The Redline Project - One Musician's Quest to Get Heard

Redline Project Turns 400

2010-11-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

First the great news: over 400 people have downloaded 'Thursday,' the album I produced this year and am giving away online. That means over 400 people are checking into my music -- 400 more listeners than I had a month ago.

Now the bad news: If stalling load numbers are any indication, I have possibly exhausted my social networks. If I am going to continue to publicize the availability of this free download, I have to think outside the Facebook and Twitter boxes.

My first goal will be to contact the local papers and publications, hoping that charitable souls will like the project and furnish it with a bit of press. If my readers have publication brainstorms, I would be delighted to know.

Album Release

2010-10-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

The big moment for which I have been waiting is finally here. 'Redline Project | Thursday' is finally live and available for free download. Pop the bubbly. Clink the glasses.

I am not requiring anything in return for the download. It is a free gift without strings attached.

If you enjoy the music and want to give something back, the best thing you can do is promote the free download. Ideas for promotion:

1) Add a link on Facebook.

You can write your own paragraph, but if you are not up to it, you can copy the one below:

My friend spent a year recording an album, and now he is giving it away for FREE! Visit www.TheRedlineProject.com to download it.

2) Send an email to your friends.

3) Write about the project in your blog.

4) Tell friends in the break room at work.

5) Vote for Redline Project on November 2. (Just Kidding)

Today is the culmination of a tireless year of writing, recording, editing, mixing, mastering, producing, and now distributing. I am delighted to share the product with you, and I sincerely hope you enjoy the fruits of all this effort. Cheers!

About To Go Live

2010-10-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

Containing my excitement is proving to be a difficult task as the 31st of October approaches. When you check back on this blog in less than 48 hours, there will be a link to a new website. From there, you are one click away from downloading 'Thursday', the album I have worked so hard to release in a year's time.

As I have been saying, the music is entirely free. Free to download, free to listen, free to share. FREE, FREE, FREE!

My hope is that all downloaders will want to return the favor and help me promote the album through word-of-mouth, social networking sites, and all other imaginable venues. 10,000 downloads is a big goal, and it is only possible if the listening community comes together.

It is difficult to believe the day is almost here. Jitters.

Three Weeks

2010-10-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Three weeks remain until 'Redline Project - Thursday' is finally released. The album will be available for free! Anyone who wants to download the music may do so by following a link that will appear on this blog on October 31.

I am hoping that readers of this blog will help me promote the free download by using Facebook, Twitter, and Email-blasting the news all over the web. Thanks in advance.

Can't Touch This

2010-10-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

This announcement has me straightening my bow-tie. Redline Project - Thursday is on its way to the Library of Congress, which means that all of the tracks I have worked hard to finalize are now officially copyrighted.

Two steps remain before I can pound the 'complete' stamp onto the Redline Project.

1) I need to create a small website from which anyone can download my album.

2) I need to figure out how to convince 10,000 people that they should download my album.

Step one is easy enough because it is within my control, and since the download will be completely free, I feel the second step is not entirely out of reach.

If I still have the honor of your readership on this blog, please consider helping me promote the free download at the end of the month. By using the social media outlets available to us, I believe we can wrap this up. Thanks in advance to all who will help me get the word out.

Project Title and Album Cover

2010-09-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

You are looking at the official cover art for the Redline Project album. 'Thursday' is the recording's title, and it is named after its final track.

Wrapped Up

2010-09-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

I spent the evening nipping and tucking the last little glitches of the Redline Project tracks. Sitting in a folder on my desktop are ten complete and final tracks. Ready to go.

Tomorrow they ship digitally to a friend from New England who has agreed to master the project. Once his work is complete, and after I officially copyright the materials, this project is ready for the world.

What a year; what a project. I am elated to wrap this puppy up. All I need is 10,000 people to download the music, and the Redline Project is a complete success.

Three Cheers For Redline

2010-09-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

I spent the past four hours laying down the retake of "Commons." The result is good enough to make the cut, which means that the Redline recordings are officially complete. Yippee.

A few last tweaks and this project is headed to a mastering studio. If anyone has a lead on a good venue for this, please send a link along.

Working on Final Lyrics

2010-09-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

Lest any readers wonder if the deadline of this project will come and go, as with most 365 initiatives, fear not. With the scant free minutes peppered thither and yon, I am putting the icing on the cake, and there will be a launch in just over a month.

Steps to completion:
1) Finish rewrite of 'Commons' lyrics.
2) Re-record portions of 'Commons.'
3) Revisit final mixes; make last-minute adjustments.
4) Hire a friend (TBD) to master the recording.
5) Apply for copyrights to all songs and recordings.
6) Release this thing!

With chisel in one hand and mallet in the other, I have been buffing and polishing the chorus of 'Commons.' Here's the old:

Black hand, white hand
Gripping each other
Dance in circles
Sister and brother
Leaping, glittered splash
Underneath the fountain
Fifteen miles
A world apart
There's plenty of time
For broken hearts
Drink the moment
At the barefoot Commons

And at last, my latest (and possibly final) revision:

Black and white
A spectrum of color
Up or down
One life or the other?
Is it dark or light
Underneath the fountain?
Fifteen miles
A world away
Dawn, the tale
Of night and day
Seek the moment
At the barefoot Commons.

I think I am going to chew on that over the course of the weekend. Feedback is embraced as always.

Back to Redline

2010-07-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

In case you thought the Redline Project had failed, or that its proprietor had been abducted by the mother ship, fear not. This post and the last may have a month's worth of gap between them, but the Redline Project lives on. And I WILL make the album launch deadline that looms 92 days from the present.

It is hard to believe that well over half of this year now sits in our back pockets. I sharply dislike how time vanishes like water in the fingers, but I am delighted that its passing often brings monumental life change and fresh newness.

This is foremost a blog about a renegade music project pieced together with zero budget with potentially unattainable goal of 10,000 listeners at year's end. I have often forayed into personal matters, especially because so often they have been related to the Redline Project progress.

Many of my readers known that my absence is the effect of a worthy cause. Four weeks ago, my wife and I traveled to Seoul, South Korea to adopt a magnificent baby boy. Though early fatherhood is unparalleled joy, it has also managed to knock the wind out of my sails and leave me dizzy on the floor. I have not accomplished much of anything in the past month, including logging adequate sleep hours.

Becoming a parent is all I really have to discuss lately, and that is not pertinent to this blog. However, I have felt a rekindled passion for finishing the project over the past number of days, and I am pleased to report that I am digging into a song rewrite and a new (hopefully final) composition. Once those two pieces are tracked, it will be time to master the recording, send it off to the Library of Congress for copyrighting, and finally distribution.

I blogged nearly every day for half a year, and it was mostly delightful to send oodles of pontification into the digital abyss. With the responsibilities that fatherhood brings, it will be impossible to keep the same pace. So I will write when I can, and all the while I will continue crawl toward the finish line.

If anyone actually finds their way back this blog after my extended absence, you win the gold star of loyalty. You may redeem that gold star on October 15 for a free copy of the Redline Project final album. (And yes, everyone else in the world gets to download it for free as well).

A Stunning Turn

2010-06-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

Several hours ago, my wife and I received the phone call for which we have longed. Our social worker finally rang to tell us we have been cleared for travel -- that our son is ready to come home. We depart in a week and return seven days after that, and thus ends a two year road of praying, planning, soul-searching, paperwork, fundraising, and the like.

Assuming we had three weeks remaining, the lady and I charted an agressive calendar for accomplishing all the work-related tasks, avocational endeavors, and endless errands. That calendar flushed down the potty today as a new seven-day schedule took its place.

What does this mean for the Redline Project? I am going to be out of the loop for a few weeks, unable to record, unable to edit, unable to post, unable to progress.

This initiative poses an odd, somewhat contradictory set of emotions. On the one hand, the Redline Project means everything to me. It has become a standby of my routine; a daily dose of creative expression. On the other hand, it is a disposable, meaningless work that holds more narcissistic value than it is an expression of vitality to others. My growing hope has been to finalize and master all tracks, copyright them, and release them to the world in the form of a free download before my son comes home. It appears I have failed that goal, and though disappointed, all I can really think about at the moment is the joy of bringing my son into my family.

Before I take a mid-year sabbatical, it seems appropriate to furnish a brief project update. The Redline Project is alive and well, with nearly an hour of music recorded and mostly edited. One track still needs a rework of lyrics and therefore a redo of the vocal recordings. I hope to write and record one track that is yet to be imagined and composed.

The project was initially scheduled for a launch of October 31, which remains 137 days in the future. Even with a lapse in project productivity, I am convinced there is enough time to tie a knot around the goals of this project and successfully launch its final album.

10,000 downloads is a lofty, intimidating number, but I have nearly 1,000 friends on Facebook, and those friends all have their respective networks. I believe the goals of this project are within reach, and I believe the Redline Project will survive my impending fatherhood.

Lyric Conundrum

2010-06-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the chorus of the Redline Project song called Commons:

Black hand, White hand
Gripping each other
Dance in circles
Sister and brother
Leaping glittered splash
Underneath the fountain
Fifteen miles
A world apart
There's plenty of time
For broken hearts
Drink the moment
At the barefoot Commons

A handful of trusted friends all pointed out that this chorus is riddled with cliche and overused imagery. The song tells the story of two neighborhoods: a rougher part of town and the wealthy urban high rise community. The idea is that both neighborhoods have their detriments and their benefits. Neither one hell, neither one heaven.

The Commons refer to a public garden in Boston that sits under the shade of ancient willows and oaks, where people from any neighborhood may come enjoy a moment of its delights. It is the Eden of the song, and in it the only true harmony is found.

If the chorus is to describe this utopia, it ought to do so in an artistically appropriate and poetically sensitive way. I am going to take a swing at a rewrite.

Anyone have some ideas and want to chime in? If your ideas are accepted, you will get mentioned in the project's liner notes.

Midisphere

2010-06-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

I continue my collaboration efforts with Jan Fischer, someone I barely knew before the launch of the Redline Project. Jan is quickly becoming a musical colleague and, even better, a good friend. He has helped me with so much already, from mixing tips to solid critique and feedback, even laying down some tasty electric guitar tracks for a couple of my songs.

He asked me to return the favor with a little keyboard work on one of his latest songs. Though I am glad for the opportunity to show my gratitude in this way, it is overwhelming to select from infinite possibilities. Logic Pro ships with roughly a bajillion keyboard and synth instruments, all of which can be customized until one is blue in the face. Add 10,537 plug-in effects to the mix and you have one entirely overstimulated musician.

I used to think that playing a set of drums afforded me endless sonic possibilities, and in a sense the nuances are vast. In fact, I used to revel in pulling a broad array of sounds from a fairly basic instrument. Turns out, I do pretty well with a limited set of options, like three drums and two cymbals for instance.

In a digital world there are a multiplicity of hats in the ring, and there seem to be as many rings. How does anyone narrow down the plethora of options to one sane choice? I find it much easier to select sounds for myself, but choosing some instruments for Jan was certainly a challenge.

He may very well dislike the choices I made, and I am comfortable with that. Whether he keeps each of my notes or discards every last one, I continue to marvel at the fun of putting music together with a fellow in a vastly different time zone.

Big Creek

2010-06-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

A favorite after-work riding spot, Big Creek trails are my midweek mountain biking standby. Tonight they held a time trial, a sort of race where they release one rider per minute instead of all at once. This is a great way to roll, because instead of butts and elbows everywhere, each racer feels virtually alone in the woods.

I have participated in a few races in the past, never doing all that well. If 30 riders enter, I usually end up dead center at 14 or 15, and occasionally I bump ahead a few slots. I have not participated in a race for a year and a half, though I have been cycling several times each week since.

Unbeknownst to me, I have been improving. A lot. Tonight, I made it to the podium for the first time, placing third. There was much whooping and happy dancing once I was in the seclusion of my somewhat soundproof automobile. Hurray Josh. Atta boy.

What does this have to do with the Redline Project and its progress? Remarkably little, except that my legs ache, my brain is fried, and my eyelids are drooping even as I try to squeeze out these few paragraphs. I just don't have it in me tonight to face recording and editing. For tonight, nothing is on the docket except a slice of pizza and a sitcom viewing or two.

A Day Later

2010-06-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

24 hours have accrued since I pieced together a prologue for the Redline Project final album. Read yesterday's post for my prediction as to how I thought I would feel about the composition once a day passed.

A grand announcement and substantial surprise: the two minute piece has grown on me and I like it more now than I did yesterday.

Not to say that I didn't add, subtract, tweak, adjust, filter, modify, extract, transpose, and plop a dollop of whipped cream. The track seemed (and after all of my work tonight still is) a farthing or two from perfection. Nevertheless, I bounced out an MP3 file for a listen in iTunes, and so far I am nodding satisfactorily at the sonic product.

On a darker note, I sat with the guitar and notebook tonight in hopes of capturing some new direction for an opening track (the one following the prologue, and the one that I feel is still missing from the current lineup). No dice. I have zero sense of what to write about; if it is catchy and upbeat, it will not fit with the deeper messages characterizing the rest of the album, and if it is thick and deep, it will not work well as a first song. What will I do?

Eat a midnight snack and sleep on it... that is exactly what I will do.

Prologue

2010-06-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

Though I have never forayed into the realm of book writing, I imagine that the last page typed is the volume's preface. This is odd at a glance because it is the first material to pass in front of the readers' eyes, but a deeper look offers a sensible reason: an author can not be expected to know how to prepare her audience for the ensuing adventure until said adventure is inked onto a page somewhere.

In a similar manner, I have been crafting a new piece of music that will perch at the front end of the Redline Project final album. Called Prologue, the short instrumental composition draws heavily from elements that belong to the final track. It also steals from the frenetic and tense textures peppered throughout the hour of recorded material. Its a veritable 'coming attractions' of sorts.

If I have learned anything over the course of the past five months, it is this: do not under any circumstances judge a piece of music to be good on the night it is tracked. What seems a stroke of genius the first day become pretty good the second, decent the third, tolerable the fourth, and finally sours to audio vomit once the fifth day arrives.

Quite the preface to say that I think the Prologue is fairly rad as it stands. Will it make the cut? The five days older and wiser version of me will have to see about that.

Redo Fest

2010-06-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoons... the perfect occasions for napping, catching up on light housework, flipping on an old movie, and when you are pushing forward on a year long music project, several hours worth of a recording fest.

The Redline Project has inspired a dichotomy of love and hate lately. With so much vying for the scant gaps in my schedule, I have wanted nothing more than to put a wrap on these recordings. But as I sit in my wheeled leatherette office chair, clicking away at the old pile of Logic files, I am savoring anew the fun and excitement of the Redline Project.

It is clear from gut intuition (not to mention Google Analytics) that readership of this blog has dwindled down to a handful of dedicated readers. That is okay with me, especially because the remnant of holdouts are delightfully encouraging and actively motivating.

When the blog started, not only was there an audience excitement about the new project initiative and a fat question mark about the proprietor's ability to bring the goals to completion, there were also regular experimental audio postings that drew people into the contents of these posts. Now months into the recording, editing, and mixing process of the actual project tracks, there has been a complete dearth of such postings. I can understand how daily paragraphic musings aren't much of a draw.

That said, I believe the launch of all my final materials is a matter of weeks away. Soon we will be through all of the technical discussions of snail-like progress and we will move on to an exploration of self-marketing tactics.

As a side but important note, the music currently blaring out of my studio monitors, the bridge from Thursday, is good. Darn good, actually (Said with the humblest of second-guessing lack of confidence). For those who have made it far enough to be reading this post, please be assured that my gratitude (in the form of polished mp3 tracks) will soon be a click and a free download away.

Now back to the Sunday afternoon recording fest.

