Tag: Music

2023 50/90 Challenge Days 23 & 24/90

Not much to report on the song writing challenge front over the last two days. Day 23 was Wednesday and I didn’t do anything. Day 24 was yesterday, Thursday, and I didn’t get shut out but I also didn’t do much. I wanted to do a car music and track some vocals and maybe get a mix or two in and maybe write some lyrics but instead all I did was add two new song ideas. Just a couple of bass lines and a drum groove. All midi. I’m a little disappointed in myself for two days with very little progress, but the weekend is almost here and I am hoping to get a ton of music in (as well as more photography goofiness). Jen has plans to work on a project this weekend, so I will dedicate myself to a project or two as well. Harry will be paying a visit too so I will dedicate however much time he is here to him. I also want to visit my father on Saturday. It’s his anniversary, and the first since my mother passed. It’s going to be very sad and I don’t know if I am up for it. Mother’s day was rough but I fear this is going to be rougher.

So now we’re up to date on (more than) the current music project.

2023 50/90 Challenge Day 22/90

I owe a recap post from last night. My lunch break at the office seems like as good a time as any to play catch up.

Small progress yesterday. After my fun photography morning I was able to add lyrics and melody to two songs and then mix two additional songs. Neither of the finished songs are very good. That’s sort of a theme this year, I think. I might post them later, but not now.

No clue what, if anything, I will be able to get to tonight when I get home from work, but I have four songs ready to add vocals to so there might be a car music in the morning. I’m sure I’ll let you know.

2023 50/90 Challenge Days 20 and 21/90

I’m a day late for the day 20 post, and probably a few hours early for the day 21 post. Not that any of this crap matters though, right?

Yesterday I put rhythm guitars onto two songs and lead guitars onto two other songs. I also mixed two songs, bringing the total number of complete songs up to five.

Today I put rhythm guitars onto two songs and lead guitars onto two other songs. I still might try to mix a song or two tonight but I think I will probably spend the rest of the evening on season two of the original Doctor Who. I just started the serial The Romans, which is episodes 12-15.

As it stands right now, I am still holding on 20 songs in progress. I have five songs done, six songs ready to mix, two songs ready for vocals, and seven songs ready for lyrics and melodies. I currently have zero songs needing guitar tracks, which means my goal for tomorrow is to pick off a couple of vocals and maybe start a new song idea or two. Or three. I have seven days left in July. It would really be something to have half of the songs underway in the first month.

21 days down. 69 days to go.

Four and Five of 50

I have mixed two songs this afternoon. They are the fourth and fifth songs completed for this year’s 50 songs in 90 days challenge and you know what that means, right? It means I am 10% finished! Math, babie! That’s how you do it!

Neither of these songs are terribly good, in terms of writing and recording and performance. This first one is probably the better of the two. I had some fun putting lead guitars on this, even if what I ended up with is brutally sloppy.

This second song is just a great big pile of meh.

Five songs down, 45 to go. No one said they had to be good, they just have to exist.

Good Progress

I feel like I have made good progress on a couple of fronts today. First, my stomach is still okay. I had a protein bar for lunch and I have some french fries in the air fryer right now. Not the Golden Crispers from the comfort food post from earlier this morning, but a different type of Ore-Ida frozen french fries. Not as good, but close. We’ll see how we feel after eating a little bit of actual food.

The second progress front is guitar! The 50/90 Challenge and all that stuff. I put rhythm guitars onto two songs, and lead guitars onto two different songs. I played my Les Paul. If I get a chance later I will do some more and play my SG. Variety is the spice of life, after all. I’m also hoping to mix a tune or two before the day comes to an end. We’ll see about that. For now, season five episode two of the new Doctor Who series. Hey, check it out! Prince Daemon Targaryen from House of the Dragon is The Doctor and Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy is the companion. This might end up being my favorite cast.

Guitar pictures!

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326/365

2023 50/90 Challenge Day 19/90

I didn’t record any guitar tracks today, but I did get a nice chunk of work done, which sets me up to record guitars tomorrow.

I had four songs that were just a couple of eight bar phrases done with MIDI instruments. I worked all four of them into full song forms. Now I have something to play guitar on tomorrow. Nice, eh?

I also mixed two songs. I posted one earlier. Here’s the other. This is in the running for my Record Every Month submission for July. I kinda like this one, even though there are slight timing issues literally everywhere. It’s short and sweet and the chorus isn’t bad, even if the guitar leads are.

That’s three songs mixed. Only 47 more to go. I am 6% of the way finished!

Two Down, 48 to Go

I mixed another song for the 50/90 challenge. I feel like being a better than crappy song was in this one’s grasp but it still fell short. The shitty mix and shittier lead guitars might be part of the reason.

Okay, time to go cook dinner. Wish me luck.

2023 50/90 Challenge Day 18/90

I failed to record guitars this morning, but I didn’t fail tonight. I know I wrote the wrap up post for last night today, so you’re getting a second wrap up post. Confusing? Maybe. Do I care? Not really.

I mixed a song this morning but you know that because I posted it even though it was crap. Tonight I put both rhythm and lead guitars onto two songs, and then put leads onto two more. Not the most impressive haul, but not bad given the total failure of my original plans.

Photos for fun.

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Three Hours to Go

Three hours left in the work week.

180 minutes.

10800 seconds.

It’s a long weekend for me too. The company I work for puts a cap on how much personal time you can accrue and as your bank builds up you have to take time off to stay below the cap. It’s not as bad as the Boston Bruins salary cap woes right now, but it will get there if I don’t use time regularly. Because of that, I took two days off next week. Monday and Tuesday. That all means that ol’ Robbie has himself a four day weekend coming up.

Sadly, Jen was not able to take the two days off too, so that means I am on my own for the second half of my super long weekend. That means there will be lots of personal creative project type stuff. I checked the weather at the ocean for the next few days and both Sunday and Monday are looking like good candidates for sunrise photos. At least one of those mornings will be Photography Day where I will grab some sunrise at the beach and then hit a few places on the way home. Film and Digital. Bank on it (weather permitting).

There will also be a lot of music. As much as I can stomach. I plan on making gigantic progress on the 50 songs in 90 days challenge. That includes guitar tracking, vocal tracking in the car (because I have a weird mental block that won’t let me sing when people can hear me unless I am playing guitar with a very loud band), and mixing songs as I finish recording them.

There will also be progress on the current Doctor Who series binge watches. I finished season one of the original show this morning, and I am almost done with season four of the current show. So very many more seasons of each show to go. Progress will be made. I fully expect to move from the 10th doctor to the 11th doctor in the new show but I expect to still be on the first doctor in the old show. Like I said… so much Who to watch.

I am also thinking that I will be back on the couch to 5k wagon next week. It’s been a couple of weeks since I stopped. I want to get back into it, even though I am very doubtful I will ever run that mythical 5k. It’s still a goal, I just don’t know if it’s an achievable goal for me.

I have two days off booked in August too. They are for a weekend trip to Maine for a wedding. Bellana will be joining us for that and I expect lots of photos from Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor. Again, film and digital. That include Cadillac Mountain, which is the first spot in the continental United States that sees the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. It would require a SUPER early wake up to see, but I want very much to see it and photograph it. Now that I think of it, I should replace my broken tripod before we leave for that trip. The broken guy is good enough for this weekend, but for Cadillac Mountain? I’m going to need something that works. I’ll take care of it.

Okay, my late lunch break is over now. Time to get back to work and finish off this work week on a high note.