Day 2..3..4 well you get the idea

Posted by on March 15, 2010 No comments

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

Posted by on February 2, 2010 No comments

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

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

Back Then Demo mp3

Lyrics and Music Copyright Daniel Porter 2010

Let me know what you think.

The night before RPM starts

Posted by on January 31, 2010 No comments

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 :-D

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

Posted by on January 18, 2010 No comments

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 :-D

Starting my New Years Goals a little early..

Posted by on December 12, 2009 No comments

Since turning 30 last month, and spotting more grey hairs on my head each day, has really got me thinking. I certainly hope it’s not a mid-life crises as I hope to live well past 60!.

  1. Physically, I would be classed as overweight. A few years ago I was diagnosed with a Fatty Liver, which can be managed/reduced by weight loss. A side effect of a Fatty Liver is fatigue, which I seem to be suffering from more lately.
  2. Career wise I’ve been talking about getting my MCSE for years now but have never gotten around to actually getting it.
  3. 3 1/2 years ago I wrote an outline for 2 x 3D animated shorts (to be made in Blender). Thanks to a site I was on, I had a few people interested in helping me out. The site in question was shut down.. politicts etc, but as it goes it now exists at a different domain, the owner is working only on his projects… I don’t believe the site contains any of my data and I’ve still got all my work… that nothing has ever become of.
  4. Ever since I saw the “Wizards of Winter” Christmas light display video, I’ve wanted to created a computer controlled (synced with music) Christmas light display myself. I’ve found a site which have instructions on how to build a system which will allow me to do this. I’ll have to learn some basic electronics to build the system from scratch. I’ve had a couple of other ideas of how I can control/sync it to music (which to me programming the ‘shows’ would be quite easy).. it’s just finding the time (and money) to purchase all the components and build the control system (which could potentially take a month of my spare time to build).
  5. Building / finishing a CMS (Content Management System). Following on from my previous post, I want to build, or more continue building the CMS which I’ve written, eventually to the point of releasing it to the masses. I have an idea in my head for the model of it which will make it VERY modular and easy to expand.
  6. The final thing is my music. I’ve got all the equipment and software to record, it just seems at the moment I don’t have the time (and space) to record. Granted a lack of motivation doesn’t help either.

SOOOOOOOOO…….

I guess the very first thing I have to do and commit myself to doing is to get off my butt and get motivated!

Addressing each point above:

  1. My health comes before everything, so first to address is weight loss! I believe I’ve improved my diet recently and I admit I do have servings on the larger size some times (such as 5 Wheetbix for breakfast.. my excuse.. stops me snacking). The way I can reduce my weight the most is through exercise. An easy start every day is getting off the bus first stop in the city and walking to my office. Aside from it being faster some days, it’s a good 10 minute walk (at my pace). Next would be stepping on my exercise bike at home which I hardly use or going for walks with my Wife and Son. I wouldn’t get the same work out going on those walks purely because I’d be walking at a much slower pace not raising my heart rate. This will be ongoing during the year (average weight for the start of December 138kgs).
  2. MCSE. Motivation.. being a self study course and not having time restraints for sitting exams I believe is where I’ve failed in obtaining this in the past. Compared to my other projects, his should be a priority. How do I do it… set aside time, read my books and set dates as to when I will be sitting the tests. I’ll post my progress on this.
  3. 3D movies.. Whilst they are fun I think they will be my lowest priority. Reason being a) it’s just for fun, b)it’s going to take a lot of time and other things should come before them. In saying that.. I might spend some time here and there and blog my updates with that.
  4. Christmas Lights.. Well the deadline for this is Obvious… ideally lights up for first week of December. I’ll need to prototype this first (and write the code to be used late), which I can do earlier in the year, then mid year start to build the hardware, after that more testing, then designing the actual light ‘show’ during November, installed for December. In the next week I’ll put up my idea as to how I will achieve the final product.
  5. CMS.. The website I manage goes live in August, so I guess getting the code up to the next version by then would be the best idea. In saying this, I’ve recently discovered an established CMS which looks promising and expandable, so I don’t know if I might look in to creating ‘modules’ for that instead.
  6. Music.. I go through stages of motivation.. I actually played guitar for the first time in a long time the other night. I recorded a couple of tracks for a friends song. If that comes about I’ll post the final mix up here. But I do want to write and record. Do I set a goal of 1 song per month, as opposed to the write and record an album in February (or do I just do that?) I think as long as I ‘Noodle’ occasionally to keep the juices flowing, recording will come naturally.. and I’ll post the results here of course.

Well that certainly was a mouthful :-S But it now exists and I’ve said it, so I’ll come back in 12 months and see where I’m at.

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