Redline Project Turns 100

This entry marks the Redline Project's 100th post. To celebrate, my computer decided to launch a firecracker that almost blew the initiative to smithereens.

Yesterday, my computer failed to start up. We are not talking about some sort of antique juke box here; I am working on a 27" intel iMac that came out of the box three months ago.

Apparently the operating system crashed, which is not the end of the world. I did not know that until Apple walked me through a reinstall this morning. Up to that point, I wondered if the hard drive had failed, which would have sealed four months worth of Redline Project files into the tomb of history.

With my heart in my throat, I gingerly launched the machine after the software finished installing. A click on the documents folder revealed a familiar, lengthy listing of all my digital goodies. Whew! Out of the woods. Needless to say, I am backing up these precious bits and bytes today.

In honor of reaching the milestone of 100 blog posts, I put together a list of 100 lessons I have learned since the project launched in January.

The Redline 100

1) Regardless of how much I promote this project and its blog, my wife will always be my most avid reader.

2) Regardless of how much I promote this project and its blog, my mother will always be my second-most avid reader.

3) Regardless of how much I promote this project and its blog, my grandmother will always be my third-most avid reader.

4) A seemingly quiet house is filled to the brim with squeaks, cracks, and various other borborygmi at any given moment of the day.

5) Birds chirp at ungodly hours of the day, and during the godly ones too.

6) A brand new computer, even an Apple, is still a computer and will therefore have a propensity to crash.

7) File backups are worth the time and effort, no matter how much of a pain they are to perform.

8) Logic Express is a superior product to Garageband, and worth the investment of money.

9) Logic Pro is a superior product to Logic Express, and worth the investment of money.

10) The digital age allows musicians to remotely collaborate, even if there is an ocean between them.

11) Never underestimate the power of external links to your blog.

12) Melodyne makes bad singers sound not so bad.

13) Many famous artists have used some sort of vocal adjustment and editing; almost no one sounds as good live as they do on a professional recording.

14) Songwriting takes great effort and often requires several drafts and tweaks.

15) Delay effects can make even the simplest rhythms sound cool.

16) It is easy to over-process and over-effect music projects when so many tools are a click away.

17) Songs should tell an incomplete story - one that allows listeners to fill in the blanks and relate the tale to their own lives.

18) Music sounds incomparably different when heard through headphones, studio monitors, vehicle sound systems, and consumer stereos.

19) No matter what an artist produces, some people are going to like it, and some are not.

20) Recording music is much easier when the wife is out drinking coffee with a friend.

21) There is nothing more valuable in all the world than a supportive wife.

22) Television soaks up more time than anyone wishes to admit.

23) Television is something I thought I would miss until I replaced it with this music project. Now I watch 95% less, and have no desire for my old habit.

24) Don't cheap out on audio cables. The cheapies produce too much static and hum to get a clean sound.

25) It is possible to sell something when acquiring another.

26) Sometimes owning less in the name of simplicity is good for the soul. I had to rid my closet of several bicycles and parts to fund this project. Do I miss these itmes? A little. The process inspired me to prioritize, which in turn yielded motivation to work hard at this project.

27) Ebay is a wonderful venue for turning unwanted items into cash.

28) Ebay customer service sucks eggs and their new feedback policy puts sellers at a severe disadvantage. Buyer AND seller beware.

29) If someone with the username Jmdesigns2 tries to purchase something from you on eBay, run far, far away.

30) Acoustic guitar sounds more natural and full when miked. Direct sound from a cable sounds almost too full or too direct.

31) Ten o'clock at night is a far more productive time for me than three o'clock in the afternoon will ever be.

32) External plug-ins for Logic can freeze the program once in a while. Save often.

33) Save often.

34) Recording a song, leaving it for awhile, and returning to it at a later date provides some sober perspective into its merits and problems.

35) Recording parts separately (like guitar and voice) almost always provides better editing capability, though it comes at the expense of a more organic sound.

36) Software features, such as Flex Time, do not always work as flawlessly as the marketing claims made about them.

37) A midi keyboard does not need a lot of features to be a useful tool.

38) Midi strings sound terrible.

39) Midi brass sounds terrible.

40) Midi woodwinds sound terrible.

41) A general rule of thumb: electronic instruments sound best when produced by the computer, acoustic instruments sound best when produced by acoustic instruments.

42) Midi instruments, when used thoughtfully and appropriately, can save amazing amounts of time.

43) Facebook and Twitter are wonderful resources for connecting people to a project.

44) People much rather listen to a scratch recording than read a blog entry.

