How I Recorded Evolution and Got It on Streaming
I recorded 22 songs, singing and playing guitar at the same time. Here's how Mark Herndon helped me get the album onto Spotify and Apple Music.
As told by Bob Zielsdorf
Now I can tell a friend to go to Spotify and look me up. Before I could do that, I had to record 22 songs, and I needed somebody who knew how to get the sound I wanted. I found that person in Vero Beach, Florida, and I'd already known him for years. Mark Herndon was my go-to computer guy. He also ran a recording studio.
I was used to sitting down with my guitar and singing while I played. The question was how to keep the feel of that performance and get a recording we were both happy to put out.
Recording 22 songs in Vero Beach
Mark and I picked the songs for Evolution and recorded them over several sessions. I played guitar and sang at the same time, the way I'd do it in a room with people listening. If you record the voice and guitar as separate tracks, you can work on each one on its own. I've tried playing and singing separately, and it takes more practice than you'd think. I'm still working on it.
Mark had software that could separate my voice and guitar after I'd recorded them together. He could bring out what he wanted to hear in each track and put them back together. We went back and forth on a few songs, and he added bass to some of them. It took months to get through all 22, but eventually we had an album we thought was ready.
Getting Evolution onto Spotify and Apple Music
Once we had the finished recordings, I had a new question. How do you get them out where people actually listen to music? Mark used a digital music distributor called LANDR. It sends a release to services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music. I had no idea there were so many places a song could end up.
There's a fee to distribute an album that way. I got into this for the fun of it, and I still get a kick out of being able to tell family and friends where to find a song. Sometimes I get in the car and put on my own music. After spending all that time making it, I enjoy being able to listen to it the same way I listen to anybody else's.
I made a couple of vinyl records, too
I found a company that makes one-off 12-inch records, so I ordered two copies of Evolution for myself. It's got a sleeve with the album art and a label on each side. After all those months of working on recordings, it was fun to hold the finished album in my hands.
Some of my friends still listen to CDs. When they want to hear the songs, I can make a CD right at my desk and give it to them. Maybe someday I'll play a concert and have a stack of them out front. For now, I'm happy I can hand a friend a disc or tell them where to find a song.