Category: Song Writing

RPM Challenge Day Four

Last night I started song #4. It uses the ancient riff I’ve been talking about for the last four days. I had it sketched out before I went to bed, but tonight I added an organ part to it.

When I was satisfied with song #4 I started playing with new ideas. I wanted to keep noodling with the organ sound so I stayed with that. I also wanted an odd time signature so I set the GarageBand project to 5/4 time. I ended up with a 5th song project, but I’m not happy with it. I forced it tonight. It didn’t come to me the way the good ones do. I dragged it out of my head, kicking and screaming and the end results will show that. I didn’t outright dump it. Not yet at least.

I am working on RPM and FAWM at the same time, as always. RPM needs 10 songs, FAWM needs 14. I think I have two that are destined to be FAWM only (songs 2 and 5). I’ll finish them for the project’s sake, but I don’t see them being anything I’d listen to again. Last year I managed to like everything I had enough to put it on the RPM CD. There was one that I was on the fence with until the last minute, but something made me keep it. In 2012 I had 15 songs (FAWM, leap year style) and only used 13 on the CD. At this rate I’ll be lucky to end up with 10 songs that I don’t hate.

New Playlist

Here’s that four song playlist I said I’d be putting up on bandcamp. I have no idea why it’s only pulling in the first song. I’m too frustrated and pissed off to figure it out now.

Oh wait, I think I figured it out. Duh. Robbie es Moron.

Music Projects

I have been loading music to my bandcamp.com site (please please please do not buy any music from me). I have taken my two projects from this past March-October and declared them complete… even though they aren’t actually as complete as I had hoped.

I took all of the leftover songs from past projects and collected them into this album:

I took my re-recording old songs project and shut it down… well… I actually split it into two projects. One band Mike and I had played in for a while recorded four songs at Northeast Broadcasting School. I have already re-recorded three of them. I decided that the next thing I work on will be the fourth of those songs, and then I’ll put them together as an EP sort of thing. That means that the other 10 songs can be called a complete project:

There are still more unfinished songs, but they will be added to yet a fourth pointless project. Fun, fun, fun.

The Seventh and Final Crappy Song

That’s seven songs written, recorded, and mixed. All within the month of November. Look at that kids, I’ve finished NaSoAlMo!

I re-recorded just about all of this crappy song today. The one thing that wasn’t changed was the vocal. Of course, the one thing that needs to be redone is the vocal. Figures. Anyway, it sucks and I don’t care.

I’ve got an hour and a half left in the month. I am going to try to splice this garbage into a 33 minute suite thing. Yippee.

Crazy

This has been the craziest busy day ever. Everyone seems to be cramming a full weeks worth of crazy into one day.

I started mixing another song last night but decided I would be better served by sleeping. Good thinking on my part.

So The Walking Dead… I knew they were working on a spin off, but I thought it would be all new characters somewhere else in the world. I didn’t think it would be just about The Governor, and I didn’t think it was replacing the original show. Did the main cast need a vacation or something? Two weeks in a row of side story. I’m ready for the main story arc to come back now. Hell, I was ready seven days ago. That being said, the crazier that character gets the more fun he is.. and he’s getting pretty crazy again.

The Bruins play the Penguins tonight in a happy playoff rematch. Remember how the Penguins were heavily favored and then got swept by the Bruins? Remember that? Do you think his Bruins teammates let Jarome Iginla forget that for even a second? Tonight is a match up between the two top teams in the East. I probably won’t watch much, but I might catch some on the radio. There are just so many things going on right now.

I had planned to finish up the last two or three songs worth of guitar parts today but I watched zombie television instead. The whole project this month is completely disorganized. I don’t even know how many songs are left to finish. After the big chunk of work I did on Friday, I expect it to get finished on time. I just don’t feel very good about the whole thing. My guitar playing has been so bad it’s painful. It’s painful to listen to, and it’s painful to play. My finger tips are still burning from Friday. My playing has been bad enough to take a lot of the fun out of this. If I don’t keep practicing between now and February I might not do RPM. I mean, I know I suck but at least when I’m at my best I can fool myself into thinking I don’t suck too bad. I can’t do that right now.