45) With a few exceptions, the blog entries of the Redline Project are a diary for me more than they are columns or essays for others.

46) Musically speaking, I am first a percussionist. Recording voice, guitar, piano, etc. takes great effort, but laying down drum or percussion tracks comes easily to me.

47) There are at least three or four ways to express something. If I am struggling with a sentence construction, it is often best to delete what I have and start over.

48) Noise Reduction plug-ins in Logic do not work.

49) It doesn't matter if the product is software, computer peripherals, dishwashers, or tube socks, customer service is a dying (or perhaps dead) commodity.

50) Pursuing a passion such as music can render all of life's other endeavors bland and flat.

51) The best way to get organically listed in Google search results is to write plenty of content.

52) Collaboration is almost always better than solo work.

53) Solo work is almost always easier and more predictable than collaboration.

54) The new Mac unibody computers look cool.

55) A quiet computer makes all the difference in budget home recording situations.

56) Don't eat too much salt before laying down a vocal track.

57) Don't eat too much cabbage if you intend to get any sort of work accomplished.

58) Recording fast passages at half-tempo is infinitely easier than trying to put down gaggles of notes at speed.

59) Acting on an idea inspires others to act on their ideas.

60) Passion-inspired projects are worth the time and effort they consume.

61) To do a big project justice, sacrifices must be made.

62) In my humble opinion, 'I' and 'you' are not nearly as compelling of song topics as 'he' or she.'

63) Americans claiming to be unbelievably busy often waste a tremendous amount of time.

64) Knowing a baby is coming to join our family in a couple of months has greatly increased my productivity and sense of urgency.

65) When much work needs to be accomplished, it is more fun to blog.

66) Work is not limited to those tasks that provide a paycheck. Some of life's most important accomplishments have nothing to do with vocation.

67) Running a wire from a metal knob on a mixer around a pinky finger or wrist can ground a system and reduce unwanted noise.

68) Running a wire from a metal knob on a mixer around a pinky finger or wrist inspires people to say things like, "Why don't you just take the mixer into the shower with you next time you bathe?"

69) When dealing with a year-long project, it is important to step away for a day here and there.

70) Changing scenery or locale encourages creativity in songwriting.

71) The outdoors is more inspiring than the indoors.

72) Recording on Monday night is hard work.

73) Recording on Saturday is relaxing.

74) Bad recorded music is better than music that sleeps inside the soul.

75) Stretching or walking around ever hour or so gets a little bit of blood flowing and often yields better results in the studio.

76) A decent recording can be accomplished with $1000 worth of software and hardware.

77) Adding a new piece of equipment to a recording rig always adds a learning curve. Rarely, if ever, is hardware or software simply plug and play.

78) When I want to record, there is always blogging to do. When I want to blog, I feel like I am neglecting the recording.

79) Four hours of recording time seems no longer than 45 minutes.

80) Never overlook the beauty of borrowed equipment. Several friends had piles of great gear stacked up in their closets. I could have bought my own microphones, monitors, cables, etc., but why would I?

81) If you want to amaze your friends with Logic's capabilities, call up the EVOC vocoder synth.

82) Wikipedia is an immense resource, if a touch unreliable.

83) Most people who start year-long projects don't make it to March.

84) Digital music is for the ears what graphic design is for the eyes.

85) Logic's ringshifter plug-in offers an array of wave distortion options with only a few clicks of effort.

86) I really should be working right now.

87) Good friends want me to succeed.

88) Great friends help me to succeed.

89) Using loops that ship with Logic seems like cheating to me; I have chosen to steer clear.

90) For every midi instrument I like that came with Logic, there are 30 I would never use.

91) Latency is an measure of the amount of time between the occurrence of a sound and the moment it emerges from the speakers (after snaking from microphone to mixer, to computer, back to mixer, and out to the monitors).

92) Good friends tell me how nice my music sounds.

93) Great friends tell me what could be even better about my music.

94) Jan, William, Ken, and Holly are great friends.

95) To all those who have figured out how to make a living in the music field, and even more so to those who are still trying to figure it out, much respect.

96) Starting over on a song almost always yields better results.

97) Starting over is often time-prohibitive.

98) I gravitate towards sounds with a warmer, softer edge. Harsh, cutting sounds are almost never my choice.

99) The best reverbs are the ones that are felt and not heard.

100) Though nothing has ever consumed more of my spare time or energy, the Redline Project is by far the most life-giving project I have ever experienced.


Happy 100th, dear Redline Project. Hope the next hundred make all your dreams come true.