August 29
Transcribed my freestyle singing nonsense. Could this be the song I'll develop? We'll see...
Sail away I say
Give her your drink
Where to four eyes today?
And you're too late
Hey I gave you
I gave you away
Hey I gave you
Gave you away
Once you've gone afraid
It's you there I'll stay
And we set the timer to
End on this very day
It aint gonna be the same
It aint gonna be the same
Wooooooo
I beg you to stay
Wooooooo
I beg you to stay away
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August 31
I was expecting to have band rehearsals today but it's cancelled; now my fingers hurt and need some time-out. I've been playing the guitar the whole day yesterday in preparation for today's practice. I did sneak an 'exploration jam' of the idea I'm developing for NGADM. I'm loving my imagination of how the drums could be but I can't possibly perform it. I have to work with my limitations, as usual. No breaks though, I'm spending time listening to music for inspiration. Maybe figure out the lyrics too, but I am abandoning it; it has done it's job. I'm focusing on the music. It needs to be simplified. My ears will do most of the work for now. Speaking of ears, yeah those need a break too, and in my case, a break from the earphones.
Last time I shared an image of this corner, it had mic'd up snare and cymbals. This is how it looks like at the moment. I don't have much space to work with so this is what I do. Setting up gear has become my thing. Maybe someday I could own a better computer and work purely in-the-box like most of you. It's easy to get lazy when you know you have to constantly move things around, set-up, etc. But hey, it's free exercise and it allows you to keep track of the things you own. I pray that the missing AT2035 shock mount shows up, though, because I need it! :-(
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September 1
I listened to the original spontaneous jam that I recorded and thought "Alright, I'm going to stop thinking and surrender to this piece". I re-wrote the lyrics to find the best possible 'sounds like' words because what I sang didn't quite match what I'd written the first time (I wasn't actually singing words, just gibberish, like what babies do, you know?). This isn't the first time I've composed like this, I've recorded songs before by copying exactly what I did on the first spontaneous rough take, which includes the "mistakes" that I had to learn and memorize (An example is this song I made called Tonight. Another is Like There's No Tomorrow -- this one had evolved to the point of giving birth to 2 entirely new songs). Session musicians will have a hard time studying this song if or when I need sessionists for recording or a live performance. I have decided on a title -- As It May (Do people say that? Like, short for Be That As It May?).
I pegged my favorite female singer's singing style. I think I can pull it off with practice. We'll see. Hope I don't lose my voice. Now on to the next step, recording...
...singing along to the song over and over again, memorizing the phrasing and melodies of the initial vocal comp. I couldn't stop feeling emotional. I am literally crying. It's not good for singing clean melodies, tears are going down my nose and throat. I'll record bass for now.
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September 2
Vocals, check!
Acoustic Guitar, check!
Bass, check!
I must've performed the song 50 to 100 times per instrument / voice. Sometimes I know I got the take, but since it's in a loop, I just keep playing anyway. I went back and forth recording, editing, re-recording, editing again... There are things you'll miss when you are performing and the only way you'd know is by listening back. I love singing this song! I love playing the guitar and the bass too.
Now what? I feel like I am done! It sounds really good bare. I tried adding a tiny amount of reverb to the vocals, I did not like it. I need feedback!
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September 4
Cymbals, check!
Snare, check!
Kick sample from NI Battery, check!
I somehow found a mic clip that fits the AT2035 (yay!). The last time, I closed mic'd each cymbal, it was actually a bad idea. The proximity effect gave so much rumbling low end from the cymbals that I ended up high-passing it. Around a foot away sounded a lot better (maybe a foot and a half would be perfect)... Of course, the ribbon mic is still up there by the ceiling, serving as a room mic.
I also decided to do a little reamping of the bass into the chorus pedal and also the sansamp which I didn't use. I sent my voice into the chorus too because... why not? (sorry 'bout the mess)
Obviously, I didn't know what else to do at this point so I decided to 'dial a friend' -- Ketyri. He gave me feedback which I badly needed! (Thank you!!) I want to make this song the best I can possibly make it, not because I want to win against Benji-G (it would be a relief if he moves on to be honest) but because I want to prove to myself that I am even worthy to be in the top 16...
Fun fact: Did you know that the Sansamp pedal is out of phase with other preamps? That's also true for software versions.
Click here for part 2 of the songwriting diary...