Many Moons Released Sept 1
   Release Concerts
   The Instrumentalists
   How A Recording is Made in the Early 21st Century
   Internet Radio Listening

Many Moons Released Sept. 1
By Nadine Sanders

Why many moons?
In Straw Into Gold’s eleventh year, we are releasing our fifth recording. The title refers to the passing of time. Although, it occurred to me to call it Many Miles, for the years of SIG members driving up and down I-5 to rehearsals! For all but the first year when we all lived in NE Portland, I have lived in Lewis Co., WA and the other singers in Portland or the Seattle area. The artistic statement in the recording description gives you more meaning for Many Moons.

Dedication This recording is dedicated to Katrina Haeger who arranged three of the songs and sings on four of the songs. She and her husband Brad moved to Eureka, CA. the summer of 2002. On May 2, 2004, their daughter Rowan Marie Haeger was born. Katrina had major surgery in July for a desmoid tumor in her stomach, intestine and several other organs. Experts are consulting on further treatment for the tumor. Katrina is one of the most positive, giving people I know. It is to her spirit and for wishes for her full recovery that this album is dedicated. Order CD

The Color Purple The purple color of the cd graphics was influenced by the color of the yarns I’ve been weaving into fabric to sew six panel jackets (link to my new picture in the clothing gallery of me in the purple duster) this past year and the Red Hat Society. (http://www.redhatsociety.com.) I learned of this movement of red and purple clad women when I visited my folks in AZ. this past winter. It was great to have graphic designer, Kathy Campbell back. Kathy did the graphics for Substance & Essence. 1995. Kathy designs books for Gorham Printing and freelances. For the cover of the cd she combined the handwoven textured plainweave fabric, commercial cotton quilt fabric, the logo I use for my Singing Weaver business designed by my co-author Joyce Harter, and graphics of moon phases.

Hay can be alfalfa, clover, Timothy grass, or ditch hay of common grass. My dad cut the hay with an Owatonna self-propelled swather/conditioner. If everything was dry, it could be baled directly from the swath. But if conditions were damp, then it was raked with a side delivery rake so the sun could dry the underside of the swath. We baled with an Oliver tractor pulling an Oliver baler. A hay rack was hitched to the back of the baler. I usually drove tractor while my dad stood on the rack and pulled the bales out of the baler chute. 80 to 110 small rectangular bales were stacked on the hay rack. Each bale weighed 60 to 80 pounds. It was usually hot, bumpy and noisy when baling and required a lot of cold water to drink. The driver had to be careful not to pitch the person off the wagon when on a side hill or when stopping quick when the twine that held the bale broke. The hay was stored in our turn- of-the century barn. It arrived in the mow (pronounce the vowel sound like ou in “ouch”) by either a carrier and rope pulley lifting the bales off the rack and into the mow, or loaded onto a bale conveyor as seen here.
	Corky Sanders Haying Artist: Nadine Sanders Technique: Doubleweave pickup Materials: cotton
David Mallet’s song goes back to the haying practices of my grandfathers’ time. Putting up loose hay with pitchforks and wagons that had side rails was last done in the 1930’s. Each operation of cutting, raking and loading the hay was accomplished with a different piece of equipment pulled by two horses. Ever since SIG recorded Ridin On a Rainbow, I’ve had my ears open for another cowboy song. I heard Sioux City Sue on KBEW, the Blue Earth MN radio station when I was home visiting my folks August 2002. Then as I going through some sheet music my mom had purchased at an auction, there it was, our next cowboy tune, Along the Navajo Trail. The sheet music had such good chords already, I based the vocal arrangement largely on the sheet music piano accompaniment. I wanted another swingy tune to perform with When the Snow Fell Down from our fourth recording. Katrina Haeger had sung in a mixed vocal jazz ensemble in college. That group had done If I Only Had a Brain. Katrina re-arranged the song for our three voices and it became part of our repertoire. We love the recurring harmonic dissonance in this arrangement. It makes us have to listen closely and be precise. Kristen Ramer brought in and arranged two songs for this recording . A Tisket A Tasket was a hit with our listeners from the first time we performed it. The a capella arrangement highlights Lisa’s low, rich range as she provides “percussion” and spotlights Kristen’s voice on lead. Finally an Ella song in our repertoire! Kristen’s other arrangement, Walkin After Midnight showcases Lisa on lead and gives bass player, Steve Luceno, the spotlight on the instrumental break. Lemon Tree Yellow Bird is a combination of the two popular hit songs of the 1960’s. Original SIG member, Laurie Miller, had always wanted the group to sing Lemon Tree. When Jessica Clary brought it and Yellow Bird to our winter retreat at Mt. Hood in 2001, I knew it was time. The arrangement was a group effort over the next year and we refined it at our retreat in 2002. Katrina Haeger arranged Down to the River to Pray and God’s Green Earth. When Straw Into Gold recorded Holly and Barry Tashian’s song, Spinning Straw into Gold on the Love’s Ripening album, we sent them off the royalty check and a copy of the cd. Holly listened to the cd and sent us back the music to her song, God’s Green Earth that she thought would fit the voices and spirit of our group. This gift of the song from the composer patiently waited in my song folder for at least four years and came to life when Katrina arranged it. The Spirit Song has been in our repertoire since the late 1990’s but was not on a recording until now. It was about time we recorded a Bill Staines (http://www.acousticmusic.com/frames/bs.htm) song. You will hear the influence of Pam Sloper’s trademark harmonies in this arrangement. I remember sitting in Laurie Miller’s living room, Pam at the guitar, me at the piano, figuring out our parts. Laurie always came up with her part in her head. Each configuration of singers of Straw Into Gold has performed this song. The lyrics (link to this song;s lyrics) of this song really represents the message of our group…hope, heart and hearth.

