New/Old Song

A new song from The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, also known as Quarantine Tunes Volume Eight.

Volume eight is all songs written during the 2020 50/90 Challenge. I think. Volume five was all songs from the 2021 50/90, I think… those songs were better than the 2020 songs and it shows with this one. If this was one of the 50 songs that was good enough to consider re-recording then… we’re definitely scraping the bottom of the artistic barrel.

Oh well. It’s done.

New/Old song mixed and uploaded to alonetone.com.

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

Finally

Finally… I played guitar today. Just for a little while (and pretty poorly), but I played. I used the new pedal board with the amp sim pedal (TC Combo Deluxe ’65) and for the first time… ever(?) I used a compressor pedal (MXR Dyna Comp mini).

I feel pretty good about the state of the world right now.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54262699656/in/dateposted/

#es335 #es335Pro #Gibson #gibsonEs335Pro #gibsonday #gibsunday #Guitar #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photography #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #z5

I mixed a song a couple of nights ago but didn’t get around to posting it to my alonetone or hearthis.at accounts so it just sat there on my laptop. Now it is out there for the whole wide world to ignore.

I think it kinda sounds like crap, but the song itself is okay, I think. You can probably hear the edits in the chorus because I wrote a melody without leaving any space for that pesky little breathing thing. Oops.

The lead guitar was through a nearly cranked amp. That was fun. Noisy as hell, but fun.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/05/23/new-mix/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

This is a to do list… read the title… it is a pun, my friends. Get it? I made a pun! It’s punny. It’s puntastic.

Ugh.

The current home recording music project is to take 10 songs from the 2020 Fifty Songs in 90 Days Challenge, edit them, rearrange them, rewrite them, and completely re-record them. When I punched out of work last night I had the 10 songs picked out. One is mixed and finished. Five are completely recorded but still need to be mixed. The other four hadn’t been touched.

Last night while sitting up in bed I took one of them and got as far as finishing the MIDI music bed. Bass, drums, arrangement, song form changes, all done. This morning after I finished today’s errands I cranked out the other three. Now I have four songs ready for rhythm guitars.

Best case scenario is that I track all of the rhythm guitars tomorrow. I work in the office on Monday so nothing is happening then. Tuesday morning before work should be car music where I track all of the vocals. Wednesday is back in the office. Thursday is lead guitars before work. At that point I will have all tracking done for all 10 songs before we leave for Florida.

Yeah. Let’s see if we can pull this off.

Note: It is 99% certain that I will not pull this off. When it comes to the musical planning stage, Robert is not terribly reliable.

Unrelated musical note… one of the reasons my band’s singer quit was because he moved to Maine. He told us yesterday that he’s moved back to the Merrimack Valley. He also mentioned getting “the itch.” Now is that an itch to just have one band practice just for fun, or is it an itch to get back into the band? I don’t know but I am thinking about maybe being hopeful that our singer search could be over. It’s probably not, but if I can’t be optimistic about the Bruins anymore this year, then I’ll be optimistic about this.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/05/18/musical-notes-for-this-week/

#CoverBand #Guitar #lizardfish #Music #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I said I was going to celebrate my 53rd birthday with a work-on-music day and that’s just what I’ve done.

I have worked on new recordings of five old songs. Two songs got lead guitar tracks. Two songs got rhythm guitar tracks and vocals. One final song got bass, drums, rhythm guitars, and vocals. I don’t know if the clock is going to cooperate or not, but the three songs that did not get lead guitars today might still get lead guitars today.

I was home alone for all of this guitar playing… so I played through my Fender Deluxe Reverb… the best amp I’ve ever owned… and I played loud. Very loud. The decibel meter on my Apple Watch topped 100 db once. Yeah. My ears are killing me. Oh glorious noise!

Robin seems pretty sad about the news about Steve Albini but she agrees that playing the guitar at a disturbing volume is as good a way to honor his memory as any.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/05/08/my-ears-are-killing-me/

#Cat #Guitar #iphoneography #Kitty #Music #photography #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #robin #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I got up super early this morning. I wasn’t planning on it, but I was up and at ’em a little before 5:00am. Yikes!

That let me get all of my exercise in, eat breakfast, water all of the plants, do a couple of little things to help Jen get ready for her in-the-office day, finish my normal morning routine, go to the grocery store and get dinner for tonight, and put vocals on two songs… all before punching into work at 8:45.

Wow… it’s been a long day. I need a nap. Doubly so, thanks to the crummy night’s sleep last night. Damn.

The current music recording project is Quarantine Tunes Volume 8. Four songs underway. One ready to mix, two ready for lead guitars, and one ready for rhythm guitars. How do you like that?

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/05/02/musical-morning-4/

#365 #365Challenge #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

Two days in a row. It is silly how sneaking in 20-30 minutes of guitar playing before work in the morning can just brighten up the whole day. Silly and a little weird, maybe.

