Why my EP is taking longer than expected

So I was mixing down songs, working on my show set for Thursday in Columbia, and watching NFL pre game stuff yesterday when it dawned on me that I have been falling off my blog grind. Anyway, no excuses, I’ll try and do better, even if it means sacrificing something else (like productivity at the day job lol)

The mix-down process of “Hype Machine” is taking more time than I had allocated in my release schedule. I’m very picky about my mixes, and one of the drawbacks of being an independent artist is not having major label money to throw around at the game’s best engineers.

Ever since 2004, I have been mixing down my own songs. While I enjoy having total power over the final sound of my projects (I’m a control freak, if you haven’t gotten the picture), the entire process can be frustrating, and requires several trips to and from different locations. Most artists do the “car test” to make sure that the mix sounds good in their car stereo. Then of course there is the studio test, to make sure it sounds crystal clear through your monitors. And you have to have some unbiased ears to run the mixes by, as you may be too attached to the project to be totally neutral about the volume of your own voice (in my case).

Another part that is dragging this particular mix-down session out is making sure that the transition from song to song fits with the underlying theme of “Hype Machine.” the flow of an album is just as important as the content.

While we’re talking about hold ups, we may as well discuss how I’m torn between 2 songs for the first single/video. Both songs, ironically, are produced by croup, and have different strengths. I wonder if my indecision has roots in me picking “bye bye” over “eyes on the crown” or not doing a video for “give em what they want” or “day one?”

This time, I’m gonna pick the song that moves me the most, and I think that song is “You Know Me”

The fact that I will be directing and producing this video has an impact on the choice as well, since I want to do a video where I am not in front of the camera as much. We’ll see how that works out.

Dan Johns the producer

So today marks my return to the realm of production. On the last few projects, I have picked out samples, and forwarded them to producers to make the beats, mainly due to my trust that they will make it fly. (shouts out to cats like croup, Jah free, Midi Marc and encorneluis for tolerating me and how picky I am about beats )
I’ve been making beats since like 98, and I’m serviceable as a producer. I love waking up early, digging through records, trying to find that next gem. Time led to my hiatus from the craft, as my focus was needed in the realm of songwriting and running my company.
Now that there are good people around me, I feel like I have more time to invest into beats. Not to mention that the business of music has been wearing on me, and I need something to renew my passion.

So, stay tuned for updates, and even the occasional leaked beat.