Song-a-Week #14 – SlumDog
April 6th, 2009So, I finally watched “Slumdog Millionaire” and was inspired to see if I could put together something Indian-y. This is what I get for watching movies.
Song-a-Week #13 – PTB
March 30th, 2009Speak and Spell is evil. That’s all I’m going to say.
Song-a-Week #12 – Plop
March 24th, 2009I worked on this one in Sea-Tac airport in Seattle on my MacBook while waiting for my flight back to Phoenix after a very tiring, very cold, very rainy, very overcast weekend. Read into that what you will. Oh, and would you like to hear all about the 16 year old girl who sat next to me on the flight who plays guitar in a “screamo” band and who was being sent away by her parents to live with her grandparents in Colorado for doing drugs, skipping school, and starting fights? It’s quit fascinating, I assure you. I even took notes. Perhaps they’ll end up a song.
Song-a-Week #11 – You’re Not The Bossa Me
March 16th, 2009Well, Tanager Audioworks has FINALLY released SongFrame for MacOS X. Needless to say, I’m going to be playing with it a lot, as I have promised Big Al I’d give him a software review for PSN. I just got Pro Tools 8, which is (so far) pretty amazing. This week, I’m experimenting with software more than anything. (Digidesign’s new AIR virtual instrument “Mini Grand” is veddy nice.) Anyhoo, this is my attempt at a Bossa Nova. Nothing is quite right, but then, that’s what makes it one of my songs, isn’t it? I’m off to Seattle next weekend, so next week’s song is either going to be a little early, a little late, or right on time. Not sure which yet. Enjoy!
Song-a-Week #10 – Thursday
March 5th, 2009This is another thing I wrote years ago, but I didn’t quite know what to do with it. Guess what? I still don’t know what to do with it. Other than record and upload it, that is. Which, as you can see/hear, I have done. There may be room for lyrics in there somewhere, but it would likely require a bit of a rearrangement. If anyone has ideas for lyrics or even just a feeling, let me know! BTW, the name “Thursday” comes from the fact that today is Thursday. That’s some high-caliber songwritin’ for ya!
Song-a-Week #9 – Cognitive Dissidents
March 2nd, 2009Just a sketch again this time. This project is proving to be more and more difficult with each passing week. Life, and other projects, just keep getting in the way. If I don’t start using a more systematic (if not downright mechanical) process to accomplish this more methodically, I may fail. Another thing I’m learning is that I need to keep the imagined grandiosity of my song concepts in check. The important thing isn’t so much what I’m doing, but that I’m doing.
Song-a-Week #8 – Winter Song
February 23rd, 2009Sorry to disappoint my throngs of fans, but I’m phoning this one in. This week was busy as hell, the weekend was jam-packed, I’m exhausted, very sore, and I have a headache. (Waaa, waaa, waaa.) But, since the “show” must go on, I’ve uploaded a quick snippet of something that has been stewing around in my head for several months. I’m not sure where to take it, but I wanted to make sure I got something up.
Song-a-Week #7 – President
February 15th, 2009I wrote this one years ago. Since I just got a new Ibanez Exotic Wood EW20ZW Zebra Wood Acoustic Guitar [cough... sponsor... cough], I thought it was time to record it to test out how the new geetar sounded recorded. I have to do a bit of EQ tweaking, but otherwise, it’s pretty nice. I also stereo mic’d the acoustic (at the sound hole) with an EV Cobalt. Some of you were asking to hear me sing. Well… you asked for it. I did all the vocals into a Shure SM57, believe it or not.
Song-a-Week #6 – First
February 8th, 2009This is just a sketch I made while playing around with a new songwriting tool called SongFrame by Tanager Audioworks. So far, it’s pretty flexible and very interesting, but there are a LOT of bugs in the MacOS version. Once the full (hopefully bug-free) version comes out, I plan to do a product review. (This was also a lesson in just how shitty Pro Tools 7.4 is for working with MIDI. I wonder if an upgrade to PT 8 might be a good idea…)
Song-a-Week #5 – Stalking in the Rain
January 30th, 2009This is officially my first drug-inspired song ever. I “wrote” it late last night between 4 and 6am while on under the influence of percocet. I put the finishing touches on it by laying down some guitar this morning. Hope you like it.
