Category Archives: music - Page 12

sticking with it

Posted by on September 10, 2008 No comments

the toughest part of having a full time non-music job and a fantastic family is the lack of practice time. i’m constantly noodling on my six string. i’m rarely more than 10 paces from it, but the other instruments that i really love get neglected. for example, off of the top of my head for no really good reason, my dobro. (for nitpickers: call it what you want, it’s a dobro.)

i love the sound. it’s an instrument that i really enjoy playing at. notice that i said “playing at.” i don’t play it. i’m never going to go down in history as a “dobro player,” but i like it. and i love the unique voice it has. as a matter of pure coincidence this instrument figures prominently in the tune i’m hacking on right now. it’s a simple line, but it’s giving me fits. why? because i don’t practice.

if i had the time and knew the people i would call someone up and say “hey, want to lay down a quick and easy track for me?” but i don’t. i won’t use a sampled dobro (even if there is such a thing, which i seriously doubt). and i won’t simplify the line or use another instrument. it’s quite a fine hole i’ve dug for myself.

the best part is that when the track is released everyone will say “that’s what caused all the trouble?” and i’ll have to point at something shiney and run the other direction.

not compromising sucks, but i can’t see it being any other way, so it’s back to the woodshed and a thousand takes.

on the positive side, the rhythm lines and bass are down. that part sounds pretty cool, but it will sound a thousand times cooler when i get the dobro in there.

progress is a good thing

Posted by on September 5, 2008 No comments

i just spent about an hour going through the motions of editing the tune i linked to yesterday. there are a couple of things to note. first, i’m glad that i stuck with this one. i really, really like it. it’s contemplatively happy. it also has a chamber ensemble vibe that is really hard to achieve when there is only one musician involved. oh how i hate playing alone. but until i can find other musicians who can record in my studio from exactly 8 pm to 9 pm every night, i am where i am.

another thing that i would like to mention is that i’m really loving logic 8 right now. it’s so nice when things simply do what i want them to do. so many tools work against me or force me to think. i don’t want to think. i can’t mess around with manuals and “what’s the shortcut for that again?” thinking. i want to hear an imperfection and deal with it. my time and patience are limited. i work very hard to make recordings with very few mistakes or issues that require editing, so when i’m editing i’m usually pretty unhappy. a tool that gets in my way is not acceptable. thank you logic for being easy to use. less thinking, more doing.

what does any of this mean? it means that i have 4 tunes more or less in the bag. 7 more to go. my next stop is adding a dobro track to a piece. practice makes perfect but looping segments for recording multiple takes in rapid succession will do in a pinch. and i’m pinched.

a nice, rough mix

Posted by on September 4, 2008 No comments

this tune has been giving me fits. it has taken me over a month to get something that i like and here we are…well, at least this is close. take a listen on the music page and drop me a line to let me know what you think.

when i spend a little time and get it all edited down, mixed up and properly tweaked, i think i’ll be quite proud of the result. i have no idea why i’m so taken with this little tune, but i am.

enjoy!

all is not lost

Posted by on September 2, 2008 No comments

i have been hacking away at the same tune for about a month now. i have no idea why it has taken so long to finalize an arrangement, but it has. the result is pleasant but will require some editing. i hate it, but sometimes that’s the way it has to be.

life is busy. a family takes time if you’re going to do it right. i also want to do my music right. i guess that means that my self-imposed deadline for the release of this album is going to be blown to pieces. i would have to really pull off a miracle to make it happen and i don’t want to rush this one the way i did the last. with “the green man collection” it was almost as important to finish it as it was to do it right. that album was really a process for me and i’m glad that i did it the way i did. that said, i really need to do this one right for the same reasons. it’s another process.

i’m using a pile of new methods to motivate myself. i’m going to see if connecting with old friends and new via several networking sites and one of those narcissistic “look at me” technologies (twitter) will provide some external force. all of the requisite links are over there on the left. it’s harder to slack and not show progress when people are watching.

expect more frequent updates. i am going to put things out in the open and see where it takes me.

back to the beginning

Posted by on August 7, 2008 No comments

when i took composition in conservatory, my teacher told me that the most difficult part of teaching was finding the germ that made up the inspiration for the work at hand. he felt that it was important to treat each piece as though it were his own and work from the position of helping his student. he was very good at finding that one, tiny grain of idea that got things rolling and steering clear of it regardless of his feelings about it.

i do not have this skill. or it’s so very undeveloped as to be detrimental to my process.

for the last two weeks i have been reworking what was released here as “sketch 6” every night. i tried it the way i did it originally and decided to get fancy. that rolled into adding a mandolin. and then a 12 string. and then a lead line on the 6 string. and then a bass line. when i started pondering digging out the psaltry and moving the entire thing to a new key, i realized that i had gone too far.

it has been hot down here in bayou city and as such i’m not really thinking clearly. last night i left the studio very unfulfilled and with a great deal of anger and disappointment. i sat on the couch and listened to the original sketch. i found that little nugget of inspiration and noted with certainty that i had removed it entirely over the course of the last two weeks.

if there’s a lesson here it’s quite simply this: when things start to feel wrong or get too complicated, return to the source. that almost feels like one of those universal truisms, but i won’t push my luck.

back to the beginning.