I added another song yesterday. MIDI bass and drums are done. That’s all I had in me yesterday. I don’t expect much different today. I had a covid shot two days ago and it kicked my ass yesterday. I still feel less than wonderful today.
Tag: national solo album month
2024 NaSoAlMo Day 2/30
I did not play any guitar yesterday. I did try to fix a problem with some buzzing on my ES-335 and I think it worked. Once I actually plug in we’ll see if my optimism is warranted. In 38 years of guitar playing I had never adjusted a truss rod myself. Now I have, and I don’t think I broke anything.
Back on the main topic though, I did not record any real human being instruments, but I did add two more songs to the queue. Both have (midi) bass and drums and one has a (midi) guitar guide track. That brings me to three songs and strangely, they are all about four minutes long. Is that a trend this year?
We will see.
New Music Project Coming Soon
Today is Tuesday October 29th. This coming Friday is November 1st.
A new annual, internet based music project begins on Friday. National Solo Album Month, NaSoAlMo. Write and record an album’s worth of music all within the month of November, and do it all yourself. No collaborations. Just you.
I had a thought about trying to write two songs of approximately 20 minutes in length, like a good Prog Rock nerd. I said two 20 minute songs, not four. What do you think I am, Yes? Sheesh.
Something tells me that once I start rolling on this (assuming I actually start rolling on this) I will just do my usual 10, 2-3 minute rockers and call it a day. We will see how (if) it goes. I’m sure I’ll post about it 20-30 times a day, or some crap like that.
November Music
After cleaning the kitchen, dining room, living room, and the hallway that links them all together today I did what anyone would do. I finally started putting some thought into this month’s music project.
It’s going to be two suites of about 15 minutes. Each suite will be a handful of songs. Each song will end on some sort of coda that is unrelated to the rest of the song. The next song in the suite will start with a variation of the previous song’s coda.
Dig it?
I have the bass and drums down for the first suite. It’s looking like it’s going to be about 16-17 minutes long. National Solo Album Month’s rules require a grand total of 29 minutes and change (the length of The Ramones first record). I’ve got a long way to go, but at least I made some progress. I want to use the guitar that is currently in the shop for most if not all of the guitar tracks, so hopefully I get it back soon. Otherwise I’ll just use a different guitar.
I’m probably going to fail this month’s challenge miserably, but at least I am putting in a little effort to make me feel good about myself, or some shit. Whatever, right?
Music!
November Music
If I am going to have my number one guitar back soon then I should probably get going on a November music project, right?
November is National Solo Album Month. NaSoAlMo. The goal is to write and record 29:09 of original music and play all the parts yourself. I do that for every monthly music project so that’s not a big deal. I started one song idea last week. This morning before work I started another and came up with the gimmick for the month.
The first time I finished a NaSoAlMo project I came up with a way to link a bunch of songs together into one giant song. I think I am going to do something along those lines again. The idea I had for the first song had a phrase that was meant to be a coda section that was not used anywhere else in the song. The gimmick is that I will take that coda section and create a variation of it and make that the opening section of the song that comes after it on the playlist. Song number one ends with something, then song number two starts with a variation on that something. Song number two then ends with a coda that isn’t used anywhere else in the song. Song number three opens with a variation on it. Ect Ect. Get it? Then all the songs get smushed together into one giant song file.
Writing it out like this makes me think it’s a dumb idea…. I’m still going to try to do it though. Let’s see how long I stick with this plan.
November Music
It’s November 1st. Welcome to National Solo Album Month. Am I going to take part this year? Probably. I started a Trello board and today’s photo-a-day picture is a guitar. The signs are pointing to yes, but I am not feeling terribly motivated yet. We’ll see how it goes.
Gimmick Free
My 2021 National Solo Album Month submission is complete. It comes in at about 33 minutes. I sorted the songs into three piles. Good. Less than good. Awful. The good list didn’t quite run long enough to submit so I had to pull one song from the less than good pile. Oh well.
Here’s the last song I finished. I saved it for last because I kinda like it, even if the recording isn’t quite up to snuff.
Here’s a playlist of the whole shebang, which I post knowing that it won’t work. If you are just itching to torture yourself you can also go here.
Define Pointless
Look up the word pointless in the dictionary and there will be a picture of this “song”.
Three mixes down, one to go and only two hours and 13 minutes left in November. I think I can make it.
I Don’t Want to Live on This Planet Anymore
I guess questioning evolution and the shape of the Earth isn’t enough for the twitterati anymore. Today I came across two people who seemed to insist that rocks somehow needed god to create them. I was in ninth grade when I took Freshmen Earth Science and we studied how rocks are formed and how the Earth’s crust slides around and pieces bump into each other and how over a shit load of time that can cause things like mountains. I guess that’s some kind of liberal conspiracy now. Oh well. I just wish some people had paid a little more attention in ninth grade science, that’s all.
To make matters worse, the Bruins are losing to the friggin’ Red Wings. 1-0, late in the second. As if stupid humans aren’t bad enough, now I have to see my team lose to the friggin’ Red Wings?
I’ve mixed two of the last four songs for the November music project. Both songs utterly suck.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Dr Farnsworth was dead right when he said I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
One Day Left
There is only one day left in November. How much music do I still have left to do?
The November music project will have nine songs. Five are finished. I mixed three songs tonight and my ears are fried. I’m not sure they recovered from yesterday’s guitar tracking bonanza.
That means I have to mix four songs tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll be able to pull it off, but hopefully I’ll be able to get to one before work. Four songs in one night leads to mixes that are even worse than the very crappy norm.
After the mixes are done I need to come up with a running order and then I need to fill out the website’s submission form. I think it’s just an email.
I’ll get it all squared away with at least a few minutes to spare, you’ll see.
Inside the Red Head's Head 