Limited Number of Pre-Release Copies of the Album - Available NOW!

The greatest Christmas present EVER arrived for me this year - my album is printed! I am so thankful for all of the supportive & generous people in my life :) Even though the official national release date is in March - I am offering a limited number of pre-release copies online at http://whitneynichole.com/donate.
And to those of you who participated in the album fundraiser - your copies & goodies are on their way!

Happy Holidays and much love to all!
 



The Book of Love. Your Holiday Cheese.

 

Been a whirlwind these past few weeks - getting the album ready for printing. I promise to write all about it in my next post - in juicy detail. Until then, take a listen to this cover of "The Book of Love" written by Stephin Merritt. My talented boyfriend, Niall & I performed it together over the Thanksgiving holiday :)  

Thanks to Alyssa Varsos for the Video! And of course, thank you to our lovely hosts, JoAnn & Lee Barnett.

So... What Exactly IS Mastering?

The record is mastered. What the hell does that even mean?

Mastering puts the polish on your album. It's kind of like shining your shoes. Or as I like to think of it - a sheer coat of nail polish. It just smooths everything out - so that each of the songs are comparable in volume & the bass isn't blaring in one song and inaudible in another. They help hide any clicks, pops or "s" sounds, and just balance everything so it feels like one cohesive piece of art. Sounds nice right?

For the more technical reader - mastering is using equalization and compression to prepare media to be played on a variety of playback devices. Beyond that, mastering engineers use limiting, noise reduction, leveling and more to hide imperfections in the audio mixes. If the album was digitally recorded (as mine was), some mastering engineers run the record through analog, to add warmth to the music. Song sequencing, gaps and fading can be used to create the ultimate "Master Copy" from which all of the subsequent records will be made. Exciting, huh?

It took Justin Weis (Trakworx) just over six hours to master my entire album. Adam, Niall & I sat quietly in the back of the room, while he bounced around between 2-second clips of each song. It was like watching someone with an extremely short attention span listen to an entire album in disorganized tiny bits. But there was much, much more going on inside Justin's head. This guy has mastered albums for all kinds of amazing artists, including one of my & Niall's favorites - Matt Nathanson. We sounded like groupies asking Justin "what's Matt like... like to work with?" *insert giggle. So I had ultimate faith in his abilities. Despite the fact that I had no idea what he was doing 90 percent of the time, the final product sounds AWESOME! Friggin' awesome. I can't wait for you to hear it. Coated in nail polish & ready to go....

Cold Feet. Like, Freezing.

The process of recording this album has been eerily smooth. Adam & I worked extremely well together in the pre-production, tracking & mixing stages, we were all efficient & prepared in the studio and we stayed within budget. Sure, we had our moments - Rebecca (who plays cello throughout the album) & I showed up at the wrong address for our Berkeley tracking session, and sat outside for an hour before realizing our mistake. Yeah there was that time I made Adam re-track an entire song's worth of vocals, only to then say "eh, I like the original better." And its possible that I may or may not have been approximately 30 minutes late to every session... but I'm just saying - overall it was an extremely smooth & easy process. So when I booked our mastering session a few weeks ago, I assumed the smooth process would continue :).

Then all of the sudden, Tuesday of this past week I realized the finality of mixing. This is IT. There's no going back now. After we master, I can't change ANYTHING - can't tweak the mixes, can't change the order, can't fix any mistakes. And holy crap, after this - the title is set, which dictates the cover artwork & the entire body of work that is this record. But what if I wake up next week and its ALL WRONG??? What if I hate everything? What if...

Which is essentially where my head was for the past 3 days. Ask anyone who spent time with me in the past 72 hours and they will tell you - I was losing my mind. I couldn't sleep, couldn't articulate a simple sentence, couldn't focus, let alone make any last minute decisions!?! I send Adam maybe 347 emails in the 24 hours before the mastering session, asking him to make all kinds of teeny changes (only to retain like 2 of them). I started second-guessing the title of the album, the overall graphic design, hell - I started to second guess my own name. Ridiculous. Finally Adam sent me an email that helped bring me back to reality:

Here's my little post-mixing-when-you're-unsure check list:

1. If you put off the mastering, you'll just keep making changes, which may or may not be better changes. 

2. The changes you've made thus far are fine but won't effect the course of human history. 

3. In 2 months, you'll feel differently about all the mixes.

Having said all that, you have to be happy with the final mixes at this point in time so whatever you need, I'll do.

