Tag: Songwriting

Tracking is Complete

Unless I miscounted or forgot something, tracking for this year’s RPM Challenge/FAWM is complete. It should be 14 songs and one very cheesy instrumental thingie. I added a song last night before bed and finished it up today. I used my amp for the last two songs worth of guitar parts, and then re-recorded one of the other songs using the amp as well. There was one more I wanted to re-do, but I am out of time. The takes I have are okay so the song still works out. Now I have to mix the last six songs, and remix one from the other day that I think is no longer acceptable. Three days left.

Finish Line in Sight

The finish line is in sight for both the RPM Challenge and FAWM.

I put a very crappy vocal onto a song this morning before work.  Once that song is mixed, there will be 10 songs and more than 35 minutes.  Check and Check for RPM.  There are also three additional songs that I hope to put vocals on tomorrow.  If I can do that it will bring me up to 13 songs, one shy of a complete FAWM.

Last night, just before bed, I sketched out a little instrumental thing.  It will just basically be bass and guitar trading off.  Nothing terribly interesting there.  However, there is a bed consisting of a looped recording of the water dripping off of our picture window into a bunch of metal pots.  I recorded a couple of minutes worth of that sound and then chopped it into pieces so that it can drift around the stereo field, and every few seconds it will add more and more reverb and echo.  In all it will sound tres stupid, but it counts in my book.

That means I have one guitar part to finish and three vocals, and then mix mix mix.  If I am feeling dangerous tonight I might try to add another short vocal song.  That would mean I have to finish four vocals by about noon tomorrow, but it might be worth a shot.

Song Number Eight

Eight down, six to go. One of those six is ready to mix (I think) and two don’t exist at all yet. Things ain’t looking good for FAWM, but the RPM Challenge is looking nice and rosy.

Song Number Seven

I started noodling out this little rocker this morning after going grocery shopping. The lyrics were recorded while sitting in the car outside of my step son’s guitar lesson. Later, after going to my nephew’s 4th birthday party, I recorded the guitars. Then after a break for some TV time I mixed it.

Not that good, but it’s there.

New Song, Barely

Yesterday was a bad day. A very bad day. Water leaking through the picture window, a carbon monoxide detector went off (the device was malfunctioning, but I didn’t know that when the beeping first started), I also had a brief period of feeling really sick just as a little cherry on top.

Somehow in between all of that crap and the related heart attack stress level I managed to have a very productive RPM Challenge day. It was probably that or just go raving mad, screaming at the walls. I recorded three vocals, used a trick to finish the one drum part I had to program, and mixed one song. I lost my ability to make up lyrics about nothing on the spot so for this one I had to find a topic. I found a blog about New England Folklore, and one of the posts was about the ghost that haunts the Mt Washington Hotel. Turns out she was married to the guy who built the building, so she’s not a scary ghost. She knows that would be bad for business.

Untitled

RPM Song #5

So if you take a four bar segment of GarageBand’s drummer, cut it into four individual pieces, and set the fill to maximum, you can almost trick garageband into giving you a drum solo. Almost.

A song about being depressed about winter. Sort of the anthem for all Bostonians these days.

Song #4

Four songs done. Six to go. (10 if I haven’t given up on FAWM, which I might have done)

I made it all the way to the fourth song before writing a lyric about worrying whether I could finish RPM on time or not. It’s like an annual thing now.

Two Songs Down

I mixed my second RPM song tonight. I liked it a lot more before I realized that the guitar part was stolen from Tanya Donelly’s song “The River” from the absolutely Earth shatteringly brilliant Throwing Muses album House Tornado. I feel like a tool now.

One Song Down

The RPM Challenge has kicked into gear and I have one song complete. Not sure how I feel about this one as the guitar sounds fishy in the chorus and I’m frankly too tired to know if the mix is any good or not. This might get some additional work.