Most Amazing

I've gone several days without posting. I apologize. Something unexpected happened but now I'm back. So let's continue with my next song, "Most Amazing."

This was my song for 2005. I was aiming for a different sound from "You Are So Good." I had started to listen to some other bands and more modern music and this is what I came up with. It's definitely a driving alternative rock song featuring several electric guitar tracks, an acoustic guitar, an electric bass, drums and vocal track. At the time, this was the first song that did not include any keyboards. It was also my first song to feature an e-bow. The purchase and use of an e-bow was the result of a strong influence by Marcus Beaumont of Hillsong on their 17 minute epic song titled "Highest." That is the song I could be found listening to/watching the video of almost all the time back then.

This song is also different from anything else I made up to that point in that I tried singing in a different voice during the bridge part. As I was listening to a lot of alternative at the time--The Calling, STP, Live, Creed, Staind, Jeremy Riddle (of Vineyard), Tony Sanchez (of Vineyard), etc.--and was influenced not only by the guitar playing but also the vocal stylizing. Took me a while to get it, but eventually the end result was satisfactory to me.




What was not satisfactory to me is the overall sound of the drums. They sound muddy. The snare especially. The toms I can barely hear. Short of re-recording the drum track, I'm not sure there's much I can do to improve its sound. Also the overall sound of the track is a bit trebly. In particular the vocals and drums.

The guitars used in this song include: the white Les Paul Studio I pictured in the last post; a black Fender Aerodyne Strat which I had for a few years and regrettably traded for an Epiphone Dot; and a Gretsch White Falcon used for the solo during the bridge. I have none of those 4 guitars anymore. Here are some photos of the Aerodyne Strat:

(All these guitars makes me think I should devote one post to all the electric's I've had over the years.)

I entered this song into another Billboard Songwriting Contest and it ended up winning an Honorable Mention by placing in the Top 500. This was the best showing for any of my entries. I even won 2 prizes which included a book and a pair of sunglasses.

Do I want to spend the time reworking the odds and ends of this recording? Not really. I feel it was just another stepping stone to where I am now. It's a part of the past that should stay there. To be honest, I have new and exciting musical endeavours I want to embark on. Going back and working on stuff from the past is regressing, not progressing. This song was great when it happened. But I feel it really pales in comparison to some of the stuff I have done within the last few years. In fact, it has not stood the test of time for me like "You Are So Good" has. I find myself always coming back to listen to "Good." I rarely listen to "Most Amazing." "The Moment of Truth" is another I keep coming back to, especially after I re-recorded the vocals.

You Are So Good

I don't remembering having recorded any songs in 2003. I may have been still working on polishing up some of the other ones. Not completely sure. But the following year I made an 'epic' song. Titled "You Are So Good" it was really a work of art for me and the best thing I made up to that point. Actually it still stands as one of my best songs lyrically and musically and is the first song featuring my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar:

I don't have this guitar any longer either. This was my first really good electric guitar. And it smelled good! Or maybe it was the case. I don't know. But something about Gibson electric guitars/cases. They have this aroma that makes playing even more enjoyable. Anyway, this was the guitar used in the solos for this song.

As I mentioned this song was recorded in 2004. But in 2010 I came back to this song and and added one more thing to it. In the early part of that year I purchased a Korg Micro Sampler.

Around that time I had become interested in sampling as a result of much listening to the music of Sigur Ros. More on that in a future post. But with this Korg I recorded an electric guitar part for the pre-chorus of the song. Then with the help of audacity I added that part to the song and I also reversed the part and added it as a layer over the piano intro to the song. And it turned out pretty well. Unfortunately, when I released my EP I inadvertently did not include this new, updated 2010 version and instead released the original 2004 version. The original version is available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc.

The instrumentation for this song includes: acoustic guitar; digital piano; electric bass; drums; several electric guitar tracks; tambourine; electronic keyboard (organ sound); and 2 vocal tracks. Here is the song:




This song also received an honorable mention in another Billboard songwriting contest. I don't have the exact details. I did perform this song twice at church with members of the youth group. To this day some of them can still sing the chorus.

Next Song: Thank You (For Loving Me)

This is the first recording I made that I actually was pleased with the overall sound and balance of instrument mix. Even to this day I can listen to it and feel that the sound quality is pretty high. One of the measures for me of how good the quality of a recording is is the sound of the drums. In this song, the drums sound very good, from the snare to the bass to the toms to the cymbals. A badly recorded drum set sound can turn a great song into something pretty awful. I don't remember how many mic's I used to record the drums. Seeing how this is another one of the songs I recorded on the Boss BR-8 it is very possible that I only used 2 mics. The BR-8 has a 2 mic input capability and unless I used a mixer which would allow a greater number of mic's to be used (which I really doubt), that's all it was. It's not impossible to get a very good drum set sound with only 2 mics. I can to this day get a pretty solid recording of drums with only 2 mics as long as the drums are tuned well. I recorded this song sometime around 2002 and the drum sound still impresses me. To be honest, I'm pleased with all the instrument tracks. The vocal tracks needed some more work.

So this song was my second attempt at a gospel song. I called it "Thank You (For Loving Me)." I do believe this one was a lot better than "God of Love and Peace" in every way. It definitely showed progress on many levels. And it didn't sound country. Well, maybe still a little. But I blame that on the vocals. I don't think any of the instrumentation or guitar playing sounds country.

The guitar solo in this song is quite different from the solo in "God of Love & Peace." It's clean and loaded with reverb and delay. The electric guitar used for most if not the entire song was an Ibanez Artcore AF75 hollowbody guitar, which I no longer have. Here is a photo of it:

The instrument tracks include: a couple of electric guitar tracks; an acoustic guitar; electric bass; drums; electronic keyboard (organ sound); tambourine; and some vocal tracks.




This song placed in the top 1500 and won an honorable mention in the 12th Annual Billboard World Songwriting Contest.

First Gospel Song

Here is another song that would otherwise not see the light of day from a musical standpoint. I figure if I ever do become a paid recording artist or musician and I were to release the typical 'rarities' album that all artists now seem to have, this song would probably not even appear on there.

This is the first gospel song I wrote; 'gospel' being a generic term for any Bible based music. Just like "Autumn" before it, when I completed recording this song I thought it was quite an accomplishment and the greatest thing ever. Now, I can't really listen to it without cringing. Needless to say, I don't find myself listening to it often anymore.

I recorded this song in 2001 and though I was not going for a 'country' sound I realize that it does have elements of country music. I do enjoy country music from the 1950s through the early 1980s but I never really set to make any country-sounding music. I guess it's mainly the electric guitar parts that give the song a country flavour. Maybe the vocals, too.

The recording features a couple of electric guitars, an acoustic guitar, bass, drums, electronic keyboard (organ & piano sounds), tambourine and some vocal tracks. It was recorded with the Boss BR-8. Here it is.




I did enter this song in the 11th International Billboard Songwriting Contest and it placed in the top 1500 for which it received an honorable mention. I don't know how legitimate those contests were but I do have a few more awards I won over the years for some of the other songs I'll be posting here.

Unlike "Autumn" in my last post, I have never considered re-recording this song ever. This is one of those that will remain in the vaults of time and really only served as a stepping stone to much better things.