Sunday, January 25, 2009

04

52:04 by ChristianLeBlanc

Not too impressed with this one, but, one of my goals with this project was to just do a song each week, and not waste a whole lot of time fussing over a track. With that in mind, I'm more than happy to get a D- on this assignment and move on :)

Musically, the ingredients were all there, but I just had trouble structuring everything effectively. Maybe it's a case where it would have worked better with a longer song? I don't know.

Lyrically: not much to see here either. The words mean nothing, only chosen because they fit the rhythm, and because I wanted to try singing something slightly more complicated (note-wise) than I'm used to. I attempted to cover them up, then, with reverb and delay. I didn't believe in the track enough to put any more effort into it (backing vocals, etc).

"You start with the last one, you're gonna get hurt.
You start with the first one, it's gonna get worse.

You start with the last one, you start with the first one,
You mess with the next one, to see how it works.

You start with the last one, you start with the first one,
You fuck with the next one, to see how it works."

Next week: 5/4 time!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

03

52:03 by ChristianLeBlanc

Not much to say lyrically in this song, so I put more work into layering the vocals this time. Sang the main line twice to 'thicken' it, put my standard eq on it, and tried harmonizing the first bit of each line a little. Also tried mixing the vocals in louder. Tried an effect at the end.

Musically: tried panning and spacing out the drums more than before.

What I wish I'd tried: recording the sequencer into the computer track by track instead of all at once, just so I could add some bouncing delay to certain tracks. BUT, I felt that being lazy was more important :)

"Why am I hating
I am still waiting
to let go"

Sunday, January 11, 2009

02

52:02 by ChristianLeBlanc

Consciously tried keeping the music from sounding too 'cluttered,' based on what Josh said about '01.' For instance, I thought I was more frugal with that little 'beep' noise thing than I would have been otherwise. Thanks Josh! :)

Vocally, I was trying out a deeper, Deadsy-like vocal style, but ended up chickening out and relegating it to background vocal. Vocals didn't quite match up for background vocal purposes, so it's hard to make it out sometimes, I feel. I also think the vocals would have worked together better if I tried singing different notes, instead of just singing each line in a different octave.

I did try a bit of eq on the vocals, but no compression yet (I'll experiment more with that another time).

I think that this sounds a lot more like a song introduction than anything else, but that's alright. One of my goals is to get better at structuring, and I think that this helps.

Also: I don't think this sounds too bad with headphones (or good speakers), but just listening to it in mono from my laptop speakers, it sounds a lot like muddled crap :) I should try keeping that in mind in my mixes for the future.

And finally, just curious to hear anyone's opinion on rhyme schemes. I've noticed that I tend to go for an 'A A A A' rhyme scheme like below a lot because I think it's somehow harder to come up with, but I'm not so sure. Any comments on that would be appreciated.

"A wicked sense of levitation
The only way I've found salvation

Crying for the last temptation
Feeling like a lost castration

Healing from the deprivation
Picking at the infestation
Cannot stop this dire gestation

From happening again"

Sunday, January 4, 2009

01

52:01 by ChristianLeBlanc



First official song of the project, in by noon on Sunday. I think it's only in just under the wire because the new year started off in the middle of the week.

Played around with background vocals a bit. Learned that the closer they match the main vocals in tempo and length, the better they work. I should go relisten to a bunch of Cure songs from "Wish" with that in mind.

01:
"Well I had to see
if you knew
Where the monsters breed
and you do

You said what do I worry for
What I fear is nothing more
Than echoes of pain long ago
I just have trouble letting go

I told you thanks but that's not right
The monsters find me every night
The key to killing off my dread
Must be locked in someone else's head"

I'm honestly not that fond of the music in this one, but I felt it was more important to just get it done regardless.

Another thought: normally I like when the lyrics conflict with the music a little, but I think this may be overdoing it :)