In the summer of 2008 I began the long journey of recording an album. I purchased my first computer and began to record on GarageBand. After a negative dating experience I wrote music and lyrics for this track Downstream. Originally this song was 6/8 with a driving rock piano foundation.

 

In August 2009 Kirk Tasseron and I revamped the angry rock 'n' roll version into a peaceful acoustic arrangement. We used an

M-Audio Fasttrack Pro with condenser microphones to record all audio. I used a direct line to record all of the electric guitar. Kirk 

played acoustic guitar, electric guitar effects, and ukulele. I wrote 

lyrics, vocal melodies, and harmonies. I also played glockenspiel, 

keyboard, hand clapped, and directed the recording process. 

After, I arranged the different audio tracks  adding reverb, delay and compression.

 

Realizing that I was limited in my editing ability on GarageBand, I bounced each stereo track separately into ProTools. I edited and compressed the audio files further. The meticulous editing included fixing peaking, and removing excess bass frequencies from each instrument and vocal. To make the recordings more 3-dimessional I added stereo delay, reverb, and raw doubled tracks. I also converted all mono audio into stereo tracks. 

 

With a nearly completed product in 2012 I sent the song to Mossy Rock Productions who further edited frequencies. To finalize the song Ben McMullen mastered the recording which is the final product you hear. In May 2012 I was entered as a finalist in the Calgary Folk Fest Songwriting Competition with track 

Downstream. Downstream was featured in my debut album titled "What's In Your Head" released August 2012.