This is the printable cover for Reduced to Clear.
Since I use it to make labels, it's tailored to my printer and browser (IE7) settings. It might not look or print as nicely on your PC.
I suggest you try a print preview and/or low-ink draft print before trying to print actual labels.
Make sure you configure your browser to print backgrounds, or the images won't print.
Set your left/right printer margins to 0.75 and your top/bottom margins to 0.50.
This year was incredibly busy, with less time and energy for making music than ever. Yet somehow I managed to find pockets of time to squeeze out a few tunes.
Because I anticipated this year would be so time-constrained, I created some rules which would help reduce the "pressure" of creating a Tripecac album. My goal was to make it easier to finish the album by the end of the year, and make the process of working on music more relaxing. In other words, I wanted this album to feel a little more like Trex.
Rule #1 was: no remixing. Recently, whenever I finish a Tripecac album, I listen to the earlier songs, and, if I feel compelled, I make some edits here and there. Usually it's just tweaking volume levels, but sometimes I remove measures, or add "reinforcing" notes. Well, not this time. Once a song is done, it's done, warts and all. This removes the likelihood, and therefore pressure, of creating a "perfect" (ahem) album. The key is the reduced pressure.
Rule #2 was: no equipment upgrades. For the first year in ages, I didn't upgrade Sonar or my Native Instruments software. Even though there's a brand new Sonar, I avoided it, because I know from experience that each time I upgrade software, I end up sinking many hours into installing, configuring, learning, testing, troubleshooting, and discussing any issues that arise. And invariably, there are issues. Well, this year I didn't have time to add that "meta" stuff. So I stuck with my old gear. And saved a few bucks in the process.
Rule #3 was: no other rules. There'd be no theme, no "style guide", no creative constraints, nothing that would make me have to "think". I just needed to be able to noodle around on the keyboard, press Save, and call it good. As fast and fun as possible.
So, was the album fun to work on? Yeah. Did I finish it on time? Yeah, just. Is it good? Ha! But there are fun moments here and there. And with this attitude of reduced pressure, I find myself going into next year with more musical energy and ambition than I have in a long time. So maybe this was the "warm up" to something great. Yeah, keep believing that, Trav. Well, in any case, I end the year with a musical smile, and that's worth a lot to me. :)