Tag: 50/90 challenge

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 72/90

Just the one mix that I mentioned late last night. 41 songs down, nine to go. 82% complete. Lots of stuff to do today, including recovering from a terrible nights sleep. Not sure what I will have time for. We’ll see how it goes.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 71/90

Vocals for two songs. Rhythm guitars for one. Lead guitars for one. That’s all.

I have next week off from work with no set plans. I wonder if I could have this whole thing wrapped up by the end of next week. Further… what if I try to sneak in an album in a day thing while I’m on vacation. That would be just crazy.

Volume: Lots of It

I played some guitar this morning. Judging by the above screen shot from my Apple Watch, I may have changed up the recording workflow a smidge.

Oh yes, yes I did.

I played through a speaker. Instead of using my Fender Bassbreaker 15 and my Vox MV50 Clean amps with their direct line outputs and speaker cabinet emulation functionality, I plugged into my Fender Deluxe Reverb. In the next photo you can see that the power light is on and it is glorious.

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I then did the craziest thing ever. I took the volume knob and turned it up. Way up. It wasn’t full blast, but it was close enough for a Thursday morning. In the next photo you will see proof.

12/365

The volume was a smidge under nine. Again, glorious. Spectacular. I had an overdrive pedal boosting the input signal as well and it was distorting nicely. Tube amps are just the best things ever. I should have actually brought the volume down a little as the signal was over compressing to the point of being a squashed, squirely mess, but that’s okay. I’m just making demoes, right?

I played my SG because it was out of the case and sitting on the stand next to my desk. I probably should have played my Les Paul Custom, but this was fine with me. I ended up adding rhythm guitars to one song and leads to another. Oh, and I also added vocals to two songs. Fun. I probably could have snuck in a little more 50/90 challenge work, but I had to get ready for work and didn’t want to risk being late.

The one question that remains to be asked: Are my ears still ringing (about an hour after I stopped playing)?

Why yes, yes they are.

Glorious

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2024 50/90 Challenge Day 70/90

70 days feels like a milestone. It also feels like THE END IS NIGH!

I’m so far ahead of things this year that I shouldn’t panic, but I also wouldn’t be me if I weren’t panicked over something stupid, right?

Yesterday I added two new song forms. Just bass and drums (both MIDI) and that puts the pipeline over 50. 51 to be exact. I also wrote lyrics and melodies for two songs. Progress was adequate for a work-in-the-office day.

Goal Within Goal Within Goal

So I am doing this 50 songs in 90 days challenge thing. If you have spent more than two seconds on this little pagey page you might have seen me post something about it.

July 4 through October 1. 90 days. Three calendar months. I also have a personal sub-goal along with the 50 songs thing. It’s to do an RPM Challenge style album in each of the three months. That’s either 10 songs written entirely within the calendar month, or 35 minutes of music. In July I somehow, magically, ended up with 20 songs. In August I only managed 14. Those combined with a few songs that were started in one month and finished in another had me at 42 songs on September 1st. That means that in order to finish the album in a month for September I have to get to 52 songs. Okay. I can do that.

I have a third goal now. It’s a mini-goal based on the three times in the past that I have completed the 50 songs in 90 days challenge. The first time was 2014. I ended the 90 days with exactly 50 songs finished. There was a 51st song but I never finished it. I still haven’t. The next time I completed the challenge was in 2020. I finished with 51 songs. Suck it, 2014! I beat you by one! The next time I pulled it off was 2021. I finished with 52 songs. Victory is mine, once again! 2021 rules, 2020 drools!

That leads me to this year’s goal within a goal within a goal. This year I want to get to 53. 50 songs completes the main challenge. 52 will give me the secondary challenge. 53 will give me the third challenge. I have 40 songs complete right now and nine more in progress. I have to finish those nine and then add four more.

I can do it. I think. Yeah, I can do it.

But first… it’s bed time.

PS: Still not watching the debate, but social media (which I know is an echo chamber based on my personal political beliefs and all) is hinting that Vice President Harris is effectively mopping the floor with the fascist fucker’s Nixon-esque flop sweat. Sounds epic.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 68/90

I added two new songs. Just MIDI bass and drums but with the full song form. I also mixed one song. The full pipeline is up to 49 now with 40 of them finished. The challenge is 80% complete.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 67/90

I put rhythm guitars onto three songs. I really wanted to find the time to do more, but time was not my friend.

I am off work today. We have someone coming to check on our new windows from about a year and a half ago. If he comes early and I have time to do a bunch of errands that I put off all weekend then maybe I’ll be more productive today. Maybe.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 66/90

I made a little progress yesterday (on day 66). I had one song idea that was just a couple of simple bass riffs. I worked that into a full song form. After that I added two more songs. All three have (fake) bass and (fake) drums finished and are ready for rhythm guitars.