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February 28, 2008

RPM Challenge Update #3 - Things have been recorded

So, you may have noticed the lack of updates on the RPM Challenge — and you may have thought I hadn't done anything since Idiot.

HA!

Heh. Actually, you'd be right. For a variety of reasons — most of my family spent significant chunks of this month sick; an air travel nightmare or two; and the fact that I've had just enough of a cold the entire time to prevent a decent vocal take — have kept me from wanting / having the time to record.

And can we talk writer's block? I've written, I think, 10 choruses for the new song. I wish I could say they all suck in their own unique ways, but honestly they're a big, shapeless, boring blur to me. And the in-the-mail deadline is Saturday. So I was gonna quit.

But quitting is even more frustrating than all that. So...

I decided to look at the rest of this as though I were just demoing, or recording a gig. Tonight I sat down, set up a couple of mikes, and threw down "live" takes of:

  1. Mind of Its Own
  2. Disappear
  3. Closer
  4. Room To Breathe
  5. Optional
  6. How Do You Do It?
  7. Not Wrong

I need to do the roughest of mixes before posting them, or at least edit out the squeaking chair, tuning, etc. at the beginning of each track. That's tomorrow. I'm tired.

Are they perfect? No. What I originally planned? Nope. Is this the version of "Closer" I've been wanting to get on tape? No. Do I have the faintest idea how to EQ a vocal? More than yesterday, yes. Slightly.

But am I happy with how it came out? Yep. Like a decent gig, on a night when I'm fighting a cold and temporarily winning. Nothing I'd try to package and sell, but that wasn't the plan, anyway...

Which isn't to say you shouldn't expect better, or at least more-polished versions, in the coming weeks. I'm getting the hang of this now.

And that chorus can't hide from me forever.

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:05 AM | | Comments (0)

February 8, 2008

RPM Challenge Update #2 - "Idiot" posted

A rough cut of "Idiot" is up at the RPM Challenge site. It's low-fi, low-bitrate MP3 per their rules. I'll post it here in full HiFi modernistic glory once I'm happy with the mix. Not sure about the vocal -- my voice is shot today, but the sound kinda fits this song.

Posted by Paul Roub at 1:05 AM | | Comments (1)

February 3, 2008

RPM Challenge Update #1

So how's that RPM Challenge going, you ask?

Well, I did plug one hole in the list -- another unrecorded oldie, "Idiot". And for no good reason, that's the one I've started with. It's one of probably two I'll actually do a full "band" recording of -- which is to say, me, a drum machine, bass, various guitars. So all the solo acoustic stuff should seem trivial. Ha.

Actually, part of the reason is that my voice is a bit out of whack this week, so I'm doing instrumental things as much as possible at the moment.

To that end, "Idiot" now has a full "drum" track and a rough guitar track which meshes nicely with same. Nicer guitar tracks plus bass in the next day or two.

Recording at home, by the way. The gear lineup is:

Posted by Paul Roub at 12:36 AM | | Comments (0)

January 28, 2008

The RPM Challenge

RPM '08:

The RPM Challenge is simple: record an album in 29 days, just because you can. That's 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material recorded during the month of February.

OK, I'm in. Goals are good. Natural procrastinators like me need goals, and we need to say them out loud so that we don't weasel out.

I'm aiming for the "10 songs" variation -- mine run long, so 35 minutes seems like cheating.

There's old things that have never been properly recorded (not that my home demo setup really counts as "proper"), and I'll likely have to finish and/or create some new stuff. Channel my inner Jonathan Coulton. Maybe actually write a song about Jonathan Coulton. Perhaps everyone should do that. What's his birthday? Let's find out, and declare it National Everybody Write A Song About Jonathan Coulton Day (NaEvWrASoAbJoCoDa).

The list as it comes to mind right now:

If I'm forgetting something obvious that hasn't previously been committed to shiny plastic circles, let me know.

Posted by Paul Roub at 7:08 AM | | Comments (0)