11 months in a row with at least 10 new songs demoed out and uploaded to two sites for safe keeping. December doesn’t have much to write home about (the first couple on the playlist aren’t awful, but that’s all) but it’s done. Also, it’s done by the 28th, just like February and every month that’s followed. I am such a nerd.
Here’s the playlist from hearthis.at which displays but only plays track one:
New song alert. I mixed two of the final three December songs this morning. I can’t work on the last one now though as it’s time to punch in to work and earn a living doing actual stuff.
I’ve worked on various monthly music goofiness before starting work many, many, many times since the Covid shut down started back in March. Today was the first time I worked on a monthly music goofy by recording guitar parts. I was playing guitar by 8:20am. I could deal with more of that.
My wife is off work today and the kids are at their dad’s until later tonight so I was in the clear as far as not annoying someone who is working or schooling or sleeping. I only had time to put leads onto two songs, but one of them has guitarmonies. I wasn’t planning on it, I just did it. Noice. I also brought out my recently acquired Bluesbreaker clone and paired it up with my Klon KTR. It sounds good, but it just doesn’t have the balls that the OCD clone has. I’m not sure how long I’ll keep it on the board.
Today was the third straight car vocals day for me. Four songs on Sunday, four songs on Monday, which left two for Tuesday. I drove to the big, empty movie theater parking lot and started singing very poorly. I had to move the car as the sun was bright and killing me. Why wouldn’t we have had clear skies last night? Once again, the universe punches me in the nards.
When the last December song was finished I had plenty of time before I had to stop so I pulled up a song from re-recording round four. It wasn’t really ready for vocals, but the bass and drums were done and there was still a scratch guitar that I could sing over. What the hell.
The song is important for two reasons. First, it contains the greatest lyric writing moment of my pathetic history. A brilliant couplet that rhymes putz and clutz. Clearly my finest lyrical hour. Second, it’s just an absolute bitch to sing. Talk about a punch in the nards. I wrote it in… 2009? Maybe? 2010? Something like that. Some pre-GarageBand date. I’ve recorded it a couple of times, and because the words were written first (which is super rare for me) and without a melody, when it was eventually put to music there was one little snag.
There was no place to breathe.
Breathing… it’s kinda important. When I recorded it before I used two tracks and they each sang alternating lines. It was a cheat. I was willing to do it again, but I thought I might try to fix it. I sped up the tempo a bit so I could get through each section in less time, and I changed a couple of quarter notes to an eighth note rest/eight note combo. Basically I put in space for really quick breaths. It worked. Except that now I feel like I am going to die. The end of the song goes verse/chorus/chorus and there are no spaces between, and the vocal from each section runs straight into the next. I had to do a 24 bar phrase with only teeny tiny little gaps for breath.
Oxygen deprivation is a thing. My head hurts. What a putz*.
*See what I did there? I said putz after previously saying putz was my finest lyrical moment? Damn, I write good and stuff.
I got some playing in tonight. I didn’t play well, but it wasn’t like gross or anything. I swapped out the clone of the racist overdrive pedal with the awful comic sans font for the Keeley Blues Driver clone that I can’t seem to connect with. Paired with the Klon KTR it sounded really good. Of course anything paired with the Klon sounds really good.
We are into the second week of December and I have done almost nothing for the December Music. I did some work on the re-recordings in the last week, but nothing new. I need to buckle down and get my shit together and get some stuff done.
I just don’t know what to do yet. Nothing is coming to me. This month is going to sound more lame and forced than usual, which is saying something as it all sounds lame and forced.
Tonight, before I sleep, I will at least come up with a riff. I promise.
Inside the Red Head's Head 