Production and Recording

This is some of what he said.

So at the moment/this week: had recording sessions on my own at my studio Mon/Tue...long distance drum tracks.

Yesterday, full band live tracking at a studio in nashville- we did 6 songs.

Today, brushing up on some songs, and learning some new songs I'll play at a show this weekend, and packing up the kit I'll bring to that.

Rehearsal for that show with the band tomorrow, in Atlanta.

Then show on Sat in N Carolina.

On Sunday I'll go check on 3 rental properties we have in the Smoky Mountains while on my way back to Nashville.

Recording session at my place Monday.

Brush up/learn some stuff for rehearsal &shows with a different artist on Tue.

Rehearsals Wed/Thur.

Show in Nash Fri.

Fly to NYC Sat. Show in NYC Sunday.

Fly home Monday.

Tuesday a day off!!!

Wed, more of the same ...

That's what being a full time working musician for hire looks like😁

Got a new laptop the other day. That jerk off that I was trying to buy the laptop from on OfferUp kept flaking out.

So I spent the last couple of days setting the computer up. I networked it with my main computer so I can pull projects right off of it wirelessly. From bad!

I have an external solid state drive to download my huge sample libraries. The sample libraries for omnisphere, kontatk 13 ultimate, and Superior drummer. That's over a terabyte worth of samples.

I have an additional m.2 drive coming from Amazon. Actually I already got the drive but I didn't know that it needs a specific Dell heat sink. So I bought the heat sink. Waiting for that

Last night and this morning I finished arranging our song called A million Miles away. And then Tim and I had a conference call after he listened to it so we could go over the arrangement. Making sure we both liked it and whatever. It's one of the longest songs we've done that I can remember. About 4 and 1/2 minutes.

Right now I'm still downloading some of these massive sound libraries to the laptop. I forgot the main ones loaded though.

Also all of the plugins that I've got. That took a while. A lot of different vendors have product managers though so it makes it easier.

In a little bit I have to get up and put a scratch vocal track on one of the songs.

We've got so many songs between us. I would say probably at least a hundred songs. So we're going to pick one to do next and go for that. Just get them done. It feels good.

More recording last night for Million Miles Away

came up with and recorded a lead guitar and part. tweaked the drum parts in the bridge too.

Since last week I got the whole arrangement down, put the scratch vocals on it and discussed everything with Tim on the phone. Sent the track to Tim and he's going to try to get the bass tracks done this weekend.

I used the helix for the lead parts and my strat

The song is already mixed too. I was doing that along the way and it sounds good. We're not touching the mix, other than for his new bass part and the real vocals.

While Tim is working on the bass, I'll be working on the next song.

We should be able to release Million Miles in about two weeks I'd imagine, then a another song right after coming up pretty quickly.

Okay!

The more mixing I do the more I realize that I have too many plugins. When I was setting up my new laptop I was very aware of that.

I've started using less and less processing on mixes too. Not going too crazy with anything.

tonight I'm working on lyrics. I hate working on lyrics.

I'm going to to try chat GPT for ideas. I don't want it to generate lyrics, but I want to feed it general themes and have it riff some ideas. See what happens

Condor doesn't like reflections.

took today off so I can finish the lyrics for Million Miles. Just need a couple of words. Then sing the verses and it's done.

Also came up with what I think is a pretty cool new song the other night. It already has nearly everything - bass, sub bass, keys, two guitars and a vocal. Just needs lyrics and a little arraigning. I really like it a lot. It came to me so fast. Like 1 hour from nothing to an almost complete song.

I was a little buzzed on edibles - and I didn't mean for that to happen. It just happened to hit me hard - I guess because I ate first.

So today is just 100 percent devoted to finalizing Million Miles. If that gets done, then Mix a song called Drone.

My friend Kira is coming over Saturday.

I've been outside enjoying the "June Gloom" weather we get near the coast. Gets overcast and foggy. Today no fog but it's overcast and about 62 degrees. I love it! That burns off by noon and it's supposed to be 73 and intermittent clouds. Perfect weather,.

Here's the new thing that I did Tuesday night.

I think it's got a quirky cool feel to it. I really like it. Of course it's a little sloppy but everything is just a raw first take.

Listen in eadphones because it's got sub bass. And probably the mix isn't great unless you're listening and headphones. I wasn't trying to mix it.

Vocal lines / melodies come to me super easily. And I just go with whatever comes out of my mouth. Since I was a little buzzed I didn't even care at all where I was sitting. And I purposely singing some of it sitting way away from the mic and then coming really close to the mic. The vocal is just one take but I'm moving around. It's also got some distortion on it that only comes in when I move close to the mic. Which I thought turned out well.

I think the chorus is great. If I do say so myself. Lol

I went to my dad's shop to do a load of laundry. I just walked around the parking lot thinking of my song. I got the lyrics done. So I'm still here waiting for my laundry to dry but I think I've got these lyrics done now.

Finally. It was just a few words. Just not a lot of words in the song.

Frustrating.