8/21/25
Summer Is Nice
It’s hotter than normal, and it’s always humid here, but overall, summer has been nice.
I’ve had a few chances to get out and fish/float on the White River below Beaver Dam, an absolutely beautiful area. Caught some trout, saw a lot of wildlife, and took many picture of the interesting terrain.
The first planting in my garden beds have pretty much ran their course, but I had a lot of vegetables and herbs, looking forward to planting the next round. I am surprised at how green this area is in Spring and Summer, it really is nice. Speaking of, recently took an afternoon to walk the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, super cool!
In continuing my quest to get better at mixing, I decided to take an online course. I wouldn’t normally go for such a thing, or join up with an “Audio Academy” or “Community”. I did 3 months on PureMix and found it informative, but it felt like I was cherry picking ideas and techniques without a cohesive method of application. I feel this way about most of the Youtube Tutorials, Masterclasses, Hacks, and Session Follow-alongs. Some great info out there, but most feature the “How To” and not the “Why”, I tend to need the “Why” in order to learn and understand things.
Of the videos I had seen, the ones by Joe Carrell were the ones that stuck with me. Might be his style of presentation, the linearity in explanation of why certain decisions were made, or maybe just his relaxed nature. Regardless, it sticks in my brain, and that’s what I needed. He recently started a 12 week intensive course at The Mix Mentorship. It is semi-self paced, very detailed, and spans many different genres. There is a lot of repetition (which really helps me), solid explanations, and a focus on being creative with decisions.
It started with a lot of technical information and set up, but all for the sake of removing that from the mixing process, freeing you up to make creative decisions while in the moment. It’s more enjoyable and intuitive to not think about routing, send levels, I/O, layout, etc. when you are in the mix.
I am almost 6 weeks in, seems to really be helping, and I am having fun.
My old boss and good friend, Quinn (one of my favorite people), and his family conceived, designed, and brought to market a really cool product, Dog Straw. I am really proud for them. Be sure to check it out!
6/4/25
As Things Go
It has been a very busy few months, culminating with new additions to the household/family.
Made the drive from Phoenix to Prairie Grove again, it seemed shorter this time, not sure why. Upon our return, we were treated to some severe Arkansas weather, tons of rain, a tornado or two, and high winds. I am hoping most of that has passed.
This one of my favorite times of the year (despite the stormy weather), I love getting out in the yard, working the raised beds, mowing the lawn, and planting flowers. I also went to Prairie Grove Lake a couple times for kayak fishing. Was really nice and I caught a bunch of largemouth bass. The lake is quiet and peaceful, being out there is meditative.
Music-wise, I am still trying to improve my mixing skills. This is probably the longest and most intent I’ve been with it (without getting discouraged) in years. I remixed a couple more Thirteen Finches songs. As I have all the sessions from that record, makes for good practice material. I actually feel like I am making some progress, and that is a nice feeling.
My friend Dave Hill is really turning out some nice music, seems every few days there are new posts to his YouTube channel, definitely worth checking in on!
My dear friend Mundo sent me a picture of us playing back in high school (October 1981). The drummer was a great guy named Chuck Harris, and yes, we Rocked!
3/5/25
Spring Feels Close
First time in my adult life I have lived in a place with a real winter. We had two different snow events, and many days below freezing (a few days below 0° too, a first for me). Might not be out of the woods yet, but starting to see some warmer sunny days.
During some of the nicer days, I did some fishing, went on a couple hikes, helped my cousin’s husband put a liner in his pond, and built some raised beds. It’s nice to get outdoors when I can, and I am looking forward to getting back to yard work and gardening.
I have never been confident in my mixing skills (I suck at it), but have, yet again, decided to really dive in and work at it. I signed up for a couple months at PureMix, it has been interesting and informative. I have also been following along with Joe Carrell’s videos, they have been very fun and challenging. Putting some of the things I’ve learned to use, I remixed a Thirteen Finches song, and it came out pretty nice. My big goal is to remix the Team Cluster EP before the year is out.
1/8/25
Quite A Year
24 was a very interesting and eventful year.
Started in Vegas, ended in Prairie Grove, moved very fast at times, moved slowly at times, some highs, some lows, there were unsettling moments, but also many peaceful ones.
I didn’t really have any short term goals for the year, and that was out of the ordinary for me. I tried to just let things happen and go with the flow a little more than I am usually comfortable with, not sure I did a great job of it, but I will keep trying.
Christmas in Phoenix was nice, despite me catching a cold. We went to the Luminaria event at The Desert Botanical Gardens, it was great. I was especially taken by the Light Bloom displays, so cool.
I am back to playing some music and doing music related stuffs. It was nice to take a little break, and it’s nice to feel good about it again.
Speaking of, I recently recorded a bass part for Scott Taylor’s friend Steve, a cool 90’s-ish metal song. I used my 57 ARVI (downtuned to D, of course) DI’d into a UAD SVT plugin, sounded right for this style.
Here is a link to the song on youtube
My old friend John Yanes posted a couple of his demos from a few years ago. Scott Taylor and I helped flesh out a couple of them, with this one being our favorite: What I Am
