RAVEN ROAD PROJECT
August 2025

GIRL
LOVE'S A GIFT
REGRET
EVERY YESTERDAY
FOREVER AND ALWAYS
AGAWEXA
I'M FALLIN' FOR YOU
RAVEN ROAD
COUNTIN' TELEPHONE POLES
BREAK MY HEART IN TWO
I DON'T KNOW WHY
SIDEWAYS (LOVE LIGHT)
KEVIN'S RECORDING SESSION 12/17/25
KEVIN'S RECORDING SESSION 1/28/26
KEVIN'S FINAL CHECK

KEVIN’S FINAL CHECK LIST

1. “Agawexa 2-9-26 mp3”

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2. “Forever And Always 12-18-25.mp3”

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3. “Every Yesterday 2-6-26.mp3”

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4. “Regret 2-13-26.wav”

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5. “Love’s A Gift 2 12-18-25.mp3”

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6. “I Don’t Know Why 2-6-26B.mp3”

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7. “Girl 1-31-26.mp3”

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KEVIN’S RECORDING SESSION 1/28/26

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“Girl 1-31-26.mp3”

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“I Don’t Know Why 1-31-26.mp3”

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“Agawexa 1-31-26.mp3”

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KEVIN’S RECORDING SESSION 12/17/25

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“Girl”

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“Love’s A Gift”

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“Regret”

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“Every Yesterday”

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“Forever And Always”

“I’M FALLIN’ FOR YOU”

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Saturday – 2/21/26

This is mix: “I’m Fallin’ For You 2 2-21-26.wav”

  1. I tweaked the lyrics
  2. I re-recorded the lead vocal and double-tracked it.
  3. I added piano
  4. I froze all the tracks.

Wednesday – 2/18/26

This is mix: “I’m Fallin’ For You 2-18-26.wav”

  1. I redid the drum track
  2. Put claps on every beat of bridges (1-2-3-4) as opposed to 2 & 4 on the verses.
  3. Made other minor tweaks too numerous to list.

Tuesday – 2/17/26

This is mix: “I’m Fallin’ For You 2-17-26.wav”

  1. I added 3-part harmony starting with verse 2.
  2. Added hand claps
  3. Added bass guitar slide and snare pickup at very beginning.
  4. Added a compressor on bass
  5. Put phase shift widener on hand claps

Saturday – 2/14/26

This is mix: “I’m Fallin’ For You 2-14-26.wav”

  1. I wrote this today (2/14/26), and this is the basic structure. I’m thinking I’ll change the melody slightly, but I’m pretty sure the lyrics are done. I will also add some piano and possibly some harmonies. I’m pretty sure I’ll be changing the drums also.
  2. This was mastered with the “Thick and Low” preset in Ozone.
  3. I might back off just a tad on the low EQ of my voice.

“AGAWEXA”

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Monday – 2/9/26

This is mix: “Agawexa 2-9-26.mp3”

  1. I added a tympani percusion on tag (along with a couple bass slides.)
  2. I tweaked the second (or was it third) vocal harmony on “Agawexa” on the tag.

Sunday, 1/25/26

This is mix: “Agawexa 1-25-26.mp3”

“SIDEWAYS (LOVE LIGHT)”

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Saturday – 2/28/26

This is mix: “Love Light alt 2-28-26.wav”

  1. Brought up background harmonies
  2. Cleaned up intro
  3. Cleaned up lead vocal (smacks, pops, etc.)
  4. Mixed / panned guitar parts
  5. Dropped out tremolo guitar in first two measures of intro.
  6. Added plate reverb to new drum track
  7. Brought lead vocal up .5 dB
  8. Added light compression to bass guitar
  9. Other tweaks too numerous to list.

Friday – 2/27/26

This is mix: “Love Light alt 2-27-26.wav”

  1. This is a completely new mix from the ground up.

Thursday – 2/26/26

This is mix: “Love Light 2 2-26-26B.wav”

Monday, 1/19/26

This is mix: “Love Light SoundID 1-19-26.mp3”

  1. Tightened up the acoustic guitar initial strum at beginning.
  2. Added a slide on the acoustic bass leading into 2nd chorus.
  3. Tightened up drums in choruses
  4. Redid vocal entrance on first chorus.

