This is a test

Gimme some mooooooooney!

Don't really give me money, this is a test for a friend...

SaW #6: Mike is gaaaa... Lame

Song For: Thursday March 17, 2011

Background: Some years back, Mike my brother Pete and I were visiting a friend who has a professional grade music studio in his house. While we were figuring out what to play next, I started strumming the chord progression you can hear in this song, and singing "Mike is gay". I have since tried hard to remove using "gay" as a pejorative, so when rerecording I've changed it to be less offensive.

This is the first song I've recorded with my new Pro Tools / MBox setup. I couldn't find my studio headphones, and I don't have any monitor speakers setup, so I had to mix using a 20 pair of Sony Headphones. For what it is, it turned out ok.

Chords:

Verse Am, E

Chorus: Dm, Am, E, Am

Lyrics:

Mike is lame... (ad nauseam)

The Papi Project

I purchased a new computer, so I was going through my old computer and backing up files. I found an old Cubase scratch folder (scratch is where Cubase keeps the countless backups of your audio files), and I found a treasure trove of fun recordings long forgotten. One of those recordings is my dad singing an old Spanish gospel song. I decided that a great way to teach myself pro tools would be to try and turn this singing into a fully fledged song.

This will be quite challenging as there are numerous problems with the recording.

1) This was in my old recording setup, which had the guitar and vocals coming in on one line, so I'll have to work around that.
2) My dad's singing fluctuates wildly in volume, and clips quite a bit during certain sections.
3) This was not recorded to a metronome, so the beat fluctuates.

At first glance, here is what I want to do.

1) Add a vocal compressor to even out the peaks and valleys.
2) Map out the tempo in Pro Tools, so that I can add some sort of percussion.
3) Record a guitar track to accompany the song.
4) Use a VST Bass to add a bassline
5) Either transpose my dad's voice, or record myself singing background vocals (5th, 7th or both).
6) Add musical accouterments as needed.

Here is the original, untouched file:

So...

I can't believe it's been 3 years since my last post. I had a ton of ambition when starting the song a week project, but did not forsee the changes my life were about to take. Well, here we are. Almost married, and 1 and a half kids later (an 18 month old, and a bun in the oven).

I've had to come to terms with my free time being drastically reduced. I come home and spend a couple hours with my son, some time with the girlfriend, and when I look at the clock, it's 10pm.

So what does all this meandering mean? I have a blog here that tens of thous... no one visits, but it's a nice momento of things gone by. I'm going to start updating again. I picked up Pro Tools and an MBox3, so I'm hoping to start recording some stuff again. There are a ton of projects that I'd like to get to (including a secret musical that I've been promising my friend Mike we'd work on for ages now).

I don't promise any timeline, but I want to become proficient with Pro Tools, so I would imagine some songs and interesting experiments will come of it. And you, my non existent reader, will be along for the ride.

SaW #5: Game Over

Song For: Sunday May 11th, 2008

Background: This was recording in the Amish Astronaut studios. Mike was playing "Welcome Home" by Coheed and Cabria, and I started doing a terrible freestyle rap. As with many things we record at Mike's house, this screwing around turned into a song. I grabbed a pen and wrote out the lyrics while Mike laid down the music. I thought that tetris was a wildly misrepresented subject in a rap song, so I decided to tackle the issue. I really dig the end, with the tetris theme song played against the the welcome home guitar riff.

Lyrics:

Here I am, too mad to toke,
screaming at god, like it's some kind of joke.
Staring at the screen, don't know where my head is,
I've waited so long for one goddamn tetris.

The screen fills up, the blocks are getting higher
my palms start to itch, and eyes are getting tired
What the fuck do I do, this game is cheatin',
if I met that russian designer, I'd give him a beatin'.

Now back, to the matter at hand,
it was all setup and going to plan.
Not a hole to be found, not even a gap,
mother fucking game has drove me to rap.

Getting all the wrong blocks, shit is getting tight.
I can barely rotate, no room at this height.
The writings on the wall, it's time to give up,
no rocket for me but I just don't give a fuck.

Off to New York

I'll be out of town for 2 weeks, meaning I'll be behind by three songs by the time I get back. I have no idea what I'll do, but I will make them up. Maybe one original and a couple covers?

SaW #4 - Might as Well

Edit for 3/1/2011: So while I really like the words to this, my recording was just a hot mess. To the point that I can't even listen to it all the way though. One of slated projects will be to rerecord this song. I'll put a link to that here once it's done.

Song For: Sunday May 4th, 2008

Background: The idea of this song really struck me as funny. As nerdy as this is, it was inspired by Battle Star Galactica. In one of the recent episodes, one of the characters laments that no one ended up with who they really loved, since humanity was almost obliterated. They just picked from what was left. I decided to build a love song around that idea.

Lyrics / Tab:
Verse and Chorus - C G F G
Bridge: Dm G

V1
you keep telling me, I'm stuck in the past
you're afraid that what we have will never last

Well, since you're asking, my affection's not a race
but if it was, you'd come in second place

I see the way that you look at me,
with eyes so bright but not as green.

but I'm here now, and I'll see it through
from what was left, I'm glad I got you

chorus
well here's the truth, no need to be sad
you were plan b, but that's not half bad

you're not my soulmate, that much is true
but I can't be with her, so I might as well love you.

V2
I won't lie and say I think about you at night,
you're not my dreamgirl, but baby that's alright

I hoped it wouldn't turn out this way
but we're together now, and that's okay

cause when I'm with you, I can almost forget
that everyday I'm filled with regret


Repeat Chorus

Bridge
You're not the queen, but the princess to my soul
you're the buffalo bills, to my super bowl
you're like the 90's knicks, in the nba
you're like having ruduced fair, on the subway
all of this, I say from the heart
please take what I give, even if it's only a part

V3
I hope I can lay your fears to rest,
I assure, I love you second best

just cause I think of her, everytime that you laugh
you can't throw away, what we have

True love is only once in life time,
I should know, I've missed out on mine