The Work Diary

The struggle was real.  Its 9AM and you spend so much time wrestling with the same phrases that you just want to get it over with.

Here is a picture capturing what I think its like to write a song

Then you think you got it

But eventually you take a break or even whilst practicing / rehearsing you wind up with this

Pro Tip
1.  Your ears and mind become so fatigued that you don't even know who you are anymore.  If you currently like the way it sounds, just get a good capture and consider it finished.

It feels very difficult trying to figure out where notes should when you have 12 to choose from.  You're actually only going to be working with 7 if you're using 1 key.  7 is still intimidating though and plus there are already so many tunes out there, so how can you hope to uncover an original catchy one while avoiding both cliches and unconsciously sampling a melody that you already like?  How do you stay motivated?

This is a protein, which is made up of many long chains of amino acids, which are made of even smaller elements.  Proteins do a lot of things, but their shape are what determine their behaviors.  You want to figure out how to engineer proteins because hormones, enzymes, and antibodies are all proteins - if you make a really useful one you could change the world.  The problem is they're folded and twisted up in an infinite number of crazy ways, so today organic chemists use computers to automate the folding and twisting of proteins to try and find a really good one.  BUT even with the help of computers, because there are so many possibilities, it still could literally could take forever.

Pro Tip
1.  Don't complain because with practice you have the chance to create something awesome in your own lifetime.  Scientists today hope they'll be the ones to discover something awesome, but theres a good chance it'll be figured out by other scientists down the road after they're already dead!

This was recorded just using my Tascam device and Android smart phone.  The audio and video were synced and edited a little bit also on the smart phone so no computer was used (except for writing this post right now). 

This ones an original and draws upon a few different sources while trying to be very minimal.  Anyway I hope you like it.

I was fooling around some chords and trying to commit to a melody, and over time it felt like I was coming up with a Christian rock song, which at first I resisted of course struggling with how to change the boat's direction or just to give it up entirely.  After a few days I kept strumming around and just gave in to coming up with some text with big open vowels during the climaxes (to access more overtones), and here we are. 

Pro tip
 - If you just indulge what is naturally happening, you'll wind up finishing something much sooner than had you fought with yourself on whether or not its even worth doing. 

This time I used a guitar pick-up I bought for a gig that never happened and a larger diaphragm microphone than the Tascam recorder I use, and I can hear the difference already!  Its all about those overtones, if you're filtering out upper frequencies by not consciously trying to send your sound to where it can resonate best in your head / face, then the Mic can't really do its job properly.  Another amazing this is how much better in tune you are if you mind the overtones

Its getting dark earlier, so I whipped out this desk lamp I got for $5 and put it on the floor - because the overhead cast light on a bunch of unnecessary stuff in the background, I just left it off.  Also, having the dramatic light really helps in getting in the zone and this recording took much much less time to capture a good take. 

Pro Tip
 - Do as much as you can to pretend you're in some kind of setting that can transport you away.

Ishida

4.  Go to your parents' house and ask where the "Stereo" is.  You can also try asking if they still have a "Radio", but don't ask for the Tape Recorder as you might be directed to the "VCR" which would be wrong.  If you're handed a "Walkman", grab that too as it will come in handy later.

5.  Once you find the Stereo, insert the tape w/ the letter A facing out the window and make sure its rewound to the beginning.

6.  Find the "Mic in" or "Line in" input jack - it'll look a lot like the port where you stick your headphones on your phone.  You can tell the difference by seeing if there is a green ring around the hole.  If its green, thats for headphones - you want to use the other one.

7.  Plug an 1/8th inch wire from your iPhone / iPod / computer to the Stereo mic in.  Try to find this wire - my headphones actually came with one that unplugs at both ends.

8.  Simultaneously press record on the stereo (a red button with a circle immediately to the left of the play button (green triangle)) and press play on your i-Device at the same time.

9.  Wait 30 minutes for the recording to finish!

10.  When its finished, flip the tape over and repeat steps 1-3 and then 9 & 10 for Side B. 

11.  Slam that tape into the "Walkman", and you're now listening to possibly the first ever downloaded from the internet tape!