Release Concerts
You can hear us in concert five times this fall in the Pacific Northwest. Four of these will be release concerts. If you live elsewhere in the U.S. or the world, and want to hear and see us perform live, how about linking us up to a concert series, a festival or other event that will pay our way? Nadine will be happy to work with you to bring the group to your event. Contact her at Tel: 360 740 0914 or email straw2gold@singingweaver.com.

The Instrumentalists
I’ve already talked about some of the instrumentalists joining us on Many Moons.

How A Recording is Made in the 21st Century
By Nadine Sanders

I’ve had several friends ask me recently, just what goes into making a recording and how do you choose what songs to put on a cd? After my thesis concert at Oregon School Of Arts and Crafts in June 1993, an audience member asked, do you have a recording? I quickly replied, “not yet, but sign our mailing list” and grabbed the nearest available sheet of blank paper. Five months later, Straw Into Gold, Songs of Weaving, Farming and Spirituality came out. We did that recording on reel to reel tape at Fresh Tracks (http://www.freshtracksstudio.com) studio in Portland. It was released on cassette tape. The entire project was paid for with a $1000 loan from a friend of the trio. Now with 5 recordings under my belt, I know a whole lot more than I did in 1993. Mainly, the more you know, the more money you spend on a project! With the advent of digital recording technology, making an album has changed a lot in eleven years.

Step 1: Choosing the songs for the project
You want to put your best songs on the recordings. We look for a mix of acapella and songs with instrumentation. We want a variety of tempos among the group of songs and of course, our trademark eclectic genres. Starting with Love’s Ripening, we always include some original songs/tunes in addition to cover songs. And if not in subject , then at least in metaphor, a song or more about weaving, spinning, and making things with your hands.

Step 2: Rehearsing the songs with attention to detail
We practice rhythm and timing with a metronome, pay attention to breaths, vowel shapes, dynamics, entrances and ending consonants. Straw Into Gold practices two to four times a month in three hour sessions. We start each session with vocalizing exercises to warmup and improve our technique.

Step 3: Recording
The last two recordings have been made at David Lange Studios in Edgewood, WA. (http://www.davidlangestudios.com). David has a plethora of fine microphones and digital recording equipment. What sets him apart is his great ear for details including pitch, accuracy of rhythm, balance. For Many Moons, we recorded groups of songs as they became polished. We went in the studio spring of 2002, spring and fall of 2003 and winter of 2004. That is different from our past projects when we would record everything within a two to four week time frame.
For most of the songs with instruments, the vocals are layed down with a click track. Sometimes you get lucky and have many measures that are good. Often you go in and punch a certain phrase or measure, recording it over and over until it is right. Once the vocals are edited, the instrumentalist(s) come into the studio and record their parts. Sometimes the vocals and instruments are recorded at the same time by having the vocalists and instrumentalists separated in sound proof rooms.

