It has been a long-time goal for me to release a classical guitar CD. And after playing guitar for about 20 years, I've felt it was about time! But recording a solo guitar CD was no easy task and I'm still a bit amazed that it's actually finished. Let me elaborate....
First there's the issue of choosing a well-balanced program for an album and getting those pieces to a "recording-ready" level. There's definitely plenty of time involved in that process - hence the 20 years of playing =). Once I chose the repertoire, it was a matter of polishing the musical details and staying in performance shape for the lengthy recording sessions that went into the late hours of the night (like repeating the same piece for 4-5 hours straight!). In this regard, while classical guitarists look like they just sit on a chair and move their fingers, there's actually a great deal of athletic preparation involved behind the scenes such as keeping physically fit, eating right, getting adequate sleep, and of course, regular routine practice.
Then there's the issue of finding a quiet place with great acoustics to record. Luckily, Vince Go, the masterful recording engineer, has access to an amazing church in San Bruno - it's the perfect place to record guitar... with one exception - the San Francisco Airport is not too far. So, there were plenty of times (during the perfect take) when we'd be interrupted by a huge jet rumble overhead.
Then there's the challenge of maintaining the same overarching sound throughout the album, since it's so easy for one's sound to change. There are several factors here - temperature of the room, age of strings, length and smoothness of nails, dryness of hands, distance from guitar to microphones (Vince even had the tape measure out many times), etc., etc...
After all the raw takes for the CD are completed, the next phase is mixing - which basically involves finding the best work for the album. It's a very slow process that takes months to complete.
Once the final mixes were created, I think the entire Bay Area heard my cheers! At that point, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The mixes were off to the mastering stage, the final process involving levels, compression, and EQ. And after that, off to the printers.
Again, can't believe it's done!
