So New York is awesome. Still can't over just how big every building is! Decided on a name for next week's song as well on the flight over. All shall be divulged at a later date... 0 Comments
Bye!
Wednesday, 23 April 2008, 06:19
Going to New York, be back later!
Next week's song is for all the people out there who work night shifts... 0 Comments
So about the song, first off you need to know the rules. The idea for the song came about after watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory where they have a conversation beginning with something like:
"If I were a robot, and you knew but I didn't, would you tell me?"
So naturally I proceeded to have the same conversation with my flatmate Ken, who is mentioned in the song. I think we decided that it'd be best to tell someone they are a robot if they didn't know already. It's the polite thing to do.
On a side note, I re-recorded the guitars today but didn't bother with the vocals. I'm professionally lazy like that.
Again, comments/criticisms are welcomed. Drop a note here, email me, or even Facebook me. The choice is yours. 3 Comments
11:28
Previously, in Matthew Nellis' blog...
I said that next week's song is going to be a love song. Sorry ladies, but this was a lie. There is a love song in the works (of epic proportions) but it won't be next week's song. After laying down the drums and guitar for it yesterday, much like Frankenstein's monster it spawned into an entirely different beast altogether. I tried clawing back the original idea but alas, I was overwhelmed. This... thing just took over and now I am tasked with the duty of writing a love opera between two unique characters. Think Shatner crossed with Dire Straits and you're headed in the right direction.
This week's song has taken a setback. Listening to it this morning I've decided that the guitars and vocals are rubbish. I'm going to redo them this afternoon. If that fails I'll just do a spoken word rendition of Chocolate Rain... 0 Comments
A Tale of Two Songs
Monday, 21 April 2008, 20:08
So this week's song is pretty much done. Just going to give it one more listen tomorrow morning before I post it. Its a strange one to be honest, in several ways. Firstly, its turned out completely different to how I first imagined it but I guess thats ok. I'm still happy with it. It's just... different.
Secondly I've gone all geek with this. The lyrics are funny to me, and I guess anyone else who is enthusiastic about robots.
Because of my trip to New York on Wednesday I've also had to start next week's song early. I'll let you into a little secret: It's a love song. 0 Comments
A few things
Sunday, 20 April 2008, 15:55
Quick update on the next song; I recorded the bass yesterday evening and added a few guitar overlays too. Will give it a listen back tonight and see what it sounds like. Spent this afternoon trying to write lyrics for the verses and haven't got very far. I managed to write one verse... I keep getting distracted by Jonathan Coulton songs I want to learn to play!
Not too sure how other songwriters work, but I always seem to have a chorus written before anything else. Don't get me wrong, this is great; but it'd be nice to have a verse pop into my head once in a while! Also, rhyming just got easier. Is this cheating?
Lastly, just wanted to direct your attention towards MotoNick. He's one crazy cat. 0 Comments
The Predicament
Saturday, 19 April 2008, 10:01
So I mentioned a predicament in my last post, and here it is:
Essentially I picked a terrible week to start this song writing adventure. You may remember that I said each week the song would be uploaded on Friday. Easy enough right? Wrong! Next Friday I'm not even going to be in the country... curses!
But fear not internet. Next week you'll be getting the song on Wednesday, thats a whole 2 days early!
Thanks very much for the kind comments both here and on Facebook! I hope the next song doesn't disappoint.
I've started work on it already and have already done the drums and a guitar track. I'm trying to keep this one lo-fi, and if you've ever heard 'Scavenger Type' by NOFX, thats the vibe I'm after. Only more up-tempo . And about being a robot.
Also, I'm in a bit of a predicament. I'll divulge more tomorrow, but for now its bedtime. 0 Comments
SONG 1 - PART OF THE MISSION
Thursday, 17 April 2008, 19:18
So here it is, the first song in my Song a Week adventure. Click the play button below to hear it.
