More, New Years Madness

I struggled to get into playing tonight. I turned on the computer early and prepared to do some rehearsal, then tried most of the afternoon to get up the motivation and energy to actually do it. Finally after watching a movie, I mustered up the motivation and had a good session. It seems this blog writing is going to become redundant if I continue in the same pattern used previously. Yet my initial goal has been to chronicle this activity. So...

I reviewed a bunch of older music through the evening with the hope of finding some spark. I did set down then with guitar in hand, opened the New Years Madness files and away I went. The first thing I realized in the review was that the tempo increases needed some adjustment. I just didn't like the result of what was. That took quite a while to get through because of the number of changes needed to bring the tempo up from 120 BPM to 240 BPM, transitioning smoothly. Any shift of the tempo in the midi track removes all possibility that the wave tracks within the same file set can be used, thus after making those changes I then had to tell myself this is okay, and then I went ahead and deleted the existing wave files of the song and started over. That was truly fine as none of those recordings were correct and flawless. Along with that I needed to change the corresponding flags to indicate where the changes actually are in a visual way, for tracking while playing along with the midi. Dealing with the computer part of the recording is tedious. I also find it detracting from the pleasure of capturing the music. Finally, I practiced the rhythm Guitar part. I went through it 4 or five times, then noticed yet another need to alter the tempo changes in two places. The end result of editing made a good difference. I practiced through the song a couple more times before deciding I was sufficiently ready to record the track.

And again the set up gets in the way of flow. I had to adjust the mics physically for recording as well as adjust the sound levels to use the mic to record the acoustic 6 string. Finally all is ready so I practiced another time through the tune, before actually pushing that mighty record button. I didn't get the track quite right through that tempo increase. In any case I saved the recording, wanting to then get a good vocal track recorded. That will allow me to better follow the timing through that transition on the guitar. I then had to change the recording setup, adjust the input levels for the vocal mic. I practiced that two times to be certain of the transition area. It is relatively easy to hear the drum beat while singing, where as I find it more challenging while playing Guitar. I was successful at getting a good vocal recording in one take. That is progress. All there is to show for the night actually, editing the tempo changes and recording a poor quality rhythm guitar track and a good vocal track.

At that point I had a desire to work at some electric Guitar parts. It may have been better had I gone back to the rhythm Guitar part but... So I went through the counter rhythm Guitar part, highlighting with off beats and putting emphasis on the 3 beat to create a contrast to the 1. I never felt quite on top of that part though I played through it 4 or 5 times. To prevent total burn out I then shifted to a lead guitar part for the introduction and an ending. I have yet to actually compose what these parts will be though I have some general ideas that will complement the split two part lead riff between the verses.

This kind of process does become really challenging to me, the switching back and forth between being the musician and the sound tech is mind shifting, distracting from the mental flow that can otherwise be achieved in rehearsing. All in all I must have played through that song 20 times tonight, at 4 plus minutes per. That is a lot of time when adding the technical adjusting of the electronics and the digital. I even remembered, with desire to write this while it was still ripe. :)