Daniel's corner of the web
Music
Day 2..3..4 well you get the idea
Mar 15th
Well…. Yes.
I will say that last month did not go as planned. The first few days I had great hopes of recording an album during the month of February but they just dwindled as the week(s)/month went on.
In 1997 I tried doing the RPM Challenge with a few friends (online). I few songs had been written before hand, but we started working on one in particular (which had been written during the month).. that was about as far as we got, recording just that song. Mind you we finished recording the song about a year later. The song deserved the time we put in to it. And I think that’s where I went askew with this year. The first song written / chosen to record is a really good one and you want it to sound GREAT.
Initially I had planned on recording all instruments myself (drums included). However on the first or second night I started to have problems with my Ashton Drum Pads. The plan was to connect them to my computer and using them to ‘trigger’ better sounds in the computer. I don’t know if it was the sensitivity (ie having to bash the ‘crap’ out of the kit to get the right sound), or something else that mean’t the drums just weren’t working for me was a major set back. The irony, what I had tried to record actually sounded pretty good whilst playing live.
After that night I thought I would enlist the help of a drummer who’s helped me out before, and if I could get him a bassist who had also helped me before, but my drummer didn’t appear to be online for the early part of the month, so I just gave up on that idea.
The final thought was an acoustic album. Then came one day of enthuiasm and recording then my motivation died.
So I’ve decided to turn RPM (Recording Project Month) Challenge in to RPY (Recording Project Year) Challenge. Less pressure leading to a higher quality album.
As I record songs I’ll put them up here. So keep and eye / ear out.
Day 1 – WIP – Back Then
Feb 2nd
Writing exercises weren’t as fruitful as I had hoped (only got 1 opportunity on the way home). I’ve got a couple of lines and ideas for songs though from the few words I wrote. Will definately have to work on that.
When I got home I wanted to record something, so I picked up a lyric which I wrote earlier and gave it a rewrite, it’s no longer called ‘If Only’, it’s now ‘Back Then’.
The track is very much a WIP, the drums aren’t right and the organs / lead guitar / bass needs work. I’m almost 1/2 tempted to ask a few friends on a forum I’m on give me a hand cause I think this song could really shine.
Apologies for the mix… Back Then
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Lyrics and Music Copyright Daniel Porter 2010
Let me know what you think.
The night before RPM starts
Jan 31st
Well, it’s 31st of January, from midnight RPM Challenge entrants can start to record their album. I had planned on have some material written before now. Aside from the couple of lyrics I wrote recently (published in this blog), I don’t really have anything.
I’m not too sure if I’ll bring a few songs out of the closet from my old lyric books to get my started. I think I might just do a couple of writing exercises tomorrow -morning, lunch and ride home to see if I can come up with something to record tomorrow night.
Althought I do want the first track on the album to be an instrumental… so that might make it a bit easier 
Tonight I set up my ‘studio’ area, got my microphones out, guitars arranged, connected up my sound card and my drum pads and tested everything to make sure it works.
There is a slight hum in my monitors (speakers) but aside from that everything else is ready to Rock’n'Roll!
RPM Challenge
Jan 18th
OK, in my previous post I had a throw away line in regards to my music “write and record an album in February”. Well the only way to get things done (like recording a CD), is to just do it (should I give Nike a trademark to that statement?)
What I was referring to is the The RPM Challenge. The challenge is really simple:
Record an album in 28 days, just because you can.
This page goes in to more depth, such all no previously released material can be used and all recording must be done in February. They do encourage you to write all your songs during February. That part I won’t be following 100% (as it’s only encouragement), cause I know with that time won’t permit. I have a few lyrics which I already have which are either WIP or very close to Finished.
So I’ve signed up – this is me.
So from February 1 expect frequent updates here (and probably on my twitter). I’ll post my WIP recordings and Final versions of songs on here and just the final versions of my songs on RPM’s Site.
There we go! It’s in writing
I Miss You
Jun 15th
The first draft (lyric and chord progression) of this song was in 2005. It took me about 30 minutes to write… For the record, it was quite windy and cold outside. I was sitting by myself with nothing on… all I could hear was the refrigerator in the kitchen. I was waiting for my wife to come home. I think she was at a dance class that night.
A few years pass and one night I’m looking for something to record. So I put down a scratch track of this song, just me, guitar and a bad MIDI drum kit. I put it up on one of the Forum I’m a regular on to see if anyone wanted to add to the base track. I wanted to keep it relatively acoustic and laid back, ie no electronic keyboards or rock drums etc.
From my scratch track ‘dispelled_myths’ turned up offered a Piano track. Not listening to his track, another membery ‘Max Output’ recorded a Bass track for me. And then after a little nudge from a friend who I’ve worked with before on the site, ‘drmscp’ recorded a drum track.
Even though the Bass and Piano were tracked without listening to the other I think it turned out quite relaxed and nicely.. like we were all sitting together when in fact the Pianist is in Ontario (CAN), Drummer in Texas(US) and Bassist in Maryland(US) and myself in Sydney (AUS).
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Download: Daniel Porter – I Miss You.mp3
Lyrics:
I Miss You
When it’s cold and windy outside,
and your not here.
All I can hear,
is the refrigerator running in the kitchen,
the sound of my heart beatin’,
and the lonleness of you in my mind.
What are you feeling when your away?
Are you feeling the same way…. that I feel?
Cause I miss you,
yes I do,
yes I do.
The clock is counting the seconds,
of every minute,
of every hour,
that your not beside me and I think I’m
going insane the way I’m feelin’
Just missing you. Yeah, that’s what it is!
What are you feeling when your away?
Are you feeling the same way…. that I feel?
Cause I miss you,
yes I do,
yes I do.
I get a call from you to tell me,
your on your way,
and you miss me,
and you’ll be home just as soon as you can
because you missing me more than
I’m missing you. Hell, how would you know?
What are you feeling when your away?
Are you feeling the same way…. that I feel?
Cause I miss you,
yes I do,
yes I do
yes I do
yes I do
(c) Daniel Porter 2008
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If you do download this song, please comment and let me know what you thought of it.