Tag: Recording

Rewatch Sleep

I watched season one episode five of The Book of Boba Fett tonight. You know which episode that is? Damn right, it’s The Mandalorian season 2.5 baby. Episode five catches up with Mando, episode six catches up with Grogu, and then episode seven brings them together to help Boba Fett wrap up his shit.

When I started watching tonight I was on episode four. I was getting to the credits when it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen the ridiculously bad scooter bike chase scene. Apparently I fell asleep watching the end of episode three last night. After I finished the Mando episode I went back and watched the end of episode three. Was it a waste of time? Yes. Do I care? No, not really.

Did I mention I swapped a pedal off the pedal board tonight? I used the Keeley Super Phat Mod after the Klon KTR on the first six songs, but it rubbed me the wrong way on song number six so I removed it. I put my Bluesbreaker clone on in its place. It’s the Chicago Stompworks Blooze Maker. There’s a lot of talk about the kind folks at Marshall reissuing the original Bluesbreaker pedal. Is it real? Is it a hoax? Do I care? No, not really. I’m happy with the clone I already have, thanks.

Okay, time for bed. Maybe tomorrow I’ll re-record the four songs I recorded through the amp sim and use the Deluxe Reverb like I did tonight. I should probably write lyrics instead.

10 Songs

I recorded rhythm guitar tracks for four more songs tonight. I now have 10 songs ready for lyrics. The guitar gear all played nicely together, including my Deluxe Reverb, which was really wonky last time.

Of course, the MIDI bass decided to pitch shift itself on song number 10. Friggin prick.

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2023 RPM Challenge – Day 16 of 28

I just posted the following on that stupid music project tumblr thing that I almost never post to…

It’s been a rough few weeks. My mother went into hospice and passed away on the 5th. We held her wake on the 13th and buried her on the 14th. As a result, RPM has been way in the back of my mind all month.

I haven’t blown it off though. It’s still a big enough deal for me that I have been making time where I can. I have 10 songs in progress. There’s a little noodle of an 11th idea too, but I don’t know if anything will become of that. All 10 songs have the full structure. About half have melodies already. Six have rhythm guitars. I ran a rig with two amps on the first two songs, but switched to an amp sim for the rest. I sort of expect to go the sims route for the rest of the project, but we’ll have to see.

I haven’t written any lyrics yet and there are no vocals, obviously. Twelve days left. Ironically, I haven’t failed an RPM Challenge since 2012. Fitting, eh? I don’t plan to fail this year, but I am sort of resigned to the possibility.

We’ll see how the next 12 days go.

Making Progress

I have rhythm guitars on six songs now. I had two done the other day using real amplifiers. I’ve done four today with amp sims. The Amplitube sim of a Fender Deluxe Reverb costs $30. The sim of the Mesa Boogie California Tweed costs $40. I don’t see me moving beyond the free app any time soon. Sorry.

My fingers are killing me so I am taking a break. I am going to finish season two of The Mandalorian, eat some lunch, maybe have a protein bar, go grocery shopping, and then come back for some more guitar.

Sound like a plan?

168/365
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Amp Sim

I just put two tracks of rhythm guitar onto RPM song #3. I used a third party amp sim. Amplitube 5, the free version. I’ve used amplitube mobile apps before, but this is the first time I’ve used the Mac version, and the first time I’ve used a third party amp sim in GarageBand for Mac.

Amplitube has a Fender amp version that costs money. If I’m going back to sims for this year’s project I could really go for a 4×10 Tweed Bassman. The version I installed yesterday has a bunch of in-app purchase options for simulations of real amps. I saw a Mesa Boogie Cali Tweed and I really want to buy it. I really want to buy a real Cali Tweed but I don’t want to spend the small fortune that would require.

Amps are fun.

Week 41 Weigh In

I am pleasantly surprised and rather pleased. I mentioned before that I have been eating a lot more than usual. I’ve been eating things that aren’t necessarily good for me too. I’ve been handling it all okay for the most part, though the couple of ounces of peanuts I tried to eat last night gave me the worst bought of nausea I’ve experienced since the start of this whole thing.

I expected minimal weight loss at best, and realistically with all the stress eating and difficulties of the last week I expected to gain a little weight. I did not. I lost 1.8 pounds, which under the circumstances feels like a ton. I now weight 222 even. My BMI dropped 0.2 points to 27 even. I’m inching closer to that mythical, magical 25 mark. My weight loss since the surgery is now at 209.4, and my weight loss since the first check in moved the 10’s column and reached 230.4.

At the wake Monday night I lost track of the number of times someone came through the receiving line and didn’t recognize me. While it was life affirming every single time, I also got a little tired of it. I get it, I am thinner. Can we focus on the topic at hand please? I don’t know. I felt guilty about feeling good about my health while my mother was 10 feet away in a casket.

