Studio Diary: WeeoooWeeoooWeeoo!

(WeeooWeeooWeeoo! What is this..?)

Well, another productive evening in the studio!! Once again knocked off another song! Making a lot of progress these days!! The song for this session (June 8/2020) was taken from concept to completion today! Once again, the vocals were the last thing to do, though this time around, the session was coming to a close around 8:20pm... so it wasn't quite the end of the night, but did vocals, and song done!!

So far this challenge has been a lot of fun!! I'm getting things done a lot quicker than I normally would, which ultimately is making me think that, my normal process, does not need to be as long and drawn out as it is, at least for some of the stuff I do! I have made it a goal to write at least one song per day during this challenge... it really forces me to really only utilize the tracks and not get too fuckin detailed with shit. A lot of the tracks I've written out of this process have been very minimal, I think the highest track count I got to for a song was near 18 tracks (I think)... The other thing is, is after a track is considered finished, I'm not going back to them to listen to what I have done, I just get to a point, where I feel the track is done, and finish things up, and then move onto the next song! I'm also writing the songs one at a time, typically in the past when I was working on an album, I would start a track, and work on it, till I get to a point where I have no new ideas, so I set the track aside, start a new one... and kinda work that way, and then when it felt right, I would go back to the unfinished tracks and eventually finish them. The process sometimes took weeks or months, sometimes there was a lot of listening too, but now that I'm trying to do a song a day... I'm just focusing on one song at a time, trying to get my ideas, as soon as they come out... which is helping me finish the tracks, cause I'm not really messing around all that much, everything is more focused, and I've found when getting my ideas out in this fashion, it is actually a lot easier to finish songs!!

I will also say here, I'm not recording any (new) guitars on my own, and actually, I'm using royalty free and creative commons samples for various guitar parts, as well as stuff that I recorded a long time ago, in the past that I've never used before (thank fuckin christ I built a guitar sample bank, with a bunch of stuff that I wasn't sure what to do with)!

This process has been a lot of fun!! The challenge so far has been very eye opening, in what I'm capable of, and there has been a lot of learning (I know I've already mentioned this, but... I'm just having a lot of fun, and when this challenge is done, I can't wait to share this stuff with you)!! Ultimately, this challenge will end eventually, and I'll have to figure out what the next challenge is (already have an idea, but I'll get into that another time)!

Studio Diary: Light everlasting?

(Light everlasting?)

Ye, today (June 7/2020) was a very productive day, have knocked off two songs! Today's session was full of happy accidents. I was initially gonna create a neat little arpeggiated sequence, but as I was playing, this recorded bit started playing in the background, but at a higher speed and pitch... when listening to it, in context of the song, it worked with the song, and fit exactly what I was going for! Sometimes these little happy accidents happen, and the results end up being amazing!

I will say, the first song I worked on today... I was intentionally going in one direction, but as the song started to take shape, it turned into something entirely different! I'm loving this! I'm loving this challenge, I'm loving the output and stuff that is being written, the way it's coming out, and all the learning in the process! I'm well ahead of where I want to be!!

Sooo, much inspiration out there! 

I will say this again folks, I know a lot of you typically don't do something creative, unless you feel inspired, but I will be honest, sometimes you just have to sit down and pick up the pen/brush/pencil, play guitar/keys/drums what have you, and put it on paper/canvas, record/write etc... it may not look/sound perfect, it may be crap, but at least you are doing something, and sometimes that's all it takes! I know for myself, as of lately, I've been doing something creative every day, and sometimes I don't feel like it, but if you wait until you feel like it, it may never happen or get done. You gotta do these things despite your feelings! I know I've found, after years of doing this consistently (at least once a week), the ideas come out much more quickly, and easily, and sometimes it's inspiration, and sometimes it's just me going through the motions. The last little bit I'm gonna say here, I know some of you folks have heard me say this before, but I will say it again, ultimately life is very short, if we are lucky we live to 100... 100 years isn't actually all that long... think about the last 10 years, how quickly did that go by? I think you are getting what I'm saying!

Hope you folks are staying safe and are well!

Studio Diary: So, I achieved a very nice goal today!!

(Achievement unlocked, part one! Lightshift... dark!)

Ye, so today (June 6th/2020), I achieved a writing and production goal in my music endeavor. Today I took 2 songs from concept to completion, and even started a third song today! I am extremely happy with this achievement! I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to do it, but I did!

Once again, I will say, this entire challenge and process has been very fun, very inspiring, and there is a lot of learning that I'm doing in the process! The way this is rolling, I'm loving this!! I will say it again, this whole process reminds me a little bit of the early Twitch days when I was using Tracker software to write my first album (as well as my second)! This is all coming out quickly, and I'm getting it down as it comes out, it's lending to intuitive songwriting, and I truly understand why certain music producers do things in certain ways!

I've kind of gotten into a rhythm now, and we'll see what tomorrow brings, I would love to get out another 2 songs tomorrow... we'll see...

So, much inspiration right now!!

Studio Diary: That is the way... What is this vision?

(That is the way... what is this vision?)

