The annual goofiness is underway.
Yesterday I worked on two new ideas. I ended up with a full song form for both of them. The MIDI bass and drums are done, and they both have a MIDI guitar guide track.
That’s all. Not as much as I had hoped, but still a good start.
I mixed a song a couple of nights ago but didn’t get around to posting it to my alonetone or hearthis.at accounts so it just sat there on my laptop. Now it is out there for the whole wide world to ignore.
I think it kinda sounds like crap, but the song itself is okay, I think. You can probably hear the edits in the chorus because I wrote a melody without leaving any space for that pesky little breathing thing. Oops.
The lead guitar was through a nearly cranked amp. That was fun. Noisy as hell, but fun.
This is a to do list… read the title… it is a pun, my friends. Get it? I made a pun! It’s punny. It’s puntastic.
Ugh.
The current home recording music project is to take 10 songs from the 2020 Fifty Songs in 90 Days Challenge, edit them, rearrange them, rewrite them, and completely re-record them. When I punched out of work last night I had the 10 songs picked out. One is mixed and finished. Five are completely recorded but still need to be mixed. The other four hadn’t been touched.
Last night while sitting up in bed I took one of them and got as far as finishing the MIDI music bed. Bass, drums, arrangement, song form changes, all done. This morning after I finished today’s errands I cranked out the other three. Now I have four songs ready for rhythm guitars.
Best case scenario is that I track all of the rhythm guitars tomorrow. I work in the office on Monday so nothing is happening then. Tuesday morning before work should be car music where I track all of the vocals. Wednesday is back in the office. Thursday is lead guitars before work. At that point I will have all tracking done for all 10 songs before we leave for Florida.
Yeah. Let’s see if we can pull this off.
Note: It is 99% certain that I will not pull this off. When it comes to the musical planning stage, Robert is not terribly reliable.
Unrelated musical note… one of the reasons my band’s singer quit was because he moved to Maine. He told us yesterday that he’s moved back to the Merrimack Valley. He also mentioned getting “the itch.” Now is that an itch to just have one band practice just for fun, or is it an itch to get back into the band? I don’t know but I am thinking about maybe being hopeful that our singer search could be over. It’s probably not, but if I can’t be optimistic about the Bruins anymore this year, then I’ll be optimistic about this.
I managed to sneak in some guitar playing today in between my doctors appointment and punching in to work. The recording project I am trying to work through right now had three songs that needed lead guitar tracks. I finished off all three of them. My playing was poor at best, but who cares. Bad playing is better than no playing, right?
Here’s where things get super nerdy. I had three songs that needed work… and I used a different guitar on each song. My only regret is that I didn’t have a forth song to work on so I didn’t get to use all four of my guitars. Oh well. In further nerd news, I took a picture of each guitar with my Nikon Z5 and… well… nerd… I took a selfie with my iPhone of me playing each guitar too. Thanks, camera app on my Apple Watch that has a timer built into it.
6-1? They lost 6-1? On my fucking birthday? Thanks for nothing, Bruins. Way to kick a red head when he’s down. Damn it!
As the hockey world was imploding all over the state of Florida, I tried to ease my pain by mixing a song. I think it sounds okay. It probably doesn’t, but I am trying to be nicer to myself now that I am 53 years old and shit.
This is the first of probably 10 songs that will make up the eighth round of The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, aka Quarantine Tunes Volume Eight, aka the Best of the 2020 50/90 Challenge (as all 10 songs are from that project, similar to how Quarantine Tunes Volume Five was all songs from the 2021 50/90 Challenge… which was WAY better than 2020).
Friggin’ Bruins ruining my friggin’ birthday. Jerks.
I said I was going to celebrate my 53rd birthday with a work-on-music day and that’s just what I’ve done.
I have worked on new recordings of five old songs. Two songs got lead guitar tracks. Two songs got rhythm guitar tracks and vocals. One final song got bass, drums, rhythm guitars, and vocals. I don’t know if the clock is going to cooperate or not, but the three songs that did not get lead guitars today might still get lead guitars today.
I was home alone for all of this guitar playing… so I played through my Fender Deluxe Reverb… the best amp I’ve ever owned… and I played loud. Very loud. The decibel meter on my Apple Watch topped 100 db once. Yeah. My ears are killing me. Oh glorious noise!
Robin seems pretty sad about the news about Steve Albini but she agrees that playing the guitar at a disturbing volume is as good a way to honor his memory as any.
Don’t mind me, just sneaking in a little quality GarageBand time before bed.
I haven’t watched this video yet so I don’t know if it’s any good or not. I’m just saving it for later.
Apple announced an update to Logic Pro today. Logic Pro 11, to be precise.
I’ve been using GarageBand since, what… 2010? Something like that. For years now I have been thinking of upgrading to Logic Pro. The $200 price tag is basically what has kept me away. Now?
I use the crap out of the session drummer in GarageBand. I don’t think I would use the session bass player, even if it’s awesome. I said that about the drummer function when it was announced too, but I think it will stick for the bass. A keyboard player? I generally don’t write for keyboards. I like the idea of a three piece, guitar bass and drums. That’s it. If I had a keyboard player who could write for his or her artificial self though? Can I make it sound like Jon Lord? Rick Wakeman? (gasp) Keith Freakin’ Emerson???
Is it finally time to upgrade? No. When we get back from our trip to Florida a few weeks from now, will it be time?
Maybe…
Maybe.
I got up super early this morning. I wasn’t planning on it, but I was up and at ’em a little before 5:00am. Yikes!
That let me get all of my exercise in, eat breakfast, water all of the plants, do a couple of little things to help Jen get ready for her in-the-office day, finish my normal morning routine, go to the grocery store and get dinner for tonight, and put vocals on two songs… all before punching into work at 8:45.
Wow… it’s been a long day. I need a nap. Doubly so, thanks to the crummy night’s sleep last night. Damn.
The current music recording project is Quarantine Tunes Volume 8. Four songs underway. One ready to mix, two ready for lead guitars, and one ready for rhythm guitars. How do you like that?
Two days in a row. It is silly how sneaking in 20-30 minutes of guitar playing before work in the morning can just brighten up the whole day. Silly and a little weird, maybe.
I mentioned last night that I started working on a new song for the re-recording project thing. I put rhythm guitars on it this morning after I did my daily exercise and had a quick breakfast. Done and done. I used direct outs from two of my amps again. That’s the norm now. Oh well. It sounded pretty good today. It sounded pretty good yesterday too, I think.
Here’s the obligatory guitar pic. Let’s use it for today’s photo a day project as well. Day 243 of 365. Actually… 366, but we won’t worry about that until the end of the line.
Inside the Red Head's Head 