Missing Something

2010-06-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

Stewing around in my mind since the listening party two weeks ago is the growing awareness that the Redline Project final album lacks a strong opener. Aside from that, the collection of tracks has everything: high energy selections, slow burns, a variety of textures, an array of emotions. As it continues to take shape, my excitement has continued to ramp upwards.

The song slated to be the opener is called Sidewalk, a mysterious track leaning towards the electronic domain of the aural spectrum. With its industrial beat and repid lyrics, I initially deemed it a strong foot forward for the project. The more I listen, the more I feel certain it will leave my listeners a little hollow and a touch morose - not exactly the strong opener the album needs to encourage further listening.

I am headed back to the blank canvas yet again; this time searching for a catchy, relatable tune that has enough hook and yet remains true to the overarching album concepts. While the task itself is daunting, I am eager to create from scratch after spending months on the technical side of editing and mixing existing music. And as always, I will keep the readers of this blog apprised of the results.

A Little Help

2010-06-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

My hero across the pond continues to come to the rescue. Jan Fischer agreed to help me with a couple of mixes so I could gain knowledge as I compare his revisions to my originals. He remixed two of my tracks, and I am stunned by the results.

Here are his comments about one of the tracks:

- try to pull the whole range of instruments across the horizontal line, that is, using the pan to locate it left or right of the center when necessary.
- added on a few instruments reverb to push them a little bit in the backround
- added chorus to one guitar (chords)
- worked with the eq to make instrumenst more recognizable / hearable or to eliminate (for my ear) disturbing frequencies.
- worked on track volumes with hyperdraw.

I think the mix is quite good this way and needs only small corrections.

In my estimation, the last comment is on the generous side. Be that as it may, what a delight to have a veteran's lend a skilled touch. Though the adjustments made were mostly minor, the resulting sound is miles apart from the original slapdash concoctions. Jan, you clearly have honed an abundance of natural gifting into sharp musical talent and skill. I am deeply impressed, and will be working hard to reproduce the refined sound in all other Redline Project tracks.

Paradise... The Band

2010-06-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

I miss the feeling of drumming in a band. On the occasion of this past long weekend, our beachfront hotel hired a septet to create a poolside party for all of us appletini-sipping vacationers.

The ensemble, a local cover band, called themselves Paradise, which is perhaps the most garrish, trashy, chintzy excuse for a band name that has ever tickled my eardrum. Be that as it may, the musicians were true professionals who knew how to cover fun hits and create the right vibe for a bunch of tipsy tourists.

Here's the rub: they were all fantastic musicians. Clearly each member of the cover band was constraining their musical chops in favor of catering to the beach crowd, but they were able to bring lively new arrangement ideas to old classics. Each recognizable tune was treated with a fresh array of rhythm and texture, and the soloists were nothing short of phenomenal.

As I sat in my padded blue chaise trying to doze and enjoy the sounds of the surf, all I could think about was the skills of the hired musicians, and of course I was concurrently wishing that I was alongside, knocking away on the drums.

There is something marvelous about musicians creating together in a live setting. The synergy of the seven was vibrant and magical, and I can not stop daydreaming about the group's chemistry since the weekend concluded.

I sincerely hope that someday I will connect with a band of brothers and sisters who will enjoy this type of musical relationship. Until then, I keep playing the music over and over in my head. This is one of the many reasons I cherish the Redline Project: through this yearlong effort, I am finally able to express the music in my soul, even if it is not much of a group effort.

Looking Glass

2010-06-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

I spent the evening back in the leatherette saddle at the helm of Studio Redline for the first time in several days. As you may have read in the last Redline Project blog post, my wife and I made the six hour drive across southern barrenness to spend a few blissful days in coastal Carolina. With nothing but hot sun, frosty iced tea, shady umbrellas, and rolling ocean waves, our time off the grid was utterly blissful and way too brief.

Alas, I have returned to the world of graphic design, non-profit pioneering, and yes, music recording and mixing. Though I miss the lazy nothingness of a sand and surf holiday, it feels pretty good to be back at the Mac.

Three songs got a spit shine tonight, and I am pleased with the subtle differences of fore and aft. Somewhere along the line, I read a rule about EQ changes that said not to add or subtract a certain amount from the equalizer curve. I read a better rule recently that said this: do what sounds good.

Ditching the first axiom in favor of the second has enabled my feeble vocal tracks to pop through the mix more, replacing muddled fog with clean, balanced tone. Swish.

Time continues to be the looking glass of musical truth in this project; as it passes, details emerge from the mix that were once shrouded by flashier elements. Though part of me wants to pull the trigger on the album release already, a wiser half delights in the subtleties of the slow burn.

Suffering for a Cause

2010-05-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Margaret and I toast to 8 years of marriage this weekend, and we are making the six hour drive to the coast in celebration. Nothing but sleeping late, waking to the sound of crashing Atlantic waves, and sipping iced tea on a poolside chaise. Divine.

Hey, it's a tough world. Somebody has to suffer.

The bounty of bliss will transport me far away from Studio Redline and its recording capabilities. As such, the blog will be silenced until I return in on the first of June.

My only goals for the Redline Project during the escape will be to play through the tracks on my iPod and carefully consider my next moves. Like any creative process, I am excited to step away from the thick of the work in search of a clearer perspective. Maybe when I return I will rip through all of the tracks and come up with some final finals. What a victory that would be.

Back to Wonderland

2010-05-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

After a week's worth of massive Communicycle events, compounded by the sheer joy and utter complexity of hosting out-of-town guests for several days, I have returned afresh to the molasses of mixing Redline Project songs.

What better place to dive in that the song that started it all: Slips Away. It is recognizable to its week-old form, but I reincarnated most tracks to provide better balance and more organic tone. These songs are starting to remind me of the nine lives of cats, with most surviving multiple wholesale returns to square one.

A thin band of silver lines the buttload of work that remains: with each pass, the compositions inch towards refinement and maturation. There is an evolution to my slowly building skill as a home recordist, and it is motivating to throw the occasional glimpse over my shoulder as I crawl toward this project's lofty goals.

Slips Away is a solid song - a simple statement that means much coming from the increasingly cynical curator of this endeavor. And the day is coming when I will finally share it (and much other music) with anyone who cares to have a listen.

Listening Party Aftermath

2010-05-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Five days ago, friends joined me for a listen-through of each Redline Project song. Each brought thoughtfulness and criticism to the table with candor and tact at hand; I was deeply impressed by everyone's thoughtful, intuitive, and constructive comments...

Until I plopped my head against the pillow a bit later. Eyelids defied gravity deep into the early morning as I contemplated the sum of every suggestion. Though encouraging in the moment, the doubts of the pitch black night swirled the bounty of thoughts received into a vortex of doubt and hopelessness.

Might all the work so far have been for naught? Can I even work with the raw track data in these songs? Might the results of this project be much better if I scrapped the whole thing in favor of a reboot?

I wonder if a clean stab at some of these songs may yield more vibrant results. This is daunting, making me consider hanging the whole project up (with some level of seriousness). At this point, I am too deep into this project to shelve it, though more and more moments surface lately when my crammed schedule begs me to lose a hobby or two.

Fear not; I will press on. This is more an admission of struggle more than it is a consideration of drastic recourse.

I will complete this project. I will complete this project. I will complete this project. I will, I will, I will.

If I keep telling myself this, maybe one of these days I will crack open the files and start plodding forward once again.

Something Different

2010-05-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

The fact I must face is that the Redline Project has become a bore. It won't insult me if you think the same, even if you were to mention it out loud. In some ways the blog mirrors the slog of the recording work lately. Instead of composing songs and laying down tracks, the work of the Redline Project has been mechanical, detailed, and downright tedious.

So I am going to write something different today, something fun, something off the beaten path. In a shameless plea to retain what is left of my dwindling readership, I am offering the very best musical humor the web has to offer.

How do you know if there is a percussionist at the door?
The knocking gets slower.

What happens when you play a country record backwards?
1. You get out of prison.
2. Your wife comes back to you.
3. Your pickup truck is returned.
4. Your dog comes back to life.

Know how to make a million dollars singing jazz?
Start with two million.

Bob is throwing a party. He decides that, to break the ice at his party, he'll ask his guests what their I.Q. is--hopefully this will strike up an appropriate conversation from there. The day of Bob's party rolls around, and when the first guest knocks on the door, Bob asks the person what her I.Q. is. "200,000" replies the first guest. "Well, that's great," says Bob, let's talk about ethereal astro physics. Bob and this first guest talk about the aforementioned subject for a while. Later in the party, someone else is at the door. "Hi my name is Bob; welcome to my party, what's your I.Q.?" The new guest responds with "250". "Great," says Bob. "Lets talk about advanced math. Bob and his new guest talk about calculus and statistics for awhile. Much later in the party, after many more guests had arrived and been spoken to by Bob, yet another guest arrives at the door. "Hi, my name's Bob; welcome to my party, what's your I.Q.?" This time the guest replies after putting some thought into it "five". "Well, that's great," says Bob, "what kind of drumsticks do you use?"

What do you do when a musician comes to your front door?
You give him the money and take the pizza.

How do you start a conversation with a musician?
Ask him where he waits tables.

And there you have it: something different, something light. Yes, all of this material was shamelessly lifted off of random websites and no, I am not taking the time to reference any of it. Hope you enjoyed the results of my scavenging. The blog returns to pertinent topics tomorrow, with a promise that the content will be less technical. Thank you for enduring the last weeks' slog.

Listening Party

2010-05-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

Big night. Four friends came over to listen through a rough cut of the Redline Project final album. Other than my wife, no one has heard this music before, so tonight was the first unveiling of what has become an epic endeavor.

I am grateful to friends Ian, Eric, Josh, and Peter who spent their Friday night listening to each track and furnishing me with a pocketful of specific, helpful feedback. I am deeply encouraged by their enjoyment of the music and their ability to connect with the emotional content of the album. The advice and ideas for tweaks and adjustments were all spot on and unbelievably helpful.

That said, I am now trying to muster the will to go back through and edit everything yet again. Tomorrow, I will be back to the familiar chain of recording, editing, and mixing. The listening committee all agreed that the opening track needs to grab more than it does, and they suggested a preface track (not yet written or recorded) that may bring introduction and coherence to the overarching album concepts.

Though there is much work still waiting for me, the finish line is within sniffing distance - a cause for great celebration.

Listening Day Eight

2010-05-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

The handful of avid Redline Project blog readers know that I made zero progress yesterday. I didn't even have a few moments to scrap together some scant paragraphs regarding the standstill.

Fear not. To make up for the dearth of Redline action, I have accomplished thorough listening and editing reviews of two different tracks, which means that all the final album cuts have now officially been through the ringer.

The first song to squeeze through the meat grinder tonight is called Sing Silently. I have discussed this track many times during the course of the project's duration. It is the second song written for the Redline Project final album, and I think it may just be the best. Though my wife seldom plays her cello anymore, she is still a magnificent musician with the ability to coax tears from the toughest listeners. I am blessed by her willingness to cameo on this track. Her dark, delicate lines definitely class up the operation. You are going to love this song; little if any thanks to me.

The second piece on tonight's agenda is titled Thursday. Telling the complex tale of Maundy Thursday, this song is a gargantuan work with over fifty tracks and ten minutes of playing time. The length may seem ridiculous, but the music presents itself more as two tracks than one. The first portion is instrumental, based on a scratch recording called Rain. The second half completely new material that shifts through a melange of textures, from delicate and pretty to cacophonous and obnoxous.

Song Report Number Eight: Sing Silently
This track needed a touch of polish, though not nearly as much as most others. As is my custom, I de-esed and compressed the vocals, tweaked the overall EQ, and added automated gain in spots to make an even carpet of sound. The track sounded a little flat and dry, so I selected a medium reverb and applied it to the vocals, guitar tracks, and the cello.

Song Report Number Nine: Thursday
Thursday needed more work than any of the other cuts (probably combined). The track is long and its varied parts present a daunting mixing challenge. In addition to the usual EQ adjustments, compressing/limiting, and de-essing, I had to rework almost everything, adding new instruments, deleting unwanted ones, shortening certain sections, lengthening others. When I opened the file, the song started and ended with a thunderstorm that I recorded through my screen window. The track now ends with heavily effected solo vocals. Hallelujah for the Melodyne plug-in, which has made the impossible possible.

Tomorrow night I am hosting a listening party at my house. A select handful of friends with good ears are coming to listen to these nine tracks and supply honest feedback. This will be the first time that they are heard by anyone other than my wife or me. I selected this quorum of friends not only because of their musical skills, but also because they have unfettered honesty and assertiveness. This gathering promises to be a monumental event in the process of this project that will either leave me bouncing off the walls or tucking my tail between my legs. Though there are still mountainous hurdles between the album release and its current stance, I am starting to carry a sense of accomplishment in my back pocket that lends a little lilt to my step.

Listening Day Seven

2010-05-18T21:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight's song is about an old friend who spent her formative years facing unthinkable domestic abuse. As I wind my way through the mechanics of the song, it is all to easy to forget the pain and torment this person endured. When I pause to consider the song content, and even as I type these few sentences, I am dumbstruck by the depth of hurt that she and so many others have endured.

On a completely unrelated but nevertheless important note, I reconnected with an old friend from college who now runs a successful recording and editing studio in Massachusetts. His prices seem more than reasonable and he seemed willing to take on the mastering portion of this project. With all the frustrations I have been encountering, he may very well get the gig.

Song Report Number Seven: Cry Justice
To round out the song, I added touches of metallic percussion to various sections of the song, while eliminating texture from other passages. Adding EQ, de-essing, and compression yielded a balanced, full tone. Clearly this song is one the latest Redline Project tracks, because the recording techniques used sound significantly superior to earlier specimens.

Listening Day Six

2010-05-17T17:48:00.000-07:00

What a pleasure after yesterday's wrestling match to edit a piece of music needing virtually nothing changed. The sixth track of the Redline Project, Wabash is a smoky, trance piece with a pulsing beat and a tense construction. I must work really hard to control my bouncing knees as I sit and edit this piece. Makes me wish I knew the robot.

Song Report Number Six: Wabash
As with Tremont, the other strictly instrumental track on the recording, Wabash needs little in the editing department. The reason is because much of the music consists of midi notation, which allows the novice recordist to get instantly clean sounds without much effort. I performed a bit of rearranging, shortening one section and adding some drum hits to another. I also added some overall compression and EQ tweaks to give the recording a darker, fuller sound. That is all; this one is ready for the dance floor.

Listening Day Five

2010-05-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

No matter how adept I become at working the knobs of Logic Pro, I know I am miles away from producing a professional sound, which is inexpressibly frustrating. I must remind myself daily that I have zero training and am working on a do-it-yourself rig more worthy of a garage sale than a serious recording studio. Pffft.

I am trying to polish up the song called Commons, which has potential to be one of my favorite pieces on the Redline Project. The song is about an unlikely friendship that blossoms in Boston's public gardens on a warm summer day. Initially the two children in the story are assigned predictable stereotypes, with one friend coming from the privilege of wealthy urban living and the other dwelling in the misfortune of the projects. As the verses unravel, the cracks in both foundations of living standards are revealed and the subtle joys found in each setting are explored. Its a lyric that discusses the facade of inequity and the beautiful truth of equality among all human beings.

Too bad the recording quality vomits all over what I believe could be an excellent song.

Song Report Number Five: Commons
I am discovering that the source recording for Commons is quieter across the board than all of the other recordings in the project. I am trying to work with the raw material, but I am wondering if boosting the volume digitally is starting to distort the overall sound a bit. The edits to this track include gain, gain, and more gain to get the levels right. I also de-essed the vocals and added some overarching EQ to the mix. I wish a genius recordist would catch the excitement of this project and volunteer time and talents to make sense of my audio messes. That looks improbable, so I will continue to stab at it alone.

Listening Day Four

2010-05-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

I consider Tremont to be the first mature piece of electronica I have ever produced, and it is a lot of fun. Not really electronica through and through, the track features yours truly on the drum set, though the resulting sound has been generously processed. I always catching myself getting jiggy in my office chair whenever I give Tremont a playback, and nothing would make me more thrilled than to know the track eventually inspires my listeners to do the same.

Song Report Number Four: Tremont
Fantastic that this track should fall on a Saturday, because there is really not much to do here. I added some overall compresser/limiter functions and global EQ. Other than that, I made a quick tweak in EQ and redid a couple of effects in the drum set tracks. I also added a midi bass drum sound in one spot to provide a little more bottom end. No heavy lifting here, which means I am back to enjoying what is shaping up to be a delightful weekend.

Listening Day Three

2010-05-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

There is something marvelous about the crisp spring day of a first tee ball game,something delicious about a first kiss, something enlightening about devouring a first Chicago-style Vienna Beef dog. Tonight I have the digital equivalent of a scalpel, tweezers, and hacksaw laid out on the table to do some subtle yet massive surgery to the first full-length product of the Redline Project - "Slips Away."

Though it is not necessarily my most advanced work, this firstborn child of endless daily effort has become the apple of my ear. My nerve endings tingle with excitement at the thought of sharing it with this blog's readership and anyone else who cares to download it

Song Report Number Three: Slips Away
I added condenser/limiter to the master track and a touch of EQ to bring the mix to life. The vocal track required much cleanup, and I am not entirely satisfied with the result. This is more an issue of poor raw material than it is a product of bad engineering, so I may have to settle. I also utilized the same de-esser settings and added a bit of hollow reverb to add a hint of mystery. I added some automated volume control to the song to bring up the soft spots and reduce the loud areas. The struggle with this track is its progression from extremely sparse to gratuitously explosive. I want to leave dynamics in place while not forcing the listener to consistently adjust her volume knob. The song ends with several bars of sparse, passionate acoustic drums; I completely reworked this section, eliminating a mechanized delay effect and putting the drums in a ridiculously echoey reverb space, just for fun.

Listening Day Two

2010-05-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

Fall Down has tickled my eardrums over and again tonight as I continue my quest to wrench the kinks out of the Redline Project final tracks. Tonight marks the second day of a nine day process, with each one dedicated to one of the tracks of the final project.

Tonight's song is about a friend who chose to cheat on her spouse. Somehow the heaviness of life wore weak spots into the fibers or this person's morality until the strands frayed and shredded. Though the infidelity happened a handful of years ago, the events and circumstances still haunt me.

These lyrics discuss truth and the process of learning, relearning, and ultimately accepting and rejecting different ideas. Like most of my songs are, the topic is a heavy one that begs us to take a closer look at our patterns of thought.

A taste:
Minutes confirm what months deny
As years coax a different truth from passers by
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
We all fall down

Song Report Number Two: Fall Down
Again, many of the adjustments I made were to the vocal track, fine tuning EQ settings, condensing, and de-essing. I chose a small, soft room as the reverb setting for many tracks, which gives the track more of a live-recorded feel. I warped a harmony track almost beyond recognition with piles of echo and phase to give a swirling effect. Slight edits to analog percussion tracks also tightened the groove. The cherry on top was a condenser/limiter and a msster EQ that seemed to liven up the mix.

Nine Day Plan

2010-05-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Starting tonight, I am working through one recording per day, carefully listening, analyzing and making changes to it after several playbacks. The process is nothing short of exciting, as bothersome details are carefully ironed out of the mix.

After these nine days, I hope to invite some trusted friends with good sets of ears to a listening and critiquing party. This means in a matter of weeks, these songs will be unveiled in rough form for the first time. This is nothing short of momentous to me.

Song Report Number One: Sidewalk
The focus of my adjustments has been the vocal track, performing almost an entire rework of the Melodyne effect and adding a more robotic vocoder to the sound. I also shortened some phrases in an effort to tighten up the composition. Certain effects are gone from certain tracks with others added in their place. The vocals have been de-essed using a beautiful compression method found on YouTube.

None of this will mean anything to anybody, and you have my sincere apologies for the bore. I do want a record of it so I can look back and ponder the series of surgeries each of my tracks had to endure.

I must return to the track to make a few last adjustments and bounce out a new mp3 before the night becomes morning.

When Enough is Enough

2010-05-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

I have been pressing through track number nine for the past three hours, which is probably the 12th time I have wrestled with this particular file. I have nine complete, if rough, tracks stacked in a neat playlist in iTunes. On several occasions, I mentioned the goal of producing ten tracks, and while I am one short of achieving that objective, number nine is more or less three separate compositions in one.

Could it be that I have all the music I need for the Redline Project? Halleluia, Amen. Pass the potatoes.

This is where the smile turns upside down into a frown. There are miles to go before these rough cuts can be bounced down to a final recording. Here's the shopping list:

1) I need to listen, listen listen, all the while taking notes of problem spots, awkward moments, aural issues.

2) Once all music has been polished with fine grit sandpaper, it will be time to learn how to mix the tracks to obtain at least a semi-professional sound. I am nearly positive I will need assistance with this, and I have no idea who may come to my rescue.

3) Should I make it through the past two items, it will be time for the final audio process, called mastering. How exactly am I supposed to execute a decent mastering of my audio when I don't yet have a good handle on what the term means?

4) Copyrighting the music is not a difficult process, but it takes a bit of running around and a few bucks. Thankfully there is one step in the process that is not completely daunting.

Oh yes, and when I am finally through with these gargantuan tasks, I have to figure out how to distribute this music to 10,000 people. Sometimes I wonder who spiked my New Years beverage when I decided to take on this project, and with what illegal substance. Whatever was swirling around in my champagne glass, I want some more.

Laundry and Reruns

2010-05-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

As the weekend draws to a close, it is rare that I have much energy, and this Sunday evening is no exception. I have never been any good at relaxing or sitting still. My weekends attest to this claim, each one crammed to the rafters with outings, errands, and activities.

By way of example, please allow the following list: shopping for Mother's Day, mountain biking, enjoying a friend's wedding, dancing the night away, selling a bicycle, attending church, eating lunch with my Mother, and recording another final Redline Project track. There was hardly time for sleep in the past 48 hours.

After I the Waffle House rendezvous with the dude who purchased my bicycle, I took the ride home to prepare mentally for an evening of recording, mixing, and blogging. But alas, when I returned home, Facebook called my name softly luring me into its endless list of random ponderances.

One friend posted his amusement with this week's episode of Saturday Night Live and its featured host, Betty White. "Oh right... I wanted to watch that," my procrastinating self contemplated.

Next stop, Hulu.com for a rerun viewing of SNL. Another hour gone.

Next thought: "Hmm... There is laundry to sort, and if I fold all five loads that are sitting in the basement waiting for attention, I can load up some old Seinfeld DVDs and vegetate a little longer, all while pleasing my wife with a completed household chore."

I suppose honesty is better than indefinite procrastination. Simply stated, I do not feel like working on my recordings tonight. Why push? Why force? This is my project, and it is supposed to be fun. I think I will take the night off and return to the Redline Project once I source some much-needed motivation.

First Contest Winner

2010-05-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jan Fischer, my newly-found musical amigo from across the pond. He is the first (and only) entrant to the 'contest' I posted here a couple of weeks ago. Click below to hear our collaboration. I provided drums and bass, while he furnished everything else. Thank you Jan for entering the contest. For more of Jan's music, check his website.

If anyone else would like to win this 'contest', simply download the Logic files provided in that post, add your creative touches, and send me an mp3 file of your work. Your prize: I will post the collaboration here along with a link back to your website or blog.

Thanks for the music Jan, and thanks to everyone following this hectic and fulfilling journey.

Dark Fun

2010-05-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am chiseling away at the meat of Thursday, a song I refer to in May 4th's post. After meandering through a couple of light verses, the composition takes what I hope will be a surprising turn into a dark, percussive alley with hollow metallic sounds and earthy, hypnotic drum patterns. Needless to say, it has been a fun night.

In the spirit of Found Sound, I swished a fork around a (dirty) cereal bowl and banged my metal bulletin board with mallets. Both rhythms were captured in one take and will indeed make their way onto the final recording.

The clock to the left tells me 176 days remain until the Redline Project album launch. You may have gathered by now that I am moving ahead with all the speed and gusto I can muster so I might wrap up much sooner. In around two months, I will travel with my wife to South Korea to receive our son and bring him home. How lovely it would be to share all of this final music before that day comes. I am not nearly confident enough to subtract from that clock's sum just yet. Stay tuned.

Stardom and Anonymity

2010-05-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

I join the masses in loving the music of Norah Jones. I watched an interview she gave today on Billboard.com, and was far from impressed. For being such a brilliant songwriter, singer, and instrumentalist, she was a far cry from articulate. And I found her comments leaned toward the conceited side. What a let-down.

Famous musicians, the ones who become household names, seem to lead lives that are often disturbed and filled with angst. Strange how money and fame mangle the lives of those who have both, yet somehow hold strong appeal to those who have neither.

As the Redline Project album begins to take shape, I am convinced of two things:

1) The music I am producing is fairly good - compelling, varied, and gives the listener a good bit to think about.

2) The music I am producing is not nearly good enough to be an attention-getter or career-builder.

Somewhere inside of me lurks the evil desire to strike a chord with a world full of music listeners and piece together a career as a touring, recording, performing musician. The sensible part of me - a small but growing percentage of my being - inches closer each day to rejecting those thoughts. What a mess stardom would be; anonymity is far superior.

New Term

2010-05-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

I learned a new term today. The word is sibilance, which refers to the unnaturally loud frequencies that appear on a recording when a vocalist sings certain consonant sounds. The most pronounced are the s-sounds and the p-pops, but t-sounds, k-sounds, sh-sounds, and others can pose similar decibel spikes.

As I let iTunes cycle through the Redline Project's completed tracks, certain problematic patterns have begun to emerge. Sharp consonant sounds abound in the recordings, even though I have always positioned a pop filter between my mouth and the microphones when singing.

Logic Pro ships with a plug-in called a De-esser, a little piece of software that purports to remove the troubled frequencies. One small problem: it fails to work. Initially, I assumed its yield was unsatisfactory due to incompetent user error. However, a Google search revealed that scores of other recordists have experienced similar woes.

What then is the antidote to this perplexing aural enigma? YouTube to the rescue...

I located a useful video tutorial that outlines the process of using a condenser plug-in to remove unwanted sibilance. A few clicks and loud hissy consonants seem to melt into a natural sonic spectrum. Looks like the old adage of, 'You learn something new every day,' applies to this one. Your ears will unknowingly thank me for unearthing this discovery.

Rerecord and Reminisce

2010-05-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

As I opened up one of my earlier tracks, one desperately needing a complete vocal redo, I noticed the corners of my mouth forming a soft smile as I recalled the process of putting the initial recording together. Nearly a month has passed since the last time I chiseled away at the sound of this song, called Thursday.

The lyrics aim to capture the confusing emotions surrounding the gospel accounts of Jesus Christ and the disciples as they celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is a story that even the decidedly irreligious have heard in some form, and yet its facets remain a foggy riddle. Why must the Christ die? For what crime is he being crucified? Why does one disciple hand him over to the authorities? Why does another pretend he never knew the man?

And why would Jesus sweat bullets in the Garden of Gethsemane as he prayed the night before his death sentence? Didn't he know the end of the story?

There are tidy, pious answers to all of these questions, but I must admit that most leave me feeling flat and unsatisfied. The song I am honing tonight speaks about this overwhelming story and the sobering emotions that are packaged with it.

A snippet:
Weeping lead, sweating drops of blood
Wielding piece, fear I caused the flood
The rain must fall
inside the garden wall

Some believe vehemently that the story is the gospel truth. Others claim it never happened. Hardly anyone is neutral on the matter - such a polarizing event and poignant story. I am honored to join thousands of artists throughout history that each tell the tale from a slightly different angle, and I can not wait until the day that everyone can hear my take.

Initial Car Test

2010-05-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

Armed with six of my compositions loaded into the trusty iPod, I took the wheel of my Honda Element and headed down the highway. My buddy Peter, a fine musician and sound technician, advised me to do so every now and again to gain perspective on how the music sounds in consumer speakers.

Good advice. What is full and resonant in Studio Redline comes across as thin and whiny in the car. I compared my work to the mp3 files from a few favorite artists; their music is a quilt of balanced sound that fills every corner of the vehicle with their artwork.

How do they do that?

Admittedly, I am recording on subpar hobby gear. Add to that a complete lack of mixing knowledge and no clue how to master recordings, and you have a fair assessment of my capabilities. If I desire the result of the Redline Project to sound halfway decent when I finish with it, some outside help is definitely needed.

My goal for the week is to find a talented, local recordist and schedule a consultation or two. Bonus points if said recordist offers their time on the cheap. While a maneuver of this sort may blow my intended budget, it would be much worse to leave every aspect of the work to my shaky, unskilled hands.

Side Step

2010-05-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

My wife and mother-in-law joined me for an afternoon outing to the High Museum of Art, where an exquisite temporary exhibit called, 'The Allure of the Automobile' is on display. A score of the rarest of automobiles from the 1930s to the 1960s are on view for a couple of months only, and the collection is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

What does any of this have to do with the Redline Project? Hardly anything, except that the trip took me away from music recording, mixing, and once again, blogging.

This project has become a fixture of daily life, and a weekend devoid of progress make me feel as my wife does without eyeliner - that something is missing. The habit of producing basement recordings is certainly a better one than biting nails or cracking knuckles, and I am glad to be hooked on this constructive and invigorating pastime.

I accomplished a skosh of composing and editing today; a twist of a knob here, a tweak of a dial there. That's all. With the house returning to its standard population, tomorrow will bring a grand return to the project's goals as I try to polish and shine the last few rough cuts.

If you have a moment to navigate to high.org, where you can peruse a sampling of the marvelous automobiles on display.

90 Minutes

2010-04-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law is halfway between Chicago and Atlanta; as I mentioned yesterday, she will be visiting my wife and me for three days. I have exactly 1.5 hours until her arrival. This brief window may be the only 90 minutes over the course of the next 72 hours during which I can chisel away at any of the Redline Project goals.

What does that mean? Unfortunately, less blogging and more recording. Ta-ta for the moment.

Normal Procedure

2010-04-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

I deemed a certain song recording complete about two weeks ago. Since then, I have opened up the file at least a dozen times, tweaking or finessing a small detail with every pass. I will certainly peruse the file twelve or more times between now and the album release, and I am sure I will find something else to adjust on each occasion.

Is this normal procedure?

Often I open up a nearly complete track and let it play on repeat for the better part of a morning. I listen carefully, I listen as a consumer, and I block out the sound altogether, in that order. Sometimes I notice a subtle issue or mistake in the mix, sometimes I observe nothing.

Is this neurotic?

Whenever I make good progress on a recording, I fly around the house in a bouncy iteration of unadulterated bliss. Without fail, no more than 12 hours pass before I hit a sharp feeling of depression, and I become certain that this project will never cross the finish line.

Am I insane?

My wife's mother will be staying with us for the next three days, which means two things: a lovely visit and virtually no progress made on the Redline Project. I will try to keep the posts going, so feel free to check in.

Collecting Mixing Tips

2010-04-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

The daunting task of mixing raw files into balanced audio presentations has begun, and I could not be more lost. Not only is every track of mine clunky and unpolished, but the peaks all redline and the softs are downright flimsy.

There is way too much to learn in these brief months. Curses.

I much prefer to accomplish on my own strength, and it takes me a while to humble myself and ask for assistance. When I finally reach out to a fellow human being for help, I am often stunned by the kindness that is extended.

An example: Jan Fischer, a faithful reader of this blog and a stellar musician, offered to take a look at a track, make some fixes, and describe what he did to achieve a good mix. When I expressed gratitude for his willingness to devote time and talent to the project, he responded, "That's what friends are for."

Another example: I called Nick Akin today, a budding southern gospel musician and recordist for whom I have completed some graphic design projects, to inquire if he offers mixing lessons. Though he does not teach for hire, he invited me to his studio so I can watch and learn as his band hones their latest songs. He spent a half hour on the phone imparting tips and tricks for massaging a recording to aural harmony, all while spouting encouragements like, "Just keep at it, I know your stuff is going to sound awesome." He's never heard me play a note, but I somehow still felt fuzzy and warm.

I am struck today by the generosity of these friends, by the many who dedicate time to reading my daily ramblings, and to the countless who have taken a moment to drop an encouraging line. You are all a marvelous inspiration to a guy who can be stingy with and self-consumed during all available free time. Thank you for reminding me the importance and beauty of generosity.

Question Without Answers

2010-04-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

While studying art in college, a professor posed an important question.

When is a piece of art done?

Oil paints are malleable for a long time after they are on the canvas, and there is always the option of painting over whatever has dried. One can work, and rework, and redo again ad nauseum. When should an artist sign the lower right hand corner and call it a day?

The question stuck with me as I began a career in graphic design. In commercial art that is driven by budgets and deadlines, the determining factor of a piece's completion often is dictated by the number of remaining items on the project list or amount of billable hours already accrued. That is not a satisfying answer though, because the urgency of the moment should never serve as a litmus test for the completeness of artworks.

As the Redline Project album begins to take shape, I am developing a twitchy habit of cycling through each track, finding something to tweak or adjust, saving and closing, opening the next, and repeating the process. On ocassion, I have de-adjusted a facet I readjusted the day before and then re-readjusted the same detail the following day. I am tending towards obsessiveness as this project rolls along.

I have no answers for this. Feedback is helpful and welcome.

Waxing Romantic

2010-04-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

The Redline Project is not intended to be a venue for gushing oozy love. Mostly, I have kept the blog free from the details of my personal life, except where I deemed those specifics to be related to the project in important ways. Tonight is one of those instances that a taste of the personal is in order.

I am crazy in love with my wife. In a world filled with hissy, demanding spouses that wield their whims upon their partners, my better half is remarkably selfless and downright stellar. A poignant example: she not only puts up with the daily bouquet of hours I dedicate to the Redline Project music and blog, she champions the cause by offering a listening ear, encouraging feedback, and endless support. Margaret, you are a remarkable human being and a marvelous wife. The seams of my heart barely hold together as love continues to flood its chambers.

Why the gush after all this time? I experienced euphoria tonight as Margaret graced one of my recordings with her magnificent cello talent. Between the two of us, she is in every way the true talent, the real musician. Simply stated, this project would not exist if it were not for the gracious gifts of time and patience this woman offers me. These praises are barely adequate and long overdue.

I am humbled by Margaret's musicality and gratified by her presence on "Sing Silently," a song that will serve as the last track of the album. You are going to fall in love with her musical offering; I can't wait for you to hear it.

That Bad

2010-04-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

The first severe weather of the summer swirled through Atlanta today, drenching the local bike trails and all the other outdoor distractions that would have otherwise loved to lure me away from the Redline Project. If it weren't for this mountain of a hobby, the rain would have me pursing my lips and humphing along through the day.

Instead, I jumped at the opportunity to get some serious work accomplished on the recordings. Drums poorly miked and sticks in hand, I dove in at 10:00 this morning. It is now 7:30 pm, which means I pushed through a plumper period of music today than I usually squeeze out of any given workday. It goes without saying that I am clearly motivated by the former.

With this many hours logged in the recording studio, I am going to keep my remarks brief, limiting them to the following disdain.

Once again I am shocked by the honesty of recording. On many occasions during these nine hours, I performed what seemed like a good take. Alas, the playback had another tale to tell.

Am I really that bad of a musician? My mother always had complimentary things to say about my abilities, but somehow the tape offers a different opinion. I am suddenly struck with deep respect for the pros who churn out excellence in one take. Bravo to all of you. I am starting to understand why I never made it as a gigging musician.

Kid in a Candy Store

2010-04-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

When I was in college, studying classical music at Gordon College and taking lessons in jazz drumming at Berklee School of Music, I used to practice for three hours a day.

I have to admit, practicing is a bit of a stiff word for at least half of what occurred during those morning, evening, or late night stretches. For the first hour hour or two, I was an obedient pupil, drilling exercises from classic manuals like Goldberg's Modern School for Snare Drum, Stone's Stick Control, Bellson's Modern Reading Text in 4/4, or Reed's Syncopation. The first 30 minutes were great fun, the next 30 were fine, and the final 30 were a molasses slog.

When the notes became ants on a page that seemed to squirm off their five-lined perches, I would file the texts into slots on the bookshelf and reach for an antiquated pair of brown studio headphones. After plugging the textured 1/4" jack into a 1980s Kenwood receiver, I would pop a colorful disc into the tray and maaneuver my way back to the helm of my nitron yellow Eames drum set.

Decibels pumping through the headphones and sticks firing away, I would get lost in the sounds of the combos of the 1950s and 1960s. Staples included Miles Davis recordings with Jimmy Cobb at the tubs, Herbie Hancock with drummer Tony Williams, Red Garland accompanied by Art Taylor, and McCoy Tyner collaborating with Elvin Jones. For the duration of these practice-room sessions, I lost all touch with reality. I may as well have been in the bands, burning grooves in Harlem with the original innovators until the twilight hours.

Diplomas and desk jobs later, those years all but faded from memory. But today I had an unexpected date with nostalgia.

As posted yesterday, I set up the same Eames kit in Studio Redline (also known as my basement and laundry room) to attempt an acoustic drum cut on one of the final project tracks. I have recorded some analog percussion - a cymbal here, a djembe there - but so far all drum set appearances have been MIDI stand-ins. I kept off-putting analog drum set recording so I could lay down the instrument for the entire album in one swoop.

The time has dawned for a grand Redline Project drum fest, and I left the yellow drums set up yesterday in honor of this weekend's goals. Like a child drooling at glass vats of colorful, chewy bits of sugar, the drums had me salivating all day, glancing over every ten minutes for a quick ogle at the shimmery cymbals and matte yellow handcrafted drums. At the stroke of five (or perhaps a few minutes before) I popped Logic open, selected a track from the Redline Project finals, and sat down on the familiar blue throne, headphones donned.

In an instant, I was transported to those sparkly days of being lost in the recordings, only this time, my mind basked in the sound of my own music. Marvelous.

There is no doubt that the accumulated years allowed rust to eat away at my drumming muscles. (I can say with sober honesty that I stunk it up today.) But creating rhythms at the set pulsed life itself through my veins. Perhaps the Redline Project will inspire me to chase away the dust bunnies and try to find a bit of rhythm once again.

Daunting Task

2010-04-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight, for the first time since the Redline Project commenced, I attempted to record myself playing a drum set.

Let me dive right in with an admission. Neatly tucked away into the boiler room closet (a no-no by any semi-serious drummer's standards), my citron yellow set of Eames has been collecting pollen, cockroaches, and other such annoyances for about four months.

As I picked up the sticks (Regal Tip 8A Maples for those who care), I realized in an instant that my excitement to play far exceeded my ability to produce coherent beats. Years have come between me and my serious pursuit of the instrument, and a solid four months elapsed since the last time I touched the old tubs in any form.

I feel as though I am down in the count long before I even step up to the plate. I have no fancy equipment for capturing a decent drum sound - just a trusty, borrowed condenser microphone. I plug the stout mic into the mixer, a dubious smirk plastered across my face. A few clicks later with headphones securely cupping my ears, I am off and running.

Rust creeps its way around my fingers as ivy climbing a collegiate brick facade, and the feeling of Ace bandages tightly wrapped plagues my limbs. All hope seems lost as I scour around for a little muscle memory. Two measures to go until my cue. One measure to go. One, two, three, four...

A surge of energy spikes from nowhere, and I a steady rhythm pulses from the wooden beads of my Regal Tips. The groove thickens as measures pass. I close my eyes and let the music swirl through my cerebellum, reveling in the woven phrases and all but forgetting that I am laying down a track.

The passage ends, and I am shaken from the trance and settle into my office chair for a listen to the music that just unfolded.

One universal truth about recordings: they do not lie. My euphoric grin has faded into a puzzled grimace. The rhythms are off, the dynamics are terrible, and the beats are juvenile - not to mention the recording sounds as if it were tracked in an echoey basement (oh wait, it was).

Attempt one: fail. I have the weekend to figure out how to shake some cobwebs free and lay down some beats again.

Touch of Synergy

2010-04-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

As a graphic artist, I knew I was starting to get my professional legs under me when I intuitively sensed how to combine design programs and the effects, filters, and commands therein to create the image haunting my mind's eye. This is an ongoing process that continually morphs as each yearly software update is released. While I have not arrived, and though I never will, I remember the day when I started to connect the dots and use a synergy of commands to create something greater than the sum of its components. What a good feeling.

I have been reworking a recording for the past four hours or so; redoing so much in fact that the only remnant of the original is the vocals. Those get rerecorded tomorrow.

Though I still barely understand Logic and its endless array of capabilities, I am beginning to whizz around the different windows, tweaking a mixer setting, adding a plug-in, modifying a piano roll, tuning a track EQ. With each day that passes, Logic feels a little friendlier, like a new set of bicycle cleats after half a dozen rides. I still fumble, I still furrow my brow, I still go running for YouTube to figure out the conundrum of the moment. But as I plod along, it is delightful to know I have left a collection of footprints on the path behind.

Good progress on final track number eight tonight, though its nowhere near finished.

Little Contest

2010-04-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

In the name of looking for collabortors, I have decided to post a little bass and djembe groove and make it available for download.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to download the files and add something to it. Maybe something simple, perhaps something complex. You might twist it into something unrecognizable. Who knows? That is the beauty of it.

Think of it as the first Redline Project contest. Everyone who submits an entry will be considered a winner, and their work will be posted on this blog along with links back to their websites and blogs.

Ready, set, create.

Any takers? Download the files here.

Redline Project Turns 100

2010-04-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

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.

Numero Siete

2010-04-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

Between yesterday and today, another somewhat final track emerged from the churn. The portfolio of Redline Project compositions is steadily thickening.

If you are not into techno-speak, these next paragraphs are not for you. Consider yourself warned.

As I press on towards the project's goals, some essential tips in Logic software have emerged. For example, the stacking order of effects makes all the difference in the final sound of an individual track. If vocals have a condenser, a delay, a unison, and a phaser, it is helpful to place the condenser first and the unison next, followed by the delay and phaser.

In the case of outside units such as Melodyne (about which I can not sing enough praise), I find the plug-in only works in the first slot, with every processed effect following behind it. Otherwise, the sound renders unpredictably, often with distorted tone.

On an uber-specific note that will help virtually nobody, I have discovered a quirk of Melodyne that has allowed me to achieve greater clarity of tone. When a vocal is inputted into the powerful software, certain consonant sounds, especially those made with the letter 's', sound fuzzy and buzzy when they are corrected or moved to new pitch levels.

The remedy? Anytime the troubled letter occurs, I simply divide the blob (Melodyne's term for a note on a pitch center) into sections, leaving the 's' sound wherever it may fall naturally and adjusting the rest of the blob remnants as needed. This is a tedious process that yields a superior audio quality.

I have just bored myself. It is astonishing to gander soberly at the extent of my own nerdiness. Has anyone even made it to this paragraph?

With that, I am stopping for now. I promise tomorrow's topic of discussion will cease to be snoozeworthy.

Piles O' Tracks

2010-04-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

I dabbed a little sparkle onto another track tonight, bringing the total of nearly complete recordings to six. With a goal of ten completed tracks, the Redline Project has broken into a full gallup. (Insert a rousing refrain of the William Tell Overture here.)

This means I am beating my projected schedule with a mallet or other damaging implement, which is positive as it allows more time dedicated to the lofty goal of scrounging up 10,000 listeners. The revised plan is to finish these ten tracks, cycle back through each once more for review, and then consider the possibility of adding another song or two to the mix with whatever time remains.

I am on pace to finish in a third of a year what I anticipated would consume three quarters. (Roll that William Tell one more time.) Refraining from exclamation marks is a challenge, as my excitement level has shot through the roof. With so much of life dangling thick weights around my neck lately, an encouraging day is a welcome shift.

On a technical note, odeo.com appears to be down for the moment, which means all scratch tracks posted here are currently unplayable. If the outage persists, I will need to find another solution, but hopefully the issue will resolve in a day's time.

Better Track

2010-04-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

A while ago, my friend Jan from Germany collaborated with me on a scratch track, offering his amazing guitar skills. The mp3 I loaded to this blog was only a shortened version of his recording, so I posted the full-length one in its place today. I am reposting the track here so it gets a little bit of time at the top of the list as well. Enjoy!

Jiminy Cricket

2010-04-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

Allow me to paint a picture. Logic is running and I have opened the file requiring tonight's effort and attention. Atlanta is a gargantuan heap of yellow pollen and all of outside is abuzz and aflutter with the earth coming back to life. Wood bees whizz and pop outside the window as baby birds chirp their requests for worms. Sound lovely?

Mostly it is, until I innocently string up a microphone to redo some subpar vocal tracks. All of the lively hubbub finds its way through the tangle of wires and into my headphones.

This will not do.

I decide to wait out the spring symphony by cooking up a chicken sandwich and curling up for a fifteen minute catnap. The sun heads toward the tree line and a sense of cooling calm begins to blanket the suburban landscape.

I Had just settled down for recording vocal matter,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of carpets of pollen
Gave the lustre of mid-day to the spring that had fallen,
When, what to my wondering ears should arise,
But one thousand chirping crickets for me to despise.

The night was spent tweaking midi, mixing audio levels, and honing arrangement ideas. The new vocal tracks never came into existence. The winter had me competing with the borbarigmi of the furnace and water boiler, which seems tame compared to the nature's April incantation. This new challenge leaves me confounded; when am I to record anything?

T Minus 200

2010-04-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

If you are a regular visitor, you know that the clock to the right of this post has been counting down to the release of the Redline Project final album. This little application of truth passed a milestone today, dipping below the 200 day mark.

As final tracks emerge from the chrysalides of scratch recordings, I am not trembling as fiercely as I once did. I have nearly four complete songs, which is almost halfway to the goal of ten. With these accomplishments comes the sense that the Redline Project is ahead of schedule, and that conjures a good feeling.

I fear I have been a touch negative in recent posts, and I want to take the opportunity to mention how life-giving this effort is. I love music, and to participate in its creation after years away thumps 200 proof adrenaline through my veins. The album that will be available in a matter of months will not be the best you have ever heard, but each day brings more certainty that my music will be worth a listen.

A Look Around

2010-04-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Quick question. Is the Redline Project remarkable?

Though rhetorical, I imagine my readers to be split on the matter. One perspective says this initiative is nothing more than a hobby and a blog - a dual claim of ownership that far too many Americans can make.

Between yesterday and today, I landed in blog spaces covering golf swings, copyright laws, the healing wonders of the acai berry, and sadly enough, the possibiity that the National Enquirer may receive a Pulitzer Prize for excellence in journalism. To start a blog, one must have three things: internet access, a username, and a password. That's it.

There is a term for efforts that span the course of a year, often with accompanying blog entries. They are called '365 projects' (or perhaps '366 projects' should they fall on a leap year). For every one of these startups that manages to go viral, I estimate there are 1,000 others that get noticed by a score or less of regular visitors. Multiply that out again to find the quantity of 365 projects that make it past the first month.

Why? Because American life is startlingly packed - not simply busy in one area, but chock full of a million different commitments pulling in as many directions.

