RasterWeb!
It’s February 28th, 2009 and I just completed the final mixdown (I hope!) of my album for the RPM Challenge.
I’ve been at the board for over 5 hours, after working all day, and I’m tired, and I hope it sounds good…
Next, some sleep, and then to do the album artwork in the morning…
We are half way there… and when I say “half way” I’m referring to the fact that the month is half over as well as the fact that I’ve got half of my material recorded.
Though “half done” may not exactly be the right thing to say. While I do have 22 minutes of music recorded and roughly mixed, I still have not added vocals, and I’m sick right now, so I can’t record vocals.
It’s been a challenge this year, that’s for sure, as it should be. Last year I didn’t really have a plan other than “record 10 songs” which I did, but this year I had larger ambitions, which included doing some of the drums (did a little of that) but also sequencing my own beats (didn’t do that yet) but I also had in mind a concept album, which tells a story… I’m still not sure how that will turn out. Overall, I’m happy with the sound I am getting, and learning a lot more about engineering using Logic, which was a major goal this time.
I still have two weeks, and in that time I need to produce another 13 minutes of music, as well as design and produce the album art. I have a few ideas for the artwork, but I haven’t nailed anything down yet. I am pretty excited to see what people think of this release, as it’s a departure from the other things I’ve recorded lately. I honestly don’t expect most of the people I know to like it, but that has much to do with the style and genre of the music I’m creating, and I’m fine with that.
All said and done, I’m glad I’m doing this again. It really is a good challenge to get your mind (and fingers) working towards creating music. I can’t wait for it to be done though…
Yup, I am all set to record another album… In the 28 days of February 2009 I will record an entire album consisting of either 10 songs or 35 minutes of material for the RPM Challenge 2009.
I’ve been thinking about what I want to do, but I don’t think I’m going to reveal anything until the album is completely done. Perhaps some snippets of songs, but I don’t plan on doing what I did last year. I basically started the process of writing and recording all at once, and finished each song within a few hours, and then uploaded it, calling it “done!” which turned into a really weird collection of songs… which is, you know, an album, but this time I am more interested in a cohesive piece of work.
I’m going to borrow a guitar (most likely from Milton Zorro of Trademark fame) as mine is just too much a total piece of crap that can’t be tuned properly. My bass sounds good, so that’s fine… as for drums, I actually do have my drums set up in the recording booth at work, but they need some loving (new heads, tuning) and they aren’t mic’d so I might not use them at all. I may end up using existing drum loops again. (Drums are always the hardest part!) I’ll be trying a Firewire audio interface to see if it works well for guitar and bass input, where last year I used the cheap “USB Guitar Plug” so hopefully things will sound a bit cleaner.
Ultimately I want to produce an album that I really like. If no one else likes it, that’s cool… Oh, it will also be released under a Creative Commons license, like most of my music, photos, and video…
Check back in February for updates, or in March for the conclusion. Rock on…
(Oh yeah, Matt Gauger is the guy who told me about RPM last year, but he didn’t get to participate. I’m really hoping he can do it this year.)
Atomic Records, a mainstay of Milwaukee music, is closing…. and it makes us sad. Not just us, but pretty much anyone who loves music, and has been a customer some time in the past 24 years. For many of us, who first went there in the early years, it was the way we got music. (There was Ear Waves, Atomic Records, and Rush-Mor… and soon just Rush-Mor will be left.)
I started going to UWM in 1987, and it seemed like a weekly occurrence to walk down to Atomic and see what was going on… what fliers were up, what zines where out, what records we could find. Yeah, records… on vinyl… or tapes, lots of tapes from local bands, or 7″s from punk bands from wherever… you get the idea.
So it’s with great sadness we say goodbye to Atomic. (I tried to save them, really I did…) I’m sure if I go through my collection of vinyl, tapes, and even CD’s I would find a good amount that I got from Atomic Records. It’s weird, but I even remember specific events, like seeing about John Makay (teenage runaway from high-school) right across the street when everyone we knew thought he was in California or something… or the time Scott Schoenbeck saw me there, but didn’t know it was me cuz I was wearing blue jeans or something weird like that… Just crazy stuff that doesn’t mean much, except to me.
Atomic, we will miss you… you played an important part of my life, and the lives of many in Milwaukee (and surrounding areas where there were no record stores) when we needed it… Thanks!
Knellotron told me to check out Amie Street, an innovative music site where you pay for music with prices that correlate to an artist’s popularity. So I checked it out…
I put my album "Snowbound" from the 2008 RPM Challenge up there to see what would happen. So far it’s a bargain at 27 cents! It was free until Gabe came along and recommended 3 of the songs… Still, I think 27 cents is a real bargain, but snap it up now before the prices goes up!
I like the concept of Amie Street, where you get rewarded with low prices by finding new (and unpopular artists) and the artists get rewarded proportionately to their popularity. I told a friend of mine she could fine unpopular music for cheap and she got really excited, saying “I love unpopular music!”
I managed to get 4 albums of surf music for less than $3, and 3 of them were free. One of them is actually pretty good too.
Take a look at Amie Street if you are interested in finding new music. Hey, you can even look at my artist page if you want to…