We had a great launch last weekend. God really moved as worship was taken to a whole another level.

You can purchase the album from Bandcamp!

Breaking Sun

One other thing i want to let you guys in on is a duo we know well. Bowtie are a Canadian/Australian indie folk team in Steve and Allie. They’ve just released their first EP “Sequins”, 5 tracks of pure crisp vocal melody and easy mellow tones. Check them out HERE and have a read of their blog. Listen to and buy the EP on iTunes &  Bandcamp or if you live in Canada or want a physical CD, add it to your shopping cart on BigCartel.

We love these guys and we pray blessings over them and the potential in their future.

Peace

Pat

Hardly a NEVE or SSL.

Well, well, well. We have finally finished arranging and recording and are now, i am pleased to announce in the mixing phase! After a long week, which finally finished late last night (and after a slight distraction of a flat battery), we were able to sign off on all the parts. It has been amazing to hear already awesome songs move up a whole another level as they really come into their own with best suited arrangements. We have kind of been mixing as we go so a few of the songs already have a very solid base for me to work on and already sound really good. (Actually, i dont even know if i can make some of them any better).

I’m really keen to get cracking, though. I have nearly  all the plugins that i need, have the analog signal chains planned and am fully stocked on confectionary, soft drinks and all things unhealthy. (well, not quite) Anyway, im all set! Hopefully my macbook will last the distance. It already complains to me that i am driving it too hard, but thats what they are designed for isnt it? You dont buy a Macbook Pro to do word processing and email.

I have been looking at well known mix engineers (a profession that goes largely unnoticed to the average music listener) and seeing what gear they are using, different techniques they use and just getting cool insights into what and how they do things, before i prepare to mix our album. Michael Brauer is my current favourite. (Coldplay, John Mayer, The Rolling Stones, Was (Not Was), James Brown, Aerosmith, Jeff Buckley, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Ben Folds, Pet Shop Boys, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, MeatLoaf, Martha Wainwright, Pete Murray…the list goes on – Might be quicker to list who he HASNT mixed…) His use of compression is really cool. It is just even better that he mixes the type of bands that Cities is very influenced by. Dave Pensado, Jack Joseph Puig, Chris Lord-Alge, Manny Marroquin and Tony Maserati are also pretty awesome. Between these five guys, you would be very hard pressed to find an artist on the charts that they havent been involved in the mix process in. They take up a majority of the top 40 hits consistently.

Whilst i may not have the years of experience, expertise, finese and unlimited access to any plugin, hardware or extremely large NEVE and SSL console that these guys do, i feel adequately equipped to be able do all i need to make this album sound world class. I really do think that the album will sound amazing when you get to hear it.

And that shouldn’t be long! I dont think we are far off now people. A few weeks of mixing, then we will send it away to be mastered and then it is release time baby! Stay tuned for a confirmed release date and definately countless more blog posts!

Later.

Josh

Reflecting on such an incredible worship experience, it really brought it home to me the whole reason why we are doing this recording project. To see people encounter God. It brings it all into perspective. With all the countless hours spent perfecting the recording, getting it as good as we possibly can – if even one person who receives it puts it in the car and listens to it on the way to work as they pray, or plays it during their quiet time with God, or gives it to their friend who then reflects on what it is saying – then it is totally worth it. If what we are doing results in someone either coming to know God or brings them closer to him, then i guess we can call it a success!

He is Lord. There is no other. He is Lord of all.

The wonderful world of Avid Pro Tools.

Purchasing software is often rather a contentious issue, especially within the audio industry. There are many software developers who spend tens of thousands of dollars on research and development for various DAW applications and audio plugin products only to have them illegally download by industry professionals who cant justify spending copious amounts of money on a product that does only one thing. I personally take a dim view of what is essentially theft and have made sure that i pay for the plugins that i use.

If i had a dollar for every time someone has told me to just download a piece of software so we could use it for free – and yes, a lot of these have been for church use – then i would have enough money to buy any piece of software i need. Unfortunately even in the church, many often refuse to pay for software. I feel that using stolen items for church use, to glorify God, isnt really glorifying him at all. Integrity. Honesty. That’s what it should be.

I have recently purchased several plugins to use both personally and for the album, with the intention of buying even more in the future – Autotune (Luke’s favourite, much to my disgust, lol), Waves compressors and EQ’s. Often each of these plugins can cost upwards of $200, so purchasing 5 of these is an outlay of $1000+. But if i make this album with ill-gotten products and it eventually finds its way into the hands of someone 1 year either side of making a decision for Christ (as is the plan x 5000) then how is that being like Christ? Whether they know what i’ve used or not (they won’t) it doesn’t matter. It’s kind of like bringing an unsaved person to church in a stolen car.

Anyway, i guess what i am saying is that, even if you are never going to get caught, doing something that is not demonstrating Christ in our lives, as harmless as it may seem, is undermining everything we believe as Christians. Who am I when nobody is watching?

Stand-by for some sounds on this album. All paid for and legit!

Later.

Sounds as good as this looks

We’ve started and finished the most unfamiliar part of the recording. We know a few musicians who know their way around an orchestral instrument or two, they’ve been put to work and have done a great job so far ( Jess W and Jason, you guys are awesome.). Its a long way from overdriven electric guitars though. We already have some synths and digital sounds around the place (look out for a blog on that) and it’s been exciting to hear these beautiful acoustic instruments played classically against drum loops and saw sounds. The balance probably represents all our songs and our church. Different individuals coming together and contributing to a common goal.

We had a bit of trouble avoiding sounding like the rocky theme at one point with the brass but we got past that, bit of rocky never hurt anyone anyway. Overal a big success. Exciting times, maybe there’ll be some samples  of those instruments here soon. I’ll see what I can do.

Stay tuned for more updates soon (sooner than last time anyway).

Luke

People are most often defined by difference, but the church that I grew up in and I believe in is more about how we are all the same under God. I want to hear and see things that unify people rather than separate people. I’m looking for honesty over empty rhetoric; faith that binds people together not drives apart.

Romans 3:22-24

‘There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’

This applies to us.

So we’re adding our voice to those already telling their parts of the story we share. The guys who are writing are writing with words that are meaningful to them and to us as we play them. They are the thoughts and stories from real moments in their lives. The songs reflect what we like, what we listen to.   We have started recording the very best album we are capable of, filled with those songs.

The gear has been gathered. People are learning and working on parts for every bar of every song. We are getting ready for a long haul but it’s looking great so far.

Stay tuned.

Luke

This is the beginning of Cities, where Citylife music punches above its weight for the battle of souls, for the lost and the found.