I mentioned last night that I started working on a new song for the re-recording project thing. I put rhythm guitars on it this morning after I did my daily exercise and had a quick breakfast. Done and done. I used direct outs from two of my amps again. That’s the norm now. Oh well. It sounded pretty good today. It sounded pretty good yesterday too, I think.

Here’s the obligatory guitar pic. Let’s use it for today’s photo a day project as well. Day 243 of 365. Actually… 366, but we won’t worry about that until the end of the line.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/30/more-guitar-2/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

While sitting in the living room tonight being totally annoyed that there was neither a Bruins game nor a Red Sox game (WTF?) I took my frustrations out on another song for the re-recording project. Now I have a song that is ready to get some rhythm guitar tracks tomorrow… assuming I get up early enough and have time to play some guitar before work. We’ll see.

Stupid NHL and MLB both scheduling a night off for their Boston teams on the same night. Jerks. Also, for the record, I don’t care about the Celtics so if they are playing tonight don’t bother trying to cheer me up by mentioning them. If they are playing tonight it will probably annoy me even more.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/29/another-song-ready/

#Guitar #Music #quarantineTulesVolume8 #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I wanted to go to sleep around 10:00pm tonight. Instead at just about exactly that time I started working on MIDI tracks for a song that I want to re-record for Quarantine Tunes Volume Eight. The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project continues (at this rate it might continue for eternity, world without end and all that stuff).

Let’s see if I can sneak some guitar tracking in before work tomorrow. Volume eight now has two songs in progress. One is ready for lead guitars and the other is ready for rhythm guitars. Let’s do this!

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/28/music-night/

#Music #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

There. Finally. I added a new music playlist to the My Music page. Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven is done and done.

This is a bandcamp.com playlist but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not buy it. I only use bandcamp for these things because the playlists look all nice on wordpress.com pages and they seem to work okay too. At least they did the last time I messed around with one. These recordings are absolutely not worth paying for. Believe me. Listen to your hearts content (which, obviously includes not listening at all. That’s 100% fine with me. I kinda suck at this stuff), but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not buy the album. Thanks.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/26/new-music-playlist/

#BandCamp #Guitar #Music #myMusic #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting

The Leafs came back to take game two of the best of seven first round series. If Swayman plays goal in game three and wins, will we have a full blown goalie controversy? We’ll see. Game three is Wednesday (I think… isn’t it?)

Anyway, let’s chase those hockey blues away by listening to a newly mixed crappy song. Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven is done save for figuring out the actual running order for the 11 songs. More on that to come in the future though. For now, here’s the last song.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/22/game-two-the-bruins-lose/

#BostonBruins #Bruins #Guitar #Hockey #Music #NHL #nhlPlayoffs #playoffs #postSeason #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #stanleyCupPlayoffs #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

Okay, I finished the new Rebel Moon movie. As bad as the first half was (see the post from earlier today), the second half is better. Why? Because with about an hour left in the movie it turns into an unending string of action scenes with almost no dialog. Perfect. It has an obnoxious amount of slow motion, but that’s Zack Snyder for you.

There are a whole bunch of Chekov’s Gun moments. Character A picks up weapon B and dies without using it. 15 minutes later character C is about to die but stumbles on weapon B and uses it to blow shit up. That happens a few times. There is also multiple deus ex machina moments. One of the funniest moments in the movie is where the source of a deus ex machina stands regally and watches a different deus ex machina play out. It’s freakin’ absurd.

Is the movie good? Oh, hells no. Is it as bad as the reviews? Yes. The first half is worse, the second half is just one long, unending battle scene and therefore avoids all of the things that are awful about the first half. It’s still not great, but it’s better. Not enough to save the film from this review though: Terrible.

Will there be another one of these movies? From the story point of view, yes… of course there will. From the standpoint of Netflix and money? Who knows. If people are watching it then probably. If that is the case then you can blame me. Sorry about that.

Unrelated musical note. I finally got around to putting volumes five and six of Quarantine Tunes onto my bandcamp account. Not because I expect anyone to buy it… please don’t buy it… please, it is not worth any money… but so I could add them to my music page here on the ol’ bloggie. I am one mix away from finishing volume seven. I’ll probably post that to bandcamp and the music page as soon as it’s finished.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/21/rebel-moon-part-ii-recap/

#movie #MovieReview #Movies #Music #Netflix #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume5 #quarantineTunesVolume5090 #quarantineTunesVolume6 #rebelMoon #rebelMoonPart2 #Recording #SongWriting #theScargiver

A couple of years ago I was working on the Record Every Month Challenge and I had a couple of song ideas going at once. I didn’t realize until well into the recording process that the two songs had almost identical chord changes in their respective choruses. Ooops. I could have done the right thing and dropped one of them, but instead I leaned into my lack of creativity and used a line of lyric in both songs and turned them into parts one and two. Doofus, yes, but what do you expect?

Fast forward to the current re-recording project I’ve been torturing the universe with and I thought it would be further fun to sort of duct tape the two songs into one and record the whole shebang as if it were one longer song.

Done and done. I just finished mixing it. Here you go, universe. Enjoy my shitty song!

