Hello everyone… After too many grueling hours and a string of events that seemed to involve every possible thing that could go wrong, I’m happy to announce this Friday the 13th of December, another addition to our CXS Holiday Tradition. This year, I did two songs… well sort of. First I recorded the traditional Christmas hymn Silent Night. It was a lot more work than I expected and I was plagued with so many setbacks as I now realize the studio is filled with equipment that is finally demonstrating its age. Basically a lot of stuff decided to stop working all at the same time. Nonetheless, I have overcome the humbug that threatened to prevent this years addition and found enough work-arounds to get the song recorded and minimally mastered in time for my Friday the 13th deadline. I can’t even tell you how exhausted i am… Silent Night took on a somber and mildly dark tone, but I believe it stays true to the original Holiday song none-the-less. I found myself a bit rushed fighting against the unrelenting tide of December, so I made some hard choices and have created something that is unique and yet traditional at the same time… All I can say is that Anmi liked it… so maybe you will too. I hope it comes across with the emotion and passion that I put into it. I further hope that my rendition is worthy of the song itself, as it is arguably the greatest of the Christmas Hymns. There is a small bit sung in German; if you are a native German speaker please overlook my clumsy use of your language- I know most of my German fans have long since come to terms with just how badly i speak the language.
The second song is a semi-redux of Anmi’s Christmas with some (but unfortunately not all) of the less than ideal singing fixed. Anmi was in the studio and was a big help. There are a few new vocal takes on the song now and with any luck they’ll help give this Cruxshadows Christmas classic a little more life. I did my best to try and get the vocals a bit more above the music… but the track has some major issues as it lacks any real bass… I would caution that I still consider this track one of “Demo” quality, and not a production level recording as of yet. The mastering is definitely less than what I would like and was difficult to balance as I was forced to use a lot of the original files; and there is only so much I could do with the song. I hope to do a complete re-recording of the track at some point in the future with a full treatment… but until then, please bear with the less than perfect production and let this track put a smile on your face. Its hard not to work on a track like this when your daughter wants to… any way I thought it was worth sharing… And if nothing else, I think Anmi loves knowing that at least a few people are singing her name at Christmas time.
To view the entire library of Christmas Songs/Holiday Donation-ware, click here!