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.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Piles O' Tracks
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.
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
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!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Jiminy Cricket
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?
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?
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
T Minus 200
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.
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.
Monday, April 12, 2010
A Look Around
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.'
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.'
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Shadows Reappear
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.
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.
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