I make mention of this because I feel as a spider would if eight predators were yanking on each of its legs. With only a handful of weeks between today and the glorious day my soon-to-be son will finally come home from South Korea, I have a dozen or more items to accomplish and many more obligations yanking me away from progress.

In less than a week, I will write the 100th Redline Project post. With as much content here as would be found in a brief novel, my commitment to realizing the goals listed in this page's header should be apparent. Despite the my drive to succeed, I fear that all corners of life will tug, tug, tug until I have nothing left to give, and this project would fall to the wayside.

In a word, burnout.

Last night, I recorded 90 percent of a song's final version. This makes four tracks of ten (or more if there is time - insert sarcastic inflection here) that are nearly wrapped. Completing this album is so near I can almost smell sweet victory, and yet somehow distant enough to seem well out of grasp.

Since I started chiseling away at this idea in January, the paradox of so close yet so far away has haunted every day of this quarter-year. I plod on somehow, and inch ever closer to making a reality of this romantic pipe dream.

So, is the Redline Project remarkable? Should I manage to sculpt it into an accomplishment, it may someday become so. Until then, I think the unfortunately true answer is, 'No, it is not.'

Shadows Reappear

2010-04-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am chiseling away at a third attempt of the song "Sing Silently." As I record the final chorus, I am once again struck with a fierce flood of tears. Sitting on the fifth track of the project is my stuttering, trembling voice, complete with sniffles and gasps.

The story behind the song is the reason for the weeping. As mentioned in previous Redline Project posts, the lyrics are about my friend Jennifer. A middle school student, she experienced a deep trauma when someone broke into her family's house, stealing possessions and carrying out acts of violence. She still struggles to fall asleep, and especially while her mother is still out working the third shift.

I am faced with a fundamental musical question as a result. Does the crying stay or go? In some ways, the presence of this honest emotion reveals the weight of the story better than any of the lyrics ever could. In other ways, it detracts from the simplicity and pleasantness of the composition, which I am guessing will be a listeners' favorite from the final album.

Off the Grid

2010-04-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight I completely reworked a recording originally posted at the end of January. The title is "Sing Silently," a song about a little girl I know who has trouble sleeping after a violent break-in occurred in her home.

In the name of science, I attempted to record without any click track or time grid in place. I was hoping the lack of rigid time structure would lend an organic aesthetic to the music (a bare composition of voice with a few acoustic guitar tracks).

Fail.

Aligning tracks and editing out the no-nos without the help of organized time stamps is all but impossible for a noob like me. With practice, patience, and time, I could get the hang of recording without the click, but time is a commodity unknown to the Redline Project.

Tomorrow I will attempt a redo of the redo, this time with the familiar metronome clicking sense into my soul as I lay in the tracks.

On the sunny side, I tweaked the setup of my recording rig today, eliminating some unwanted microphone noise from the mix. Though this does not compare with completing a song for the final project, a cleaner audio signal is nevertheless an important accomplishment.

A Nip and a Tuck

2010-04-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

Regular readers may remember a scratch recording posted here in January. Its a tune called, "Slips Away," and it is the first full-length song form I completed for the Redline Project.

I hunkered down in Studio Redline for hours yesterday, carefully considering the ups and downs of the rough cut. I rerecorded all the vocals, added some electric guitar, polished several midi tracks, and added an all-new bridge to the mix. A little elbow grease later, a decent piece of music emanated from the monitors. If not all the way polished, "Slips Away" is now varnished with a thick coat of semi-gloss.

Though half-witted recordists would undoubtedly scrunch their noses at the music's imperfections, I am pretty well pleased with my work on the song. I let it loop through my sound system for a portion of the afternoon, mostly looking for imperfections but also enjoying the first fruits of my loving labor.

Motivated by this milestone, I proceeded to open each of the 29 files I have produced since January, jotting comments in my sketch book with every listen. When I dove into this project, I was sure that all scratch recordings would need to be completely scrapped. This is proving to be false, which is a pleasant development.

Most of my tracks need significant work, many will require complete start-overs, and some will never, ever, ever be opened again. None are even remotely ready for launch. I can cope with files that require pounds of turtle wax; I definitely favor dealing with existing music over taking it from the top.

My goal is to have another final recording in my back pocket by the conclusion of the weekend. Accomplishing this task will leave only eight pieces in need of a shoeshine, bringing the goals of the Redline Project ever closer to accomplishment.

Sifting Through

2010-04-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

To the moment, I have composed ten pieces of music for the Redline Project - fairly prolific considering that I launched this effort at the beginning of January and progress is relegated to nights and weekends. Total playing time for these tracks (once finished) will probably land around 45 to 50 minutes, which is on the short side of a respectable full-length album.

My wife, who is famous around our house for practical wisdom, suggested I run with these rough recordings, sculpting them into final cuts that will land on the finished product. This seems a good tactic to me. Should this batch wrap up with days left over, I can always add new music at that time.

I like this approach because it turns the heat down two notches. According to my project schedule, I should complete all rough tracks by May 15. This puts the Redline Project a month and change ahead of the next deadline. Whoopie-woo!

Opening these rough tracks over the past two days has been a little like Christmas. Each scratch recording that I unearth coaxes a set of emotions. One piece needs a tweak or a touch to be presentable - like unwrapping a shiny red guitar. Another cut must be scrapped entirely in favor of a complete redo - evokes the sentiment of peeling back paper to find a six pack of striped tube socks.

So far I am making mental notes only. Tomorrow I will dive into thoroughly tearing each track apart and penning the critiques into my journal. From there, the Redline Project moves into the new and exciting phase of producing final music - tracks that I sincerely hope will make their way into the iPods of 10,000 listeners.

I feel a welcome glimmer of hope tonight that has been absent for weeks. Time for a celebratory bowl of Lucky Charms.

International Collaboration

2010-04-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

Jan Fisher, a distant relative and one of the most faithful Redline Project blog readers, recently asked me to send him the audio files to a scratch recording. Living in Germany, Jan is an accomplished guitarist and recordist, and I have been eager to hear the results of his musical input.

His guitar textures and lines are nothing short of brilliant. What I heard in my head as a major progression (I, IV, I, IV for all you theory geeks), he interpreted as a solid minor chord (vi). I am invigorated by this choice as it brought a new darkness and mystique to the original sound. Jan layered guitar lines and built the texture slowly from a distant hum to an energetic burn. Nice, nice, nice!

In short, I am thrilled to share a wavelength and I hope this is the first of many trans-Atlantic collaborations with this fine musician. This is an invitation to any and all readers: I am thrilled to paint the canvas with anyone who wants to give it a swing. Contact me if you want to get something going.

Circling Back

2010-04-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

In many ways, tonight's work on the Redline Project launches a new phase of the process. Instead of working on new musical ideas, I reopened one of the first songs I wrote for the album and got busy analyzing the delightful and wretched elements of its scratch recording.

There were many tracks, especially those performed in MIDI, that are keepable with a bit of tweaking. It is encouraging not to have to scrap everything in the initial recording, which in turn gives me great hope about the editing of other works in progress.

This success holds hands with discouragement though; this song alone could soak up two solid weeks worth of recording and editing time, and those hours will be difficult to find. I am certain this album will be produced and released by the deadline, but on nights like this I wonder how it is all going to come together.

Lessons from Glen and Marketa

2010-04-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

To say that I had a great time on America's highways over the weekend would be a grand understatement. The Redline Project is not a venue for personal pontification, so I will reserve my bouquet of wanderlust tales for blogs that exist elsewhere.

The trip's relevance to the Redline Project is somewhat limited as I did not write songs, record tracks, or research software techniques while away. In short, a fuse in my mind had blown, and I gave the old brain a weekend off. I am pleased to report that my cranium is operating at full tilt, and I am ready once again to dive into the deep end of this project.

Of all the dashboard crooners that meandered around the Gulf Coast with me, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova spent a considerable amount of time singing through a stack of songs from the movie, "Once."

Have you seen the film? If you have not, go rent it tonight. If you are busy tonight, put it on the list for tomorrow. "Once" is the story of two brokenhearted musicians who meet each other in Dublin, Ireland. The two form a beautiful collaboration and discover a life-giving friendship in the process. The film is gorgeous, the plot delicious, and the music sumptuous. One lovely detail about the movie: the main actors realized their music was meant to exist past the scope of the picture and started a band that still performs today.

Why are you still reading this blog post? Go to the rental store now, or at least hit up your Netflix queue.

Beyond enjoying the music at face value, I spent ample time listening deeply to Glen and Marketa, trying to understand lyrics and their constructions, considering song structures, analyzing chords, pondering vocal techniques.

Neither Glen Hansard or Marketa Irglova have perfect voices. On the recordings, there are notes out of tune, phrases unaligned rhythmically, and even an occasional wrong note. Why then is the music so gripping, so compelling, so haunting?

Part of the answer lies in the performers' abilities to bring their songs to life with emotional conviction. Their voices cry in sad moments and rip during choruses of rage. The two singers invite the listener on a journey into the story behind the song, and it is impossible not to taste the bittersweet sentiments carefully penned for such a purpose.

I have over-thought every lyric I have written for this project, trying to saturate every line with as much meaning and emotion as it could hold. Because I deem my voice an unworthy instrument, I have relied on words alone to create meaning in the songs I am trying to sing.

With Glen and Marketa as role models, I am going to practice using whatever voice I have to deliver compelling performances of the poetry I am working so diligently to write. I would like nothing better than for my songs to be compelling and perfect, but since I have to choose, compelling may be the way to go.

Redline Project Complete

2010-04-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

Today is a prodigious day. The Redline Project final album is ready to be released.

April fools.

I plan on posting verbose paragraphs and recording three songs over the holiday weekend.

April fools again. There; got that out of my system.

Actually, the wife and I are headed out for some unplanned road tripping adventures around the southeast. We will be camping along the way with little or no internet access. You are welcome as always to visit the Redline Project blog, but you will not find any new material here until Monday, April 5.

Hey... everyone needs a vaction from the diligent work of blogging, right? Sincere thanks goes to the handful of readers who may actually be a touch disappointed by this. While the Redline Project fan club may be thin in numbers, its members are fortified with brilliance and creativity. Much appreciation to each of you.

For those into Good Friday and Easter, I hope you revel in the glory of life overcoming death. For those not observing the holiday, I wish you a restful, rejuvenating handful of days. See you on the other side of the weekend.

1st Quarter Update

2010-03-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

An unexpected side effect of plugging away at the Redline Project is having a pointed awareness of just how speedily a set of months can slip away. Tonight is March 31st, relegating the first three months of 2010 to the past and leaving only nine in the future.

Does this shock anyone else? We just sipped champagne and exploded poppers roughly 14 days ago. How can March 2010 be hours from vanishing?

As my custom has become at the close of each month, I am taking the opportunity to scrutinize the successes and failures of the Redline Project. Where has there been progress? Where has the momentum slacked a bit? What needs to happen to keep this initiative moving forward? Are we on track for an album release on October 31?

Let's commence with the plusses. In three months, I have acquired more than enough gear to adequately record, edit, and publish an album. Many of the acquisitions (including an electric guitar, microphones, and studio monitors) are borrowed instead of purchased, which is the only way I have managed to stay within a budget of $1,000.

Speaking of budget, I am thrilled to announce that while I have spent far less than $1,000 on the Redline Project ($877 to be exact), I have sold $900 worth of bikes and related gear to offset the cost. This has required a sizable and complicated effort. If anyone has ever tried auctioning items under Ebay's asinine new user feedback policies, you know that sellers have no recourse to deal with feisty, manipulative, or deadbeat buyers.

As I write this blog post, I received an email from one such buyer who is demanding more money back from me than he ever payed for an item sold 'as is.' Lovely. Ebay is wonderful, and Ebay sucks eggs. If someone with the username jmdesigns2 tries to buy an item from you, run far and run fast.

Frustrations considered, piecing together a basic recording studio for zero dollars is a grand success, and one that pleases my wife as well.

This month, I wrote what I consider to be my best songs so far. The tally so far is nine, including vocal and instrumental numbers. Several pieces are five minutes in length, and some are longer. Mind you, these are not final recorded versions; the tracks are currently scratch recordings meant to capture the basic form and textures of each composition.

With a baby boy coming to join our family around the first of July, I have decided that the Redline Project's final product will feature 10 original pieces of music. Originally I was aiming for 12, but I needed to adjust in order to keep the project moving forward as I prepare for fatherhood.

After the scratch recording roadmaps are all pieced together, the next step is to scrap and re-record just about everything. Three or four months worth of knowledge is virtually nothing when compared to giants of the recording industry with decades of experience lining their pockets. Om short, I am a noob. That said, I know considerably more than I did 83 posts ago, and I am hoping this base of knowledge will lend a relatively clean and polished sound to the final cuts.

Is the Redline Project on schedule? The answer, according to the original array of deadlines, is a resounding yes. I am supposed to complete all the rough cuts by May 15, which is still a month and a half out. If I Complete one more composition and two more recordings by then, I can draw a red line (pun intended) through this mile marker.

Nevertheless, I feel hopelessly behind. After the scratch tracks are complete, I must get to work recording palatable music that is at least somewhat iPod-worthy. Then comes the mixing process, with the mastering procedures hot on the tail. If these daunting tasks somehow are accomplished by October 31, I then must climb the mountain of distribution. At a glance, this final step is made easier by offering the music free of charge to anyone and everyone, but that in turn complicates the matter as it begs questions of copyright issues and distribution venues.

[Insert panicked nail biting here]

Scores of miles fade into the rearview mirror as hundreds more appear on the horizon. As this project turns into something of a second full-time job, the television tempts me with endless chasm mind-numbing nothingness. But I will press on. I will create. I will get heard.

Not Going to Believe This

2010-03-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night is scheduled for open shop at Communicycle, the bicycle co-op I helped to establish. We have been meeting with the youth for some basketball while the Communicycle volunteers scramble to get the shop back in order after a recent robbery. Ian, one of the program's leaders, has been striking up conversations in past weeks with Edgar, a middle school student who among other hobbies is training as a boxer.

Ian has a deep love for music, and he was thrilled to discover that Edgar and a few of his buddies have a talent with rapping. The group approached me tonight at Ian's urging, looking for some original beats to which they could find a flow.

A quick (and perhaps stunning) admission: I have always loved the sound of rap, though I know nothing about it whatsoever. But hey... the Redline Project is composed almost exclusively of project tasks that are completely outside of my knowledge base; who am I to turn down a unique opportunity to collaborate with Edgar, Ian, and others from the Chamblee area?

So here it is, in all its glory, with all its faults. my first loop ever intended to be used in rap music. Does it make anyone besides me want to dance?

Thursday

2010-03-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

Progress on the latest song has been moving along at a crawl, though I finally have something presentable to show. The verses are a bit naked as they wait for their chorus to be written, but I am going to post the mostly baked, still doughy lyrics here in the name of process.

This song has a working title of Thursday, alluding to the jarring observance of Holy Week that is once again in our midst. The phrases are not meant to become preachy or even to have any sort of message or motive. Instead, I have tried to deal with the confounding emotions present in this bewildering progression of holidays.

Loose ideas are jotted into a Microsoft Word document for the chorus, though I am only halfway satisfied with the outcome. Here is the song in progress:

Thursday

Clock says three; I can barely breathe
Words a knife; pierce me in my sleep
Broken loaf; drunk on heavy wine
Trembling fist; dipped his bread with mine

The rain must fall
Inside the garden wall

Weeping lead; sweating drops of blood
Wielding peace, fear I caused a flood
Decades fade; time has gone so fast
Tangled in fishing nets I’ve cast

The rain must fall
Inside the garden wall

Fall on my double-edged sword
Pay the price only I afford
Muscles seize; fingers start to writhe
Almost dead; barely still alive

The rain must fall
Inside the garden wall

Song Ideas

2010-03-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I described the backwards process through which I am writing my latest song. Though I have composed an entire song form (melody, harmony, chord structure, and instrumentation), I am lacking lyrics. Only two lines are filled in thus far:

Clock reads three; I can barely breathe.
Words a knife; pierce me in my sleep.

