. (marketing grin) The rest have been tossed after being removed from the cases and inserts. (Which are just fine.) Today was spent straightening out the error (Done!) and then tapping more trees. The sugar bush has grown to 35 taps and will keep me busy boiling sap down to syrup the next couple of weeks. I'll still have time to sell an album to anyone who wants one though.

Now that the IRS and I are on semisolid footing I can get on with other projects. I expect the inserts to arrive today so the new album will be officially ON SALE right after that. For the remainder of the day I will be maple sapping. The sun came out and the sap is running slowly but I should get enough to boil down. Fresh pannyclocks with real maple syrup in the morning. (Drools.)

In the normal course of events surrounding the production of an album the studio takes a huge hit. Each hour more stuff, cords, papers, mics, and instruments are added to the already too small room. As an artist you are all excited about getting the next track down and too involved to even think about picking anything up or putting anything away. 16 hours later you are beat and stumble upstairs to bed. In the morning you are fresh and start right in again. More stuff accumulates and the cycle continues until the project is over and done with. Today I had to answer for the sins of producing "Out From Under the Covers" by cleaning. Tomorrow will be spent getting things ready for the IRS tax season. The only bright spot in the two days will be tonight when I am meeting with another songwriter to see about working on a project together. If anything comes of it I will let you all know what's going on. For now, it's time to take another lap with the ShopVac.

"Out From Under the Covers" is here in my sweaty little hands. I have the CDs back from duplicating and am waiting for the inserts. Then it will be a long night of signing and stuffing the inserts and albums into cases. Hopefully this album will be available for purchase by Wednesday or Thursday of THIS WEEK. Remember that the first 100 copies sold will be autographed.

Design work is done and off to the printers. Inserts will be ready by next week. CDs will be out for Tuesday. "Out From Under the Covers" will be available for sale anytime after that. The first 100 copies are autographed and dated but don't let that influence your decision to buy or not.

Last night and today are devoted to cover design. The album is getting closer by the day. Out From Under the Covers has been a long term off/on project spanning a few years. It will be nice to have it off my desk and out for public consumption.

There! I got that out of my system...... now it's back to the paperwork involved.

I have 13 songs recorded and mastered for Out From Under the Covers. I haven't decided if I will do one more or not. My ears have taken a beating the last few days. Tomorrow morning I will open the studio and give what I have a listen. Then I will either call 13 songs the end of the album or start another tune. I have MANY to choose from that I have written. (Enough for another album and more.) I just need to get into album design and marketing on this one and then give it a rest for a while. I have studio work for clients next week so I need to have a fresh pair of ears to start that project. I also intend to get back to work on the boat and the violin and the guitar out in the shop. At least the end is in sight for this project.

Today was 17 hours of mastering. The tunes are cleaning up nicely. Out From Under the Covers will soon be a reality. I am looking for album cover ideas and will give a free cd to anyone who can come up with something that I can use. In the meantime I continue to curse my elementary art teachers.

Yesterday was a long one in the studio. I recorded a new tune that I wrote the lyrics for back in December. The song is 80% done with 90% to go as they say. I will be posting this one so keep both your eyes and your bananas peeled.

I am ALWAYS fired up on lesson day. (Fridays) My fiddle students, in particular, are great to work with. They force me to keep my chops up to a reasonable level and that's a very good thing. Today I taught the Cowboy Waltz to one of my advanced students. I hadn't played it in many years and had forgotten how difficult the double stops are in the second part. It was a test which I enjoyed deeply. Perhayps I will record that waltz one day and put it up on the interweb.