Friday, 1/16/26

This is mix: “Love Light SoundID 1-16-26.mp3”

  1. Redid bass from intro through verse 3 (put acoustic bass from VI.ONE)
  2. Added hand claps to choruses
  3. Removed open high-hat on intro

Wednesday, 1/14/26

This is mix: “Love Light SoundID 1-14-26.mp3”

  1. I touched up the lead vocal.
  2. I added more tracks of harmony vocals to the choruses.
  3. I added a couple acoustic guitar (Ibanez AC340) licks to the 4th verse.
  4. Added electric guitar lick at the very end on chorus tag.

Sunday, 1/11/26

This is mix: “Love Light 1-11-26.mp3”

  1. Added background vocals to chorus

Friday, 1/9/26

This is mix: “Love Light 1-9-26.mp3”

  1. Cleaned up the drum track the choruses
  2. Added acoustic bass to verse 4 and took out several parts.
  3.  EQed Ibanez acoustic guitar, cleaned up the rhythm on the choruses and brought up level in verses
  4. Added “fruit basket” percussion in verse 4
  5. Added dithering in Ozone.

Thursday, 1/8/26

This is mix: “Love Light 1-8-26.mp3”

“I DON’T KNOW WHY”

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Friday, 2/6/26

This is mix: “I Don’t Know Why 2-6-26B.mp3”

  1. Added guitar/Rhodes lick to ending
  2. Changed locations of castenets
  3. Brought up harmony vocals

Thursday, 2/5/26

This is mix: “I Don’t Know Why 2-5-26.mp3”

  1. Added 3-part harmony to chorus
  2. Tweaked the drum track
  3. Took out annoying guitar lead in 4th verse and replaced with annoying Rhodes Piano fill.

Tuesday, 2/3/26

This is mix: “I Don’t Know Why 2-3-26.mp3”

  1. Added fingerpicking Morgan acoustic for verse 1 and 2.
  2. Added Morgan acoustic lead (along with Fender Rhodes in interlude)
  3. Mixed out drums and piano in verses 1 and 2.
  4. Added Fender Rhodes to overall mix.
  5. Added vocal harmony to choruses.
  6. Took bass out of the 1st verse.

Friday, 1/16/26

This is mix: “I Don’t Know Why 1-16-26.mp3”

  1. I dialed back the “busy-ness” on the choruses of the drum track
  2. I got rid of the 7th chords in the chorus
  3. I put a ritard on the end
  4. I EQed the castanets at the beginning (more highs, less lows) 

Sunday, 12/28/25

This is mix: “I Don’t Know Why 12-28-25.mp3”

  1. Added acoustic guitar (Morgan)
  2. Did minor mixing holding off piano until 2nd verse.
  3. Putting in minor lead fills in verse 4 and final chorus

Monday, 12/29/25

This is mix: “I Don’t Know Why 12-29-25.mp3”

  1. I finished lead lick in verse 4 (Ibanez electric)
  2. I added acoustic lead part in Intro (Morgan acoustic.)
  3. I added series of acoustic guitar strums during Intro and Verse 1.
  4. I added some percussion right after the first acoustic guitar lick in Intro. 
  5. I’m debating if I should redo drum part.

“COUNTIN’ TELEPHONE POLES”

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Friday – 2/13/26

This is mix: “Countin’ Telephone Poles 2-13-26 edit.wav”

  1. Remixed from the DAW – boosting GAIN on Harm 1, 2, 3 from 0 to 2.3 dB and changed panning from center-ish to hard left & right.
  2. Imported into Audio Cleaning Lab and did the re-edit there (changing to V1, V2, C2, V3, V4, C1, C3)
  3. Used mastering preset “Thick and Low” instead of “High Detail Wide.”
  4. Exported as a WAV will use this as the final mix in: Music > Agawexa project final mixes

Thursday – 2/12/26

This is mix: “Countin’ Telephone Poles 2-12-26.wav”

  1. I put on six tracks of background harmonies on the choruses. three tracks of mine and three tracks of VoiceAI (modeled after my own voice.)
  2. This structure is: V1, C1, V2, C2, V3, V4, C3, tag. I will edit this WAV in Audio Cleaning Lab and change the structure to: V1, V2, C2, V3, V4, C1, C3, tag.