How may a song flow from this concept? Is this a tale autobiographically describing any instance of sleepless, stressful nights? Do these words describe my struggle with fear? With failure? With feelings of inadequacy?

Maybe these lines are not about me at all. Perhaps they are about a buddy of mine who wonders if anyone likes him. If anyone wants to be his friend. Or is it about a youth in the Communicycle program whose dad has departed the house leaving a mother to care for three children?

What if the lines begin to describe the horror of betrayal on Maundy Thursday leading to the death of Friday?

I am slowly realizing the value of a generic lyric - one that can be bent and flexed to mean any number of things in the mind of the listener. As details fill the gaps of a story, the number of listeners able to internalize it will undoubtedly decrease.

Bit Backwards

2010-03-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

I have romantic notions about how a song comes into existence. Perhaps the composer draws from the simplicity of childhood, the pain of the teenage years, the angst of a friend, the joy of a monumental success. Picking up a guitar, words flow out of her like warm honey and spill onto the page of a parchment journal. A melody descends from the sky, cloaking the meaningful stanzas in simple elegance. A song is born; divine.

My developing process of songwriting has absolutely nothing in common with this hypothetical approach. I trend toward a backwards approach, commencing with a musical idea or texture, humming a melody, and then frantically searching for halfway-meaningful words to accompany the musical environment.

Yesterday, I jaunted down the same old songwriting path with a bit of a twist. After laying down some sonic concepts and singing through a handful of potential melodies, my mind conjured exactly two lines of a verse; nothing more, nothing less.

Here they are:
Clock reads three; I can barely breathe.
Words a knife; pierce me in my sleep.

That's it... the whole banana. A confession: I already love this song. There is melody, harmony, chordal structure, and an array of musical ideas piled into my head and stacked onto tracks in Logic. The music even echoed off the shower walls as I wailed into the shampoo microphone this morning.

None of this is negative, except that a concept for the song's direction would be a pleasant development. If I am going to reverse-engineer a complete song from this tiny seed, some concept formulation is needed first. Look for the development of this idea tomorrow - same time, same channel.

Pile of Goodies

2010-03-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

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?

Paradox

2010-03-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

Do you remember when questions had one answer? Every aspect of my life was marked by right or wrong until the day I graduated college. Remember when red checkmarks peppered the pages of stapled exams? Remember bubble sheets and percentiles? Remember when two and two equaled four?

I believe good and evil war with each other. Though this is an abrasive fact of life, I am resigned to know nothing can change this reality.

Complexity is a web of sticky strands that spins thicker each day, and nothing is ever quite as it appears. On occasion, the underbelly of evil and the essence of good both cameo in the same scene, leaving spectators in a confounded haze.

By way of example, I heard a story about a young lady who was raped in an alley. In the aftermath, scars of fear permanently gnarled the woman's soul, leaving her emotionally paralyzed and unable to leave the apartment. The baby she bore as a result of the horrific incident is her greatest source of hope. Though she would never choose to relive the panic of the rape, she can not fathom life without her precious daughter.

I inked up a sheet of my sketch book in search of a song that deals with instances of this paradox. Though I am yet to find adequate words, the ideas are converging into a string of questions for which there are no answers. I can not wait to sing this song; hopefully it will take shape soon.

Audio-izing

2010-03-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who clicked onto the Redline Project in the past 24 hours. I am gratified to know so many enjoyed the simple music linked into yesterday's post. One commenter, a distant relative who lives in Germany, wrote a wonderful paragraph dealing with the music's ability to aurally portray the aesthetics and affects of a subdued thunderstorm.

He created a word, audio-izing, that defines the aural equivalent of visualizing. I like this concept, and I feel it is one worth considering when composing any piece of music. What imagery may the sounds create in the listener's mind? To which emotions will these aesthetics be connected? Will the consumer of the music feel that which the composer experiences as the notes are scratched onto staves or into digital recorders?

Reader's comments such as this one justify all of the time and effort poured into the Redline Project. Less than three months ago, music reverberated around my skull. Now it has found a way out, and bounces across oceans to faraway lands. The scope of this project is gargantuan and often overwhelming, but the endeavor continues to pulse tingly electricity through my veins. I have never felt so alive.

Thank you Jan for your steady readership and the time you often take to send a response through the wires. And thank you to a score of others who send notes of affirmation, constructive criticism, and encouragement. You keep my feet moving forward through the murkiest moments of this thick project.

Recording the Rain

2010-03-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

Precipitation meandered through metro Atlanta today as it should this time of year. The atmosphere was mostly a haze of clouds and mist punctuated by brief, dramatic startles of cracking thunder and the incessant pounding of voluminous rain. For a handful of magnificent minutes, spiders of lightning fragmented the sky into sharp shards as plinks of hail nipped away at shingles and shutters.

Sprawled on the carpet with mostly shut eyelids, the sounds of the storm whispered calmness to my inmost parts. The symphony of the moment was nothing shy of perfection; how thrilled I was to have the ability to capture the audio and remember the event.

I strung a cable from my mixer to a condenser microphone pressed against the open windowsill, clicked a few buttons in Logic, and let the tape roll.

The storm track carpets some sparse synth music in the scratch recording below. The looped music is on the ambient side, perhaps even a touch dental. If you listen carefully, you may be able to pick out the high-pitched taps of hail at certain points.

Twos and Threes

2010-03-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

As I launched the evening's foray into the classifications of electronica, one crystal-clear fact emerged: WAY to many sub-genres exist. The next paragraph lists each one as presented by Wikipedia. Please have something better to do with your time than reading through this drivel.

Ambient, Ambient house, Ambient techno, Apres Rave,Dark ambient, Drone music, Psybient, Breakbeat, Baltimore Club, Big beat, Broken beat, Florida breaks, Nu skool breaks, Progressive breaks, Rap, Disco, Cosmic disco, Eurodance, Euro disco, Hi-NRG, Italo dance, Italo disco, Nu, disco, Spacesynth, Downtempo, Acid jazz, Balearic Beat, Chill out, Dub music, Ethnic electronica, Glitch, Illbient, Minimal Electronica, New Age music, Nu jazz, Trip hop, Electronic music, Berlin School, Electroacoustic, Electro, Electro backbeat, Electro-hop, Electro-grime, Freestyle music, Techno bass, Electronica, Electropop, Folktronica, Glitch, IDM, Nu Jazz, Post-disco, Trip hop, (UK) Garage (UKG), 2-step, 4x4, Bassline, Breakstep, Dubstep, Funky, Grime, Speed garage,, Hardcore/Hard dance, Bouncy techno, Breakbeat Hardcore, Breakcore, Darkcore, Digital hardcore, Doomcore, Freeform, Gabber, Happy hardcore, Hardstyle, Jumpstyle, Makina, Noisecore, Speedcore, Terrorcore, UK Hardcore, House, Acid house, Boogie, Bubblegum dance, Chicago house, Crack house, Dark house, Deep house, Disco house, Dream house, Electro house,Euro house, Fidget house, French house, Freestyle house, US garage, Ghetto house, UK Hard house, Hard NRG, Hi-NRG, Hip house, Italo house, Jackin' house, Kwaito, Latin house, Merenhouse, Minimal house/Microhouse, Progressive house, Scouse house, Swing house, Electronica, Tribal house, Tech house, Hi-NRG, Eurobeat, Eurodance, Hard NRG, Italo Disco, Nu-NRG, New Beat, Techno, Industrial, Aggrotech, Ambient industrial, Cybergrind, Dark ambient, Dark electro, Death industrial, Electronic body music, Electro-Industrial, Industrial rock, Industrial metal, Coldwave, Noise, Japanoise, Power noise, Jungle/Drum and bass, Clownstep, Darkcore, Darkstep, Drumfunk, Hardstep, Intelligent drum and bass, Jump-Up, Liquid funk, Neurofunk, Oldschool jungle, Ragga-jungle, Darkside jungle, Raggacore, Sambass, Techstep, Trancestep, Rock/Punk influenced electronic music (Dance-rock), Alternative dance, Coldwave, Cyber metal, Dance-punk, Dark Wave, Digital hardcore, Electroclash, Electro rock, Electropunk, Ethereal Wave, Industrial rock, Industrial metal, New Rave, New Wave, Synthpop, Post-disco, Progressive rock, Synthpunk, Techno, Acid techno, Detroit techno, Free tekno, Ghettotech, Minimal, New beat, Nortec, Schranz / Hardtechno, Tech house, Tech trance, Techno-DNB, Techstep, Yorkshire Techno, Trance, Acid trance, Ambient trance, Classic trance, Dream trance, Euro-trance, Hard trance, Hardstyle, Nu-NRG, Progressive trance, Psychedelic trance/Goa trance, Dark psy, Full on, Nitzhonot, Psyprog, Psybient, Psybreaks, South African psytrance, Suomisaundi, Tech trance, Uplifting trance, Vocal trance, Post-disco, Dance-pop, Boogie, Nu rave, Hardcore breaks, Rave breaks, Jungle techno, Chiptune, 8-bit, Bitpop, Demoscene music, Picopop, Scoobycore, Game Boy music, and Gamewave.

Several of these sub-genres have strikingly similar definitions, with little or no nuance standing them apart. Coming clear is the conclusion that too many artists think (or thought) too highly of their musical compositions, and ridiculous classifications emerged where pieces of music could have tidily nestled into existing categories.

Master percussionist Kinah Boto, who taught me drum set during my masters program at Georgia State University, floored me with a comment he once made. "Music is all about twos and threes, nothing more nothing less."

He is mostly right: I venture a guess that 99% of all music heard in this country has rhythms that can be subdivided into two beats or three beats. Boto's point is that the labels we slap on various musics are mostly worthless. Every piece of music is a purposeful set of sounds, and the sonic characteristics of a composition are unaffected by any terminology pinned to them.

As this week commenced, I was determined to define the major genres of electronica, delving into the idioms and finding my place in them. This has become an overwhelming and pointless proposition; one that has undoubtedly bored most of my readers. You have my apologies along with my word that I shall return to the more gripping autobiographical tales that brought you here in the first place.

This quasi-academic exploration germinated moments after I put the finishing touches on a piece of electronic music for the Redline Project. Pretty well pleased with the result, I wondered how the sounds would stack up against other music in the same genre. It was only natural then to wonder which genre would comfortably hold this music.

My best guess was, and still is, Trance music. Wikipedia claims Trance pieces have the following characteristics: a tempo between 130 and 155 beats per minute, short synthesizer phrases, and a form with dynamics that build and deconstruct throught the piece. Check, check, check.

Settled then; this composition entitled Tremont is a textbook example of Trance music. I am positive that electronica aficionados everywhere would have a bird over this classification. Ahh, the beauty of solo writing an uncontested blog.

Bit of a Trance

2010-03-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

I have no idea if the music I am sculpting tonight qualifies as actual Trance music, but its mesmerizing groove has all but hypnotized me. I intended to compose this cocktail for an hour and chase it with an hour of blogging. Both time slots are long gone and a few extra slid by with them. Woopsie daisy.

The bell tolls midnight, and my fluffy bed is looking mighty fine at this moment. Tomorrow I shall post definitions for the many sub-genres of electronica here, or at least as many as I can scrounge up. I look forward to seeing if my composition in progress actually qualifies as Trance music, or if it simply has that effect on my mind.

Oscillation

2010-03-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

The material you are about to read joins yesterday's post as a half-witted excuse for a research paper. I am flying solo with Wikipedia, so be warned.

A fellow by the name of Elisha Gray, who is credited with the invention of a telephone prototype, apparently crafted the first synthesizer of sound in 1876. I will venture a guess that the instrument was neither appealing in the tones it produced nor ever commercially produced. I have nothing to base this upon, except for the seeming lack of information regarding its whereabouts.

An equally unsuccessful venture was the Hammond Novatron, produced by the Hammond Company in the 1930s and 40s. Hammond would later produce the B3, which is still widely esteemed as the holy grail of jazz organs. The Novatron failed to win the affections of music experimenters, and it is now relegated to short, under-thought paragraphs such as this.

It was not until the 1960s that the synthesizer earned a date with destiny. Robert Moog's synthesizer, cleverly named Moog, spread onto pop albums like syphilis.

The Moog is an instrument near to my heart. Though I have never touched one, Jan Hammer did during his tenure as the keyboard player in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, a favorite band of mine during the formative high school years. Led by guitarist John McLaughlin, the virtuosic band set the standard for fusing rock music with Indian rhythms and melodies. I owned all of their albums, most of which were original vinyl pressings, and I wore them out.

A woman by the name of Wendy Carlos recorded an album of the Brandenburg Concerti using Moog synthesizers. It is a famous recording, and my parents even owned it when I was a child. I must confess that even though I admire the experiment, I hate the resulting sound. Wendy Carlos was formerly known as Walter Carlos because she used to be a man. It is not relevant; I'm just mentioning.

The synthesizer may have earned its stripes in the 1960s, but the 70s ushered in its heydey. Producing the famed soundtrack for the film Chariots of Fire, Vangelis used only synthesizers to craft the iconic compositions heard therein. Genres of music started to unfold with aesthetics rooted in synthesized sound. Movements such as New Wave and Synthpop emerged as bright, sparkly alternatives to the rough, live sound so popular the decade before.

New Wave is considered to be a genre of music similar to Punk Rock that employs a more experimental, electronic approach. Nothing more than a sub-genre, Synthpop is a form of new wave composed almost exclusively with synthesized sounds.

Yesterday and today serve as the preface for the meat of this discussion, which is slated to appear here tomorrow. Join me then for an exploration of current sub-genres of music under the umbrella of electronica, all grossly under-researched as well.

Intonarumori

2010-03-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows they can trust the internet as a source of information, right? I am working a full time job, developing a non-profit, chiseling away at a 365 day music project, and adopting a son. There is no time for actual research, so good-old Google and Wikipedia will have to do. Trust at your own risk.

I am knee-deep in the muck of electronica this week as I piece together an exotic trance composition that may just squeeze its way onto the final recording of the Redline Project. As I massage the textures into coherence, working and reworking over and again, a fascination with this new array of sonic possibilities is taking hold of me. I am also gripped by utter lack of knowledge about this genre.

The goal of this post and others to follow is to snag snippets of mostly-true information from potentially unreliable sources and garner a shred of knowledge. The topic of my exploration: electronic music.

When I studied the western tradition of music history, page one of chapter one transported me to the era of Gregorian Chant, about 800 years ago. Compared to the likes of dinosaurs and wooly mammoths, the history of music (as Europeans and Americans know it) is all relatively new. Reason declares electronic music a mere baby then, since the advent of harnessing watts did not come along until 1752 when Ben Franklin flew his kite into the sky on a less-than-clear day.

A cross-breed of mad scientist and musician began to emerge in Italy during the early part of the 20th century. This experimental group of artists called themselves Futurists. One such loon named Luigi Russolo assembled devices he referred to as Intonarumori, or noise machines. In his own words, these aural contraptions were "acoustical noise-instruments, whose sounds (howls, roars, shuffles, gurgles, etc.) were hand-activated and projected by horns and megaphones."

Stop right there. We have a gathering of fellows in Italy around 100 years ago who focused their life work on producing concerts of noise. My best guess is that their elevators failed to visit the top floor. Hail the Futurists - these are my kind of folks.

