I have mixed two more songs so far tonight. I am hoping to get one more in, but my ears need a break.
This one is okay. I think it will make the final album even though I have probably written this exact song 100 times before. That’s sort of a theme with me these days.
Eight songs down and somewhere between two and 12 left to go. Three days left in this year’s RPM Challenge. Will I get all 20 songs in or will I run out of time? It’s anyone’s guess at this point.
I’m feeling the stress creeping in and trying to take over. Between work, the kitchen project, contractor schedules, a massively massive imminent delivery from IKEA (almost 200 boxes of stuff), and the RPM Challenge… yeah… it’s getting to me a little.
No! Keep the stressing out at bay! Say no to stress! You Will Not Pass! This Far, No Further!
Okay, I snuck in some guitar playing this morning. It was bad, but maybe better than some of the crap I recorded last week. I am down to just lead guitars being the only tracking left to do so those move pretty quickly. I got through four songs. That’s good.
I have six songs mixed and finished. I have seven songs ready to mix (yikes!). I have seven songs waiting for lead guitar tracks (Double Yikes!). After that all I need to do is pick out the songs that will make the final RPM Challenge album submission, set a running order, and make some cover art. I took some pictures to possibly use for the cover yesterday.
All of that on top of remodeling our kitchen. Yikes!
I have now completed five mixes for this year’s RPM Challenge. Five songs down and anywhere from five to 15 still to go.
When I get to this stage in an album-in-a-month project I start sorting the finished songs into three buckets. A-list, B-list, and Dropped. A-list songs are good enough to make the final album. B-list songs are on the fence. Dropped songs are too awful to use. Right now, with five songs finished, I have two in the A-list bucket, and three in the B-list. I suspect most of the remaining 15 songs will end up in the B-list or the Dropped list. I think this one is on the A-list.
Dynamics, right?
I’ve been home from this morning’s car music for about 15 minutes and I’m still frozen solid. It was 15 degrees out when I left the house and I sat in the car recording my dumb ass self singing (badly) for a touch over an hour. By the time I finished I was so cold, I can’t even tell you.
Despite the frigidness, car music was a success. I put vocals on all five songs that needed them. That means all 20 songs in this year’s RPM Challenge pipeline have their vocal tracks down. Holy shit snacks, Batman! 20 songs!
Now I just need to add lead guitars to 11 of those songs and mix 17 of them… with only four-plus days remaining. Crud.
Pics!
The view from my “studio.”
The obligatory clock pic from the drive home, Hipstamatic style.
And just for funzies, a bonus zoomed in clock pic.
And as an added bonus, Lily exploring our newly bare shelves, pre-kitchen remodel.
I just wrote the lyrics for the 20th and final song for this year’s RPM Challenge.
20 songs, 20 lyrics. Five still need to have the vocals recorded. I will do that in the car tomorrow. Car Music 2024, babie.
So much left to do still, but there’s a strong chance that I will end the month with enough music for two submissions. Two albums… One month.
My brains are tired. I’m worried they might start leaking out of my ears.
Rock and roll, kiddies.
The IKEA kitchen deliveries are happening on Monday and Tuesday. A few boxes on Monday and almost 200 on Tuesday. The plumber is coming to disconnect everything on Monday. Demolition of the current kitchen is Friday and installation of the new kitchen is Saturday. They are telling us they only need one day to install but that seems crazy to me. The plumbing hookups, electrical work, and the addition of the backsplash all happen at some point after the install. When? We don’t know yet.
Both of my step kids are going on trips over spring break. They are coming home the week after the kitchen install. I have to take a day off to drive them both to the airport. We have Harry’s flight information already but not Bellana’s. Not yet at least. The following week we’ll pick them back up at the airport but as of now it doesn’t look like I’ll need to take time off from work for that.
I also have five days to finish the RPM Challenge. I have three songs finished, six ready to mix, six ready for lead guitars, and five waiting for vocals. Two of those five have lyrics and a melody written. I did those earlier today. I am hoping to get to the other three before I sleep tonight so I can get them all recorded tomorrow morning. If I can’t get through it all tomorrow I’ll have to finish up before work on Monday. Then I just have a ton of lead guitars to record and multiple tons of mixing to do. I can get to it all, but it’s going to be tough. I have some late nights and early mornings in my near future.
There are so many things to do in the coming weeks. So very, very many things. It’s going to be pretty crazy around these parts. I’ll post lots of pictures as things progress.
My wife, Jen, just accidentally named my RPM Challenge album.
She was reading over the instructions for one of the dinnerly.com dinners that was delivered today and she mentioned:
The Potato Situation.
Oh, hells yes! Album title confirmed! I expect I’ll take a photo for the cover at the grocery store this weekend.
Two songs down, somewhere between eight and 18 still to go.
I don’t hate this one. I don’t love it either. I’m still feeling okay with the really wet mix. It is possible that I am just telling myself I am okay with it when really I am not okay with it. I don’t know.
I played my ES-335 today with it’s new frets and it felt good. I still don’t have any calluses on the finger tips on my left hand so it was still painful as can be, but other than that it felt good. I put rhythm guitars onto the final two songs for the RPM Challenge and then I put leads on three songs. The third song was bad as I was reaching the point where the pain and rust were too much to get around. I hope to sneak in some more playing later today. I took a vacation day so I should be able to find some time. We’ll see.
Pictures!
This is a repeat question, isn’t it? It feels familiar. Was it maybe something I saw on Threads? I’ll answer it without bitching about it. I just wonder if my answer will be different than before.
Advice to my teenage self… there are a lot of things, most of which I know my teenage self would ignore.
First, stop being afraid of everyone. No one gives a shit about whatever it is you are worried about. There are worse things than being embarrassed about stupid things. Get over it.
Second, you’re in high school. There is going to be a magical moment, that you won’t even be aware of, when all of the things you stress about and think are immensely important stop mattering to you at all. You will realize that all of your fears and worries are totally meaningless. Strangely, this magical unobservable moment coincides precisely with your high school graduation. Years down the line you will realize it happened, but before it happens just relax. None of it matters.
Third, I know you love music. I know you love playing the guitar and playing the saxophone and playing with the band and writing music and recording demoes and all of that wonderful stuff. I know you want to be a music major. I know you’re not going to take my advice here, but majoring in music is the waste of time and energy that you already know it will be. It’s okay. You will continue to play as much as you can well into middle age (and counting). There are other things you can focus on as a career path. You know that Basic programming class you took in high school? Hint hint, dude. If you aren’t ready for that yet (you will be, in about eight years) then might I suggest a field that has always fascinated the shit out of you while also intimidating you to no end. Astronomy.
You need to do something in school before you jump on that bandwagon though. Your math skills are crap. You have the ability to do it all, you just need to improve your foundation. Talk to your academic advisor and tell them you need to start from Algebra and work your way through every level of math courses. You can and you will do it and you will learn a ton and you will have excellent grades. You just need to start over. Once you rebuild the math foundation you’ll eat the science courses for breakfast. I promise. Physics, Astronomy, it’s all there for the taking. Computer science too. On that one I know from personal experience. You can do it, even though I know for a fact you don’t believe me.
Forth, stop drinking Coca~Cola by the gross. Drink water instead. Coke is the ground floor of a weight problem that is going to spiral out of control and will require scary surgery to straighten out. I promise. If you can get off of that road then you should do everything you can to do it. Your health will thank you.
Fifth, be patient. Her name is Jennifer. You’ll see a photo of her wearing a fun hat that will be utterly adorable. She’s out there and you’ll meet her. Just be patient. She’s totally worth the wait.
