What Next Musicwise?

All of the music for the RPM Challenge is complete. I need to burn a cd. Do I have a cd? I need to find a cd, then burn a cd, and then print out the cover (front and back! Fancy!). This year my beloved wife, the love of my life and woman of my dreams (I will never get tired of calling her those things. Swooooon) and I are going to drive to headquarters in Portsmouth, NH and hand deliver.

That leads to the inevitable post February musical question: What next?

Well for starters, I’m not going to do an RPM a month for the rest of the year, like I did last year. I’m also probably not going to take part in 50/90 again, though the jury is still out on that. What I was thinking of doing next is a little more complicated. First and foremost, the band takes precedence from this point on. No more recording when I’m supposed to be practicing. That doesn’t mean I’m done recording, it just means I’ll do it after practicing is done.

Second, I think it’s time to upgrade from GarageBand to Logic Pro X. It’s expensive, but it just seems time for something new, and being a total Apple nerd, that’s where I want to go next.

Finally, is it time to collect the highlights from 8+ years of home recording and make a best of album? Maybe, but it has to be something different. I figure 15–20 songs. I’ll record them the way I normally do, with midi bass, drums, and keys, and simulated amplifiers, but those will be scratch tracks. After everything is arranged correctly I’d bring my Marshal amp home after practices and replace the guitars with actual amplified noise. Next, maybe it’s time to bring Mike the Bass Player into the fold and let him replace the midi bass parts with the real thing. Maybe I could do the same with Greg the Lizardfish Singer. That would leave drums. I’d like to have Kevin the Lizardfish drummer replace the midi parts, but recording real drums is an absolute bitch of a process, not to mention the overwhelming majority of drummers puke at the thought of overdubbing drums onto an existing track. Neil Peart does it all the time, but he’s part genius, part human metronome, and part god on Earth. He’s the exception to say the least. I’m not sure that I’m up to the challenge of live drums. Technologically I know I’m not right now because I don’t have enough microphones, and I’d probably need a bigger USB audio interface.

Anyway, that’s what I’m thinking about.

Originally published at robj2112.wordpress.com on February 28, 2015.