The first instruments with sound produced purely from electricity were invented during the 1920s and 1930s. Devices such as the Etherophone (also known as the Theremin) debuted on stage of symphonies in novelty pieces composed for orchestra and electronic instruments. 1929 saw the founding of Laurens Hammond's electronic instrument company, which would later go on to produce the iconic Hammond B3 organ.

Though these rumblings of electronic sound were a far cry from the thumping synth-driven club music made popular in the 1980s, this collection of early forays begged deeper explorations of sonic possibilities that would carpet the continents with new music in under 50 years. Electronica is brand new but has spread like wildfire.

This highly-paraphrased synopsis was produced using the single source of Wikipedia. My middle school teachers, and probably my mother, would be horrified. Tune in this time tomorrow for a loosely factual pontification about the invention of synthesized sound.

Jack Shivers

2010-03-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Around three weeks ago, someone broke into the Communicycle Co-op and stole all of our tools. Our shop is located in a ministry center where a couple of churches and other groups meet, and several of these spaces were robbed on subsequent days. Eventually the man taking from the building was caught and has found himself locked behind steel bars.

Without tools at the shop, we have been spending time with the youth participants in other ways. Tonight, we brought them all to the building's concrete basketball court, where we enjoyed a crisp spring evening shooting hoops.

One fellow became bored and started rummaging around near the building's dumpster where a miscellany of discarded construction supplies were stacked in messy piles. He returned to the concrete slab a few minutes later announcing that he found a really cool sweater that he intended to keep.

My heart sank when I saw the garment in his hands, because it was a sweater that once belonged to me. In a flash, I was transported back to a January night of record cold when a man named Jack found his way into the shop. He was looking for coffee and a place to get warm as his makeshift home behind our building offered zero protection from the freeze.

I had nothing to offer him that night except for the thin blue sweater I was wearing. I shook it gently in front of him in insistence that he accept what little warmth it might offer. After we switched the lights off and locked the door, I shuffled around town gathering sweaters and blankets from my closet, a roast beef sub from the deli, and a tall cup of joe from the convenience mart.

As I returned to the Communicycle lot, Jack's tall silhouette appeared in the shadow of my high beams. I handed the humble gifts to him, praying that he would find the warmth to make his way through the frosty night. How crestfallen I was to learn that Jack returned to the Communicycle shop a few days later, shattering glass to enter and departing with handfuls of community-owned tools and supplies.

I never anticipated laying eyes on my blue, striped sweater again, but there it was tonight, tossed aside and dusted with fragments of last autumn's brittle leaves. I felt equally discarded by the unwelcome discovery, and anger began bubbling into my throat.

My emotions would have remained through the night had it not been for the marvelous Communicycle youth. These friends rallied around me as I told them the story, sympathetically resonating with my discomfort and frustration. I am watching these teens take ownership and pride in the program we are building together, and I could not be more elated at their sense of investment.

What do these meandering paragraphs have to do with the Redline Project, or with music of any form? Everything, really.

I drove home that frigid January evening through sheets of blurry tears, and not knowing how else to process the pains and injustice unfolding before my eyes, I grabbed a pen and scratched some lyrics onto a blank journal page. I have much to consider now about the direction this song should head. Initially it was a song of observations and simple lines that stated my confusion from a disconnected stance. The subject matter has since become deeply personal, and I am more a part of the story than I ever anticipated or wished to be.

Where to go from here? I don't know.

Jack Shivers

Jack shivers in the frigid night
Blue sweater, he is not all right
Black coffee, awake till dawn
Not alive, but not quite gone

A Magnificent Dilemma

2010-03-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Though the Redline Project blog is not a venue for my personal life, I can not help but exclaim the marvels of what started as an ordinary day.

My wife and I have been working and waiting for two and a half years to receive word from South Korea that they had a child for our family. We were expecting to hear news to this effect months ago, but week after week slid by in silence.

What commenced as an average Monday morphed into a prodigious milestone with a simple phone call. In a matter of three or four months, my wife and I will travel to Seoul to become a family of three. Cheers!

For the record, we are welcoming a marvelous boy of six months with an open face, midnight eyes, and a smile that sends laughter bouncing around the room. I have only laid eyes on a handful of photographs and already I am madly in love.

Of course, this poses a rack of hurdles for the Redline Project. As an active father of none, I am free to scamper after the muse until all hours. What is to become of this humble venture as I step up to the calling of fatherhood?

Good question. I don't know.

Perhaps the whole thing will come tumbling down leaving only plumes of failure in its wake. Maybe the goals perched atop this page will join the ranks of all that remains unaccomplished in my life. The Redline Project finds itself at a definitive fulcrum. From here, I either ramp up the effort or throw in the towel.

With a handful of months standing in the gap between the day my son finally comes home and today, I choose to put my feet to the fire. The goal of making a releasable album of music pulses liquid life through my veins, and giving up would be nothing short of tragic. I shall continue, and the music shall be heard.

Intuitions and Ignorance

2010-03-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

After an unbelievably drawn-out meeting that monopolized most of yesterday, I decided to unwind by throwing together a little groove. In less than ten minutes, I had some intriguing bits of electronica tracked into in Logic. I tossed some synth pads in the pot along with a dash of electric guitar long-tones.

To my ears, this ditty is a simple but addictive recipe that keeps me wanting another bite. The issue is that I have no actual awareness of what to call this music, or what elements it needs to take it to the next level.

In the realm of electronica, there are labels like Techno, Trance, House, Hip-Hop, and Club, each of which is defined any number of ways by a plethora of unofficial websites. Complicating the conundrum is the endless love-child spin-offs that result from the blurred lines between the vague genres. We have Trance-hop, Trip-hop, Techno House, and so on.

My training in classical and jazz music has not exactly encouraged a working knowledge of electronic music. Though I am lost in terminology and clueless of how to construct convincing tracks, I am excited that the Redline Project, and its resulting collection of hardware and software, has cracked open the door to a new universe of music.

Electronica is a realm to which I once turned up my nose. In downright snobbiness, I considered sonics produced with computers and synths to be a cheap knock-off of actual musicianship. As I commence exploration of this infinite array of possibilities, I quickly realize my opinions were formed in ignorance.

This week, I am going learn as much as I can about the evolution and nomenclature of electronic music, posting my findings on this blog. If any readers want to offer information (favorite electronic music artists, historical resources, genre classifications), please send it over.

Massive Milestone

2010-03-13T10:03:00.000-08:00

What would probably be a measly accomplishment for most professional recording artists feels downright monumental to me. This morning at 11:00 am, I wrapped up a preliminary song track for the Redline Project final recording.

Is the song actually finished and ready for mastering? Hopefully not. I intend to learn a massive amount between now and the album's final mixdown, and I anticipate looking back at this track with loathing at some point during the project's course.

So why the jubilee? This first complete track represents what I once considered all but impossible. A mere three months ago, I hadn't the vaguest sense of how to get the music of my imagination into listenable form. As I type today, I am hearing the tangible decibels of a song I wrote and recorded. Each instrument (about 15 total) heard is something I played, and the vocals, though heavily edited, are mine too. What a buzz.

The complete song is called Barefoot Commons. Its story portrays a girl and a boy from dramatically different backgrounds who discover equally intense pains and joys in life. Here is a selection of phrases:

Little black boy from Roxbury Station
Little white girl from the highrise on the hill
Black hand, white hand, gripping each other
Fifteen miles, a world apart
Drink the moment at the barefoot Commons

For complete lyrics, click here.

The song's characters are children from the city of Boston. Beyond the traditional instruments utilized in the recording, I selected sonics that reflect the playfulness of childhood and speak of the urban setting, including the percussive banging of kitchen pans and a carefully-placed elevator bell sound.

Any elation I feel in this moment is met with great trepidation as I consider my next steps. If I am to accomplish the release of a full-length album, I will have to walk this winding road at least a dozen more times during the next six months. This seems a good thought for tomorrow; today I shall bask in the bliss of this small but significant step.

Silver Bullet

2010-03-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

I will skip the story of how our neighborhood postal worker did not bother to ring my bell yesterday. I won't mention that I was home the entire time. I'll leave out the details about having to wait nearly an hour at our dysfunctional post office just to pick up the package he should have handed to me in all of five seconds. Instead of telling the world what a zoo this government institution is and what a strong resemblance its excuses for employees have to molasses, I will take the high road and bite my tongue.

The diamond in all this rough is more of a silver bullet. I am pleased to announce that as of four o'clock this afternoon, the Celemony Melodyne Editor software has dug its digital footprint into my iMac's hard disk. A longer review is in order and will be posted soon. At a glance, Melodyne is a powerful, intuitive engine that transforms impotent, scrawny vocals into solid sound perched squarely on tonal centers. Unlike other plug-ins like Autotune, Melodyne maintains a much more natural sound. I have the giggles over this.

In the quick scratch recording below, you will here two instances of the same recording. There are no effects applied other than the Melodyne Editor, and it is only utilized in the second half. The latter portion was adjusted in a matter of minutes with a handful of mouse clicks.

I spent most of the evening tweaking a melody for the actual Redline Project recording, and for once I actually like how my (altered) voice sounds. Though I am tempted to post that song here, it is going to stay in the vault until the final project is released.

Fleabay

2010-03-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

I have accomplished an important Redline Project task this evening that has nothing to do with music. Over the past weeks, I have racked up a bit of debt as I purchased the Melodyne editing plug-in for $200 and the upgrade to Logic Pro (from Logic Express) for $115.

If you know anything about either software, you know that both prices are at great savings off retail list. Still, this is a chunk of expense considering the entire project budget is an even grand.

Regular readers know that I am trying to scrounge the 1,000 big ones by selling off possessions. My goal is to leave the old savings account undisturbed. Mostly a success thus far, I reached for the plastic as I succumbed to both deals.

I am determined to pay myself back in full by unloading an unwanted miscellany of bicycle gear and other bric-a-brac. I dedicated the past three hours to photographing a pile of junk from the bike closet and posting it up on the world's favorite used-item free-for-all, eBay.

Should the auctions end near the fair-market value of each tchotchke, ample money to replenish my recent withdrawals should plop into my Paypal account. I will inform you of my success or lack thereof at the time of my listings' deadlines - seven days from today.

Long Overdue

2010-03-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

From the earliest days of the Redline Project, Found Sound has been an important concept. Decibels can be heard in the 'Scratch Recordings' column that emanated from cups of water, canned vegetables, U.S. currency, a nose-hair trimmer, paper tearing, and even the flush of a porcelain bowl.

It is hard to believe I made it this far into the project without laying down some good old pots and pans for a percussion fest. When I was in fifth grade and wanting desperately to own a drum set, my room was always littered with metal implements from the kitchen. It was these bang-a-thons (along with a few other circumstances) that finally caved my parents' wills to keep drums out of the house and out of my life.

During this fertile time of musical development, these were the sounds I was hearing and creating. Tonight's exploration was a throwback to the artistic explorations of my teenaged self that put a bounce in my step.

I rummaged through the cupboards tonight and found a few items with sonic possibilities. The sounds paired with a delicious riveted cymbal like bordeaux and brie. I hope you enjoy the quick scratch recording posted below.

Something about the Redline Project makes me feel like I am 12 again. Maybe this is inspired by rapping on items that clearly are not drums, or perhaps because I have shirked laundry duty for days in favor of working out some tunes.

Petite Rant

2010-03-09T19:10:00.000-08:00

Though I have sifted through countless online forums and tried a dozen remedies, my Alesis Multimix 12 (a firewire mixer) continues to make a horrid low-pitched hum whenever I attempt to record my Guild acoustic electric guitar through it. I have checked for ground loops and acquired noise-cancelling direct boxes. I have attempted to ground the unit by running wires from its chassis to the base of my computer, around my pinky finger, and even down my pants (long story). All solutions reduce some unwanted sound, but I am yet to hit upon the silver bullet.

I finally rang Alesis tech support this morning, figuring they have heard the gripe before. After running me through ten ideas I tried weeks ago, I hung the phone on its cradle and found myself wishing there was hair atop my bald head so I could pull it out in frustration.

How can company after company, with precious few exceptions, possess such thorough ineptitude in troubleshooting their own products? I would put serious cash on the line that my call was not the first of its topic to ring at the help desk. Just once, I would like to dial an 888 number to find a friendly, knowledgeable person on the other end who solves my issue in ten minutes or less. Sounds like a frosty day in the underworld.

There. Rant over.

Considering that I use precisely one of the strips in this 12 input mixer, I have started to research much simpler interfaces that would enable great sound and ease of use in one portable box. Across the board, the Apogee One and the Apogee Duet seem to take the cake. Their prices are on the steep side, so I am hoping to trade the Multimix to someone who has an Apogee product. Until then I will plug along with the Alesis box and clean noise fragments with Logic's host of powerful plug-ins.

Web Spinning

2010-03-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

Emails about the Redline Project have been rolling in from the second degree of separation. As this experiment rolls along, I must tip my hat to the wily wordsmith(s) that furnished the internet with a pet name of 'world wide web.' Since the premise of this project appeared in article form on the Gordon College blog, I have receive word from several old friends that they reposted the article or tacked up a link to their Facebook pages, Google accounts, and Twitter feeds in support of this effort.

It is a painless 30 second proposition to post a link on such social networking sites, and doing so yields marvelous results. I am tickled silly that friends of friends have started to connect with the goals of the Redline Project and its greater purpose of encouraging like-minded artists of all genres.

Jon, my college roommate during freshman year with whom I have not communicated for a decade, dropped me a line. Here's an excerpt:

I have been reading through your blog. It is awesome. I am rooting for you and will pass your information along to eveyone I know. I wish we lived closer together. I just built a mini recording studio in my church (at my expense so the equipment is mine). I would have loved to work on this with you. I am learning as I go too, it is fun and so frustrating all at once.

Agreed, roomie. So much about the process of recording music surges pure excitement through my veins. Every success comes after a bouquet of dead ends, which have a way of poking my most sensitive nerves. As Dr. Greene would often encourage, let's keep our feet to the fire and press on.

Jon did as he said he would, linking his Facebook page to the Redline Project. One of his friends bit the hook and navigated his way over for a gander. He took the time to write as well. The note sent was a precious gift; I hope you enjoy this excerpt.

What you had to say [in the blog] was so encouraging to me. I am a musician as well and am pretty much in the same boat you were/are in with regards to having such an unquenchable passion to create great music for others to benefit from, but for the past several years, have pretty much just worked in different office jobs. But I'll end up creating music in my head while I'm at the office and then go home and try to recreate it all on my guitar. I'm constantly hitting upon subject matter in life that needs to be put into song in new and fresh ways.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you and I are a lot alike. I'm 29 years old, married, and my wife and I are expecting our first child through the process of adoption. We live in inner city Philadelphia. I was seriously bummed when I read that you live in Atlanta because I have been searching for years for a musical partner, someone who shares the undying need to let the music bleed out, not for money or fame, but to fulfill what is so naturally ingrained in my being for the benefit of others. I've written several songs myself but always feel so much more creative when collaborating with others. I've played in a number of bands since my teens, with a bunch of talented people, but have not yet met that kindred spirit with whom to write, record, and perform the music that I still have yet to truly let out of myself.

This blog details my personal journey from the land of the daily grind back back to the world of music. Its deeper and perhaps more important purpose is to encourage artists camouflaged as insurance salespeople, accountants, construction workers, and the like to return to their creative bents with vigor and courage. I believe concerted effort will lead me back to music, and I am confident my readers could all make the choice to do the same. If you find yourself on the brink of creative expression but are waiting for a little motivation, consider this blog a digital fire under your seat.

If anyone is interested in making my day and giving the Redline Project a bump in the right direction, please take 30 seconds to pin a link on your digital walls. Do not underestimate how great a help this is, and know you have my sincere gratitude.

I sliced my left index finger on an open can of soup during today's lunchtime. This means no guitar for at least a couple of days, but I promise productivity in the composing and arranging departments.