The song is about a gentleman by the name of Michael Collins. You may know him from Apollo 11? While Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin pranced around, Mike had the thrilling task of orbiting the moon. Thats right, he went all that way and didn't even get to walk on the darn thing. And for 48 minutes every hour he was out of radio contact with Earth, which I found very sad. So this song is for him.
Feel free to comment/e-mail etc. Thanks for listening! 6 Comments
18:02
So I'm finished. Finally. And its just dawning on me what an arduous task it is I've undertaken.
Firstly, I hate my voice. I've never been a great singer, but I don't think I'm a bad one either. However I've always hated hearing my voice recorded. No matter how much tweaking I do in the mix I still think I sound like a giant idiot. Trawling through my selection of filters, alas there wasn't an 'awesomevocal.vst' to be found...
Secondly, I think I've aimed above my station in creating a full rock mix as my first song! Again, I don't think its bad but my god it would have been easier just doing an acoustic song.
Right now I'm just tinkering with the mix and mastering. It may even go up tonight, who knows. 0 Comments
Mixing
Wednesday, 16 April 2008, 19:30
In between fixing my friend's laptop, I've spent all of today recording the guitars/bass for the first song. I'm pretty happy with the sound I get from the delicious Amplitube plugin. I've done a vocal track as well but in all honesty its rubbish. Its always the way when you hear your voice recorded; "Do I really sound like that?"
I'll probably spend some of this evening mixing but I also think I need to let the song rest overnight and give it a fresh listen in the morning. Still on track for Friday so I'm pretty pleased.
Just a note saying thanks to Raul for lending me his audio interface and microphone. Muchas gracias! Also for accompanying me on my trips to Turnkey and advising on headphones etc.
The first song has been written and I'm currently working on the drums at the moment. I have 2 days off in which I plan to get all the guitar/bass/vocals done and then I'll mix on Friday afternoon after work. Thats the plan anyway. But as we all know, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.” 0 Comments
And so it begins....
Monday, 14 April 2008, 23:02
Well, here we go...
Inspired by the wonderful Jonathan Coulton I have decided to embark on my own epic adventure of recording 1 song each week for the next year.
Now the reasons for this are two-fold. Allow me to explain:
It has been years since I have written a song. Those who know me may well remember that I used to play bass/sing in numerous bands when I was a teenager, as well as doing my own 'solo' projects. Even though my own recordings sounded like a cat being strangled in a drainpipe, at least I was being creative.
When I went to university I carried on in another band, this time switching to guitar/vocals and again carried on creating music. But for some reason or another as soon as I finished university everything just stopped.
It was easy to blame it on work and not having enough free time to write music. But in all honesty if I had time to spend a whole day playing video games then there more than enough time to pick up my guitar and thrash something out.
But I didn't. Don't ask me why.
And perhaps it was Jeff Fate who steered me towards a game called Portal, whose ending featured a simply awesome song written by the aforementioned Jonathan Coulton. And thus, I was introduced to a world where a software developer can quit his job and start writing a song a week for a whole year, eventually becoming an internet superstar. And that is certainly a world I want to live in.
Now don't get me wrong, I hold no illusions of grandeur. Internet stardom is not the primary benefactor in this endeavor. I simply want to do something with my free time. Of course, if Lady Fame comes knocking at 2am then she can certainly stay the night.
So there you have it. Did I say the reasons for this were two-fold? Perhaps there are two reasons in the previous paragraphs, perhaps not. If you read very carefully there are...
The songs will go up every Friday at a non-specific time. First song is due this Friday (evening most likely) and I can tell you now that it's about a lonely astronaut. 0 Comments
So New York is awesome. Still can't over just how big every building is! Decided on a name for next week's song as well on the flight over. All shall be divulged at a later date...
Wednesday, 23 April 2008, 06:19
Bye!
Going to New York, be back later!
Next week's song is for all the people out there who work night shifts...
So about the song, first off you need to know the rules. The idea for the song came about after watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory where they have a conversation beginning with something like:
"If I were a robot, and you knew but I didn't, would you tell me?"