So I took a deep breath, had faith in the music I spent the last 6 months perfecting & got through it. More on the actual mastering session next post...

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

Help me celebrate! Today only - stream a full song from my upcoming album 100 Strong online at whitneynichole.com. Please share with your friends!

How Does One Choose an Album Title?

I was standing in the vocal booth in the studio last week & we were finishing the final vocal tracking for the album. Then it hit me - My album has NO NAME.

*Insert blood curdling scream here.

Like fate, I thought the perfect album title would just hit me somewhere throughout the recording process. You know, like I would be standing in the studio, working on tracking or mixing, and someone would say it aloud & I'd just know *sigh. So romantic, eh?

But that never happened. In fact, I un-romantically obsessed over it for months. Should I self title it? Or is that too obvious? Too self-centered? What about an abstract lyric - something like "My Way Back" or "Know Who You Are." Too cheesy. I was so lost that I was considering random phrases not even in the lyrics, just things I associated somewhat with the writing of some of the songs - "Take Flight" was in the running. BLEGH! I was losing my mind.

I needed something powerful - something that feels like this album. Something that I can live with forever. Something that I am comfortable letting it be the first- and possibly only impression someone has of me. And then, 3 days AFTER finishing tracking, it did hit me. Isn't that just like fate, to smack you at the last minute with something so fitting? So here it is, ladies and gentlemen, the title of my first full length studio album, chosen not only because it is the most personal song on the record, but because it is powerful, it is honest and it is genuinely what this album means to me...

100 Strong

To American Idol, or not to American Idol?

Last month the American Idol Hooplah traveled through San Francisco. Now, let me start by saying that my feelings about AI have been back & forth since it's been on the air. I just loved the first season & still have a warm spot in my heart for Kelly Clarkson (despite the "From Justin to Kelly" blunder). But the competition aspect got old quick... and they lost me for a few years. That is, until Ms. Underwood took the stage. Who doesn't love Carrie!? Since then, I'll love an episode here, or a song there, but I'm not consistently setting my DVR. I'm one of the few that wishes they spent more time on the top 10 talented people, and less time on the total wackjob's they make fun of for the first 10 episodes of the season. It was a step in the right direction when they started allowing the contestants to play instruments - but I'm still waiting for the day when they'll allow them to sing their own songs.

So when a few friends asked if I was going to audition this year - I had to consider it. I've auditioned in the past (which was before I was consistently writing my own music & performing my own music), and it was a completely wretched experience! I'm talking 16 hours in line, outside in NYC, eating whatever semi-nutritious thing I could find at Duane Reade, only to sing not 10 seconds of a song. Then to be told "You've got a great voice - come back next year." Ridiculous! Needless to say, I wasn't keen on the idea of auditioning again this year.

So the registration day rolls around, and its 8am in the morning - I'm on my computer & a friend G-chats to ask if I've gone to register. After chatting for a few minutes I thought - well its only a few blocks away... and next thing I know I'm down at AT&T park surrounded by teenagers dressed like wanna be Miley Cyrus'. Luckily it only took 10 minutes to get registered, because I had gone after the morning rush - but getting back there at 5am on audition day was another thing entirely. I spent the next 48 hours thinking about what an "American Idol" experience would consist of. Sure, if by some magic charm of luck I made it through to the top-whatever-number-people-pay-attention-to, I'd have some kind of recognition. But would I really want to sing covers for 3 months? Drop the promotion of the release of my own album? And what would happen to that album? Could I still release it? Or would I be leashed to whatever major label American Idol works with? And let's be honest - what happens after that 15 minutes? I'd record some shitty songs that someone else wrote and hope they take off? Or worse, what if my consolation prize was doing that god-awful "Idol Tour" they make the top 10 do every year? Could you imagine an entire tour of singing Journey & Whitney Houston?

And that was the moment I ripped off the silly wristband and tossed my ticket. If I'm doing this music thing, it'll be on my own terms. No Ryan Seacrest necessary.