Song Solution

2010-03-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's post included a verse and a chorus of what I hoped would develop into song. The lines painted a descriptive backdrop for a story about two kids living in different worlds. I was puzzled about how, or even if, the plot should unfold, and I stalled out as I attempted to compose the following verses.

24 hours ago these few lines resembled little more than a haiku; today these ideas have taken shape and are singable from beginning to end. The story propped my eyelids open as I tried to sleep last night, and the melody greeted me when I awoke this morning.

This set of lyrics represents the first collaboration in the Redline Project. Late yesterday evening, I sat with my wife Margaret, and we hammered out the concept until the shape of a story emerged. Parallel construction is the main device used in the song; each verse relates to the others with common phrases and ideas as two different pictures with striking similarities are painted for the listener.

The song is about the commonalities people have across boundaries of economic status, race, and gender. Two living situations are presented that seem so different but are both filled with intense sorrow and moments of joy. These settings are portrayed as imperfect and broken, with the only place of true harmony being the public garden that lies between them. Its a story of finding hope in despair and discovering life in the midst of death.

________________________

Barefoot Commons

v1
Little black boy from Roxbury Station
Little white girl from the high rise on the hill
It's a steamy July in Downtown Crossing
But the willows cast their shade in the garden

Chorus
Black hand, white hand gripping each other
Dance in circles, sister and brother
Leaping, glittered splash underneath the fountain
Fifteen miles, a world apart
There's plenty of time for broken hearts
Drink the moment at the barefoot Commons

v2
There's something going down in Roxbury Station
Someone's two-timing in the high rise on the hill
He's skipping the rent to feed an addiction
She's hiding hot tears behind a hollow smile

v3
Find love in the pockets of Roxbury Station
Find peace in the quiet of the high rise on the hill
The ravens weave nests in the leaves of the willows
The lilies spread their wings in the garden

Toys

2010-03-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a postless void for the Redline project with good reason. I am a graphic artist by trade, and my G5 workhorse has been coughing and sputtering in its twilight years. Our business had a decent month in February, and the financial committee (my wife) okayed the purchase of a new workstation.

Perched atop my dwarfed desktop is a gleaming iMac quad core with a whopping 27 inches of viewing bliss. I am this Mac's second owner in as many months. Its retail purchaser is a PC user who could not acclimate to the Macintosh interface. As a result, I landed a barely-used workstation with full warranty and free add-ons for hundreds less than I would have paid at an Apple store.

The iMac paced its way through a migration of all my files, still digging digital grooves into the new hard drive when I awoke this morning. During this initial, lengthy data port, the computer goes into full lockdown. Without the option of typing up blog entries, I grabbed ye olde guitar, a sketchbook, a pen, a capo, and a pick.

In a few moments my mind meandered off to the Boston Commons, a magical landscape in the middle of downtown. When winter's jaw loosens its bitter bite, thousands of people emerge from their cocoons to savor a day below the garden's shade trees. A brave few, mostly children, venture their way into a concrete pond, romping with friends, splashing sisters, and chasing brothers. The delicate flutter of laughter slaloms its way through wrought lampposts long before the merry sight comes into view.

As my fingers kept picking away at the strings, I became lost in the faraway place. A fictitious story began to weave itself, and I watched in amazement as the pen began to ink lyrics on the lined page. The song in its halfway-written state sets the scene for a tale about two children from different worlds who experience a moment of shalom under the park's fountain.

The problem: I don't know what have these children do next. Is this a story of bridging different worlds? Of existences that are irreconcilable? Or is it simply a snapshot of arms linking for an isolated moment? Any ideas?

________________________

Barefoot Commons (In Progress)

v1
Little black boy
From Roxbury Station
Little white girl
From the high rise on the hill
It's a steamy July
In Downtown Crossing
But the willows cast their shade
On the garden

Chorus
Black hand, white hand
Gripping each other
Dance in circles
Sister and brother
Leaping, glittered splash
Underneath the fountain
Fifteen miles
A world apart
There's plenty of time
For broken hearts
Loosen your laces
At the barefoot Commons

Ballpark

2010-03-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

I won a couple of tickets to attend a showing of the Universoul Circus, held adjacent to Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves. The traveling act takes the traditions of one-ringed schtick and adds multicultural twists and turns, resulting in an energized, beat-driven spectacle. Hip Hop music served as the ritornello of the pulsing evening out, and the people working the sound booth cranked the dials to 11. My ears still ring with aural residue.

My wife and I were two of the three folks under the big top hailing from caucasian backgrounds. Writers interested in culture and ethnicity would have a field day covering this event. This blog, however, is about music - specifically a project of putting music together in the course of a year. I shall focus my comments accordingly.

As we drove the ten miles to the stadium, I had no concept how far out of our everyday ballpark we would be. The experience of being an outsider looking in is entirely positive. I try to find myself in the minority with some regularity; without fail, important life lessons emerge from such situations. With eyes agape and ears perked, I tried my best to push through sensory overload and absorb some of the visual and aural wonder unfolding in front of me. If the arts are like cups of cool water, this event smacked of drinking from a fire hose.

Any notion I have of understanding music is shot to the ground after listening to tonight's songs and sounds. Music is endless, vast, and mysterious. It is folksy and sweet to speak of music as the universal language, but its dialects are numerous and thick with accent. I delight in these possibilities of sound channeling through my ears into my soul. I hope that my music (and I) will never be the same.

Bit of Press

2010-03-02T17:47:00.000-08:00

I am thankful to Tony Papia of Gordon College, who recently featured the Redline Project on the school's blog. Tony is employed by Gordon to scour the web for Alumni-related efforts, activities, and projects. I was shocked when he first contacted me about writing the article, mostly because my full name does not yet appear on this blog. Clearly the Google web crawlers are scurrying along, landing searchers in the thick of this content.

Occasionally friends will ask me why I choose to keep this project mostly anonymous. Simply stated, I want the developing timeline of the Redline Project to be relatable. Instead of readers thinking of this musical adventure as my material alone, I hope every artist and creative that lands here will reflect the story onto themselves, considering how they may ignite new efforts and rekindle old ones. May my anonymity foster in you the courage to try something daring, adventurous, risky.

If you choose to link over to the Gordon College blog to peruse the article, please do not let the name and face posted there distance you from your next creative venture. As we look toward those who are already a few steps down the road, our tendency is to see the space between. Be encouraged instead as you have a look around. I am as average as average gets - nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. Any progress you see in these posts should ready you for action on your next initiative. As the worn but true saying goes, if I can do it, surely you can too.

View the Gordon College blog article here.

Sixth

2010-03-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

A stunning bit of truth for me, and probably everyone reading, is that a sixth of 2010 has snuck past. How did that happen?

In many ways, the Redline Project is on track, and perhaps I am even a touch ahead of schedule. The second post on this blog reveals that my goal for February's end was to acquire all gear necessary to complete this effort. Check - mostly.

I have purchased many pieces and borrowed even more, finding myself surrounded with an arsenal of competent, beginner gear. Just today, an upgrade from Logic Express to Logic Studio arrived, which means I will be recording and editing audio on a top notch suite of programs. As a coworker of mine used to interject, "Great giggly wigglies." I also have acquired a mixer that doubles as a firewire audio interface, a midi keyboard, and a direct box for inputting (mostly) clean guitar signals. Sennheiser headphones, a condenser mic, and a gorgeous Guild electric guitar are the most used pieces of borrowed gear.

Still on the wish list is the Melodyne vocal editor and a good pair of studio monitors. The latter I can potentially do without, but my pathetic vocal attempts are begging the powerful Melodyne to touch and to heal. To date then, I have spent $540, just over half my project budget. I have sold around $450 worth of possessions, which leaves me owing $90 to my bank account. Not bad.

The purchase of the software and monitors together will run around $350, and right now that is all I anticipate spending on this project. Looks like I will accomplish at least one of the three goals posted in this blog's header.

Those reading along have undoubtedly noticed a slow-down in the posting of scratch recordings, and with good reason. I have been feverishly plugging away at several audio sketches of songs I hope will end up on the final Redline Project recording. 'Audio sketch' is a term I am using to refer to a fully structured song with imperfect recorded parts. Once I have an understanding of how a song or composition will be arranged, I plan to replace the rough tracks with polished counterparts.

I have five such compositions that are baked to varying degrees. I need to write seven or eight more in the course of the next three and a half months to keep pace with the next deadline. By the end of May, all songs should be written and all audio sketches complete; doable only if I put my feet to the fire and press on.

A reader suggested I locate a widget displaying the number of days left in the project, number of dollars spent, and other related statistics. This is a fantastic idea, and I will search for one tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope this brief synopsis suffices.

In The Melody

2010-02-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

I spent a good portion of Friday night working up an audio sketch for my latest composition, laying down vocals, adding guitar tracks, and even selecting some tasteful EQ and reverb to give it a hint of polish. I listened once, and again, and a third time, adding touches of nuance with each pass. With a stiff neck and tired eyes, I saved my work and climbed out of the basement.

My wife has the privilege (or duty as she might view it) of hearing my creative prelims before they are released in any form. Aware of my addiction to affirmation, she will often extend words of encouragement that stem from the blind love of a spouse but still mean the world to me.

As is her custom at the end of a listen, she removed the headphones as the scratch track concluded, cocking her head one degree to the side in the name of contemplation.

"Here comes the sugar," I mused silently as I smacked the lips of my soul.

"I don't know. It's fine, it just isn't outstanding. I mean, the song is nice, but I can't really remember anything specific about it."

Ouch. Not what I anticipated. However, as I listened from the vantage point of her comment, I quickly realized that she was dead on. My song lacked character and dynamics, but it was largely devoid of a memorable melody.

A melodic line is the essence of a song. The average person singing along to a piece of music on the radio will not connect with a bass line, guitar riff, or a unique texture element. People gravitate toward a good melody because it is something accessible, a point of entry into an art form that can be esoteric and intangible.

Today, I scrapped nearly all of the original audio sketch, commencing work instead on a new treatment to the same set of lyrics. Though yesterday's efforts initially felt like wasted time, the process presented a good reminder for today and the rest of the Redline Project. I am grateful for this opportunity to consider anew the importance of melody.

Thank you Margaret for the remarkable insight you shared. Your gentle honesty opened my ears.

International Village

2010-02-27T20:02:00.000-08:00

Those reading along already know of my work with the Communicycle Co-op in Chamblee, a diverse locale of Atlanta that is at once wonderfully unique and riddled with a complex web of issues. Chamblee is Atlanta's version of a Chinatown or a Little Italy, though its dwellers represent nearly every major culture from around the globe.

The city labeled this eclectic pocket the 'International Village,' hoping to leverage its strengths as a marketing point for tourists. Some think this is positive as it drives an influx of dollars into the local economy, and others consider it exploitive and ignorant of the delicate problems plaguing its neighborhoods. Wherever people land on this issue, it is difficult to argue the merits of the name itself. Chamblee's population heralds every corner all six populated continents.

I mention this in the Redline Project blog because it has inspired a thought for a piece of music. Syncretized sound, two indigenous musics coming together to form its own sub-genre, is in no way a new concept. I wonder what sonic possibilities emerge if indigenous tones from all over the globe came together in a single composition. Music formed this way would greet the ear as the fragrance from the Buford Highway Farmers Market's spice aisle greets the nose. Decadent, tantalizing, spicy, a bit over the top.

Definitely worth an exploration.

This brings up a host of technical issues. I am sure my attempts at playing such instruments would be an insult to those who actually know how. A better course of action would be to acquire source music, sample and rework it, and bring my own elements into the mix.

"Aha," you rightfully squeal, "Isn't that a case of copyright infringement?" I have learned in the last day that the issue of sampling someone's music, even as little as two notes in one documented case, is a point of contention that polarizes musicians and the lawyers that defend them.

Perhaps the earliest example of this: Some jerk ripped off the "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" melody and created a rival children's hit known as the alphabet song. A third punkazoid wanted his piece of the glory and penned the ever-popular, "Bah Bah Black Sheep." Okay, there is no legal case involving these three songs, nor does this paragraph have anything to do with actual history. Forgive the feeble effort to interject some humor into what I fear is a mundane topic, to which I shall now return.

One case that every child of the 1980s and 90s knows about is the instance of Vanilla Ice using primary instrumental material from Queen's recording of "Under Pressure" to create the undulating theme of his hit single, "Ice, Ice, Baby." If Wikipedia is correct, this iconic recording went without reference to Freddie Mercury and his crew until years later when pressure from the media forced a resolution.

Though the debate rages ad nauseam in countless pockets of the web, it is clear enough to me that avoiding this boiling water is the way to go for the Redline Project. If I am to accomplish a work like this, I will need royalty-free samples or written permission for their use if I am going to give this a swing. The former sounds expensive and the latter seems like a time eater, but it remains that the idea has promise and intrigue.

Stay tuned.

From the Ashes

2010-02-26T19:18:00.000-08:00

Six semi-baked pieces of music sit in my sketchbook, my hard disk, or my brain that might wiggle their way onto the final recording of the Redline Project. The latest song now has a complete, if unrevised, set of lyrics.

________________________

Fall Down
Race around black top
Kids swinging, skipping rope
Soft spoken lady teach us the things to know
Green is the color of wintertime sky
Blue the shade of leaves

Chorus:
Minutes confirm what months deny
as years coax a different truth from passers by
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
We all fall down

Ten lines a theorem, its proof to find
When is a question the bottom line?
Truth bends as tall grass beneath the breeze
Swaying peacefully

Tender betrayal, a simple kiss
Lies spill like honey from open lips
Cracks in a bottle leak truths untold
She already knows

________________________

An acquaintance recently revealed an extramarital affair with which they had been involved for over a year. It is not news that harsh realities like this plague many families, but it is a different reality altogether to watch a couple sift through the wreckage firsthand.

This song deals with the unfathomable pain that comes from lying to ourselves and deceiving those around us. As kids, we are taught easy lessons like the sum of two and two, and the order of letters in the alphabet. Parents, teachers, and other role models also impart a simple morality. Be good, eat dessert. Talk out of turn, go sit in the corner.

The more time fills the void between my childhood existence and our present life, the more convoluted each situation becomes. I often catch myself missing the simpler days when work was play and when questions had one answer.

Though the readers of this blog will not listen to this song until the Redline Project album is released, you can hear a taste of the rhythmic foundation for it by clicking here.

Direct Box

2010-02-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

Slim report today. The Redline Project needed to be momentarily shelved as I attended to pressing situations facing a few friends. In my travels, I swung by Ye Olde Guitar Centre to acquire a passive direct box. You may remember from a few posts ago that a direct box has a good shot at eliminating unwanted hum and noise from a guitar signal, a fix that my piecemeal recording rig desperately needs.

I plugged the little black box, 1/4" in and XLR out, up to the system. Strapped to a borrowed Guild hollow body electric, I played a few notes into Logic Express, then a few more followed by several others, until a half hour slipped through my fingers. This unassuming invention melted away nearly every trace of annoying sound. This newly found clean tone is good motivational juice for what promises to be a productive weekend of songwriting and recording.

Knockabout

2010-02-24T19:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight, in the bowels of Studio Redline, I had a basement knockabout with a handful of percussion instruments from the closet. Though the scratch recording below is largely unvarnished, I am just starting to know how to control my equipment to get better native sound. So far, I have smoothed out the rough edges with effects and plug-ins; tonight for the first time, I present more of the raw data. Though there are miles to go, the sound quality is starting to head in the right direction - a development that inspired an unfettered happy-dance.

Instead of filling a post with words, I will allow the music to do tonight's talking. If you have been following along, you will probably recognize the melody motive from an earlier post entitled, 'Pitch Correction.' What you will hear has been rekeyed, given a new meter and tempo shift, and supplied with rhythmic accompaniment. Ha - my first remix.