Fixing Up Bass

Well, I thought I was done with "It's Christmas" but I'm just not satisfied with it. Two days ago I rerecorded a portion of the guitar solo to overlay on the existing solo. There were some muffled notes so I recorded a crisper sounding part. And last night I decided to take the bass track and do some bass boosting on the weaker sounding notes with the help of the Audacity program. It's such a painstaking process but if you want something to sound professionally done than you must put in the time and effort. If it comes out sounding great it will be worth it. I have yet to take this new and improved bass track and add it to the song. I will work on that tonight.

One new technique that I will be implementing in future recordings is to record the drums on 2 separate tracks. I usually record drums with only 2 mic's--I have very limited space where I record--even though I have a 4-piece drum mic set. In the past I've used that mic set along with an overhead when I recorded elsewhere, before I had a drum set. Now at home I record exclusively with only 2 mic's; one for the bass drum and one overhead. Not only do I not have the space to set up 5 or 6 mic's on the drums but I also only have 4 mic stands at this time. But I have found that I can get a really good overall drum set sound with only 2 mic's, and my proof for that is the drum track on "(Doesn't That) Blow Your Mind." The drums on that song sound excellent IMO and has been the best recorded drum sound I ever achieved up to this point. But of course there's always room for improvement. So by recording the drums onto 2 separate tracks--bass mic on one, overhead on the other--I can tweak each individually and then blend the 2 onto a single track. By isolating the bass onto one track I can boost the high's a bit in order to hear the snap better. And with the overhead I can cut the mid's and high's without affecting the bass drum. There may even be other tweaks I can do to get the overall drum set sound better. And then combine the 2 tracks onto one great sounding track!

Doing this adds more work to the project of course. And I guess the reason I've never really done this is due to fear of a loss of valuable tracks being available. But that's really not a real problem because as I have already written, I can bounce the multiple tracks onto a single one. I will start doing this with my next song which will be........not sure at this point.

I hope to be able to post the new and improved FINAL version of "It's Christmas" sometime tomorrow. I know Christmas 2013 is behind us but to me it's still Christmas and I continue to listen to holiday music and am actually in the mood to create some more original tunes for the season. Not only is Christmas music awesome but one great song alone can set you up for financial freedom. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" earns him between $400,000 and $600,000 each year! Which means that since the song is from 1979 he's possibly as much as $15,000,000 over the years from it. I may in fact start off 2014 with a seasonal song I wrote some years ago and never recorded. I just want to set the tone for this coming year in terms of  devoting a lot more time to creating and recording new music and creating some sort of financial stability at the very least as a result of it.

And on a final note, today is the 29th and I still have not finished up "Call On Me." It's still possible for me to finish it up and release the album within the next few days. However I may be scrapping my plans to put out the album this year. It's really late in the year to release anything more than a song. But I do believe I will release it very early in 2014 and it will feature 10 tracks with perhaps a bonus track of my Christmas song.

What is 'Exit World'?

This blog is about my musical endeavors which I produce under the name of 'Exit World.' I will talk about the projects that I have worked on as well as those I am currently pre-occupied with. This will include the videos on my YouTube channel. I will also have some of my tunes and tabs available for download here eventually.

So in essence, Exit World is a band but it is a one-man band. It is me and only me. I work alone. All the music I have created and recorded over the years has all been my very own effort. From the initial stages of writing the lyrics, through playing all the instruments, singing melody and harmony(s), mixing down and mastering it has all been me. And the reason it has always been only me is because that has always been my goal. I've always wanted to do it all on my own. At least on the musical side. I definitely wouldn't mind help on the mixing down and mastering side of it all. I'm more about the creativity and not so much about the technical but of course I do want everything I make to be sonically great. But the musical side has to be all mine. I need to know that I did it all. Like Paul McCartney's debut album from 1970. He played every instrument on that album from start to finish, with only some help on vocals from wife Linda.

I should have started up a blog about this a long time ago. But trying to earn a living does not only take away much precious time from doing what one loves and was meant to do, but it can also leave one so mentally and physically drained to the point that any free time left over is quickly consumed by much needed periods of rest.

My goal is to make a living in the music industry. And I do mean as an artist. I have something genuine and unique to offer. I, like many others, do what I do for the love of doing it. The joy and satisfaction that comes about during the process as well as upon the realization of a finished product are the only rewards. And I will continue to do this as longs as my heart and soul are fully immersed in it. But as you all know, one cannot live on joy and satisfaction alone. Until I am able to earn a regular income through my musical passions, my ideas and work shall be confined to the leftover time afforded me by the mundane and survivory (?) obligations of day-to-day life.

Being a recording (or studio) musician can be a real challenge. You either need to have your own production gear or buy studio time which is very expensive. If however you do have your own gear, you need a place where you can house it in and record in. And that usually means having your own place or at least one where  noise disturbance will not be an issue.

Therefore, I would like to add that if you are interested in supporting an independent, unsigned and unknown musician such as myself; or if there is anything here that has any worth to you or that you find enjoyable, there will be a link that you can click on in order to donate as much as you can or want so that I can continue to work on the musical projects of my life's calling without interruption. Who knows, you may someday hear my work on TV, in the movies, on the radio and/or in a video game. And you can know that your financial support helped make that possible. Thanks in advance!