Tag: Music

12/30 Random

Tomorrow is New Years Eve. I have to work. We never get NYE off. We get Christmas Eve off, but never NYE. Why don’t I ever put in for that day? I don’t know… I guess I’m just responsible. Idiot.

Speaking of work, late next week I am going to be issued a new computer. A laptop this time. 16+ years as a desktop user and I’m making the switch. Actually, we’re all making the switch. At least that’s the rumor. The company is going laptop across the board. I’m actually the last of my group to get one. No more trying to find an open desk when I travel between buildings.

Traveling between buildings is actually the issue here. I actually have to do it in order to pick up the lappy. I have to go to the building in Canton. I don’t want to. Not even a little bit. I haven’t been in a work building since March 13th and I was really hoping to stay out until I got that second dose of one of the vaccines. I have to do all sorts of health checks before I can walk into the building, and I have to wear a mask the whole time. It’s safe, I just don’t like it. I’ll only be in there for 15 minutes or so. Still… I’m freaking a little. Just a little.

Speaking of work things that don’t have anything to do with work, I’m sitting at my desk finishing up lunch, typing this little postie and listening to music. My iPad is streaming to our new pair of HomePod Minis. It’s a really sweet little setup. I set my entire iTunes library to shuffle. It’s been running since a bit before 9:00. If I leave it on for a few days it still won’t have repeated a file. It just played a song from a Boston music compilation CD (Pipeline!) by a great band called Christmas. I thought to myself, I wonder if they are on Apple Music. I brought it up and searched and… yeah, shoulda known better. Naming your band Christmas back in the ’80’s might have been a cool move. Naming your band Christmas in the ’20’s when no one goes to record stores anymore and everyone finds your music by searching in one app or another… not a good move.

The kids are coming over tonight. That makes me happy. The kids are spending New Years Eve at their dad’s. That makes me sad. It’s the price we pay for having them at our house Christmas morning, but it still makes me sad.

Okay, it’s 2:00 so I need to get back to work. Lunch time is over. Back to it, red head.

Slide? Oh Please No

The last time I did car singing I finished what I had planned quick so I did a re-recording too. I didn’t have rhythm guitars down so I was working off an old scratch track. Tonight I put the guitars down… all of them… oh, so many tracks.

Four tracks of fat finger flubbing rhythm guitars (two takes, each with two mics for a total of four tracks)

Six tracks of lead guitar. Three takes, two mics each. One take was my usual guitar sound, one was a cleanish sound, and the third was tons of fuzz and feedback and… and… slide.

I am the worst slide player on Earth but don’t fret, I only used it for noise, and I’m probably going to play the two tracks backwards. You’re all safe. Trust me.

And December Makes 11

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:

And here’s a link to the same playlist on alonetone which plays fine but doesn’t embed.

Up next is to do a little work on the fourth (and final?) round of The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, and then start thinking about January.

Pre-Work Mixing

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 already miss Christmas.

Musical To Do List

I have three songs to mix and then December Music is done. I want to finish those before I move on to the next thing. The next thing being re-recordings volume four. I want some of that done before New Year. Part of me wants to skip the album in a month for January to recharge the creative battery for RPM in February, but another part of me wants to do another 10 songs in January in order to have the 10 songs/month streak last for a full 12 months. I’m also going to switch back to the ES-335 and keep messing with different overdrive pedal combinations. I put the Keeley D&M Drive back on the board. Let’s give that another spin.

In other words, after I mix the last three songs I don’t know what I want to do next.

Typical.

Boxing Day

You know, I still have no idea what Boxing Day is supposed to be, but here’s a Boxing Day “gift” to all you good folks out there in internet land.

A new song! It’s bad, but not as bad as most of them. I can almost… almost… live with this one.