Tag: Song Writing

Car Music for March

Musical progress, folks! The Record Every Month Challenge is still happening for March 2023! I went to my favorite singing-in-the-car parking lot this morning and put really terrible vocal tracks onto two songs. The challenge is to record a song each month. I am upping the ante to recording two songs every month because I am insane.

The view out my “studio” window, complete with my rubber duck assistant audio engineer:

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Weight loss surgery has changed a lot for me in terms of singing. My lung capacity is WAY down, which seems odd but maybe not that surprising. There is a new finding that I just came across today. Car music workflow had me putting the laptop on the passenger seat and leaning over to read the lyrics off of the notepad. Today it occurred to me that without my huge stomach I can do this instead:

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Finally, in closing, I drove through the center of town. I actually brought Dad’s film camera with me, fully intending to stop somewhere and snap a few pics. When the time came though, I just drove home… like I always do. I did almost get hit by a guy running a stop sign, and then get hit again when he decided to change lanes without looking while I was literally right next to him. 9:00am and already driving drunk. Dude’s gonna have a banger of a day, methinks.

207/365

Doctor’s Appointment and More Stomach Fun

Nothing much came of the doctors appointment. I have to make a couple of follow ups and I’ll be getting an MRI at some point. I’ve been crazy busy at work so I haven’t had a chance to make any of the calls I need to make.

I got home with a few minutes to spare before punching into work, but as soon as I did things got crazy busy. I tried to sneak in some lunch and I ate too fast and my stomach rebelled in a big way. It took two hours to calm down but I did get through my lunch. Granted, lunch stretched out almost all the way to dinner time but what can you do.

I’m drastically behind on both my water and protein goals right now. I’ll make it for both today, but I’m annoyed with myself, especially after I had such a good start this morning before going to see the doctor.

Change of subject: I need to do car music. We’re running out of days in March and I have to finish Record Every Month. I have three songs in the pipeline but I’ll probably only get to two. I am planning to do another album in a month this spring, but it depends on guitar gear. I’ve mentioned that I am about to come to the end of the Analog Man King of Tone waiting list. The first full month after I get my mitts on one of those suckers I will do an album in a month using it on every guitar track. That’s the plan at least. Will it be April? Will it be May? Kinda hope it will be April, but that seems highly unlikely.

What else… Star Trek Picard was good today. The whole gang is back on the show. All we need now is Tasha. Good stuff. The show has been fantastic this season. I really need it to keep up the good work and stick the landing. On the other side of the Trek/Wars coin, I started re-watching The Bad Batch over the weekend. I’m still not sure why, but I will finish the first season tonight (I think) and the second season is going to end next Wednesday, I think. Am I right about that? There are two episodes left but they will both be released next week? I head that somewhere.

I’m tired. I’ve had such a stressful week health wise. Between multiple stomach issues and yet another migraine… I need a nap. A long, comfy nap.

Six minutes left until quittin’ time. I’ll make dinner after I finish work, but I will probably be too full from lunch to eat it right away. We’ll see. 16 ounces of liquid left to go. A whopping 37 grams of protein left to go. I’ll make it to both goals, and then some. It’s just going to take some extra time tonight, I think.

Okay. Signing off. I’ll likely post again later. Yesterday was the lowest page view day I’ve had on this page in over four years. I blame the migraines, but I’ll try to write something interesting that will bring the folks by… or not. Probably not.

Still Going

The RPM Challenge is over, but I still managed to play some guitar today. I’m up to three new song ideas. I was thinking of trying to do two songs per month for the rest of the year, but I just had to keep going today. I don’t think I am going to do 10 songs in March, but will I? Who knows. It’s just good to play.

186/365

Winner

I still have two songs to mix, but neither of those two songs are good enough to use on the final record… so I submitted it. I threw together a somewhat logical running order, created a playlist on alonetone.com, and sent it off to the RPM Headquarters.

Done and done.

There I am on the list of winners. I filtered it by people in Massachusetts so I’d be easier to find.

Now I just need to finish those last two songs and I’ll be done with everything for this month. I am pretty surprised I made it through. I’m happy I made it, even if I am not happy with the results.

11 Songs Down, Three to Go

This is song #11 out of 14. I think it’s the only song I’ve done this year that’s in 7/8 time. That’s sad.

At least two of the remaining three will be dropped from the final album. One of them is still on the fence but definitely leaning toward the drop list. I think I have enough time to mix one more before work. Let’s see if I can get ‘er done.

Tracking is Done

I have finished all of the tracking for this year’s RPM Challenge. I added really crappy lead guitar parts to the last two songs and I am done with the recording. Finished, babie!

181/365
181/365. The focus point is on the pickup switch, I think.
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The focus point is on Baby Yoda, babie!
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The focus point is the word “Fender” on the amplifier.
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The focus point is on the guitar, which I think was pretty obvious.

RPM Challenge: The Last Day

Technically the RPM Challenge rules allow you to work on March 1st, but I prefer to stay within February so today is the last day for me.

Four songs left. Two are ready to mix. Two still need quick lead guitar parts before they’ll be ready to mix. I can do it all today. I also need to come up with a running order and drop anything that’s not up to snuff. This year that’s pretty much everything so lots of weak songs are going to make the cut.

I have a doctor’s appointment at 10:00am so I took sick time for the first half of the work day. That should let me get the guitar tracks in once Jen is out of bed. It’s snowing though. There isn’t much more than a dusting right now but we could get eight inches. I may have to shovel this morning, and I’ll definitely have to shovel after work. I also need to do my exercise this morning and I over slept about an hour so… yeah. Dumb ass.

Okay, Robert. It’s motivation time. Get to it. Get shit done!

2023 RPM Challenge – Day 27 of 28

As posted on the stupid tumblr page……..

I just mixed and uploaded song #10. I still have four more songs to work on, but if I wanted to stop and call it a day now I could and still submit a completed project.

That sound you hear is me breathing a sigh of relief. I am going to bed now. I’ll finish the last four songs tomorrow and come up with a running order. I made cover art earlier today. I am really close to putting this one in the rear view mirror.

Time to Get to Work

It’s the second to last day of the RPM Challenge. I have seven songs mixed and finished. Five more are ready to mix. Two additional still need a lead guitar track. I just finished dinner and I am in the middle of a first season episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine (the one with Q). It’s time to get a move on, Robert. Let’s get to mixing!