Step 4: Producing
A producer is helpful to a project as they can see and hear things the musicians are too close to. Some groups choose an outside producer to guide their project. The original members self-produced our first two recordings. Jon Ten Broek produced Love’s Ripening and I produced Woven Harmonies and Many Moons.

Step 5: Editing
This is the truly unglamorous but most important part of the process. It’s a bit like taking all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and making them fit together to create the whole picture. David and I sat many hours in his studio in front of computer screens listening and putting together the best takes, sections, bits and notes of songs. First the vocals are edited, then the instrumentals edited, then they are put together and edited.

Step Six: Mixing
Once all the parts are edited, then they are mixed together. This is where David’s expertise really shines as he sets balance, compression, reverb, etc. while moving all kinds of buttons and dials, like a chef making an exquisite soup. Once the final mix is achieved, it is burned onto the hard drive. Once all the songs are mixed, a 24 bit cd is burned. If everything is okay, then this cd goes onto the next step.

Step Seven: Mastering
I liken mastering to putting the finish on a piece of fine furniture. It makes the completed project sound really good. Rick Fisher at RFI (http://www.rficd.com/home.html) in Seattle mastered Many Moons. For you techno folks, here is mastering explained from Ricks website: “aesthetic adjustments to program material, and transfer from mix formats to problem-free, reproducible formats acceptable for manufacture. Sweetening - Adjustments to the program including level, EQ, dynamics, noise reduction and image enhancement. Master CD-R Preparation - Requantization, dithering, noise shaping, PQ subcoding and data verification.”
My part of mastering mainly involves deciding what order the songs will appear on the album and if the space put between the songs feels right.

Step Eight: Graphics and Printing
Sometime between step 5 and 7 all the information needs to be gathered and compiled for the graphic artist. That includes: coming up with the album title and graphic concept; getting photographs taken; gathering all the information about the songs including the publisher (who owns the rights to the song); compiling the song lyrics and musician credits for each song; and writing the artistic statement, dedication and thank you. Kathy Campbell designed cd cover/booklet, tray card and cd imprint for Many Moons.
John Gallagher, Seattle, photographed the group and the photo of Katrina Haeger was taken by Tasha Owen, (http://www.northwestfilm.com/TASHA.htm) Tacoma.
We’ve had the last four projects printed at Capital City Press, Olympia WA. (http://www.capitolcitypress.com)

Step Nine: Duplication and Assembly
The master cd then goes to a duplication company. We worked with Pip McCaslin at Realtime, (http://www.realtimepip.com) Seattle, WA. Most duplication companies burn the cds and assemble them along with the booklets and tray cards into jewel cases. Since we did an initial small run, we’ve assembled and packaged the cd’s ourselves and with the help of our elf, Carrie Aadland.

Step Ten: Mechanical Licensing
Unless you write hits for Willie Nelson, most songwriters don’t make much money. Royalties for each copy of the cd made are paid for each song on a recording to the composer(s) or their publishing company. In this way composers get some pay back for their work. The current rate for songs under five minutes is $.085 per song.

Step 11: Distribution and Promotion
For small companies like Straw Into Gold who put out cds on their own label, distribution and promotion are the key to getting those boxes of cds to move out of your attic. That means keeping and maintaining a mailing list of supporters, getting and performing gigs, sending out newsletters and emails, sending copies to radio station disc jockeys who play our type of music, and having retail outlets, in our case, our website www.singingingweaver.com/strawintogold.

And that is where you come in. You are part of this Step 11. We keep making recordings because people have purchased our other four albums. Here’s how you can help:
We hope that you will purchase a cd for yourself, and maybe an additional one as a gift to a friend or family member.
Order Now
Tell someone about our music and our website.
Buy a copy for your local library or weaving guild.
Call or email your favorite folk radio show to request a Straw Into Gold song.
Send us an email with your full name and email address. It is much more cost effective for us to communicate with you via email.

Internet Radio Listening

I’ve been a fan of radio all my life. When I got on the internet in 1999, I soon discovered internet radio. I live in an area where because of mountain ranges, you can’t pick up stations very far away. Plus it is the small local stations around the country that do the most adventurous and eclectic programming. Now with high speed cable access, I’m really in internet radio listening heaven. If you haven’t tried it yet, here’s a list of my favorite shows. Some shows you can download on demand, others you need to listen to live.