Wednesday – 2/11/26

This is mix: “Countin Telephone Poles 2-11-26.mp3”

  1. Fine-tuned vocal with Melodyne.

Friday, 11/14/25

This is mix: “Countin’ Telephone Poles 11-14-25.wav”

  1. Touched up a few vocal spots
  2. Added lead guitar licks (Ibanez GRX20-JB electric guitar thru TH-1 Overloud processor) at first interlude, 4th verse, third interlude and final chord at very end. 

Thursday, 11/13/25

This is mix: “Countin’ Telephone Poles 11-13-25.mp3”

  1. Re-recorded vocal track
  2. Rewrote some of the lyrics
  3. Touched up bass intro
  4. Added lead guitar on intro and during interludes
  5. Used “Thick ‘n Low” mastering preset in Isotope 11
  6. Dropped out percussion in Interludes.

Sunday, 11/9/25

This is mix: “Countin’ Telephone Pole 11-9-25.mp3”

  1. Noticed yesterday’s vocal was panned slightly off center. Centered it.
  2. Redid some vocal parts as well as changed some lyrics.
  3. Added 2nd Ibanez acoustic guitar in verse 4 – panned opposite original acoustic guiar part.
  4.  Put compressor on bass
  5. Added slight reverb to drum track.
  6. Panned Ibanez acoustic to center at intro.
  7. Cut all instruments out of verse 4 except the two acoustic guitars.

Saturday, 11/8/25

This is mix: “Countin’ Telephone Poles 11-8-25.mp3”

“REGRET”

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Friday – 3/27/26

This is mix: “Regret 2 3-27-26.wav”

  1. Added Hall Reverb to both acoustic guitar & vocal
  2. Removed reverb from acoustic guitar starting at Verse 2 and then added it back in on the Outro.

Thursday – 3/26/26

This is mix: “Regret 2 3-26-26.wav”

  1. Added “s” on “names” at end. 
  2. Fixed “Something” in bridge
  3. Dropped drums, bass, piano out of intro and just kept acoustic guitar (added bass on Verse 1, added drums & piano on Verse 2)
  4. Edited out steel in a couple of spots.
  5. Touched up bass on bridge
  6. Did some additional pitch correction

Wednesday – March 25, 2026

This is mix “Regret 2 3-25-26.wav”

  1. Pitch corrected vocal
  2. Added sibilance to vocal
  3. EQed piano & acoustic picking
  4. Put Soothe2 dynamic EQ on steel guitar

Sunday – 3/22/26

This is mix: “Regret 3-22-26D.wav”

Friday – 2/13/26

This is mix: “Regret 2-13-26.wav”

  1. Melodyned Kevy Evy
  2. Added some reverb to the lead guitar plus boosted the gain from 0 to 2.3 dB

Sunday 12/21/25

This is mix: “Regret 12-21-25.mp3”

  1. I added Rhodes (with tremolo from TH3) instrumental before bridge.
  2. Tweaked the intro
  3. Tweaked the ending (outro) and ritard
  4. Hi-Mid Hype preset in Ozone for mastering

“LOVE’S A GIFT”

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“GIRL”

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Monday – 3/16/26

This is mix: “Girl 3-16-26.wav”

  1. Added Waves Equator to vocal tracks 
  2. Changed Soothe2 to “De-esser and that’s that” preset to vocal track
  3. Changed reverb to: Plate
  4. Added TDR Nova to vocal track to scoop out some of the low mids.
  5. Dropped out piano 1 on piano solo (and brought back in after solo) Dialed back reverb on piano solo.
  6. Backed off compression on lead vocal.
  7. Changed Sonitus Multi-band limiter from -2dB to -3dB
  8. Used Ozone “Master Bus – soft clip” preset

Sunday 12/21/25

This is mix: “Girl 12-21-25.mp3”

  1. I added background harmonies to bridge
  2. Hi-Mid Hype preset in Ozone for mastering
  3. Dialed back reverb on Kevin’s vocal
  4. Got rid of some background noise on Ibanez guitar track

Saturday, 12/20/25

This is mix: “Girl 12-20-25B.mp3”

  1. Added a piano instrumental after verse 3 (before the last bridge)
  2. Added strings to last bridge and continued to the end
  3. Worked on the ritard at end some more.
  4. Backed off reverb on lead vocal and did some EQing on vocal track.
  5. Dialed back bass

Sunday, 11-2-25

This is mix: “Girl 11-2-25.mp3”

