It has been some time since my last update and post here at clementunes.com. It has been a very busy spring and summer. I can say that after many delays, we are back on track with the new album! We spent the last two weeks tracking the album. And speaking of tracking, I am amazed at the talent level of the musicians and have the pleasure to work with on this record. Gordon, Pace, Andy, Charlie and Stuart are truly amazing artists and it has been an incredible journey to hear these guys take my music and raise it to a level above my wildest dreams. I can’t thank them enough.

So, here are some details about the process. If your not into details, you can stop reading now and just know that the album is on its way!

St. Cecilia Music Center
We “moved in” to SCMS for a couple of nights and recorded some solo piano pieces on their wonderful Steinway 9′ Concert Grand. It is an amazing instrument and a real joy to play. Match that with the wonderful Royce Auditorium and you have a fine place to record solo piano. It was a real treat to be able to record there, and I thank everyone on staff for allowing me to come in and use the space.

Soundpost Studios
The remained of the album is being tracked at SoundPost studios here in Grand Rapids. We have finished with the rhythm section (bass, drums, rhodes) and are moving on to the overdub stage. Gordon has laid down a number of takes for the guitar parts, and Charlie has done some of the sax work. There are some more guitar parts to nail, and a couple of sax lines left. We are also considering bringing in a horn section for two of the songs. Charlie is working on horn charts and lining up the players.

clementunes Studios
The rest of the acoustic piano parts are being recorded in my personal studio. After a lot of thinking and auditioning piano samples, it occurred to me. One of the best pianos in town (at least in my opinion) is right here in my studio. I love my Yamaha C3! It has a special sound and character that you don’t find in a lot of pianos. So, why not take advantage of it? So, this week I have my studio wired for sound and am in the process of adding the piano solos and other details of the record.

So we are on track to release the album in October. We should be finished tracking and editing in the next two weeks. Then a week or two for Mixing and mastering and then it’s off to the duplicator for pressing. I am working on the album artwork and have it nearly complete and the album has been named (You will have to wait for that announcement a little closer to the release). So, we are about mid way through the whole process.

I will be posting some more photos as well as some audio and movie files over the next couple of weeks, so watch the Web site for updates. I have spent a little bit of time cleaning up the web site. Let me know what you think.

That’s about it for now. I will be in touch more often as we get closer to the release date. Thank you for your patience, encouragement, and support. This process, while at times frustrating, has been a real hoot! There are few things I enjoy more than composing music and spending time playing and recording with great, true artists.

Recording at St. Cecilia Music Center.

This is the best music ever!

A shot of the piano at St. Cecilia Music Center

wow – we made it!
Thanks to your efforts and support we have reached 103% with 50 some hours to go. I can’t thank you enough. I am so excited about this project – today I called the studio to book time, called my rep at the CD duplicator to tell them to expect the project – now into the studio to write, write, write.

I have been a member of the KickStarter website for a long time, but waited to post a project until the time felt right. I had a number of ideas for projects, but I kept thinking to myself, what if. What if I could book an outside studio? What if I could hire musicians to come and play? What if I could have it professionally mixed and mastered? So I put together a budget and shot for the moon. I never imagined that I would reach my goal – I was sure it was too much to ask of my network. But thanks you, we made it.

So what happens now? Well, we have just over 50 hours left to continue to fundraise. The more we raise, the more studio time I can use – or I can buy extra pizza for the band. But everything we raise will go to make the project as great as possible. So please continue to pass the links around and ask people to contribute. Use it as your facebook status, twitter and where ever else you can post it. Let’s see how high we can go.

Kayle.

So please check it out at http://kayleclements.bandcamp.com.

Well, I have turned a corner my friend, and have designed my last website. No more fancy graphics and flashy roll-overs. No more shopping for new templates and new music players and new widgets, and new gizmos. I am committed to getting back to basics. With this post, I have switched to WordPress and this very simple, clean theme. My goal is to shift the time I spend constructing a fancy website to writing more music and updating my site more often. No more working on new logos. No more putting off writing music for just one more tweet.

Now, admittedly, I am an internet addict and I am easily distracted. There are a number of very cool developments online, sites such as bandcamp, soundcloud, kickstarter and others that I think open up a ton of opportunities for independent artists. It seems everyday there is a new way to promote, publicize, and get the word about about what indy artists are up to. And I love finding out about them, taking them for a test drive and kicking the tires a little bit. So I will use this space to comment on things I find from time to time. Maybe that will provide the outlet for my addiction and allow me to focus on making music again. I’m calling it controlled distraction.

For the last year or so I have tagged myself as a composer and musician. Now, it’s time to focus.