Tag: rpm2021

Here’s the final RPM Challenge submission for 2021. 10 songs at 44:41. This is my 10th straight February with an album completed on time. It’s not very good but it’s done and I am very pleased.

And here is the link that will bring you to a page that will actually play the whole shebang. Can I get a WOOOHOOO?

I’m finished. It’s done. Twice. I have two albums. One will be submitted to RPM headquarters. This is the other one. 10 songs, 40:16. Let’s call this one Guilt Machine Leftovers.

As usual, that player is only going to play the first track. If you want the whole crappy outtake thing then you can get it here.

I just finished mixing song #18 of 20. The last two are duds so I am going to give my ears a little bit of a rest. Just for a few minutes.

I’ve finished three of the five songs that I rescued from the January album-in-a-month fail and I’m thinking that I might have been better off leaving them where they were. Two of them are okay, I guess, but I don’t think any of them are going to make it into the 10 song album I submit to RPM headquarters.

This one is on the bubble:

This one is also on the bubble, but it really doesn’t have a chance:

I have sorted all of the songs I’ve finished so far into three lists. A, B, and C. There are six songs on the A list and they are all going into the final submission. Those are the winners. There are five songs on the C list and they are definitely not going on the final submission. They will go on the leftovers album. The two songs I still have left to mix are likely going onto the C list. The remaining seven are on the B list. They could go either way. I have to re-review them and pick three to move to the A list. The 18 songs combined have a total run time of one hour and 16 minutes. If I move more than three songs from B to A I just have to make sure the leftovers run for more than 35 minutes so that it too qualifies as an RPM Challenge Album.

So many factors. At least I have a cover and a title. I figured those out weeks ago.

Not quite done yet, but I’m getting there. My ears are very tired but it’s worth it.

Happy Last RPM Challenge Day.

My ears are mush so I’m calling it a night for the RPM Challenge. I had an absurd amount of work left to do in the last two days and somehow I managed to compete an absurd amount of work today. I still have an absurd amount left to do, but it’s about one third as absurd as it was when I woke up today. Absurd, eh?

When the day started there were 12 songs unfinished. Four of them had all the tracking done and were ready to mix. The other eight still needed their lead guitar parts. The first thing I did today was mix the four songs that were ready. I posted a couple, but I’m kinda down to the February dregs at this point so not all of it was worth sharing. Next I broke out the 335 and got to soloin’. I managed to get through all eight songs. I was pretty shot by the time I finished so lucky for me I didn’t have any more to do. Lastly, while watching a Marvel movie with the wife and the step son (Far From Home) I mixed two more songs. Here’s one of them. The other one sucks mighty.

So where do we stand? Well, I have more than enough songs finished to qualify for a complete RPM Challenge, and exactly enough songs finished to qualify for a complete FAWM. Congratulate your humble narrator as he’s a winner for the 10th consecutive February.

I still have six more songs to mix. I’ll get to those tomorrow. In the end I will have 15 songs that qualify for FAWM (entirely written in February) and five others that don’t qualify for FAWM (I started writing them in January) but do qualify for RPM (entirely recorded in February) which should give me the equivalent of two RPM albums. I just need to sort the good from the mediocre from the bad and put together the final running order. Likely the final running orderS as I’ll submit the good stuff and then have a left overs album made up of everything else.

One day left. Six songs to go, but they are all gravy. I’m pleased.

I just finished mixing the 10th song for this year’s RPM Challenge. The goal is 10 songs or 35 minutes and right now I have 10 songs and 35 minutes. Actually, I’m at a smidge more than 45 minutes. There are still songs to go though. Double album or bust! I still have four more to go to finish FAWM too. I’m planning to work on mixes until Harry wakes up. Then I’ll start picking off the remaining guitar parts. Harry is 18 and it’s school vacation. I expect him to sleep until 1:00 PM at least. That’s a smidge more than an hour and a half from now.

I’ve mixed two songs this morning. One is pretty decent:

The other probably isn’t as good, but it’s still okay.

You can sing the title of this post to the tune of The Final Countdown if you want. I choose not to, but now that I’ve said it I probably will.

Saturday February 27, 2021. It’s the start of the final weekend of this year’s RPM Challenge. Eight songs need lead guitar. A total of 12 songs need to be mixed.

Can I do it?

I can do it.

Bring it on, oh my brothers and only friends.

ohmygodohmygodohmygod there are only two days left. oh no oh no oh no.

I mixed two songs tonight. That brings the total of completed songs up to eight. Interestingly enough, because I’ve been overdoing it with the length of each song this year, it puts me over the 35 minute mark. I’m at 37:50, to be exact. That means I officially qualify as a winner of the RPM Challenge. Remember, RPM defines an album as 10 songs or 35 minutes. Hooray, eh?

I didn’t record any guitars today though so that means I still have a whopping eight songs left to finish, and then I need to mix those eight and another four that already have their lead guitars finished. By the time I pack it in on Sunday night my ears are going to be reduced to mush.

Here are the songs I mixed tonight. This one is okay. I don’t think I will drop this one from the final album:

This one isn’t terrible, but it’s definately in danger of being dropped: