Tag: Rpm Challenge

RPM Challenge – Day 24

Last night I mixed two more songs. Today I wrote lyrics and sang the vocals for three more songs. That leaves me with eight songs finished, and six songs that only require lead guitar before mixing. I’ve got four days left. I can still pull off all 14 songs.

The first of the two finished songs is this year’s 12-bar blues. The lyrics are based on a little bit of family history. My grandfather was a fisherman. On one trip out to sea his boat sank. He floated around on a lifeboat for a while before being picked up by a passing ship. The whole time he was missing no one let my grandmother know. She was kept away from newspapers and radios. When my grandfather finally got to shore in New York he called her to say that he was safe and she had no idea what he was talking about.

http://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/tracks/bridget-and-john.mp3%20

The second newly finished song is one that I was planning on dropping early on, but it is growing on me a little.

http://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/tracks/ufo.mp3%20

I don’t have anything else ready to mix at this point. I am going to try and pick off a guitar solo tomorrow before work. Tonight though, is all about last night’s episode of The Walking Dead.

RPM Challenge – Day 23

I am about to leave to bring my step daughter to softball practice.  90 minutes later I will pick her up.  The plan?  Drop her off, find a parking spot as far away from civilization as humanly possible, crack out the MacBook and record at least two songs worth of vocals.  

Think I can do it?  I did it Thursday night when I dropped the kids off for karate, and I actually wrote the basics for songs #10 and 11 in the same parking lot two weeks ago.

Wish me luck!

RPM Challenge – Day 22 Again

I mixed two songs tonight. The first of the two is just a terrible song that I really hope I’ll be able to drop. I need lyrics for at least one more song in order to do that. I think I really must get at least one more done. This song just sucks.

http://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/tracks/forced.mp3%20

The other song is okay, but it is really similar to another song that I’ve already finished. Big chunks of both songs were actually written in one sitting. That might explain it. Ya think?

http://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/tracks/not-if-i-see-you-first.mp3%20

I hope to be able to record more vocals tomorrow. I’ve got two more ready to go. I’ve got another song ready to mix, and another song that only needs leads. It would be nice if I could get through all of them tomorrow. Then I would have telecommuting on Monday and Thursday to finish up any additional vocals I might get to before the deadline. The goal is still to record 14 songs. It’s getting near the end, and I have a lot left to do.

RPM Challenge – Day 22

We are going for a drive today in the hopes of getting desks and desk chairs for the kids.  When we woke up we had a very small window of time for anything other than getting ready to go.  I used that time wisely and recorded the leads for song #5.  It was far from perfect, but far from my usual terrible.  What was weird was that I nailed each part on the first take.  Woah!  I must be in the groove.  (that is sarcasm, the groove and I never see eye to eye, let alone meet up)

Even weirder is that I recorded a 16 bar guitar riff that will become song #15.  Now that is weird!  Here I am convinced I won’t have time to finish 14 songs and I go and start a 15th.  Somebody stop me!

RPM Challenge – Day 21

I sort of lost count. I did either two or three lead guitar parts this morning. I think it was two. This evening I mixed one of those songs. The first four bars have been in my head for ages, but I’ve never found them a home until now. The lyrics were sort of inspired by the @floridaman twitter account. I went there looking for ridiculous stories and instead found two reports of utterly senseless violence.

http://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/tracks/overreaction.mp3%20

I hope to get some more guitar soloing in before we go to IKEA in the morning. We can discuss that later.

RPM Challenge + Olympic Hockey = A Full Morning

So far this morning I have recorded the lead guitar parts for three songs. There is so much going on that I’ve taken to a Google Drive Doc to keep track of which song is at what stage. Here’s my summary:

Summary
Three finished.
Three ready to mix
Two need leads
Two have lyrics but no vocals
Four have no lyrics

1 – Small – Finished
2 – No lyrics
3 – Confidence – Finished
4 – Overreaction – Ready to mix
5 – UFO – No leads
6 – Bridget and John – No leads
7 – No lyrics
8 – No lyrics
9 – Lyrics, no vocals
10 – No lyrics
11 – Lyrics, no vocals
12 – Not in this Lifetime – Finished
13 – Not if I see You First – Read to mix
14 – Forced – Ready to mix

I should be able to finish the leads on all of the songs that have vocals today, and probably the two that don’t have final vocal takes as well. The plan now is to do more singing in the car, when I can. On Sunday I will have a chance while my step daughter is at winter softball practice. I will have a big parking lot to hide in. I hope to at least get the two that are written but not recorded finished by then. After that, the four remaining songs will need to be dealt with. I am still hell bent on finishing all 14, but I have them prioritized right now… all though song #14 is pretty awful.

While doing all of this this morning, as well as setting up my new (used) computer (more on that later) I have been watching the first of the two semifinal games in the men’s hockey tournament in Socchi. Sweden just beat Finland a few minutes ago. I was sort of rooting for Finland. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask was supposed to start today, but apparently he woke up with the flu. The final was 2-1. I don’t think Rask being out affected the outcome much at all. I was distracted through most of the game, but from what I saw it was a pretty good game. Sweden will play for the gold against the winner of this afternoon’s Canada vs USA game. Finland will play for the bronze against the loser.

I have already informed the kids that starting at noon the television is mine.

USA!
USA!
USA!

RPM Challenge – Day 20

I just recorded two songs worth of vocals…

While sitting in the front seat of my car, waiting to get the kids from karate class.

I think this is the theme of the remainder of the project.

Three songs complete, five songs with finished vocals, two songs with lyrics written but not recorded, four songs that still need lyrics.

RPM Challenge – Day 19

Not much today. I mixed one song last night and recorded one vocal this morning. I am off work the next two days, but will not have the house to myself tomorrow. I will try to do some more whispered guide vocals if I can write some damn lyrics. I think I will be using the random wikipedia article trick quite a bit this year.

Here is the song I mixed last night. I am not happy with the mix at all. The vocals are too low. Of course with my singing, too low is infinitely better than too loud. Am I right, or am I right?

http://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/tracks/confidence.mp3%20

RPM Challenge – Day 18

I mixed two songs last night. I don’t like either of them, or anything else I’ve worked on this month. It’s good, because I don’t think I am going to have enough time in the house alone to finish all of the vocals.

This is the first song I worked on, and the first song I finished:
http://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/tracks/small-3.mp3%20

This is the 12th song I worked on, and the second song I finished. As you can guess, I am jumping around all over the place right now.
http://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/tracks/not-in-this-lifetime.mp3%20

I have one more song that is ready to mix. I was just too tired to finish it off last night. Yesterday I wrote lyrics and a really rough melody for three more songs. This morning I recorded two of them. My vocal performance was terrible at best, but it’s done and I don’t think I am going to have time to fix anything that irks me when I start listening back to it. I didn’t take the time to put rough mixes up onto Soundcloud.

So that’s five vocals recorded, and a sixth that is written and ready to record. I need to get four more done to qualify for RPM, and eight more to qualify for FAWM. FAWM is starting to look like a lost cause. I took Thursday and Friday off from work, but I don’t think I am going to have time on those days to handle vocals. I’m starting to honestly consider driving to an empty parking lot somewhere and recording in the car. It’s looking more and more like that’s the only way I will be able to finish everything. Cold weather be damned, you know?