I mixed one song. That’s all. 30 songs down, 20 to go. The 50 songs in 90 days challenge is 60% complete.
If I take the songs written during this project and pick a handful that are not terrible and edit them and update them and rewrite what needs to be rewritten and then re-record them all so that they sound better than they do now, the song I mixed last night would not only make the cut but it would likely be the first song on the album. It is far from perfect, but I like it.
I worked out one new song idea while sitting in the hospital with my father. Full song form, phony bass and drums tracks complete. I thought that was going to be it for the day but then when I was too tired to think straight I started working on lyrics and melodies instead of going to sleep. I got through all five songs that were in the ready-for-lyrics bucket on the Trello board.
I can’t wait to actually read them while I’m awake and see how terrible they are.
Car music today before the hospital? Could be.
Two songs worth of lead tracks. That’s it.
I was hoping I’d get to sneak in some more before bed but I was just too tired.
As a lifelong, slightly obsessed, devotee of all things wah wah pedal related, I wasn’t in the market for a new model. Seriously. My Real McCoy Customs RMC10 wah pedal is spectacular.
And then Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson’s gear company, Lerxst, announced a limited edition wah pedal called the Blah Blah Wah and… well… He’s released two amps, a guitar, and now three pedals. I’ve managed to not go all fanboy and buy any of them and goodness knows it’s been a struggle for me.
But a wah pedal… my personal kryptonite… How can I resist?
I’ll tell you how. Two ways. First and foremost, it’s a limited edition. They are only making 500 of them. I’m betting they are already sold out. I kinda hope so. The other way is that it was made in collaboration with Morley and… well… I’ve never really been a fan of Morley stuff. I used a Morley volume pedal for years and it was okay. I didn’t love it. It got the job done. I don’t know how much this new pedal costs (I’m frankly afraid to look) but I’m not sure I’d want to shell out any noteworthy amount of money for a Morley. No offense to the good folks at Morley, I’m sure they make excellent stuff, it’s just not my bag, babie.
So I will likely pass on this new product… but if they do a full production run rather than a limited edition… I’m probably going to cave and get one for Rush fanboy reasons alone.
Well, I ran out of guitar tracks this morning. I put leads onto two songs (and boy, are the two songs bad. Baaaad songs, bad) and those are the only two things I had that were ready for any guitar tracks. Time to start writing and recording vocals and adding some new songs to the 50/90 challenge worklist.
I played all right today, but the songs I worked on are just bottom of the barrel crap-o-la. Oh well. That’s how it goes with these song writing challenge things. Lots of bad stuff cranked out in the hopes of accidentally coming up with one or two keepers.
There. One photo for each crappy song.
Day 50. Today is the first day that it starts to feel like I’m running out of time… even though that’s absurd because there’s more than a month left.
Two songs got rhythm guitar tracks yesterday. One got leads. 40 songs total are in progress. 29 are finished. Four are finished tracking and are ready to mix. Two have vocals finished and are ready for lead guitars (and will hopefully get them very soon). Five have rhythm guitars and are ready for lyrics.
And that is the state of the union after 50 days.
I fear bad news today and I am stressing out like crazy. Calm down. Focus. It’s going to be okay.
I played a little guitar this morning. It helped a little. I lost track of time though and had to rush to get myself ready for work. Oops.
I have a ton of stuff to get done today at work. I can do it. I can focus. I can handle this stuff.
And right on queue I get pulled into a potentially major issue. Oh good.
One song got rhythm guitars, lead guitars, and a mix. 29 songs down, 21 to go. Two other songs got lead guitars.
Part of me feels like I am miles ahead of the minimum pace. Another part of me feels like I am way behind. I don’t get it.
The vocals on this one are really out of tune. I will likely either re-record them or completely rewrite them. Later. Not today.
ADDENDUM: I forgot, I worked out one song form too. MIDI bass and MIDI drums are done for that one.
I played some guitar this morning. I put rhythm and lead tracks onto one 50/90 song, and leads onto two more. I played very poorly and my finger tips have been torn to shreds. Serves me right for going almost a week without playing at all.
Here is a photo to prove that I don’t always have my guitar’s volume controls maxed…
(I was doing the Clapton thing where you use both pickups but roll the neck pickup’s volume off a little. It’s not as famous as his “woman tone” thing [dude, come up with better names for this stuff] but it’s something he did when he was still playing Gibsons. Oh, and the woman tone thing? Play the neck pickup and just turn the tone knob all the way down. He sometimes did it with both picksups as well, turning both tone controls all the way down)
Finally, in case you were wondering…
Another day when I was sure I was going to get shut out with no progress but managed to sneak something in at the last minute.
I mixed one song.
That’s all.
Inside the Red Head's Head 