With every song I've come up with, the process always ultimately turns downhill toward: Is this even a decent song anymore?  Will anyone even like this?  Do I even like it anymore?  The mistakes always honk out to me, and I always wrestle with re-recording, which would take up time but to be honest they're never gonna be perfect and really I'm just fooling around on a bunch of instruments and posting the results on the internet.  The goal is to insert different sounds like organ, or piano, or bass, or drum into a song and hopefully internalize the effect and understanding how much a sound or instrument can disrupt the balance of a song.  Then hopefully down the road, if I do figure out how to come up with great great text and melodies, then my memory will be there to call on what instruments would be best to deliver the complete package.  I don't really have a lofty goal other than just trying to extract as much intel from completing each post whether its a cover or original. 
 

Takeaways
 - I probably shouldn't have put space in for mini-drum solos.  I foolishly thought I could just come up with something or imitate something, but as I should have expected, its really difficult.  Drumming is difficult because being even slightly off just sounds sloppy...  In the end I just said fuck it and had to move on w/ tackling the new video software. 

 - Johnny Cash's guitar picker was Luther Perkins who really contributed significantly to JC's signature style.  At first I wanted to scrap the song because I didn't think there was enough to learn from attempting this style, but I was wrong.  When you play bass, you're super exposed because if your timing is off, everyone can tell instantly - perhaps because there are no other frequencies down there to obscure if you're on time or not.  Well I think this guitar picking is even tougher because you have to try and be exactly on time and the shrill sound honks out even more if you're late or too early on the beat. 

 - I copied Johnny Cash's own guitar style of strumming on an unmic'd acoustic.  On youtube he's always singing and strumming along on a guitar, but you can't hear it because theres no microphone picking it up.  I used to wonder why he'd even bother - but I guess it would look pretty strange if he were just standing there and singing. 

Ishida

I spend so much time on the computer editing that I don't even know what to write anymore.  You listen to the same changes over and over that you don't even know if its good or if you even like it anymore!  Oh well 1 day late now I can work on something else!

Goals:

 - All I wanted was a short organ solo with a "keygrab" - a word I made up where you start an organ line by sliding your hand up the keys and hopefully land on a note that is in the supporting harmony.  I was able to capture 2 on the recorder yessss.

 - A bridge section with syncopation that fits back into the regular tempo

Heres a random photo so maybe it'll be more noticeable in my facebook feed.

Ishida

I made a song where I could play the bongos.

Things I can't be bothered with:

 - Setting up the camera to make a video

 - Dealing with iMovie

 - Making a click track because recording is frustrating and I just get annoyed that the metronome

Ishida

I wrote a song about a guy whose goldfish has cancer.

I was going to make a final recording in a kinda high school essay / draft style:
 - First you fool around on guitar and when an idea sounds good record it.
 - Then fool around on bass until it sounds kinda cool and record that.
 - Add a drum track
 - come up with a melody that fits with some rough lyrics
 - re-record the guitar part so its less "individualistic" and will blend better supporting the melodic theme / structure
 - Do the same for bass
 - Find a drum sample of a real drummer playing at the same tempo
 - Re-Record a final version of vocals that fits well within the more balanced version of everything else.

Unfortunately my guitar amp broke, so I couldn't re-do the guitar and bass.  Plus its 2 days late so I just slammed them together.  I wanted to do organ and a guitar solo, but wasted 2 days trying to fix the guitar amp. 

Pro tips
 - Don't oversing when trying to record vocals over a clumsy mix of instruments.  In my case, I get more nasal sounding.
 - Everything takes forever, so just settle on the thing that sounds pretty good and move on or else you'll spend forever on each thing and never finish

Ishida

In November 2014 I performed for the first time at Slow Dancer in Ropponmatsu, Fukuoka and 8 months later heres a short performance I did again at Slow Dancer.  Thanks to Katsu and Akiba and Taji for always listening!

Ishida