Day 25 - The day Whitney died….
11 februari 2012 

Day 25 - The day Whitney died….

Using analogue tape is a blessing, but can also be a curse. After each run we need to clean the tape heads, and check the biasing. And today the machine decided to be a little bit difficult on us. So after a run of more than 6 minutes or so, one side of the machine started to loose it’s level. And with six songs longer than 6 minutes, that proved to be a challenge. So it took a lot of time printing the songs, but in the end we got there.
During breakfast I was listening to some of the mixes, when I thought of making another bonus track: a radio-edit version of New Jerusalem. The song is 7:35 long, and we wanted to keep the edit-length of maximum 3:50. So we had to cut a lot of material. In the end we had a compact version of 3:48 minutes. We could not decide which solo to use, the guitar or the keyboard solo. So we did them both, so we can decide later. The compact version is rocking and I hope that some radio stations will play it. Ha! That would be killer!
Around 4pm I checked my Facebook, and red the shocking news that Whitney Houston passed away. She was found dead in her hotel room, just 30 minutes away from where I was. That was surreal! It’s a sad day, and very sad to see that such a great voice, such a great artist had to end like that. As I flipped through the channels, every news channel was covering the story and it looked like the whole world came to a hold. Understandable, as it shocking, and it’s a public person – but I can’t shake off the thought of the no-names that die every day in the slums of the cities and all the less fortunate people that you never hear about.
As surreal as it seems at such a moment, life goes on, and so did our mixing work. At 3am we where still printing mixes to tape, we had fun, it sounded awesome, but it was late!

About the author
I am drummer of the Dutch post-prog band Dilemma (http://www.dilemma.band) and drummer and founder of the progressive rock/metal band Affector (www.affectormusic.com). As a musician I made a name in the progressive rock scene as drummer, bandleader and tour manager of the progressive rock legend Neal Morse (Transatlantic / Flying Colors / ex-Spock’s Beard). With him and a lot of other acts, I toured the world and recorded many best-selling CD's. I own a music studio and label, where I record, produce and release my own music and other bands & artists. Next to being a musician, I am an entrepreneur since the age of 19. I started 4 businesses. My main company is Novae Popschool (www.popschool.eu). A modern music school with multiple locations throughout The Netherlands. As musician, producer, teacher, author and entrepreneur I work with a mission: "I help musicians create and develop their own musical singularity, through which they will have a more successful and more fulfilling life. It is my mission to contribute to a more socially, loving and caring society through the power of music and modern music education. Rock on!
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