Tonight, I moved all the vocal tracks I've recorded for Imprint, the album on which I'm working, to release candidate 1. For me, that means I've recorded versions of the songs that don't totally make me wretch. There is one track that might slip back into beta, but I'll need a few days of listening to the entire album to see if that's the case.
Just now, I marked the "mixing" column of the Imprint tracks on my spreadsheet to alpha. There seems to be a subtle difference between mixing and arranging, but everything I've read makes me think they're partially the same process. During the mixing phase, raw recorded tracks get woven together to create the final song. My method of writing, however, combines the composing and arranging at the same time, and when I record tracks, the arranging and mixing happen simultaneously as well.
In this case, mixing is pretty much pre-mastering — applying effects processing, achieving tonal balance, balancing levels. I usually do some preliminary mixing and mastering every time I create a new vocal take, just so I can hear something close to final product as possible.
I have to say, though, it's nice to be close to an actual mixing phase, where I can fine tune everything. I'm encouraged by what I'm hearing — it's a far cry from the first few recordings I did in 2005, when I didn't know one whit about decibels, frequencies, equalization, compression, limiting. And while I still don't think I'm much of a singer, I'm at least a half-step within tune, instead of singing in an entirely different key.
(Let me also say the new headphones I bought back in September really make a difference. That, and reading the manual of my mixer to figure out how to work the auxiliary buses.)
But the real clincher in this whole endeavor is that when I finish, the resulting work is still just a demo recording. In reality, I picture this album performed by live musicians with a singer who isn't me. That's when I would consider this album actually created. For now, I'm pouring in a lot of time and effort to make a very detailed blueprint.
And it's actually coming together.