I recorded my first two CDs with Dave Chalfant, in Conway, Massachusetts. At the time I was thinking about recording a first CD I asked all my musician friends who they had recorded with and what their experiences were. My pal Adam Sweeney (who has since moved back to Portland, Oregon) was recording with Dave and everything I heard about his process seemed fantastic. Plus some of the folks I knew I wanted as backing musicians (the Kennedys, Tracy Grammer, and Jim Henry) lived in that area and it would be much easier to have them play on the CD if I recorded near where they were. I sent Dave some music and we exchanged emails; we then met to see if it would make sense for us to work together. We decided to go ahead with the project, and I couldn’t have been happier with the process. Dave is a fantastic engineer and producer. I loved recording away from home (so that I got outside of my ordinary life when I was doing it), and I loved that he offered the option of paying one set fee for the whole project (rather than paying by hour or day), so I didn’t need to count my minutes when I was deciding whether to re-record a vocal track or give a try to an additional instrument we weren’t sure about. Dave is also a great instrumentalist and played on almost every song on both CDs (he even sang on one, a rare honor). And, most importantly, I feel really comfortable with him. He gets my quirky sense of humor, he knows how to motivate me when I’m not feeling confident in my abilities in general or my efforts on a particular song. And I got to know his quirks as well – to know, for instance, that he absolutely won’t put reverb on anything unless I insist, but if I do insist he’ll do it. So as I’ve been gearing up for the next CD project there was no doubt in my mind that Dave would be the one to record it. (People in my life, hearing my new songs, have been known to make comments like “I can’t wait to hear what Dave will do that with song!”). And when I ran into Dave at Falcon Ridge the first thing I said to him was “I’m ready to start planning the next CD!” You might be able to guess what came next, or this issue wouldn’t have warranted a blog post. Dave is getting out of the engineering/producing business. He’s been teaching music at a really cool school and is now going to be doing it full time. It’s great for him, and the kids he’s teaching are incredibly lucky . . . but I now find myself completely at loose ends. And I find myself needing a new plan for recording. I’m going to have to start the process of talking to musicians, to find out where they’ve recording and what their experiences were, all over again. This time, I suppose, I have a lot more going for me. I’m a known entity and a performing songwriter, so producers/engineers are taking less of a chance on me. I’m more experienced, so I’m less scared at the idea of recording at all, and I have a clearer idea of what I want and need in the process. But it’s going to involve tradeoffs, so I need to figure out which of those things are most important. I can’t imagine I’m going to find someone else who will contract for a project fee rather than a per-hour (or per-day) fee, so tamping down my Midwestern penny-pinching instincts will be necessary. I certainly want a good quality studio and someone to engineer and/or produce (I liked that in Dave they were the same person) who is really good – records/produces CDs for people who are making a living at this, rather than “records anyone in the area who is willing to pay.” I’m torn about local versus distant. Fewer and fewer of my the musicians from my first two CDs live in that area anymore (first the Kennedys moved away, and more recently Tracy did), although there are a few folks – including Dave! – in that area I’d still want to have play on the next CD. There’s something to be said for making connections in the area where I actually live (which would make it easier to work with folks who might back me more regularly at some live shows), but starting from scratch there is also daunting. That’s where I am. And because my timing is strange during the academic year, studios and producers get booked up long in advance, and I want to carefully time the recording and release of a CD around a few timing pegs that aren’t flexible, I need to get a move on considering my options. If you’re a singer-songwriter who has recorded in New England and have someone to recommend (or caution me against), please let me know! If you’re an engineer, producer, or studio-owner who might want to work with me, please get in touch! And if you’re a fan of my music and want to weigh in on what works or doesn’t in my existing recordings that I should consider as I make decisions about the third CD, please pass your thoughts along.