Happy 2 Years to My True Companion!

Celebrating the birthday with some ~exclusive behind the scenes footage~

Today, I am celebrating the 2 year anniversary of the release of my first album, My True Companion! To be honest, I almost forgot to celebrate today. I wouldn’t have remembered at all if I hadn’t logged into Facebook as part of a desperate Monday morning procrastination mission. I usually hide my eyes from the Facebook memory section reminding me what my 11 year old self decided to scream in all caps on the internet “13 years ago today.” But today, it was a happy reminder that led me headfirst into a memory deep dive of making this album.

It also led me to listen to the album again in its entirety, something I have only done a few times since it was released. It can be hard to face my own work after it’s lived in my head for so long, but I loved this listen! I am still so proud of this album. If you want to join me in celebration today, go ahead and listen to your favorite track! The one that resonated most with me today is Close That Door.

Behind the Scenes:

As a scrolled through my album production memory lane, I realized that I documented almost every step of the process. I think I knew at the time that this was a strange way to make a record. The tracks were recorded in at least 5 different rooms, none of which were originally designed to record music. It took almost exactly a year to record the 10 songs, across weekends, evenings, and stolen workdays. I have almost 3 GB of photos and videos of the process living on my phone (not rent free). I will spare you the bulk of it, but here are some snapshots of the chronological process.

January 2021

We broke ground on the record in January of 2021. The first step was to record the drums and bass thanks to Josh Malyon and Cameron Stedman. Originally, I didn’t plan to have any drums on this album, because I intended to record the whole thing by myself. By a stroke of luck, I met George in 2020. He respected my gumption to record the whole thing, but also offered to give me a hand if I wanted. This expanded my toolkit exponentially and allowed me to think bigger about what I wanted on the songs. He was recording another project with his friends Josh and Cameron, and I was able to tag along and get them to add drums and bass to 3 tracks (Close that Door, Mantra, and To Want Me).

I only rehearsed with Josh and Cameron once, but they got the vision right away. Within a few weeks, we were setting up the drumkit in Cameron’s mom’s basement

Note the pinball machine in the back and the free moving blankets on the drum screen. As you’ll see later, I scrounged whatever I could find to make this album happen. These moving blankets were a last minute “Buy Nothing” find that made this room workable.

In 2024, it’s shocking to see the band wearing masks for these sessions. Listening to the final songs, it’s hard to conjure up images of this cold, pandemic basement (recording in January with the heat turned off because it was too loud).

February 2021

Next step was to record the acoustic guitar for 9 of the 10 tracks. Room number 2 was the most professional of the 5 makeshift setups. Cameron engineered the guitar in 3 recording sessions in his bedroom studio. The most exciting session happened to fall on Seattle’s snowiest day in 52 years. On February 15, 2021, George and I dug out my car from a foot and a half of snow and braved a 40 minute drive across the city to Cameron’s. It was a dumb idea, but it was one of the only days that worked for our 3 busy schedules (I was working at a mass vaccine clinic at the time!)

The face of a confident and delusional Colorado driver ready to face Seattle snow.

Building “Studio 6”

Now that I had recorded all the parts I needed help with, I was ready to set up on my own. I planned to record all of vocals, mandolin, violin, and extra stuff by myself. I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with windows facing a state highway and the road noise in my apartment was far too loud. I decided to convert my storage closet into a studio!

The “closet” was a chainlink cage in a rectangular tile room on the second floor. It was incredibly echoey and not very private - not a great choice for a music studio. There was no outlet, so I had to plan my recording sessions carefully around my dwindling 2 hour laptop battery. Despite these challenges, I decided to construct my own little space and I was so excited about it.

The “before” (after I cleaned out all the junk of course).

Here is my attempt at building “walls.” Taping up cardboard boxes I pulled from the recycling. They actually all fell down shortly after this video and I had to upgrade to name brand Duct Tape. Things got a big upgrade when I found free apple crates from my local produce market.

I remember this space feeling cramped and cozy. You can see from these photos and videos how proud I was of my creation. Looking back, I can’t believe how small it is! I dubbed the space “Studio 6” because it was closet number 6.

March through September 2022

I spent the next 7 months recording tracks one by one in my little studio 6! I started a new job in March that allowed me to work 4 day weeks, so I spent almost every Friday or Monday in this little closet. My apartment had no air conditioning and the summer of 2021 was academically unprecedently hot. Thankfully, my tile box in the middle of the building happened to be one of the coolest spots, but I still often had to stop recording by 1pm because it was pushing 90 in the studio.

I tried not to think about how many of my neighbors heard me recording. In the height of COVID, I didn’t speak to any of my neighbors, but I knew most of them were working from home and probably heard me screaming the same background vocal over 30 takes.

I recorded video of almost every take for some reason. While most of those videos are pointless, there is one incredible video of someone walking in on me recording. WARNING: this video captures the most awkward moment of my ENTIRE life, but it’s just too good not to share among friends.

October through December 2021

In October 2021, I moved out of my apartment. This made a natural deadline to finish recording everything by October 1st. It was a helpful goal that almost happened, but there were a few finishing touches to add.

I recorded some piano at Josh’s parents house on their beautiful grand piano (room number 4).

In the new house, George and I added a few more vocal tracks as we started to build our own home studio (room number 5). This one had real walls but still was still very much a work in progress.

By the end of 2021, I handed my project off to George to mix it. This is the process of blending all the tracks recorded separately to make them sound like one real song. This process is where I am the most thankful I did not take on this album by myself. It was an exercise in release: these songs lived in my head for so long and I handed them over to someone I trusted before I released them to the rest of the world.

April 2022

And then, like magic on April 29, 2022, the album appeared on the internet! It materialized out of nothing like everything else on the internet and found its way across the country and beyond to Ireland and Japan! I celebrated the day by jumping into Puget Sound. A few weeks later, I played a release show for friends and family and wrapped up the chapter.

A picture from my album release show!

Two years later, it’s hard to remember the intricacies of the process. I’m thankful for my instinct to document each step of the way. Sharing it with you has been a process of sharing it with myself, connecting with that 2021 version of myself who was so excited to spend sweltering afternoons in a tiny closet. Now that I record from the private comfort of a slightly larger room with solid walls, I can’t believe the silly little studio I built for myself. But it worked!

So, if you’re still looking for a way to celebrate this anniversary with me, make some silly little art! You don’t need a studio, you just need some duct tape, some cardboard and a dream. And of course, if you need a soundtrack to work to, listen to My True Companion!

Let me know which song resonates most with you, and consider sharing it with a friend!