Done! Hard to tell sometimes when you get here, but all of a sudden you’re finished. To do it, I polished and rerecorded some of the guitar riffs, and then totally redid the ending guitar overdub fadeout extravaganza. That final part has four guitars coming in at different times, all panned to different locations, playing simple, repetitive lines. I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved this kind of thing. I try not to overdo it (kind of a once-an-album sort of trick, when you think about it) but jeez, the effect on me is uplifting and marvelous. I dunno - it just sorta gets me right there.

After I completed the recording, I messed around with the placement of each instrument or element. This is a lot of fun for me. You can really change a song drastically with panning. There is a profound difference between a guitar sound sitting solidly in one place versus a guitar whooshing from one ear to the other. Rabinal isn’t really a whooshing guitar song, but it’s still important that all the pieces fit in the right places, so I spent quite a bit of time panning around and getting everything to lock in how I like it. I also find that getting everything in its place makes for less EQ, which is sort of what I’m trying to do with this album: less of everything. Almost minimalist.

Finally, I piped most of the tracks through one of three different reverbs I set up. Again, I don’t want to overdo it: reverb on a track is like salt or vinegar - a dash can really bring out the flavor, but too much and you’ve ruined it. And no amount of salt will hide bad cooking! So I’m trying to do my work on the front end - good performance, good recording, and just a touch of reverb at the end.

Now I’m shelving this song and off to the next one down the list. Recording is wonderful!
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