Author: Jody Whitesides

  • Slowed-Down Songs, Atmos Mixing, and Creative Grit: A Deep Dive Into My Latest Release Cycle

    Slowed-Down Songs, Atmos Mixing, and Creative Grit: A Deep Dive Into My Latest Release Cycle

    Some say that patience is a virtue. There is a portion of a release made almost 2 weeks ago that is holding up that release (meaning the Atmos version of Delicate Stretch of the Seems). Learning that dental implants can take up to a year. And that I may have a new tradition with releases, like last week’s release and the one coming. This past week has been slowed-down in so many ways.

    Despite taking Dolby’s online course and learning all I could about mixing and mastering for Atmos, it’s still in my beta-testing phase – so to speak. One of the songs off the Delicate Stretch of the Seems album held up the release past the release date. Somehow in the transferring of the files to the distributor it lost all it’s metadata. That has been rectified, but they still haven’t given me a time frame as to the day it will release the album. Will have to wait.

    For those that have never broken a tooth, I commend you. I tend to have more than a few stories of broken teeth, most of them mine. I suppose it’s a by-product of being overly active in life and less than lucky of putting a mouth in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    I’m in the midst of getting an implant or two to replace ones that broken in very unfortunate ways. Meaning below the gum-line and unable to be crowned. Extraction is not a pleasant process. And implants don’t get done in a single day. I’m looking at months of waiting and as someone who really enjoys food, eating it right now is a very different endeavor. I’ll say “I can’t wait until I have those implants.” but reality is, I have to.

    This week I unveil the 3rd alternate release of Delicate Stretch of the Seems. Or at least it was supposed to be the 3rd alternate. Delicate Stretch of the Seems (Slowed Down) is this week’s announcement. Much like last week’s sped up version, this stems from those fringe types that would rather hear things feeling like a dirge.

    Again this is a response to things on Social Media, like TikTok. Knowing that people will do this to the music is kinda depressing. Maybe that is the point. They’re feeling down and want to express it with songs they know. Thus now there is a much longer slower version of all 15 of these songs. You will need patience to get thru them.

    Stay tuned, there will be more.

  • Inside the Tech Trend Behind My New Release: The Story of “Delicate Stretch of the Seems (Sped Up)”

    Inside the Tech Trend Behind My New Release: The Story of “Delicate Stretch of the Seems (Sped Up)”

    Just when you think you’ve seen or hear it all. Maybe even when you think you’ve done it all or failed to do so… Along comes a little spark and change that can make a difference. Such is the change about to hit later this week with the release of Delicate Stretch of the Seems (Sped Up).

    If you’re like me, you might be asking yourself, what the fuck is up with the “(Sped Up)” portion on the end of the title?!?

    Call it a chance to control the TikTok trend that has come to the forefront of music sharing and or use. Where it’s popular now to take a track and speed it up a few percentage points in order to get more of the song into a TikTok, or Instagram Reel, or whatever other short form video there is.

    Delicate Stretch of the Seems (Sped Up) cover art.

    My overactive brain decided I’d like to head that off at the pass. Meaning, I’d create the sped up version for those crafty “6-7” lovers. Which not only benefits them, it will benefit me.

    It takes a little getting used to hearing your work tweaked out like a bat-out-of-hell on cocaine and ‘roids while smashing a dirty soda. One of advancing years may say “shit that sounds like the fuckin Chipmonks!” Which wouldn’t be far off the plank. Hence the title Delicate Stretch of the Seems (Sped Up).

    Much to my chagrin, after I’ve heard a few of them several times, it’s grown on me like a fungus. I can tolerate it without tossing my last meal back into my mouth. No, they won’t be released in Atmos – that would be serious overkill. Besides there isn’t a person on earth that could truly appreciate a high speed version of Coming Home in Atmos. It would cause your brain to melt like a threat from Darth Vader coming from the planet Vulcan.

    More news is on the horizon. Gonna hold off until it’s fully tested. Thus, come on back at the same bat time, same bat channel.

  • Reinvention: The Independent Journey Behind “Delicate Stretch of the Seems”

    Reinvention: The Independent Journey Behind “Delicate Stretch of the Seems”

    Culminations. This week is the culmination of a bunch of audio work. Specifically on some remixes of my first album I ever put out. Delicate Stretch of the Seems was originally released under the name Amalgam. But the release is obviously not.

    Long time ago, in a musical universe far far away…

    There was a young man who wrote a bunch of songs and worked on putting a power-trio together. When I did that, I originally felt it was better to use a band name. The name I chose was Amalgam. Yes there was a meaning behind it. The concept of many things rolled into one.

    The idea was to be able to run with any type of music and still sound like that band. A couple of great examples would be Queen, and RUSH. They always managed to sound like themselves no matter what they did – the musical DNA was too strong. I had this notion that Amalgam would do that to, kinda like how Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails as the mouthpiece.

    The record labels felt the music was every bit like that and more, but the time had swiftly changed and while they loved the music, it wasn’t what they felt they could sell. Yes, that was powerful rejection early on. Someone I still decided to forge on.

    Delicate Stretch of the Seems modern cover art

    Those initial recordings done on equipment owned by my roommate, Jeff Scott Soto, eventually became my first full fledged CD and a true independent release. Mixed on tech that was cutting edge for the time, which helped forge the sound. Crazy.

    Even crazier was being able to obtain distribution and getting in stores with an impending tour. Everything was looking up. Then it all came crashing down.

    In the aftermath, Jeff said something to the effect of: Dude, you’re doing all the work, you should just use your name. Which is why all subsequent releases were using my name.

    Here’s the full circle, I’m re-releasing this early release under my name so as to not confuse people with another band called Amalgam. They are likely defunct at this point as well. Though I will say, they were good chaps in that they reached out to ask me if they could use the name when I no longer was. I said sure.

    Thus, if you’re reading this, you can purchase the entire album for the first time digitally in full studio quality WAV format. Or you could listen on Friday on your favorite streaming service. Obviously I’d prefer you did the former. Especially since it sounds so much better and it’s in 48k/32bit file format.

    What a long strange road it’s been. What a wild year 2026 will be as well. Stay tuned.