On an unrelated note, I am watching the last few minutes of The Mandalorian season two, episode six. I just watched Boba Fett kick the crap out of a drop ship full of stormtroopers. If only the Book of Boba Fett season had followed suit. Oh well. I think I am going to include that show in my Mandalorian pre-season three prep binge anyway. It was good, it just wasn’t great. Except for the episodes with Mando and Baby Yoda, of course. Those episodes were stellar.

On another unrelated note, I took today off to recover from the wake and the funeral. It might be the best move I’ve ever made, career wise. I need a decompression day. Jen is working though so I am not going to play guitar through an amp all day. I am going to play guitar through an amp sim though. I have eight songs to put rhythm guitars on before I sleep tonight. I will get The RPM Challenge on track today, even if it kills me.

Mad and Annoyed and Frustrated and Mad

I finally did some real recording tonight and now I am pissed off.

I got through two songs without issue. Two amps, two mics, two tracks in GarageBand. No problems.

On the third song, the track from the mic on my Deluxe Reverb started getting all sorts of weird, staticy noise. When I took the headphones off it sounded fine to me. No issues. Put the headphones back on and horrible, awful, disgusting noise. I changed the channel on the interface, changed the mic cable, changed the mic. Nothing fixed it. I shut everything off and took a minor hissy fit and went back upstairs to watch TV with my beloved Jennifer.

I’ll try again tomorrow.

164/365
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Attempting to Guilt Myself Into Making Progress

I made a playlist on hearthis.at with everything I have for the 2023 RPM Challenge so far. It’s all just midi tracks. No real life musical instruments. It’s 10 songs though and it runs about 40 minutes, so if I finish everything I have so far I can call this year’s challenge a win. I just need to find time to record guitars, write lyrics and finish writing melodies, record vocals, record more guitars, and mix. Yikes.

https://hearthis.at/rpm-works-in-progress/set/2023-rpm-wip/

So why is this not embedding the playlist? That used to work from hearthis.at, didn’t it? It didn’t work well, but at least it did something. I wonder what changed? Anyway, the link is there so I can get it when I need it, right? This weekend will require me to make a massive push, assuming time and family responsibilities and mental health allow. Ugh, so much to do.

Planning

My mother passed away on Sunday. On Monday, my brother and sister and I met with the funeral director. He gave us a packet of homework. We need to pick readings and music and some other things related to the funeral service. I didn’t do much on Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ve had some discussions on things over text but nothing concrete from me. I am getting back into the swing of it tonight. We bought a suit for my father on Monday. We’re (Jen and I) going to him tonight to let him try it on. It’s probably not going to fit very well, but hopefully it’s close enough. After that, we’re having a meeting to go over the homework. Speaking as an Atheist, I don’t have a lot of interest in the readings that happen during the mass. I’ll give my $0.02 but I might have more input on the music. There is one song that was played at my grandmother’s funeral that brought my mother to tears. That one will be included. They played it at my Aunt’s funeral a few months ago as well, for exactly the same reason.

It might be a mildly long night tonight. We’ll see. I am working today and need to try and have actual food for dinner at some point. I’ve been so dependent on protein bars and supplements for the last few weeks that I expect my stomach to start rebelling at any moment. I just had eggs for breakfast and I hope to have some chicken for lunch. Dinner… we’ll see.

With all of this going on I am starting to think that my RPM Challenge success streak is in jeopardy. Not that that matters at all. I am, however, about to finish season one, episode three of Star Trek Picard. Maybe I should have been working on some recording instead of watching TV. Forgive me, I am a little screwed up right now. Working on Tuesday and Wednesday was a little tough but the normalcy felt pretty good after the insanity of the last couple of weeks. I’m working from home today and tomorrow and then taking three days of bereavement time on Monday through Wednesday next week. I am allowed to take five days, but I don’t want to. I was even hesitant about taking the third day, but I think it will come in handy, mental health wise.

Okay, it’s time to start getting ready for work. Wish me luck today.

2023 RPM Challenge – Day 7 of 28

I just put this onto that tumblr page that I almost never use but try to post to regularly when I’m doing the RPM Challenge…….

As usual I am totally dropping the ball on the daily updates thing. I have been working at least a little every day, but I just haven’t been getting around to posting. I have 10 songs in progress. I just put the arrangement together for song #10. No real instruments yet, just midi drums and bass and a guide midi guitar and a midi keyboard playing the melody. Pretty much everything is on the slower and quieter side. I think there is only one rocker at this point and that might be stretching it a little. It’s just sort of mindset I am in right now. I don’t know how far I am going to push it this year. I don’t think I have a double album in me this year, but I’d like to try to go a little beyond just the 10 song minimum. Also not sure when I am going to get around to adding guitar tracks, but hopefully soon.