Monday, February 23, 2009

08

52:08 by ChristianLeBlanc

Laptop update: the hard drive is backed up and I'm ready to ship the whole thing back to HP. That's why this is posted Monday morning, instead of Sunday morning.

A last-minute dealy. Hated it when I was working on it, liked it a little more the next morning when I recorded it to the computer.

Cons:
-arpeggio pattern doesn't quite seem to 'loop' correctly
-bass line gets lost in the mix; should have nudged it over to make it stand out more, or choose a different voice
-didn't bother mixing/separating the individual drum parts

Pros:
+doubled the vocals to thicken them; also used gating and compression and eq.
+getting more confident singing. Compared the vocals on this track to "01" and really feel like I'm progressing, thanks in no small part to the excellent feedback I've been lucky enough to get.

I also included a scrap piece that came out of working on this song. Originally, I just had some piano chords playing. Went into edit mode and scrolled through it, and that gave me the idea to use an arpeggio pattern. Played the chords live into the sequencer originally, which gives the pattern a nicely random element, depending on what key got pressed first on which chord.

Click here for "08 (scrap)"

"You said you were Prometheus
Stealing fire, getting tired of us

Instead you fell like Icarus
Lost your spark, yeah you lost so much more to us

Than you know"

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Monday, February 16, 2009

07

52:07 by ChristianLeBlanc

I don't count this as a late post. My laptop died over the weekend, but the song was ready in time :)

Lyrics inspired by reading Alex Robinson's graphic novel "Too Cool to be Forgotten," which comes highly recommended. Can be found off the shelf at the local Indigo, or order it from a local comic shop instead (put out by Top Shelf Comix). http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16538

Anyway, I say 'inspired by' instead of saying 'the song is about' because the words don't do the story justice.

I had a song in mind for week 7, but discarded it in favour of a different tune. Then a stray line from that 2nd song ended up being the first line you hear in this 3rd and final attempt.

"I'm not happy 'cuz I couldn't speak then
Despite all my strength I was weak then
I told them something I wanted to tell them
It didn't happen that way but I'll pretend

Again and again and I'm falling
Pages and pages keep calling
Some of these revisions are sad and appalling
Again and again and I'm falling down."

Musically: my first attempt at a backwards echo. Used gating and compression on the vocals, but I cheated and used all automatic settings. I think I can tell the difference, but it could be subconscious. Anyone with a better set of ears than mine want to comment?

Sunday, February 8, 2009

06

52:06 by ChristianLeBlanc

I have no idea what criteria garageband uses to sort the tracks you upload to it. It isn't numerically or by date, that's for sure.

(Editor's note: garageband refers to where these songs were all originally hosted)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

05

52:05 by ChristianLeBlanc

Here it is, my first attempt at writing music in 5/4 time.

It's about 2 minutes long (it's ok, they're my rules, I can break them).

It's probably the weirdest thing I ever wrote. I love it.

Vocals sounded a lot cooler singing by myself in the car. They lose something when you live in an apartment and you can't sing as loud as you'd want. I put some overdrive on the main vocal line to try and make up for it.

As for the silliness factor: I like to think that the strangeness of writing in a new time signature led to it.

"Have some of this pie
It's still a bit warm
Will you survive
This tasty storm

I know in time
This feeling ends
I hope til then
We stay good friends

See, in my mind
A fractured thought
Keeps me from seeing
The way I ought

So when that day comes
Know that it's a lie
When I tell you
I hope you die"