So naturally I proceeded to have the same conversation with my flatmate Ken, who is mentioned in the song. I think we decided that it'd be best to tell someone they are a robot if they didn't know already. It's the polite thing to do.
On a side note, I re-recorded the guitars today but didn't bother with the vocals. I'm professionally lazy like that.
Again, comments/criticisms are welcomed. Drop a note here, email me, or even Facebook me. The choice is yours.
11:28
The Lies!
Previously, in Matthew Nellis' blog...
I said that next week's song is going to be a love song. Sorry ladies, but this was a lie. There is a love song in the works (of epic proportions) but it won't be next week's song. After laying down the drums and guitar for it yesterday, much like Frankenstein's monster it spawned into an entirely different beast altogether. I tried clawing back the original idea but alas, I was overwhelmed. This... thing just took over and now I am tasked with the duty of writing a love opera between two unique characters. Think Shatner crossed with Dire Straits and you're headed in the right direction.
This week's song has taken a setback. Listening to it this morning I've decided that the guitars and vocals are rubbish. I'm going to redo them this afternoon. If that fails I'll just do a spoken word rendition of Chocolate Rain...
Monday, 21 April 2008, 20:08
A Tale of Two Songs
So this week's song is pretty much done. Just going to give it one more listen tomorrow morning before I post it. Its a strange one to be honest, in several ways. Firstly, its turned out completely different to how I first imagined it but I guess thats ok. I'm still happy with it. It's just... different.
Secondly I've gone all geek with this. The lyrics are funny to me, and I guess anyone else who is enthusiastic about robots.
Because of my trip to New York on Wednesday I've also had to start next week's song early. I'll let you into a little secret: It's a love song.
Sunday, 20 April 2008, 15:55
A few things
Quick update on the next song; I recorded the bass yesterday evening and added a few guitar overlays too. Will give it a listen back tonight and see what it sounds like. Spent this afternoon trying to write lyrics for the verses and haven't got very far. I managed to write one verse... I keep getting distracted by Jonathan Coulton songs I want to learn to play!
Not too sure how other songwriters work, but I always seem to have a chorus written before anything else. Don't get me wrong, this is great; but it'd be nice to have a verse pop into my head once in a while! Also, rhyming just got easier. Is this cheating?
Lastly, just wanted to direct your attention towards MotoNick. He's one crazy cat.
Saturday, 19 April 2008, 10:01
The Predicament
So I mentioned a predicament in my last post, and here it is:
Essentially I picked a terrible week to start this song writing adventure. You may remember that I said each week the song would be uploaded on Friday. Easy enough right? Wrong! Next Friday I'm not even going to be in the country... curses!
But fear not internet. Next week you'll be getting the song on Wednesday, thats a whole 2 days early!
Thanks very much for the kind comments both here and on Facebook! I hope the next song doesn't disappoint.
I've started work on it already and have already done the drums and a guitar track. I'm trying to keep this one lo-fi, and if you've ever heard 'Scavenger Type' by NOFX, thats the vibe I'm after. Only more up-tempo . And about being a robot.
Also, I'm in a bit of a predicament. I'll divulge more tomorrow, but for now its bedtime.
Thursday, 17 April 2008, 19:18
SONG 1 - PART OF THE MISSION
So here it is, the first song in my Song a Week adventure. Click the play button below to hear it.
The song is about a gentleman by the name of Michael Collins. You may know him from Apollo 11? While Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin pranced around, Mike had the thrilling task of orbiting the moon. Thats right, he went all that way and didn't even get to walk on the darn thing. And for 48 minutes every hour he was out of radio contact with Earth, which I found very sad. So this song is for him.
Feel free to comment/e-mail etc. Thanks for listening!
18:02
My dark work is complete
So I'm finished. Finally. And its just dawning on me what an arduous task it is I've undertaken.
Firstly, I hate my voice. I've never been a great singer, but I don't think I'm a bad one either. However I've always hated hearing my voice recorded. No matter how much tweaking I do in the mix I still think I sound like a giant idiot. Trawling through my selection of filters, alas there wasn't an 'awesomevocal.vst' to be found...
