After 13 years of trying, my follow up album to Bare Handed is FINALLY complete and available on Bandcamp!

[Jim Soloway]

There were a lot of times when I was sure that was never going to happen but I guess some things come only when they are supposed to and I'm happy with the result. The title is "The Sound Of Two Old Hands". Like Bare Handed, it's all solo guitar and unlike Bare Handed, it's almost entirely originally material.

 

[Chocol8]

Congrats!

 

[JasonE]

Congrats!

I did a quick scan through on the songs. Ellis Avenue Bypass is by far my favorite of them. Good work.

 

[QQQ]

Beautiful record Jim. Congrats!

 

[DrewJD82]

Congrats, Jim! That’s gotta feel good!

I guess some things come only when they are supposed to

This is pretty much where I’ve got my head with my initial plan of putting out an album, which I started recording about 10 years ago. TBF, I had to learn how to actually record/mix first and now that I’m generally content with what I complete, it’s probably time to revisit the album idea.

 

[Jim Soloway]

Congrats, Jim! That’s gotta feel good!



This is pretty much where I’ve got my head with my initial plan of putting out an album, which I started recording about 10 years ago. TBF, I had to learn how to actually record/mix first and now that I’m generally content with what I complete, it’s probably time to revisit the album idea.

When I did the first one, I was protected by my complete lack of knowledge. I didn't even know how to do an edit. There was no mixing and I had no idea how to use an EQ. I had all my sounds set up in a Pod HD and everything went down live. If there was something I didn't like, I just cut the whole song again. When it was done, I was rescued by a legendary mastering engineer who really liked it so he stepped in and basically overcame my ignorance to get it to its finished form.

This time I did the same as you: I spent years learning how to actually use the process and get it almost close enough, but in the end I was still unable to get it across the finish line on my own. I then got rescued again. A mastering engineer here in Canada, Stephen Stepanic, liked my playing and volunteered to help me finally get it done. Without his help I don't think I'd have ever gotten something that I would be willing to release. And when he ran into trouble with problems he couldn't fix in a few of my recordings, I listened to what he had to say and then completely started over on those tunes so they could be properly mixed and mastered. It added a few months to the process, but without going through that extra effort, this just wasn't going to work.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Congrats on getting it out there Jim.
I'll take a listen in the morning with fresh ears.

 

[Jim Soloway]

Congrats!

I did a quick scan through on the songs. Ellis Avenue Bypass is by far my favorite of them. Good work.

Thanks. I think that song is going to be consistently either people's favorite or least favorite song on the album. It's the only swing tune om the whole thing, making it something of an outlier and people seem to either love it not. I think of it as something of a carry over from any earlier era for me. I used to play a lot of that sort of thing. Not so much any more.