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/20/two-two-two-songs-in-one/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

To make up for not having a band practice today, I mixed the two songs that I had that were ready to mix. Both are for volume seven of The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, aka Quarantine Tunes.

I pretty happy with this one:

I’m not very happy with this one:

I think I have two more songs to work on for volume seven, then it’s on to volume eight. I’ve actually already started one song for volume eight… so are volume seven and eight really just one big double sized volume? I don’t know, I am making up the rules for this stupid thing as I go.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/07/two-songs-5/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

Hey, I mixed one of the songs that I put the vocals onto yesterday and the lead guitars onto today. It’s a song from the RPM Challenge a few years ago that is now part of The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, aka Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven.

I’m not sold on the mix, but when am I ever sold on something I’ve mixed?

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/24/how-about-a-new-mix/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I finished recording all of the guitar tracks I wanted to do yesterday but didn’t end up having time for. Hooray!

I played through a speaker again, but unlike yesterday I had to lower the volume to a tolerable level. I had the house to myself yesterday so I could approach ear-bleeding volume. Today my wife, the love of my life Jen, is home so I had to tone it down a lot. That’s okay. It’s still more fun playing through a speaker than playing direct into the computer.

I put rhythm guitars onto one song for the Record Every Month Challenge, and lead guitars onto three songs for my re-recording old songs project, aka The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, or also aka Quarantine Tunes.

My leads weren’t good, but they were better than most of the stuff I’ve recorded of late.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/24/more-recording/

#Guitar #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #recordEveryMonth #recordEveryMonthChallenge #Recording #remChallenge #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #z5

Okay, so how much music did I work on today? I already mentioned in a previous post that I put vocals onto three songs and bass guitar (MIDI) onto one. After posting that update, I added bass and drums (both MIDI) to one song and rhythm guitars to three.

That’s not even close to what I was hoping to get to today, but I’ll take it. The guitar tracks I recorded used my Fender Deluxe Reverb at a slightly, borderline absurd volume. It was louder than my usual gig volume… and it was awesome.

When I pick up where I left off I will have to go back to direct signal out of the amps into the USB interface. It’s still fun and it still sounds good, but it’s not as fun. It’s not as epic. It’s not as awesome.

Maybe more tomorrow? Maybe some car vocals? We’ll see.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/23/music-day-recap/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #recordEveryMonth #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #z5

I haven’t played guitar yet today but it’s still on the agenda. What I have done is sing… a lot. I have been working on The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project this morning.

Remember all of those posts over the last couple of weeks where I complained about having a really bad cold? I am more or less over it now but I learned that singing seems to amplify the symptoms.

Sing a line, cough like crazy, blow my nose, repeat ad nauseam. It’s crazy. I don’t feel sick at all but I can’t stop coughing and I can’t stop needing to blow my nose. It’s all singing’s fault. I have managed to put vocals on three songs this morning but I have to take a break. My throat is killing me. I put a bass part onto one song too but that didn’t cause me any physical pain. That’s good at least.

I am going to take a break for a bit and then go get my hair cut and get an oil change. Then I will come home, do one more vocal part and a couple more bass parts, then I will play some guitar, then I will do some more vocal tracks.

Crazy day, kids. Crazy, crazy day.

My wife, Jen, is at a conference today. I miss her a lot.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/23/musical-suffering/

#Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I woke up this morning with every intention of working in the office. Now it’s 9:07am though and I am sitting at my desk at home.

I woke up a touch later than I wanted to, and that was the first issue. By the time I finished my morning exercise (jogging [pronounced yogging] in place for 45 minutes) I just couldn’t bring myself to drive into the office. Instead of packing up my stuff I just ate breakfast and finished the episode of The X-Files that I was watching (the one where the baseball player in the ’40’s is an alien in disguise… not the best episode).

I am still planning on making tomorrow (Saturday) a major musical day. Jen is going to be at a conference all day so I am on my own. The to-do list includes getting a haircut (which I desperately need) and an oil change for one of the cars. Other than that, it’s music. The Record Every Month Challenge and Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven… and maybe a start on Volume Eight too.

I promise you, owe internets, that there will be guitar playing, song writing, and recording done on Saturday. Unless I change my mind and just sleep and watch TV all day, of course.

Anyway, here’s today’s photo a day challenge masterpiece.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/22/schedule-shuffle/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #Music #Nikon #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #plans #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #recordEveryMonth #recordEveryMonthChallenge #Recording #remChallenge #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #toDoList #weekendPlans

I am going to work in the office today and tomorrow. There won’t be any time for morning music. There isn’t even time to post this world-shattering blog entry.

Saturday… I will play guitar on Saturday. I’ll setup some GarageBand files tonight and tomorrow. Maybe a couple of re-recording things and an entry or two for the Record Every Month challenge that I haven’t even given a single thought to yet even though it’s March 21st.

I promise.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/21/saturday-i-promise/

#Guitar #iphoneography #Music #photography #QuarantineTunes #recordEveryMonth #recordEveryMonthChallenge #Recording #remChallenge #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject