It's Christmas!

One of the hardest things about recording under not-so-ideal conditions and with not-so-ideal gear is coming up with a mixdown of the song which sounds satisfactory.That's the trouble I'm having once again. I usually end up making several mixdowns because after mastering each one they usually all end up sounding bad on one playback source or another.

I've already made a couple of mixes/masters of my new holiday song, "It's Christmas," and have not been pleased. I will try once again tonight. Have I mentioned how difficult it is to get a good recorded drum sound? Of course I have. But it's also pretty hard getting a solid recording of an upright bass. On a whim I decided to play my upright for this song to give it a little more of an acoustic sound and feel--a kind of 60's folk/jazz vibe if you will. I'm more of an electric bass player so playing this huge acoustic bass is completely different and physically demanding. This is the first song with vocals that I played upright bass on.

The bass track came out sounding pretty nice but quite weak on some notes. Even going back to some 60's tunes such as Roger Miller's "King of the Road" and Ian & Sylvia's "Rocks & Gravel" which both begin with upright bass intros and continue throughout, I don't hear any weak notes but rather solid consistency throughout. On the other hand, I did listen to "Stay" by Astrud Gilberto which also features upright bass and noticed some less audible bass notes being played. And when I say less audible what I mean is that there are certain notes that don't have that deep, booming quality. And the bass playing on "Stay" is a lot busier than on "King of the Road" and "Rocks & Gravel," so perhaps there are a lot more weaker bass notes being played. I just don't know what it is. I'm going to try working on tweaking that track a little more and see what I come up with. Not only for that reason but also because the bass overall is a bit too booming compared to those older recordings.

There are a few more things I'm going to play around with the attempt to come up with a final version that is most sonically pleasing to my musical ear. That will be later on tonight. For the time being, I have uploaded the 2nd version to Soundcloud and YouTube and it happens to be the version that will be featured on the "Justin Sane Show Christmas Special" tonight at 7pm CT on CNEU Radio; Christmas Eve on Insane Realm Radio at 5pm CT; day after Christmas at 10am CT on Digital Mayhem Radio; Friday at 3pm CT on Digital Revolution Radio; and a few other places after that.

Here it is on Soundcloud:



And here it is on YouTube:



Hoping I will have the final, best-sounding version ready tonight.

The Christmas Songs

OK, definitely waited too long to do this. Should have started back in October. I guess that's why some recording artists start making their Christmas albums in the summertime. But then again, they have the best of everything--the best equipment, the best singers, the best musicians, etc. They could roll out a full length album in a week start to end. I'm doing everything by myself with my limited skills and gear (and I'm very grateful for what skills and gear I do have). And the idea to do this didn't come to me until Thanksgiving which was rather late on the calendar this year.

Anyway, I tried recording the drum tracks for both "Silent Night" and "It's Christmas" last night and they just came out horrible sounding! I don't know what happened from the time I recorded drums for "Blow Your Mind" and "Call On Me" to now. I was very disappointed and don't have much time left to work on this before I send the songs off to "The Basement Tapes" show with Nick and Bootsy for their Christmas show tomorrow (Sunday) evening.

The drum track for Silent Night came out a lot worse sounding than the one for It's Christmas. I went back and listened to the drums on It's Christmas and I was able to tweak it to where it sounds okay. Plus I'm considering adding hand-clapping in rhythm to the song in order to give it somewhat of a live feel and cover up the weak drum sound. Also planning to add a few other sounds on top of the 6 and 12 string acoustics, upright bass and vocal that are already there. Maybe some harmony vocals here and there. I'm actually really excited about this song and the way it's turning out. I wrote it pretty quick and the arrangement is just kind of falling into place.

As I mentioned, I may have to settle for my Yamaha S90 keyboard drum sounds for the drum track to Silent Night. I tried tweaking the drum track that I did record for it but I made adjustments to the snare drum at the time and it just turned out worse. There is no hope for this track. If I had all day today to work on it I would try again. But my time is limited and I'm going to devote most of it to finishing up my very own "It's Christmas." Once both songs are done I will have them here. Off I go....

Goals for the Remainder of the Year

So as the title implies I am going to discuss what plans I still have to fulfill within the few short weeks left before this year goes into the books.

I had announced on Facebook that I was going to record a Christmas album (or several songs at the very least). I made this announcement on November 29. From that day hence I've been working on the same 1 song. So I believe it's very unlikely I'll be able to do a whole album before Christmas. Thus I'm going to set some more realistic goals for the remaining 20 days.

Here they are in order of importance:

First, I am going to finish up recording "Silent Night." I have a funky little version I have been working on since November 29 and all I need to do is lay down a guitar track and the drum track. The drum track will be left for last so I can finish up 2 songs in the same session. Saves a lot of work setting up the drum set and doing several takes to get a good sound.

Second, I'm going to finish writing an original Christmas song and begin recording it soon. Nothing long or fancy. The simplest stuff works best for Christmas music. Look at all the classics that have stood the test of time. Mostly all short and simple.

Third, I'm going to finish up "Call On Me." Yes, the song that should have been completed months ago. I have yet to record the bass track, harmony/falsetto track and some electric guitar here and there. No if's, and's or but's about it--this song has to be finished within the month and after the Christmas tunes.

Fourth and finally, I've got to release my first full-length album which I announced in September. I originally planned for October or November but time has been flying by and it's just not ready. And it won't be ready until "Call On Me" is finished. I also have to go back and create a new mix of "Tomorrow" for the album, and possibly a new mix of "The Rain" and "Now and Then" also. And I'll also have to decide how many and which tracks will make it to the album. If I had anything resembling a fan base I could have them vote for which songs should be on there.

Sound feasible? I think so. But only time will tell.

Finally on the Radio!

Here's something I should have written about sooner, but it just slipped my mind with so many other things going on.

A few weekends ago, my song "(Doesn't That) Blow Your Mind" was played on a local radio station show in Missouri. I was contacted on my Facebook page by Nick & Bootsy from the KKID Basement Tapes show that plays local and independent music. They came across this song of mine either through here or on my Exit World Facebook page and were interested in playing it on their show. So I sent it and they played it. I wasn't able to listen to their show live at the time they played because it does not stream online. So I had to wait 4 days later when Insane Realm radio re-broadcasts the complete show online to hear it. It was a thrill when it came on! I have since sent them more songs. Hopefully they will deem them worthy enough to be played.

This is a milestone for me. It's the first time a song of mine has been played on FM radio by someone other than a personal friend or acquaintance. I've had a few friends over they years play some of my songs on college radio stations. WLUW, WZRD and WNUR have all played my music. So I was really excited when someone other than someone I know contacted me to air my song. Now I can confidently join ASCAP or BMI! (I probably won't. Not yet anyway).

So this was really cool and I take it as another sign that I am on the right path to a music career. Another really cool sign was when my YouTube video for "Another Morning What a Drag" took off for about a month and garnered about 1200 views in that short period.

On the other hand, I was really confident about "Blow Your Mind" getting successfully forwarded for a TAXI listing. The listing was for a Hollywood blockbuster that was looking for original early to mid 70's sounding music. I've been with TAXI A&R music company on and off for the last 10 years or so and this was the most confident I was in submitting any songs to one of their listings. It was to the point where there was very little doubt in my mind that this was going to be my big breakthrough. But today I received notice that it was rejected due to the lyrics not being universally themed. Funny, I don't remember the listing requiring universally-themed lyrics. Regardless, what I should have done was send just the instrumental track without vocals alongside the original. They did say the music was right on target and it was an 'excellent track.' Disappointing but I'll take it as a moral victory and be sure to send both vocal versions and instrumental versions from here on out, if possible--sometimes they specifically ask for either vocal songs or instrumental songs.

And I'm sorry to announce that I have made no progress on remixing some of my other songs and finishing up "Call on Me" for their inclusion on my forthcoming full-length album. But I still have time and it will get done.

Lastly, my YouTube channel name has been officially changed to Exit World. It is no longer AF14eva.