Navigating the MCAP
July 1, 2012 Leave a comment
I recently received an email from Alanna Lin checking in on status of the MCAP. What is the MCAP you ask? This handy acronym she coined stands for Monk Concept Album Process. Before we worked together, I had no idea what I was doing was part of any sort of process that deserved an acronym. But there it is. The MCAP. The MCAP starts with what I call a ‘demo review process.’
I started to do the demo review after having grown tired of hearing criticism that would come from my friends after an album was released. What was I supposed to do? Rerecord the album? By doing a demo review, I’d let them tear them apart my half-baked ideas before I started working on the final tracks. After I finished the album, they’d get to say that they had some claim to the final product and I’d end up with stronger songs.
During Emergency Songs, Alanna became part of the MCAP without being fully aware of what she was getting herself into. It was the first time I had ever had another person up in my MCAP. On several occasions she pointed out that the way I go about creating music is pretty unique. I was flattered.
For the new project I’m working on, the MCAP was required of all collaborators involved on the album. I was temped to used the acronym YSSWDYTOMCAP- Your Song Sucks What Do You Think Of Mine Concept Album Process. It felt a little long though. I instead called it an ‘internal demo review process.’
I used google docs to compile the data which produced pretty pie charts, spreadsheets, and graphs of data telling me how much the songs sucked. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been meeting with the collaborators to go over the reviews and lay down the building blocks of what will eventually become the final album. It has been quite interesting to see how each person reacts to critical feedback. Some have done better with it than others. I pretend each collaborator is the president and I’m an advisor with a handful of expert advice. We navigate the treacherous waters of the MCAP together to produce the all mighty scratch track.
Drums will be tracked mid-July. Here we go again…
About Monk Turner
