Roland Kay-Smith

I released my debut album, Sailing by the Stars, in January this year. With a new album under my belt and a swag of fresh songs to play to people, I set off up and down the east coast to ply my trade. I focused on performing, and agreed to every gig I was offered, big or small, solo or with band, audience or no audience. I hadn't written a song since I finished penning the album. I had no need, I had enough songs for a solid 50 minute set, and it would be sometime before I was ready to record again, for both financial and artistic reasons. But thing don't always work out the way you'd reckon...


L-R: Scott Bradbury (drums), Roland Kay-Smith (bass), and Paul Leadbetter (piano) after a hard day's tracking.

In June this year I was offered some free studio time at REC Studios in Sydney. REC Studios is the original 301 Studio, the oldest studio in Australia and the site of some legendary recordings. Needless to say, this is not an opportunity to turn down, even if you don't have any new songs to record.  With six weeks between the offer of studio time and the actual recording dates, I set about writing. I scribbled away until I had seven songs I felt worthy of being recorded. The songs were finished and I was very happy with them. Now I needed a band. I put the call in to the musicians who had helped me record my debut album. They were all available for the recording dates. Excellent. A few rehearsals later and we where tracking piano and drums in studio A at REC Studio. In the three free studio days I was allocated, we managed to lay down most of the music for seven tracks, and the vocals for three of the tracks. 


L-R: Jeff Pope (dobro, electric guitar, acoustic guitar) and engineer Stefan Du Randt in studio A. 

As part of the free studio time deal, the engineer, Stefan Du Randt, would mix, master and deliver one of the tracks we recorded. The track we chose to complete is called 'Oxazepam'. You can listen to it here and get a taste of how the new album will sound. 


TL;DR I've started recording a new album, but I need your help to finish it. Please help!

I estimate that about half of the recording is complete. To finish the album I need to track vocals on four songs, record percussion on two songs, mix six of them, and master seven of them. I'll also need to distribute the album digitally, and print up some CDs for promo and rewards.

Here's the financial breakdown: 

Studio: $500 per day x 6 days (3 days tracking, 3 days mixing) = $3,000
Mastering: $80 per song x 7 songs = $560
CD pressing: 100 CDs = $400
Digital distribution: $40

TOTAL = $4,000

The greatest challenge for myself is finding a way to make music financially sustainable. Recorded music is valued highly by many, but few will part with their hard-earned cash to own it. I understand that. I'm hoping that by crowdsourcing the funds to complete this project, people who would have bought my album anyway have a chance to contribute to its creation in a very real way. Also, I suspect that there are some people out there who may not usually purchase recorded music, but will be enthusiastic about assisting the pursuit of creative endeavours. 

Hopefully I can meet this target and make a sweet record for you guys!