  1. Added Addictive Drums 2 for Hal Blaine beat
  2. Added Ibanez AC340 acoustic for rhythm guitar
  3. Added Ibanez electric guitar for “funky” fills

“FOREVER AND ALWAYS” (“SHE NEVER TOLD ME”)

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Monday – 3/23/26

This is mix: “Forever And Always 3-23-26D.wav”

Tuesday – 3/10/26

This is mix: “Forever And Always 3-10-26.wav”

  1. Put snare in after interlude (actually, the drum track had changed to a rim shot at that point, but it seemed like the “snare dropped out,” so I replaced the rim shot with the same snare sound that had preceded that point.)
  2. Added Ibanez electric guitar starting on Chorus 3 to end.
  3. Boosted Ibanez electric guitar during 1st interlude from -3.0dB to -0.7dB then back to -3.0dB at Verse 3 then up to -1.9dB at Chorus 3.
  4. Added Autotune (instrument setting) to Ibanez electric guitar track to tighten up tuning.
  5. Fixed various click and buzzes on Ibanez electric guitar track.
  6. Used Thick And Low Ozone preset.
  7. Will use Ozone preset: Legacy > Clean Low End on eventual sequenced songs for album in Audio Cleaning Lab.

Monday – 3/9/26

This is mix: “Forever And Always 3-9-26.wav”

  1. Added drum intro
  2. Pitch corrected lead vocal
  3. Added a delay on Kevin’s lead vocal starting on Chorus 2.
  4. Added an instrumental break after first chorus consisting of: a) Electric piano (panned right) and b) GRX20-JB electric guitar  through TH-1 (panned left.)
  5. Added three-part backing harmonies starting on Chorus 2.

Sunday – 3/8/26

This is mix: “Forever And Always 3-8-26.wav”

Saturday – 3/7/26

This is mix: “Forever And Always 3-7-26B.wav”

  1. Brought up low EQ on vocal
  2. dialed back the reverb on lead vocal
  3. dialed back the compression on lead vocal

Thursday, 12/11/25

This is mix: “She Never Told Me 12-11-25.mp3”

  1. I completely re-did the drum track
  2. Polished up the piano track
  3. Re-did the ending

Tuesday, 10/7/25

This is mix: “She Never Told Me sans vocal 10-7-25.mp3”

  1. Added Storia acoustic guitar
  2. Muted lead vocal but kept harmony vocal

Sunday, 10/5/25

This is mix: “She Never Told Me 10-5-25.mp3”

“BREAK MY HEART IN TWO”

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Saturday – 3/7/26

This is mix: “Break My Heart In Two 3-7-26.wav”

  1. Pitch corrected vocal
  2. Edited ending

Friday – 9/26/25

This is mix: “Break My Heart In Two 9-26-25.wav”

  1. Recorded background vocals
  2. Tweaked a hard “K” in the lead vocal.
  3. Tweaked the ending with a hard stop and drum fill.

Thursday – 9/25/25

This is mix: “Break My Heart In Two (background vocals) 9-25-25.mp3”

  1. Just Ibanez tremolo guitars (lead and rhythm)
  2. Lead vocal + three tracks of background vocals.

Sunday – 9/21/25

This is mix: “Break My Heart In Two 9-21-25.mp3”

  1. New lyrics and lead vocal
  2. Tweaked the ending some more (put the major 4 chord back in.)
  3. Tweaked the guitar solo.

Saturday – 9/20/25

This is mix: “Break My Heart In Two 9-20-25.mp3”

  1. I redid drum track (and added a small amount of room reverb)
  2. I redid vocal track
  3. lowered volume of bass (and added compression)
  4. changed the ending (got rid of the IV iv I. Went directly to I.

