Being in the business that I am in I often see covers and hear albums before they are finished. Growing up as a fan of Jewish Music I’d have loved the chance to see how an album is made. Couple that with my love of art, I’d have also loved to see album covers while they were still being fleshed out. Well now I am working in this industry and I have seen many covers in the process, and I’ve heard many albums before they were done. Let me just say this, it’s not pretty. Thats not to say they are bad, but creating is a messy process.

When i first started working in this industry I couldn’t wait to get my hands on music before it was done. But over the years I’ve changed my approach. Case in point, Dovid Gabay’s 2nd album, Omar Dovid. Avi Newmark (who I am working on Benny Friedman’s CD with) played me a few songs from Dovid’s album way back at one of our first meets with Benny. Since that time I was in the possesion of 4 of the songs from the album. As much as I loved them, I told Avi I didnt want to hear anything else new – until it was DONE.

I am so glad I went that route, because today Avi dropped off a finished master for Dovid’s album. I heard the other 7 songs, fresh, for the first time. It was actually a nice treat.  Knowing what goes into making these CD’s you have an appriciation for the finished product. But from where I stand, it’s hard to appriciate it “new” when you heard it in so many different versions. So to hear the rest of the album fresh – it makes for a great experience.

I have been working on the CD art with Avi and Dovid for the last two months, so what it looks like is no mystery to me. I’m so used to seeing that gold and green.

There isn’t any real heavy point to this post, I just wanted to share that with you. There is really something special about seeing, or hearing something for the first time in it’s completed, final stage.

Look on store shelves in about 2 weeks for Dovid Gabay’s new album. Both the art and the music has been done, approved and in the duplication process.

My favorite time of the year has finally arrived. Adar! As an added bonus this year there are two Adars. So you may be asking yourself why I like Adar so much. I’m a big believer in Simcha, and in Adar, Mishenichnas Marbim B’Simcha! That’s not the only reason of course. I love Purim, Shalach Manos, Hamantashen, Purim Music, Groggers, Megilas Esther and probably my favorite part of Adar – my birthday. This year though my birthday comes before Purim because of the leap year and the fact that I was born in a leap year on Adar Alef.

The next order of business today is to talk a bit about Benny Friedman’s album. I just helped Benny install his fancy shmancy new blog, and I was thinking to myself, why should he be the only one giving away all the secrets,

I can’t say too much, because Benny, Avi (Newmark) and myself all made a secret special handshake agreement not to give away too many juicy details. (Not really, but it sounds good.) This album is really starting to take on a personality of its own. We have 6 songs for sure, a whole lot of maybes, and more material still coming in. Moshe Laufer has now also been attached to the project, and that’s really exciting. We have heard a lot of really amazing songs from so many different composers. It has got to the point that we are turning songs down “great” songs, because we’re finding songs that are even better.

I know I am biased because I’m working with Avi and Benny, but I’m very confident in the product thats being created. We have only just begun, by the time this over maybe Benny and I can convince Avi to also start a blog. I believe it will be fun to read back on this blog after the album comes out. Everything changes so quickly, sometimes we sit on a song for 6 weeks, others 6 hours.

That’s all for now, I’ve rewritten this a bunch of times, because I wrote to much each time. I hope to keep this up on a semi frequent basis.

As far as the designing aspect of Jewish music. Keep an eye out over the next 2 months for a truckload of new work from me. Starting Monday with the Gabay 2 cover.

Kol Tov,

Sruly