Tag: Music

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.

2023 50/90: One Down, 49 to Go

This stink burger (it really is a crappy song) is interesting for two reasons. One, it’s the first song mixed for the 2023 (faux) 50/90 challenge. Hooray, babie! Second, it’s the first time I’ve ever knowingly played anything in 13/8 time… and the timing issues are EVERYWHERE as a result (especially the guitar lead at the end).

It started out life as a GarageBand file called 2023 5090 01 Mac, and now it is the first completed song of the summer’s challenge. I have not been shut out this year! Call that a win!

2023 50/90 Challenge Day 17/90

Almost but not quite nothing. I started mixing song idea #1 but didn’t get terribly far. The drum track sounds okay, but that’s all I have. I wasn’t feeling terribly well last night so I went to bed early. I actually fell asleep while messing with the bass guitar track. Sorry.

To make matters slightly worse, I have once again failed to get any guitar playing in this morning. I worked on that first mix a little more though. Fortunately we’re one work day away from the weekend, and I took Monday and Tuesday off as well. There should be truck loads of music and photography over the next four days. Fingers crossed on that at least.

Morning Fail

Guess what I didn’t get to this morning before work.

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I managed to finish my daily exercise, watch this week’s new episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (excellent!), and finish the Library episode of Doctor Who that I started last night but fell asleep during the second episode.

No music though, so the morning goes down in the books as a failure.

2023 50/90 Challenge Day 16/90

Not much to report today. I wrote lyrics and melody for two songs. They were song ideas number 7 and 20, to be precise.

I wanted to get more done but for the second night in a row I am having stomach issues from dinner. Last night was just a little uneasiness. It took a long, long time for it to pass but it wasn’t painful and I wasn’t nauseous. I was just… wrong. Tonight? Pain, nausea, the works. Damn it.

I hope to maybe get some guitar playing in tomorrow before work. I also think it might be time to start mixing a few of these things. I have three songs that are completely tracked right now and if things go well in the morning I might have one or two more. I should really start finishing these puppies off. The definition of a completed song is a decently mixed demo. I don’t have anything complete yet. Maybe tomorrow.

2023 50/90 Challenge Day 15/90

As we start week three of the 50/90 challenge, let’s sum up day 15.

I had hoped for more, but I cannot complain. I put vocals on three songs this morning. Later, at lunch time, I came up with song idea number 20 and worked out the song form. It is embarrassingly simple, but it will be okay. No melody yet, just bass and drums with a midi guitar track to act as a place holder until I can put a real guitar or two down.

I updated the works in progress playlist but you’ll have to scroll down to find the last time I posted it. I don’t want to repost it every time, just once in a while.

Not sure if I will have any time to work on anything tomorrow. We’ll see. Fingers crossed and all that.

More Car Music Fun

I snuck out for some more singing in the car this morning. I only had three songs ready to go and I finished all of them. That’s two days in a row. Can you believe it? Now I have to start writing lyrics again. Ugh.

The view from the “studio” today:

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Obligatory clock pic from the drive home:

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Finally, when I got home I saw this. The fire hydrant in our front yard is in a bag. There is writing on the bag that you can’t see here that says leak detection test, or something like that. Interesting? Maybe. Maybe not.

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