Well, the RPM Challenge is complete. I just submitted my “album” which is really just a collection of rough mixes of shitty demoes of shitty songs. It’s just not very good this year.
I don’t have a playlist to embed yet. I’ll put that together tomorrow sometime. I do have the “album” all uploaded and sequenced with cover art and all over at alonetone.
I feel good about being done even if I don’t feel terribly good about the results. I’ll figure out a sequence of the leftovers “album” tomorrow too. For now though… I’m spent.
Happy Leap Day, everyone! February 29th! IF today’s your birthday then you’ve been waiting four years for this day. Congratulations and make the most of it!
Leap Day means it’s the last day of February which means the RPM Challenge ends today. I have mixed two of the remaining six songs this morning but I have to put off the rest of them until after work tonight. I also have to finish cleaning out the kitchen so that everything is ready for kitchen demolition day tomorrow. I also also need to setup a little kitchen-esque space in our bed room, just in case we decide we need to cook something.
The mixes have been very quick and dirty and rough at best this year so I am sort of plowing through them with the minimum amount of time and effort. I’ll get the last four in tonight without too much of a problem. The question is whether any of them will be good enough to use on the final album.
I have 20 songs. I need 10 to submit an album to the RPM Challenge website. I will pick the best 10 songs and bundle them into something that resembles an album. I will take the remaining 10 pieces of dog shit and bundle them into something that resembles an outtake album. I’ll submit the 10 good songs and not submit the dog shit. Unfortunately, there are probably only four or five songs that I think are good enough to submit… so some shit is going to make it’s way into the submitted album. Oh well. That’s normal for me. I just have to decide what songs to include.
Here’s one I just finished. It will probably be included, though in a better year it would not have been. Oh well.
Four songs left to mix, then I need a cover image and a sequence. That’s all that remains for this year’s RPM Challenge. Almost there, folks. Almost there.
I just did a quick and terrible mix of song number 11 for this year’s RPM Challenge. We’re officially into the second album’s worth of music. This one might make the final submission. It might not. I can’t decide yet.
Nine more songs left to mix and not enough time to get to it all. I’m pretty sure I’ll finish them all, I just won’t have much time for anything else.
The goal for the RPM Challenge is to record either 10 songs or 35 minutes of music all within the month of February. For me, personally, I don’t consider a song finished until I have a decently listenable mix down.
Earlier tonight I finished mixing my 10th song of the month. I checked the running time for those 10 songs and it’s a smidge more then 37 minutes.
By the terms of both RPM Challenge goals, I have successfully completed the project once again. I’ve completed the challenge every year since 2012.
Of course this year I am shooting for two albums. That means I still have 10 songs left to finish and only two days remaining in the month. I betcha I get it done by the skin of my teeth. I might try to sneak another mix in tonight before I sleep, but it’s almost 10:30 and I am exhausted after dealing with the inventory of the 70,000 IKEA boxes that were delivered tonight. That figure is a slight exaggeration, but it sure feels accurate to my back.
Anyway… another year, another February album in a month. Cheerio, me maties.
Well, RPM Challenge fans, I hit a major milestone for this year’s project. As of about 8:30am today, tracking is done! I put lead guitars onto seven songs. SEVEN! My finger tips are chewed up messes right now and I could barely play at all by the time I was done, but all of my tracking for all 20 songs is new complete. Yikes!
Now I just have to mix 12 songs. Oh… there’s the reality of the situation coming in to ruin my buzz. Twelve (12) songs left to mix by the end of the day on Thursday, and tomorrow is both an in the office day and a drive halfway across New England to go to IKEA after work night. There won’t be much time for mixing tomorrow. I was hoping to finish four songs last night but I only did two. Tonight and Thursday are going to require a lot of RPM Challenge work.
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.
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.
178/365
And as an added bonus, Lily exploring our newly bare shelves, pre-kitchen remodel.
Inside the Red Head's Head 