Looking to the Mountains

I am heading up 575 after work to the mountain town of Ellijay. This humble north Georgia locale has sharp peaks, a few apple orchards, and not much else. Among other things, I am seeking the sort of quiet that will get the creative smoothies blended and lend a sense of direction to the recorded product of the Redline Project.

I have a guitar and a notebook, and I intend to use both extensively. My fingers are crossed that the same mountains offering inspiration to writers, musicians, painters, sculptors, and poets over many centuries will cast a similar spell on me. I can almost smell my pen burning the paper as I tear up the sheets with a blaze of lyric writing.

Though there will not be new posts to this blog until the first of February, I promise several stabs at new songs when I return.

I will be away from the internet through the weekend, so these humble paragraphs serve as the conclusion to a wild first month of the Redline Project music madness. It blows the mind to think that a twelfth of 2010 has already breezed by. I am hopeful that momentum will continue to grow and the music will continue to get heard.

Editing Experiment

This is the first time I have posted twice in the course of a day. I could not bear the thought of adding a scratch recording or any serious commentary to my twisted, tongue-in-cheek attempt at songwriting humor (posted below if you have the stomach for it).

When you listen to the scratch recording attached to this post, you will probably be skeptical to learn that there were six hours between the first note recorded and the final bounce. Your surprise is fitting because the audio is nothing more than a brief guitar ditty that lasts a mere 98 seconds.

The reason for my excitement is because this recording is heavily edited with tools in Logic Express that 24 hours ago I did not know existed. Specifically, this minute or so of music is chock full of cross fades, punches, and pitch adjustments.

Numerous problems remain, and the overall sound is a far cry from professional, but this track represents the slow, steady progress that is needed if the Redline Project is going to be realized in a year's time.

Without prolonging the wait, here is scratch recording number 6.

Cheapo Delay

The processes of bringing together the funds for the Redline Project and acquiring gear that will be purchased with those funds are requiring patience and determination. I have scanned over tenths of miles worth of CraigsList classified ads, and I have made research trips to every Guitar Center within a 25 mile radius at least once.

With a week tucked away and only 51 short ones left, I do have moments of wondering if anything will come from this effort other than spending some money and keeping an online diary.

Regardless of the outcome, I am glad to report that I am feeling greatly motivated and fulfilled by the prospect of the Redline Project; a feeling that has been all but forgotten in recent years.

The wrestling match with my only piece of gear, the Alesis MultiMix 12 Firewire, rages on. I keep swinging with my troubleshooting tips and it jabs right back with static and pops and barely audible signal. A small victory: Last night, I glanced at a new dial that appeared to control an effects bank. I plugged in my guitar (currently a five-string with due credit to my buddy Eric who recently popped the thinnest one) and twisted the knob around. Hark! I doth hear the angelic echoes of cheapo delay, reverb, and flange.

With a single rotary dial, each note I play suddenly becomes eight or ten, bouncing thither and yon around the recesses of my headset. I play one chord over and over again, marveling at the sonic array that effortlessly unfolds. I am transfixed. Two hours evaporate as I lose myself in the asphyxiating swirl of sound. Midnight has come and gone, my fingers ache from the dig of the metal strings, and I am lost in music for the first time in a long, long time.