Backers!

How are you? Hope everything is good and you are healthy and not dying from allergies (as some of us have been). We wanted to update you on the recent status of this whole project.

Final mixes for the songs will be done next week. We got all 9 songs mixed as of last week, but now we need to tweak a few things we heard on our home stereos/iPods and then the tracks will be mastered. All mastering means (in short) is that the volume from song to song will be made more consistent.

On March 18, we scheduled to shoot our album cover. It may take a week or two to get the artwork finalized to where everyone is happy.

After the master is ready and the artwork is finalized, then we will be able to get the music out to you.

As far as the CD release and shows, we are waiting on the medical green light for me to be able to sing again. As many of you may (or may not) know, I suffered a vocal cord hemorrhage during the pre-production phase of the project in October. I didn't get to a doctor until January, after I had made matters much worse during the recording process. Because of this, I was put on strict "no singing" and on a modified diet/lifestyle regimen. Needless to say, it has been hard, but it will be worth it. My follow up is next week. Keep your fingers crossed.

When I get the green light we will schedule this party and let you all know. Then, we will start delivering on all the stuff we promised. I know it has been a long time, but trust us, we have been trying as hard as life has let us.

Thanks again for listening and investing in us. You will not be disappointed with the album. It may be the best album ever made. And you made it happen. That makes you the greatest.

Much love, Ivan for Rise of Saturn

Hey guys! Last night we got the first 4 tracks mixed. We go back to Zen to wrap up the other 5 in 2 weeks.

If all goes well, then it is off to mastering. While this is going on, we will be attempting to get the artwork done and then, once everything is in place... SENDING YOU THE DIGITAL ALBUM!

We are in the home stretch for a long, long, process. We couldn't be happier.

I'll have more info soon. Stay tuned.

Cheers,
Ivan

Hey guys. Been a while. Did you forget about us? After the holidays we came back into the studio and are in the home stretch. Most songs are done, with the exception of some vocals and percussion. It has been an interesting ride and a learning experience. Thank you again for the opportunity. There is still mixing to be done. We are hoping to get this puppy out to you guys in late February. Also, around that time we hope to deliver on our promises. So bear with us and keep an eye on your emails.

In addition, we are working on a way you can make back some of the money you invested and on some other fun things. Once the record is ready, we will plan the cd release shin dig and we can all rock and be merry.

Cheers,
Ivan
Rise of Saturn

Hi all,

It's been over a month since the last update. We have about 6 songs done, 1 that needs to be re-recorded and 2 that still need to be tracked. The budget is permitting us to get 9 songs on the album. Plus, we will have some fun surprises in between. It's been quite the process to put this record together due to work schedules, social activities and family obligations. But it's been a great experience for the most part.

We have a few weeks off due to the holidays, but we hope to have everything ready to mix in January and a release sometime in February. Keep your fingers crossed...

Much love,
Ivan
Rise of Saturn

Hey guys!

So far the recording is coming along quite well. One song is 80% done. 6 others are in various stages of completion. We still need to finish writing 3 more. Still no word on when it will be done, but if all goes well, we will have most of the tracking done by the end of the year.

Why is it taking so long? Well, due to schedules and obligations, we are putting in about 10 hours, every two weeks.

Not much else to report. If you have questions, leave a comment.

Cheers,
Ivan
RoS

P.S. Here's a photo of us with Steve Connelly, our engineer at Zen Recording

Rise of Saturn pre-production workboard. Here you can see a prelim tracklist and some estimations for a very, very efficient recording process, meaning everyone is efficient and there are no gremlins. Chances are slim that we hit those targets, but we are going for it anyway.

On the left is a song/track checklist. You can't read it well, but all the tracks we have to demo are on the left column. The 4 empty columns will have checks when we reach certain milestones. On the right is a more legible tracklist and some budget/studio financial figures. They are not 100% accurate and are only there to help us gague what the final recording bill could look like.

We are hoping to get everything tracked (all instruments/vocals recorded) in about 50 studio hours, broken up over the next 3 months. Then mixing will take about a month (20-30 studio hours) and is done in 2 parts. The mixing engineer gets the mixes about 70% of the way on his own, and then we come in and put the finishing 30%.

If all goes smoothly, we are looking at a xmas release. Stay tuned over the next few weeks for demo listening access and voting. We will have 14 songs to listen to and we hope to widdle those down to 11, based on your feedback.

Any questions? Please leave it in the comments.

Cheers,
Ivan
RoS