a week of cold air
[ September 17, 2007, 8:11 pm ]
The first couple of week of school have been great so far. Lots of things happening nearly every night and making a trek to Kingston over the weekend have resulted in very little progress being made on the album. Strangely, I spent a few hours at Harvesting the FAM at the school here in Windsor, a day filled with artists, music, film and ran into so many people I haven't seen in a year or more. It was good to have that kind of connection and felt inspiring to be able to talk about what was going on with my music.
Somedays there are little bits of motion and messages that always help to make me feel better about the length of time between Logistics & Navigation and now... However, things can't be rushed. I'm confident there will be some time shortly to devote to moving on towards completion, but I also know that it will happen because I will make time for it and it will be a welcomed relief to all of this school work so far.
Tomorrow it's supposed to warm up again - I have to admit that I was enjoying the cold air we've had over the last week. September is always a funny time.
I'm stuck with how to make a song get from start to end; it had been a short loop I was working with since last winter, only recently recording guitars and vocals long enough to extend it to around the 5-minute mark. Another song that doesn't seem to be able to escape me is one from just before I recorded Logistics & Navigation... I thought it would only need a remix, but then I began to wonder about just re-recording it, and now I'm wondering about completely changing the arrangement... there is something about the song that has stayed with me, I can still remember the day I recorded it, but I also think I may be getting the time of year confused. At any rate, I know it must mean that it has connected with me somehow, and for that I need to finish it.
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in love with music again
[ August 1, 2007, 10:18 am ]
A breath of cool summer air amongst the smog and humidity of Windsor [and surrounding area]. I have just been through a bout of being disinterested in any new music I had heard, which then translates into a difficult place in which to make new music. I think that everyone must go through this, points where there seems to be a void of anything new or interesting... everything you hear reminds you of something else or you have no interest in digging deeper to find anything new.
What music have I recently acquired, you ask?
↪ I am Robot and Proud
↪ St. Vincent
↪ MONO
Well, now I have recovered and I cannot wait to get back to recording again tonight. Last night I did a couple quick takes in the audience of Danielle. A song I'm trying to finish was sort of just floating along, not really going anywhere... It felt like it could have been a nice sort of break between some of the dynamics of other songs, but at the same time, I know there are things (maybe buried at this point) that could pull out and make something from. I had tried to do a quick video recording of what I was playing last night, but Quicktime seemed to be fussy, so maybe I'll try again tonight...
In this office, with no windows, I can honestly say I miss the sky.
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it's okay to lie to me
[ July 26, 2007, 7:10 pm ]
Another song is so close to completion, it makes me feel amazingly alive. After two scratch vocal takes, I think I've settled on one, though unfortunately I've already hurt my ears tonight, they're ringing and I don't want to trust them with making any mixing decisions, though I am having difficulty with that.
I tried listening to Romanticism Aside on my drive home tonight, to try to remember how I used to mix... things seemed less dense then, more breathing room, or something? A song like circuit seems to have breathing room, but has the static-drums... I remember I had a mic on the amp for recording that song, not sure how much that has to do with the way that mix settled in. I am listening to the songs on my headphones, which isn't helping this mixing situation, but it always marks a starting point.
I'll rest my ears for a while, try again later... there are still repairs needed on this track, but it might just mark #3 track for the album more or less finished.... only 9 more to go.
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haircuts, tea and new music
[ July 21, 2007, 4:17 pm ]
It's an incredibly beautiful Saturday afternoon. I can hardly believe the good fortune of this good weather and how drastically it affects me. I've given myself a fresh haircut and I'm having some delicious raspberry tea, while also listening to songs recorded over the last couple of songs. I think suddenly, this album is nearing a finalized list of songs... that is, I know what songs I plan to move forward with.
The songs are bunches of noise, like roses in my grandma's backyard. They have a long way to go, maybe mostly due to my scratch vocal takes, but also the mixes are throwing me off considerably. But, I think there may even be more this afternoon... sometimes there's so little movement. How to correct this stationary placement of sound...? Though I'm quite sure it's the drum's fault.
I just tried to do something worthwhile with the drums, not happening yet... but the drifting feedback from the delay on the piano is delightful. So, how to change,... what to change first?
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some other night I thought I saw myself swimming
[ July 12, 2007, 12:44 am ]
Today was an inspired day for whatever reasons. I think the weather dramatically affects me... and the weather was just right today, not hot, nor humid and a northern breeze.
Here is my second attempt at a video documentation of my recording process of the new album. Excuse the sound at the beginning (it's the same as my first little video...oops) and also excuse the video hiccup near the end. thank you.
This one is about 10 minutes, a couple new songs, a couple revisited from last week, but more gradual steps towards something completed.
Good night.
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