Category: Song Writing

Another Day, Another Negative Test

That’s three days post-Covid exposure with a negative test. Let’s keep up the good work, shall we?

I ate a lot last night. I was kinda shocked at how I couldn’t stop myself. Today I had what is becoming a normal breakfast, a chicken patty and a supplemental protein bar, but I already had 50% of my liquid goal for the day before 8:00am. Is that bad? I don’t know. I hope to spread the second half of the goal out more as the day rolls on.

Music… there was no car music this morning. I have lyrics written for one song. I need at least three before driving to the movie theater parking lot is worth the effort. I hope to get to at least half of the 10 songs today so that I have a lot to do tomorrow. I want to have them all written and recorded by Tuesday. That will give me a week for leads and mixing.

As stated yesterday, the goal for today is to clean the hell out of the kitchen. Also, we put out some little catnip filled toys for the cats. I need to find them all and remove them from play. The two cats do not handle their drugs well. They get super aggressive toward each other when they are high on the ‘nip. That must be curtailed.

That’s the plan, kids. I believe today’s goals are achievable. Let’s see how it goes. Also, let’s try to watch Wakanda Forever, shall we? Yeah, happy Saturday.

More Guitars

My fingers are killing me.

I took the four songs that I had recorded on Wednesday using an amp sim and redid them using a real amp. Tube amps, babie. You can’t beat ’em.

I also played with my new camera. I used the self timer and continuous autofocus to see if I could get a selfie while playing… because I am a content whore, don’tcha know.

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Rewatch Sleep

I watched season one episode five of The Book of Boba Fett tonight. You know which episode that is? Damn right, it’s The Mandalorian season 2.5 baby. Episode five catches up with Mando, episode six catches up with Grogu, and then episode seven brings them together to help Boba Fett wrap up his shit.

When I started watching tonight I was on episode four. I was getting to the credits when it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen the ridiculously bad scooter bike chase scene. Apparently I fell asleep watching the end of episode three last night. After I finished the Mando episode I went back and watched the end of episode three. Was it a waste of time? Yes. Do I care? No, not really.

Did I mention I swapped a pedal off the pedal board tonight? I used the Keeley Super Phat Mod after the Klon KTR on the first six songs, but it rubbed me the wrong way on song number six so I removed it. I put my Bluesbreaker clone on in its place. It’s the Chicago Stompworks Blooze Maker. There’s a lot of talk about the kind folks at Marshall reissuing the original Bluesbreaker pedal. Is it real? Is it a hoax? Do I care? No, not really. I’m happy with the clone I already have, thanks.

Okay, time for bed. Maybe tomorrow I’ll re-record the four songs I recorded through the amp sim and use the Deluxe Reverb like I did tonight. I should probably write lyrics instead.

10 Songs

I recorded rhythm guitar tracks for four more songs tonight. I now have 10 songs ready for lyrics. The guitar gear all played nicely together, including my Deluxe Reverb, which was really wonky last time.

Of course, the MIDI bass decided to pitch shift itself on song number 10. Friggin prick.

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2023 RPM Challenge – Day 16 of 28

I just posted the following on that stupid music project tumblr thing that I almost never post to…

It’s been a rough few weeks. My mother went into hospice and passed away on the 5th. We held her wake on the 13th and buried her on the 14th. As a result, RPM has been way in the back of my mind all month.

I haven’t blown it off though. It’s still a big enough deal for me that I have been making time where I can. I have 10 songs in progress. There’s a little noodle of an 11th idea too, but I don’t know if anything will become of that. All 10 songs have the full structure. About half have melodies already. Six have rhythm guitars. I ran a rig with two amps on the first two songs, but switched to an amp sim for the rest. I sort of expect to go the sims route for the rest of the project, but we’ll have to see.

I haven’t written any lyrics yet and there are no vocals, obviously. Twelve days left. Ironically, I haven’t failed an RPM Challenge since 2012. Fitting, eh? I don’t plan to fail this year, but I am sort of resigned to the possibility.

We’ll see how the next 12 days go.

Making Progress

I have rhythm guitars on six songs now. I had two done the other day using real amplifiers. I’ve done four today with amp sims. The Amplitube sim of a Fender Deluxe Reverb costs $30. The sim of the Mesa Boogie California Tweed costs $40. I don’t see me moving beyond the free app any time soon. Sorry.

My fingers are killing me so I am taking a break. I am going to finish season two of The Mandalorian, eat some lunch, maybe have a protein bar, go grocery shopping, and then come back for some more guitar.

Sound like a plan?

168/365
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Amp Sim

I just put two tracks of rhythm guitar onto RPM song #3. I used a third party amp sim. Amplitube 5, the free version. I’ve used amplitube mobile apps before, but this is the first time I’ve used the Mac version, and the first time I’ve used a third party amp sim in GarageBand for Mac.

Amplitube has a Fender amp version that costs money. If I’m going back to sims for this year’s project I could really go for a 4×10 Tweed Bassman. The version I installed yesterday has a bunch of in-app purchase options for simulations of real amps. I saw a Mesa Boogie Cali Tweed and I really want to buy it. I really want to buy a real Cali Tweed but I don’t want to spend the small fortune that would require.

Amps are fun.

Mad and Annoyed and Frustrated and Mad

I finally did some real recording tonight and now I am pissed off.

I got through two songs without issue. Two amps, two mics, two tracks in GarageBand. No problems.

On the third song, the track from the mic on my Deluxe Reverb started getting all sorts of weird, staticy noise. When I took the headphones off it sounded fine to me. No issues. Put the headphones back on and horrible, awful, disgusting noise. I changed the channel on the interface, changed the mic cable, changed the mic. Nothing fixed it. I shut everything off and took a minor hissy fit and went back upstairs to watch TV with my beloved Jennifer.

I’ll try again tomorrow.

164/365
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Attempting to Guilt Myself Into Making Progress

I made a playlist on hearthis.at with everything I have for the 2023 RPM Challenge so far. It’s all just midi tracks. No real life musical instruments. It’s 10 songs though and it runs about 40 minutes, so if I finish everything I have so far I can call this year’s challenge a win. I just need to find time to record guitars, write lyrics and finish writing melodies, record vocals, record more guitars, and mix. Yikes.

https://hearthis.at/rpm-works-in-progress/set/2023-rpm-wip/

So why is this not embedding the playlist? That used to work from hearthis.at, didn’t it? It didn’t work well, but at least it did something. I wonder what changed? Anyway, the link is there so I can get it when I need it, right? This weekend will require me to make a massive push, assuming time and family responsibilities and mental health allow. Ugh, so much to do.

2023 RPM Challenge – Day 7 of 28

I just put this onto that tumblr page that I almost never use but try to post to regularly when I’m doing the RPM Challenge…….

As usual I am totally dropping the ball on the daily updates thing. I have been working at least a little every day, but I just haven’t been getting around to posting. I have 10 songs in progress. I just put the arrangement together for song #10. No real instruments yet, just midi drums and bass and a guide midi guitar and a midi keyboard playing the melody. Pretty much everything is on the slower and quieter side. I think there is only one rocker at this point and that might be stretching it a little. It’s just sort of mindset I am in right now. I don’t know how far I am going to push it this year. I don’t think I have a double album in me this year, but I’d like to try to go a little beyond just the 10 song minimum. Also not sure when I am going to get around to adding guitar tracks, but hopefully soon.