Liner Notes

This album was two years in the making.

It was just days before Christmas 2006 when I brought home the finished version. I had already dropped it off to be mass-produced in the city. I sat down to give it a final listen. That's when I realized: Oh my god! There's a bunch of out-of-tune parts, some bits that are out of rhythm, and various other small mistakes in the playing.

The reason was simple. Each year I try to achieve some new goal in the making of the annual xmas album. This year, I had decided that I wanted to really focus on the recording quality, so my mind was on microphones, room noise, effects, ect. That fateful day sitting in my room with a pained expression on my face, I realized I had rushed through the playing and ended up recording a bunch of mistakes! Aghhh!

I called Hobin Studios and cancelled the order. I sat back down and did some quick reckoning and realized that there was no way this was going to happen this year. So I shelved both the album and my pride, absorbed the painful lesson, and whipped up an alternative giftie for the holidays.

A year later I re-recorded some of the worst offending parts, and re-entered the control room with the same original goal, (albeit a much humbler dude!) with the continued help of Joe Falardeau and the new help of Brad Ayers, who know A THING OR TWO about recording.

So here we are. I am very pleased with the outcome. I hope those of you who have been playing along from the beginning will notice a difference in the quality of the recordings, the mixing of the songs, and the levels.

THANK YOU to Joe Falardeau, whose boundless patience allows this sort of endeavor to exist, and Brad Ayers, who would still be working on making it even better if we had no time constraints. Both of them have given me a great gift this year: their enthusiasm for my project. Thanks guys!