Here’s one of the songs I finished today.  I started this a day or two before we left for Florida but I never got a chance to add the guitars.  I was able to carve out enough time to do it today.

It’s goofy… I own three Gibson guitars.  This song used them all.  The rhythm guitar is my 1979 ES 335 Pro, the melody/solo coming mostly out of your left speaker is my 2018 SG Standard, and the melody/solo coming mostly out of your right speaker is my 1978 Les Paul Custom.

Silly, but fun.

I took a picture of each guitar too but one of them didn’t make it to Flickr and I don’t know why.  It’s on my phone, but my phone is in the other room so you’ll just have to wait.

I just posted this to the RPM Challenge website:

Everything that I can do while on vacation in Florida has been done.  Nine electric songs mixed, seven acoustic songs mixed, six of those seven acoustic songs’ alternate versions mixed.

I have a few songs worth of guitars still to do once I get home on Saturday.  Every guitar part I have done this year has been played through a pair of amplifiers (one Fender Bassbreaker 15 and one Fender Bassbreaker 18/30 at 18 watts) and the 18/30 is a seriously loud little bastard.  I have been playing it with the volume set as low as I can get it and still produce a sound.  The 15 watt guy needs to get cranked a bit in order to keep up.

Last Saturday I tried to pick off the last three songs worth of guitars but my family had reached their limit and told me to shut up (in the most polite, supportive way possible).  I got pissy and shut it all down.  On Saturday I am going to finish those damned songs using just the 15 watt amp so that I don’t deafen my family.  I have leads to add to one of the acoustic songs, and leads to add to one of the electric songs.  The last thing is an instrumental idea that needs rhythm and two leads.  I want to finish all three, mix them, and then sequence the album, including figuring out which songs need to be dropped.  I think two or three electric songs need to go.  I don’t know if any of the acoustic songs are bad enough to eliminate, but one might be.  We’ll see.

Everything I can do in my hotel room is done.  Saturday is the final day of the month so it will be musical crunch time.

For now though… sleeeeeeeep

from my RPM Challenge account:

I have 10 songs mixed, so I should be breathing a sigh of relief.  Nope, I’m more stressed than ever.

Revised to do list:

Song #7 needs lead guitar.

Song #15 needs bass and drums.

Song #18 needs lead guitar.

Song #19 needs rhythm guitar and two lead guitars… because I started working on it yesterday.  It’s going to be an instrumental though, so no hiding where no one can hear me sing necessary.

No need to freak out… but still freaking out.  Going on vacation at 4:00am tomorrow.  All tracking needs to be done by bed time tonight.

Freakin’ out.

Note, I put the hash tag into the title of this post so that it will show up in Twitter.  That’s the only reason.  I’m a nerd.  What can you do.

Did I mention that for some idiotic reason I started a couple of new songs today?  Well I’ve finished one of them already.

When I woke up there was a dumb strummy little riff in my head.  It was a telecommute day so I was able to record it and turn it into a whole (kinda lame) song.  I recorded all of the rhythm guitars to a basic guide drum track.  At lunch time I wrote the lyrics and the melody and recorded the vocals and the lead guitar.  After work I replaced the midi drums with a GarageBand drummer and I added the midi bass.  In the hour or so before bed I mixed it and uploaded it everywhere.

Its not a very good song, but it’s kinda cool to go from nothing to finished over the course of a single day.  I did the same with another new song but didn’t get a chance to add the drums and bass or do a mix.  Everything that requires a microphone is done.  There is a third new song that is just bass, drums, and a piano melody with some lyrics.  I’m hoping I can get all of the recording for that one done before work in the morning.  There is also one other song that still needs a lead guitar.  Fingers crossed I get both songs finished before I have to leave for work.

I think this is the sixth song I’ve finished.  Yeah, I have seven files and two of them are different versions of the same song, so that leave six.  Yeah.  I think the running time is up to round 19 minutes too.

I’m liking the guitar sounds.  The rhythm used the Klon KTR and I’m in tonal love.  The lead is the KTR after a Big Muff clone (Wren and Cuff Tri Pi ’70) and it’s just filthy and wonderful.

I think I knew what the lyrics were about at some point, but I don’t remember.

The RPM Challenge website is down.  Raise your hand if you’re panicking.

(Robbie slowly, timidly raises a panicked hand)

ADDENDUM:

I forgot to click publish on this post and went ahead and mixed the seventh song before I realized it.  So you get a bonus song in this post!  Aren’t you happy?  Free stuff!

This one is… meh.  Enough said.