My buddy David loaded me up with an arsenal of cast-off equipment from his home studio. I rummaged through the red and white filing box to find microphones, cables, a simple USB recording interface, and (drumroll please...) a set of M-Audio Studiophile studio monitors. Every item on loan is useful, but I am especially delighted to have speakers through which I can playback and edit music. Until now I have been trapped inside a pair of Sennheiser earphones. Thanks David for the loan.
I spent the evening at David's house shooting the breeze and creating some midi loops. He asked about Redline Project's progress, specifically inquiring if I am paring the possibilities down and defining my sound.
Good question - pretty sure the answer is a resounding no. Short of the fact that I am enamored with delay effects, I seem to pull from an array of genres, instrumentation, textures, and rhythms as I compose the individual tracks for this project. The ability to chameleon through the sonic range has its merits, but my inability to settle into a defined sound reveals a whiff of musical immaturity.
As I slowly press towards the goal of the Redline Project album release, I must remind myself of its purposes. I am here to explore, to ideate, to loosen the chains and let the music out. As the recording is released and downloaded, I anxiously await listeners' opinions. Will the tracks have overarching coherence? Will the eclectic nature of each piece lend a pleasing mosaic effect? Or will the lack of homogeny jar the consumer's ear and land the audio files in the digital trash heap?
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Ok, I typed out a long comment, and it glitched and wouldn't post. Short of it was:
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should think of doing a concept album. Don't limit yourself to a genre, but to a thread of sound, and a topical theme, or musical theme. I have a more meandering idea on what I'm thinking by that, but you can message me on Facebook if you feel like hearing the long version.
I made a stop by the local music store- I re-found an EV 630 mic... classic (50's?) mic, which has a funky plug, so I dropped it off for an estimate for changing the plug to fit XLR. I should find out tomorrow, I hope!
So, that was the short of it, I'm turning in, prep for my sister's wedding will take a lot out of me tomorrow!
Oh, and by the by, should you feel like listening to jazz at some point, my brother-in-law within a few days was on Maine Public Radio (He's a bassist) His set is the "Live Guitar Jazz" on the 19th.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mpbn.net/OnDemand/AudioOnDemand/FridayNightJazz/tabid/291/Default.aspx
josh, to have good monitors is so important and a huge step forwards. congratulations.
ReplyDeleteon finding the right concept or music for the album: i never really consciously decided which album i wanted to make, at least not for my first and second album. it would have been overwhelming for me having to do so. i just went along and tried what i can produce. in an early stage of a musical career (if i may call it that) i would say that we shouldn't narrow ourselves down to quickly to a certain style as we first have to find out who we are musically. I think trial and error is important in that stage, even if an error in genre or style will be burned on cd or downloaded on the internet.
on the other hand i guess that williams advise is worth considering: find an overall theme or concept and try to use that as a red line...