Secondly, I think I've aimed above my station in creating a full rock mix as my first song! Again, I don't think its bad but my god it would have been easier just doing an acoustic song.
Right now I'm just tinkering with the mix and mastering. It may even go up tonight, who knows.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008, 19:30
Mixing
In between fixing my friend's laptop, I've spent all of today recording the guitars/bass for the first song. I'm pretty happy with the sound I get from the delicious Amplitube plugin. I've done a vocal track as well but in all honesty its rubbish. Its always the way when you hear your voice recorded; "Do I really sound like that?"
I'll probably spend some of this evening mixing but I also think I need to let the song rest overnight and give it a fresh listen in the morning. Still on track for Friday so I'm pretty pleased.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008, 19:25
Thanks...
Just a note saying thanks to Raul for lending me his audio interface and microphone. Muchas gracias! Also for accompanying me on my trips to Turnkey and advising on headphones etc.
The first song has been written and I'm currently working on the drums at the moment. I have 2 days off in which I plan to get all the guitar/bass/vocals done and then I'll mix on Friday afternoon after work. Thats the plan anyway. But as we all know, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”
Monday, 14 April 2008, 23:02
And so it begins....
Well, here we go...
Inspired by the wonderful Jonathan Coulton I have decided to embark on my own epic adventure of recording 1 song each week for the next year.
Now the reasons for this are two-fold. Allow me to explain:
It has been years since I have written a song. Those who know me may well remember that I used to play bass/sing in numerous bands when I was a teenager, as well as doing my own 'solo' projects. Even though my own recordings sounded like a cat being strangled in a drainpipe, at least I was being creative.
When I went to university I carried on in another band, this time switching to guitar/vocals and again carried on creating music. But for some reason or another as soon as I finished university everything just stopped.
It was easy to blame it on work and not having enough free time to write music. But in all honesty if I had time to spend a whole day playing video games then there more than enough time to pick up my guitar and thrash something out.
But I didn't. Don't ask me why.
And perhaps it was Jeff Fate who steered me towards a game called Portal, whose ending featured a simply awesome song written by the aforementioned Jonathan Coulton. And thus, I was introduced to a world where a software developer can quit his job and start writing a song a week for a whole year, eventually becoming an internet superstar. And that is certainly a world I want to live in.
Now don't get me wrong, I hold no illusions of grandeur. Internet stardom is not the primary benefactor in this endeavor. I simply want to do something with my free time. Of course, if Lady Fame comes knocking at 2am then she can certainly stay the night.
So there you have it. Did I say the reasons for this were two-fold? Perhaps there are two reasons in the previous paragraphs, perhaps not. If you read very carefully there are...
The songs will go up every Friday at a non-specific time. First song is due this Friday (evening most likely) and I can tell you now that it's about a lonely astronaut.
Inspired by the wonderful Jonathan Coulton I have decided to embark on my own epic adventure of recording 1 song each week for the next year.
I've spent too much time procrastinating for the past few years and never doing anything with my spare time, and so this was the obvious solution. By doing this I hope to become a better musician in general, and learn a whole lot about music production.
Whilst I've always been musical I've never studied musical theory for any substantial length of time. Even when playing cello in my early teens I would commit songs to memory, learning by ear rather than digesting the sheet music in front of me.
This continued when I played in various bands as a teenager. I started out on bass and though I had lessons, very little theory was taught to me (although I did learn to play slap bass, for which I am thankful). Ok, so thats a technique rather than theory, but you get the point! I then picked up the guitar, and self taught by doing what a lot of teenager probably do; learn to play their favourite songs. This is all well and good, but when your entire CD collection comprises of nothing but punk and metal, I found myself somewhat limited in my song repertoire. Only in the last few years have I expanded my musical horizons and at risk of sounding corny, its really opened up my eyes. Ears. Again, you know what I mean.
So thats it. A year long voyage to discover more about music, write songs I've always wanted to write, work night shifts as a broadcast operator and hopefully not have a breakdown in the process!