Friday – 9/19/25

This is mix: “Break My Heart In Two 9-19-25.mp3”

  1. Re-wrote lyrics
  2. Re-recorded lead vocal
  3. Put multiband limiter on master bus – set to Smooth with -2 dB limiter.
  4. Used “Center Focus” preset in Ozone 11

Thursday – 9/18/25

This is mix “Break My Heart In Two 9-18-25.mp3”

1. This is the first draft on the lyrics. Much of this will be re-written.

2. I’ve lots of harmony vocals planned.

3. Lead guitar part will be re-done.

“EVERY YESTERDAY”

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Sunday – 3/22/26

This is mix: “Every Yesterday 3-22-26.wav”

Friday – 2/6/26

This is mix: “Every Yesterday 2-6-26.mp3”

  1. Tuned up Kevy’s vocal.
  2. [   ] There are “phantom” voices that need to be removed.

Tuesday – 9/9/25

This is mix “Every Yesterday 9-9-25.wav”

  1. Added backing harmonies
  2. Added handclaps
  3. Cleaned up drum part
  4. Cleaned up bass part
  5. Redid vocal on bridge
  6. Redid vocal line on last verse
  7. Boosted acoustic guitar on intro
  8. Brought up volume level for the “Oh yeah’s” on the high voice at the end

Friday – 9/5/25

This is mix “Every Yesterday 9-5-25.wav”

  1. Dropped out all instruments and harmony vocal at beginning except bass and acoustic guitar – brought everything else in at first refrain.
  2. Dropped electric guitar rhythm in and out of mix in various places.
  3. Haven’t done any re-recording of vocals yet.
  4. [   ] Add handclaps
  5. [   ] Tweak drum part, i.e., take out loose high-hat.
  6. Softened up the glissando on intro of organ solo.

Thursday – 9/4/25

This is mix “Every Yesterday 9-4-25.wav”

“RAVEN ROAD”

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Thursday – 3/5/26

This is mix: “Raven Road -new vocal 3-5-26.wav”

  1. Touched up pitch on vocal
  2. Brought down organ at very end during the vocal tag.
  3. Added kick + ride cymbal + huge reverb after slide going into key change at the very end.
  4. Attenuated Soothe2 (rolled back dynamic knob) during the vocal tag at very end.
  5. Added Sonitus compression and Plate Reverb to drum track.
  6. Used Alternative preset in Ozone for mastering.

Tuesday – 3/3/26

This is mix: “Raven Road new vocal 3-3-26.wav”

  1. Redid the vocal
  2. Added piano during end interlude
  3. used CD Master mastering preset in Ozone.
  4. Did some minor editing with the percussion tracks

Monday – 3/2/26

This is mix: “Raven Road B2 3-2-26.wav”

  1. Refined interlude
  2. Added tag

Sunday – 3/1/26

This is mix: “Raven Road B2 3-1-26.wav”

  1. Lots of stuff – too tired right now to enumerate them all.

Sunday – 8/31/25

This is mix: “Raven Road B2 8-31-25 B.wav”

  1. Correct my intonation on the bridge.
  2. Backed off the compression on vocal.

Saturday – 8/30/25

This is mix: “Raven Road B2 8-30-25 B.wav”

  1. I switched vocal mics from the Shure SM-7 to the Behringer B-2
  2. I re-recorded the lead vocal
  3. I panned both the tambourine and the hand percussion to center and brought the tambourine’s volume level down.
  4. I dialed back the reverb on the vocal
  5. I lowered the volume on the drums 2 dB
  6. I put more compression on the lead vocal
  7. I added Soothe 2 to the vocal and froze the vocal track
  8. I put the TDR NOVA on the frozen vocal track with a plosive pre-set.

Thursday – 8/28/25

This is mix: “Raven Road SM-7 b de-buzzed.wav”

  1. I re-recorded the vocal using an SM7 instead of the AKG 414, ‘cuz Glyn Johns said I should.
  2. I put a hall reverb on the Wurly at the beginning instead of a plate reverb.
  3.  I placed the TDR Nova dynamic EQ on the vocal track set to minimize plosives.
  4. There is no fadeout on this, ‘cuz I’ll put the fadeout in the video (and eventually for the CD/streaming release.)

Tuesday – 8/26/25

This is mix: “Raven Road 8-26-25.wav”

“RAVEN ROAD” words & music Doug Koempel / 8/17/25

Saturday – 8/23/25

This is mix “Raven Road 8-23-25B.wav”

Friday – 8/22/25

This mix is “Raven Road Amin 8-22-25.wav”

Thursday – 8/21/25

This mix is “Raven Road 8-21-25.mp3”

  1. Rewrote lyrics
  2. Redid vocals
  3. Lowered hand percussion volume
  4. Tweaked vocal track with Melodyne

Wednesday – 8/20/25

This mix is “Raven Road 8-20-25.mp3”