Ye, it was another productive day in the studio today (June 5th/2020)! I spent the majority of the afternoon and evening (up until about 9pm) working on this song for the day. Once again, we did vocals at the end of the night, this time though, because we finished the track a little earlier (8:30pmish) we did the vocals, got them down in one take, and that's just the way we've been doing it lately! Not sure why it's coming out that way, but doing vocals these last few days on the various tracks that we've been working on, have generally been done in one take! Then I'll go in and tweak things here and there, add any effects and there you have it!

We've also been in the last couple of days, finishing one track per day (not including lyric writing), so things have definitely been going well!!

So, what is the overall feeling from today's session? 

This is awesome, and has been the most fun I've had writing in a long time! I'm trying to spit out tracks as quickly as possible, but I'm not gonna get into too many details here... other than, outside of a few things (drums, and guitars), every sound is from my synthesizer! I've either been using sounds that are already in the synth, or creating entirely new ones (with the synth), ye... I'm loving it! Lot's of learning going on!

Studio Diary: Is there light?

(Is there light?.. Photo courtesy of Natalie Torosian)

We are officially over the halfway point now, in the songs and tracklist... I wanted to do 15 songs, I'm now sitting at 8 that are done! These tracks have been coming out every 1.5(ish) days, so I'm not at the point I want to be (I would like to do 1 per day), but I am waaay the fuck ahead of where I wanted to be initially, so for me that's a win!

Today's session, was very intuitive, very quick... things came out quite quickly, I didn't over-complicate the song... I got down what needed to get down, and as of lately, it seems as though... the last thing I do, is vocals, just before 9pm (9pm is the cut-off point for doing vocals, as I live in an apartment)... for some reason lately... it's usually 10 - 15 minutes before 9pm, and I record the vocals, in one take! Not sure why it's happening that way, but for some reason that is the way it's happening! Then I'll go in and quickly edit them, put them through an Effects Bus, tweak the effects to taste... and song done! Obviously, if I need to, I'll carry things out a little longer in the tweaking stage, but generally 9pm has been the time I finish the song and get vocals!

So, what is the overall feeling of these sessions?

I'm loving every minute of this! I like the workflow, I love working with my synth a lot! Outside of a couple of things, all the sounds are generated by my synthesizer, and yeah... loving working with my synth in this capacity! It's really helping me to get out ideas quicker, and understand the internal architecture of my synthesizer and how it works! Initially, when I started this challenge, I was worried that I may not be able to meet the challenge (I hadn't actually touched my synth in like 10 months, so I was worried that I would be fumbling around trying to figure shit out, when I should be productive), but after working with my synth a bit and re-familiarizing myself with the way it works... it wasn't such a struggle to pick it up and work with it in the capacity that I am!

This has been the most fun I've had with it, since I got the thing... but I'll get into that another time! Loving this shit!!

Love you guys!

Studio Diary: Slump, but it picked up!

(Slump, but it picked up... inspiration is out there!!)

Ye, the start of the last couple sessions were a little tough (June 2 & 3, 2020). After the last sessions, I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up the same mindset, and keep the juices flowing. I spent June 2nd, writing lyrics from scratch, got them into some kind of complete state, then June 3rd I started and completed the track those lyrics were meant for... and then tweaked the lyrics a little more, and at the end of the session (around 8:50pm) I recorded the vocals and track done! I feel good again! Even though I was a little nervous about starting and finishing this track, it got done!!

A part of this process, I was meant to write guitar for the various tracks that I'm working on, but my guitar decided to not work anymore, so to replace it, I've started using free guitar samples off the net and such (Royalty free, as well as 0 Attibution creative commons stuff), it's been interesting, cause I'm manipulating and slicing the samples to fit into these songs (I will say it's a lot of work too). I think the way I've done this... well... I'll let you decide when you hear this ;)

Note: I really do gotta stay away from the alcohol these days, I felt like shit for two days after having a couple of drinks during the Terminus: Isolation feed. So, it put me off for those two days, and I felt I really couldn't write or do a decent vocal take. I mean, I did write, but my energy levels weren't there... of course this whole situation would be different, if there wasn't this isolation shit going on (as I wouldn't feel disconnected, and I wouldn't be ruminating on things as much), but I guess it is what it is!

Studio Diary: Today was almost not the day... but inspiration prevailed!

(Today was almost not the day... but inspiration prevails, and just getting the job fuckin done!!)

Ye... today (June 1st/2020) was tough... my vocals were not where I want them, but I pushed through and got them out. I was getting a little frustrated today, I felt like I was getting into the same head space that I was in before I did this challenge, and the ideas weren't coming out as quickly, but once again, powered through those feelings and finished this fuckin song! I did spend a bit more time on it, than the other songs that I've done, but I couldn't take this track any further, and I said fuck it, finished things up, tweaked things here and there, did the vocals, manipulated them a little bit, and song done!! This track is definitely different, but I think I got across what I wanted to!

I've shut everything down for the evening, and will start the next song tomorrow! Overall, despite the difficulties of finishing this track, I finally got to a place where I feel it's done, and I'm just going to leave it the way it is.