Music Projects

I want to do NaSoAlMo next month, but I’ve got the bug to do some recording right now. I can’t though, I can’t use up any ideas too early, can I?

Urgh.

Anyway, this song got some attention on alonetone this week. I wonder if I should re-record it.

NaSoAlMo

Every January I get psyched up for the RPM Challenge in February, and for the last two years I’ve actually finished. Every October I get psyched up for National Solo Album Month in November and I lose interest after a day or two.

Why? It’s essentially the same project. Why can’t I keep my focus through both? I don’t know.

This piece of crap is the only thing I’ve ever started during a NaSoAlMo that has ever been finished. Of course it wasn’t finished on time.

/%20

I have this vague idea of doing something with all of the rhythm guitar parts being played on my 12-string, but the action is so high on that guitar that playing is painful. I don’t think I would get very far.

I want to do it. Maybe I will. I don’t know. Maybe. We’ll see.

Early Morning Visit

Look who came out for a visit this morning.

HipstaPrint

The rest of this post is yet another music home demo recording nerd post.

I have three songs in the works right now.  Thanks to the acoustic guitar that suddenly needs a new nut (uh oh) and the leaky, mostly out of tune sax, one of them is ready to be mixed.  A second is missing just a lead guitar.  The third still needs all guitars and vocals.  That one might not get finished until next week.

So I seem to be on a pretty quick pace right now.  I have posted four songs since March 1st, which followed the 14 from February.  My free soundcould account is going to run out of room again.  That means this year’s RPM will get deleted and all of those previous posts that include embeded soundcloud files will lose their audio.  Oh well.  I think I might make a new page for playlists of recent music.  I will use bandcamp to host the playlists, and keep soundcloud for works in progress kinda things.

I’ve also decided that the four songs I have finished this month, and two of the three I’m playing around with now do not belong with the left over songs project.  I started a new playlist for the re-recorded songs.  That is meaningless to everyone on Earth except me, but what are ya gonna do, right?

I will take my lunch break at 1:00.  My MacBook and my Les Paul are ready and waiting to finish tracking another song.  I might be posting two new ones tonight.  We’ll see.

Finished

The 2013 RPM Challenge album is finished.  Or at least as finished as it will ever be.  I’m done, I’m toast, I’m fried.

I was debating on whether or not to drop one of the 14 songs.  I came close.  Last year I actually dropped two.  This year… ah screw it, I’ll keep ’em all.

I kinda think its kinda cute that you have to wait until track three to hear 4/4 time.  Neat, huh?

Here’s the soundcloud.com playlist:

Here’s a link to what I consider the “official” home of all of my stuff, alonetone.com.  Unfortunately the WordPress.com police won’t let me embed alonetone’s playlist.  If they did, you’d never see a soundcloud playlist ever.

(just for snitzengiggle’s let’s try embedding it and see what happens…  Nothing, just as I expected)

I need to head out tonight and get a disc in a jewel case and a padded envelope so I can mail this sucker into headquarters tomorrow.  I also need to find the design a CD cover website I used last year and then print it out at work tomorrow (when no one is looking).  Then if I can drop it in a mailbox tomorrow it will be on its way.

RPM Day 21

So I recorded vocals for three songs today.  One of them is sort of okay.  The other two sound… just… awful!

So I now have vocals recorded for seven of the 14 songs, but two or three are unacceptably bad.  I have to do those again.  At least I have lyrics and melodies already.  Monday is the big day for vocals.  I took a vacation day and will spend the whole day on RPM/FAMW.  I hope to at least have all of the vocals finished by the time my wife comes home from work on Monday.  I will try to get the lead guitar parts on the five songs that have some form of vocal between now and then.

We’ll see.