My breakthrough/ Plan

I felt so excited today when I finished anther song (lyrically). Normally, I begin writing songs by coming up with interesting melodic parts. Then, whenever I hear a word or phrase that I like, I make that my title. I then write the song around the title, and the song takes off… finishing itself. If the lyrics go well with the music, or the other way around, it’s a winner. Today, as I said before, I finished another, and in the process of writing another. Now, I have around 4-5 songs for the album. I have been a little behind schedule on the recording part of the album. I became so caught up in the realm of writing songs with a narrative, that it dominated my project. I intend to end the week with at least 2 recorded songs. If I follow this plan, I would be following my new schedule. That schedule is to finish the recordings by Thursday of next week, with Friday left to make the album art. In regards to STAC night, I’m thinking my performance would be as follows. I would take a recording of my best song, and mute my voice track, and make a copy of this new data. This audio would be played over the PA system, with me singing into a microphone strumming to an acoustic. If I have a solo in the song, I’d use the electric, but strum with no sound when not in the solo section. That’s my layout for STAC night

Recording... Almost

It’s been a while since I’ve last posted- from the last post until now, I have finished up my songs for my EP. Now, I have 5 completed songs. I am going to start recording them on Monday with some recording equipment that I will bring in. I’m thinking of bringing in a tape machine with a blue microphone, or if bringing in large equipment like that may be stressful, I’ll just bring in a lap top with a USB microphone. I want to make the EP with "full sound", and what I mean by this is to create a recording with many instruments, not just my voice and the guitar. One thing that I need that I don’t know if I have access to are the horns. I need a sax, trumpet, and trombone player if possible. I could try to ask around and see who would be willing to record. With all of this, I will multi- track record the EP, and record everyone one track at a time.
My Recording Equipment:

 This is my microphone, which i will probably use to record everything. I'm thinking of miking the Drums with this, and have a Dynamic Microphone to the Kick Drum. I want to use the Condenser Mic. to capture the brighter tones, while the Dynamic to capture the low ends.

 

This is my Reel to Reel Machine (1/4 inch tape recorder). I enjoy using this over my Computer because me more of a natural bassy tone, like a ribbon microphone, as compared to moderately priced Digital equipment.

  This is my second Tape Recorder. This is a Cassette recorder, but a higher quality recorder than most generic brands or models. It gives me a good balance of Low and High end sound frequencies, and it sounds like the recordings made on Audacity- It’s pretty clean sounding (very little pops and crackles, when using high quality high bias tape). This recorder is quicker to use than the Reel to Reel recorder, but I enjoy the sound produced on the Reel to Reel more than I do of this recorder.

A little Tune

The other day was a high point in my writing. i began noodling on my guitar, then suddenly i came up with something interesting. with this, i began to write a song around it. it came soo naturally that i was very surprised at the end. it morphed all the styles i have l0isten0e0d to so far, in terms of my infuences, and i came up wih something very new to my ears. i then used my comunity by asking them what they thoug0ht. i need a commuinity because it prevents me from wasting my time 0on useless crap, in an audiances opinion. back to the song, i recieved a high review on the song, and i have been working on it since. now, with this song included, i have 4 nearly completed songs. my intention in regards to the project is quality, not quantity. i dont want to write a dozen half-assed songs, while i could write 6 songs with 110% of my ability.

Versatile

Writing new instrumentation parts and lyrics came rather quickly today compared to previous days. I planted myself on the piano playing chords, while humming possible singing melodies along with the playing. I found this rather helpful compared to making songs on the guitar. I feel as if the notes are all directly in front of me, and easier to get sound, rather than writing with the guitar. I accomplished one of my goals today, which was to break a 2 verse intro; such intro could be found in songs such as, "Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)". Breaking such a habit allows me to be more versatile, and also allows me to get a wider variety of genres. Overall today was relatively a good day.

Feelings and Sound

Today, I wasn’t able to get much done at all. I had Art, which delayed my writing a bit. This did come in handy in a way because I began thinking of new themes to write about, and interesting instrumental parts. I want write about people, and their feelings towards family, not just lovers. Family is a strong topic to write about, and it’s very difficult, if not impossible to capture the true feeling of love one has towards a family member. Such a family member could range from sister or brother, to parents or grandparents. This seems quite intimidating. I am also trying to squeeze in one pop song into the album, if time allows. I want to create variation in my songs. I read an article the other day, and I stated, "The reason why the Beatles became so famous was because of their writing, and their chord changes." That clicked for me. I am now obsessed over putting different chords, and interesting/different chord progressions in my songs. Such chord progressions could be like from the song, "Honey Don't" by Carl Perkins. The intro went from an F, to a C... that was so revolutionary in its day, and it has a lasting impact on today's music world. I think interesting chord progressions play major roles in my songs.

Workday

Lately, I’ve been overly concentrated over writing “pop” songs with catchy intros, and all that jazz. I just couldn’t produce anything that would satisfy me. I began talking to Ellen Cooper, and she suggested listening to more music. With this, I went home and I decided to lay out all my records in my record collection and listen for things that would “Grab” me. I listened to artists ranging from Nat King Cole to the Beatles, but the Album that struck me the most was “The Stranger”. This album was so powerful, lyrically and instrumentally, that it blew me away. Now I’ve had this album for a while, though I never paid close attention to it. My eyes were literally glued to the lyrics printed on the paper sleeve of the record. Billy Joel’s lyrics were so descriptive; I must have listened to the whole album 3-4 times to re-picture the stories in my head.

With upon listening to the albums, I decided to take a new route to the songwriting- Story telling. I wanted to tell a different story in each song I wrote. I didn’t want to write the same old freakin’ love songs you hear on the radio that have repetitive lyrical ideas like, “Baby I love you, I’ll never leave you, and we’ll never part….” I wanted to create songs in which when you hear them, you’re automatically envisioning the storyline in your head, like Joel’s styles of writing, Paul Simon, and many others. At the moment, I am intending on making a shortened album of 5 or 6 songs, 3 of which I am in the process of finishing, and the other 2 I still have to work on a bit. The 6^th may be optional, but I may have lost the idea of which I have based the song off of, thus creating a problem. Tomorrow, I am intending on finishing the 3 songs, and continuing the process of working on the others.