The Makings of “Various Shades of Invisible Ink”

So I released my very first album called Various Shades of Invisible Ink on September 17, 2023. It’s available on all major streaming platforms.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/2wt5HfeOoLeTSixvVRjV4L?utm_source=generator

https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?si=1N88QwcgN-5Vqumc&list=OLAK5uy_mJIhH_vQy7odY7pWMwmJAIjJtUyP8xH_4

Various Shades of Invisible Ink holds a lot of meaning to me in that I fully composed and produced the whole thing end to end. I got to learn what goes into releasing an album and I’d like to share everything in as much detail as I can.

How did the whole thing come to be?

I have been playing guitar since I was a kid. I grew up listening to pretty much everything. My mom was classically trained musician who loved jazz, my best friend in middle school listened to all the old school rock, blah blah blah… I got to play a wider range of genre compared to most of the kids who picked up guitar at the same age. Fast forward 10+ years, I’ve stacked way too many riffs and songs encompassing wide range of genres in my head. Since my short term memory is abysmal, so maybe recording everything would be a good idea.

First ever photo I posted on Facebook circa 2014?

What did I want to achieve

Like every project I’ve ever worked on, this one too needed clear end goals.

First and foremost, I wanted to show who I am as a musician. Every musical choice I make must reflect what kind of music I listen to and love. Any audience should be able to understand ‘where’ I am coming from and ‘how’ I was interpreting the world of music.
Secondly, I wanted to learn everything that goes into making an album. I’ve nailed down the playing an instrument part but the rest have always been a black box. How do I record professionally, how do I mix a song, how do I master, etc… I want to learn it all.
Lastly, I simply wanted to have fun. Music is such a joy :D

Behind the Scene

Tools

Literally all the equipments I own. A mic, a guitar, a bass and an audio interface.

I have a very humble studio setup. The entire album was recorded on 2019 intel Macbook pro, Scarlet 2i2 2015, Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas 2015, and Squier Bass 2023. Drums and vocals (except for “Last of Days” - it was recorded on the Shure SM58 mic seen in the photo) were recorded by amazing artists on Fiverr. I mixed using ATH-M50X. Everything was recorded straight in Logic Pro X and I’ve only used its stock plugins to mix and master.

All my time besides working, exercising, and family time were spent on producing the album.

Songwriting

As aforementioned, I have had a decent amount of ideas stacked throughout the years. Some songs were pretty much ready to record right away, some needed polishing, some were just bare bone pieces of melody, rhythm or a riff. I’ve stitched pieces to what I thought was harmonically ‘right’, each section succeeding the previous section naturally.

The most difficult part was coming up with lyrics. I’ve never been a good writer nor a poet. ChatGPT wasn’t very helpful either.

I eventually improved with iteration. All the lyrics were inspired by every day life, random intrusive thoughts, and stuff I see on the internet.

ChatGPT’s attempt - WTF is this garbage

For the songs that I wrote the instrumental parts first, I’ve recorded the guitar, bass and simple drum tracks first with the considerations of vocal dynamics. Then I listened to those as a background music while working. I hummed to them all day and after work I recorded interesting melodies that came up.

Recording

I want to note that recording is very different from just playing an instrument. Even if you can rock people’s socks off at a concert, it doesn’t mean you’ll be good at recording. Not only do you have to be perfectly be on tempo (literally to the tee), you have to be able to play just to the metronome alone, you have to play your instruments with a consistent dynamic for 5 minutes straight if need be, and so on. Whatever you play must consider the context of the song: its dynamics, the balance among instruments, and the balance among instruments and vocals. It’s a tough art.