How much will you give me?

I enjoyed making A Friendly Reminder so much that I decided to go hard rock for the second SONGFIGHT! in a row. There are a few minor problems here such as the vocals in the verse being a little muddy, but I feel like this song really turned out how I wanted it to. It has all the elements that a good 80's hair metal track should, including outrageous screams and a violent solo that I couldn't believe was coming out of my guitar. I think a lot of that came from the atmosphere at the time. I literally put on some aviators and stood in front of a mirror with a fan blowing in my face while I was playing. I can only imagine what it's like to do that in front of 1000 people. Turn up your volume and rock out at the half-time section for maximum effect. The lyrics for this came right out of my mouth at full speed. I had the whole song written in fifteen minutes. There is an explicit section of shouting to which I'm cautious about attaching my name at this point in my career but it really fits the mood. I made a radio edit version, which plays first, just in case you aren't interested in hearing me violently swear at you. Otherwise push next. I'm learning a lot more about the ever-important production stage of songwriting. I think it shows in the bass and drum sequencing for this song, both of which are more involved than anything I've made to date. This song is a solid rocker and if you can get past the muddy sound in certain places (I'm still learning how to EQ properly) then it's a lot of fun. I'll put up the song art when it's posted over at SF!

That's a cute hat!

So, after much debate I've decided to put this back up because, after all, I made it. It was intended to poke fun at a friend of mine from work who is an aspiring waif and fashion connoisseur. He was flipping through Esquire and actually said to me, "Check out this jacket. That shit is cute, Homie." From there I pretty much had no choice but to write a song. I'm pleased with where it turns pseudo Prince in the chorus, the whole idea worked out pretty well. It was alarming to discover how similar it is to Liam's "Kelly - Let Me Borrow That Top" but I still feel like this turned out better than his did. That's not to say I don't enjoy the video, Kelly is a great invention. Call this a revisited idea or whatever you will, but I've had too much positive feedback on this song to not post it. Besides, it's too cute!

A Friendly Reminder

This is more or less about getting out there and doing what you want to do. The idea being that no one lives your life but you and when it's over that's it. Don't be afraid of what people think because they're just people and are no more qualified to live a life than you are. It ended up being racially lopsided, but that was accidental. I'd like to add more to this, it's a complete idea but not a complete song. I'm thinking perhaps a verse about an old man and woman watching the kids dancing and reflecting on their own choices. The organ solo is a little long and could be helped by another verse or bridge as well. Hopefully I'll find the time to revisit this before I'm dead.

Gear and Wishlist

I had two or three people ask me about the "equipment" that I use in my "home studio" so I thought I'd do a little writeup on it. First, lets start by saying that I am playing all of the instruments except for the drums and bass, which are sequenced because I don't own them.

Epiphone Les Paul Classic Quilt Top in Wine Red, Cheap (free) Carlo Robelli acoustic, Gemeinhardt flute, King Super 20 tenor saxophone, Yamaha SY22 synthesizer, some harmonicas, a $5 jewharp, Line6 Toneport UX2, Shure bg 1.1 mic, FL Studio 5 Producer Ed., Sibelius 3, and Adobe Audition 2. I use an Onkyo home theatre amp with a pair of Hafler M5 studio monitors. It's working pretty well. I can't wait to get out of college and get some space to myself so I can set everything up in a way that's actually productive. The pictures are mix and match. I'm sure you can figure out what's what.


Of course, this is far from a complete setup. I'm still missing some essentials...

Things I still intend to buy:
Shure SM 57 dynamic mic, Audio Technica AT3035 condenser mic, Small diaphragm condenser, Yamaha RH5MA studio monitor headphones(Merci, Chelsea, de me les achetés!!!), M-Audio EX-P midi expression pedal, and a Geddy Lee signature Fender Jazz Bass.

The History of My Broken Heart

This is the first of a series of songs created in a week or less for SONGFIGHT!. All they give you to start with is a title, in this case, The History of My Broken Heart. I didn't want to make the obvious trashy punker tune so I went to the other end of the spectrum. The vocals came out a little cheesier than I would have liked but it seems I'm a lounge singer at heart. This song (unlike the smash hit, Girls!) was not recorded with a decent condenser mic and it shows. I'm adding it to my list of gear to get..... which I'll be making after I finish this post. All I had at my disposal was a low-end Shure. I couldn't get rid of some of the fuzz because of it. I think I may have bitten off a little more than I can handle jumping into such a complicated genre. It's not like synth-pop where you can fudge whatever. Embellished chords, major sevenths and ninths etc. are a must. I did manage to learn some new guitar tricks, though. All's well that ends well.