A shot of an arm with a heart sleeve tattoo, right over a tattoo that resembles a woman's face.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. I just wish it had taken me less time to adopt this philosophy. Very early on, I was in punk bands in high school and a little unabashed in my creative output, but afterwards I started working alone and being much more shy about music that was purely my own. It’s very easy to hide behind humbleness or other ways not to put yourself out there, but it’s better to just make your art and not care about who cares. There’s a great Thought Slime video that goes into depth on this very subject that I also found highly inspirational. I could have even applied this lesson to this very song, since I spent way more time than I needed to when polishing it.

Musically, the song is fairly diatonic, except for the F (flat-VII) in the chorus, which honestly is more of a passing chord than anything else, and there’s a little walk-up in the chorus that also uses flat VI, but that’s even more fleeting.

This was a “weekend song”, as I began writing and arranging it in the afternoon, which took way too long (instead of doing something rational like using sequences to quickly create drum parts, I arranged the whole drum track from scratch). I didn’t get around to the recording work until 10:30 PM, which lasted 5 hours. I took an hour to mix but decided to sleep on it at that point because… c’mon, it was 4:30 a.m. Some final touch-ups and mixing on Sunday morning and it was ready to go. I recorded it in my studio and spent way too long. I used Amplitube via my Radial DI box for the guitars and basses, and recorded the lead and backing vocals using my SM-7B.

Continue reading “Jamuary 2024 Day 6: “No Time for Cringe””

A punk sitting down and playing a guitar made from a clock face.

When you are facing writer’s block, go meta. In this case, I was planning to take a day off until about 11:25, when I decided to see if I could write and arrange a song in a half-hour. I gave myself another half-hour to record the vocals and instruments (this included getting the studio set up, and the instrument recording, including time-wasting stuff like tuning), and a half-hour to mix and master.

Nothing fancy in here from a music perspective — just your bog-standard I, IV, V, and vi chords.

This was recorded in my studio, using my usual Radial Engineering DI box into Amplitube for the guitars and basses, and an SM-7B for the lead and backing vocals

An image of Thor holding a calendar.

Think about it… how many songs about Thursdays can you name (not counting Thanksgiving songs… which is another thing that doesn’t really exist, does it?). This song is about the worst day of the week or, rather, how the worst day of the week doesn’t deserve any songs.

Musically, this song just uses the diatonic chords, and mixes in a a flat-VII for fun, along with flat-vi at the very end. The a cappella opening is a reference to the NOFX song “Thank God It’s Monday.” I had originally planned to do a full punk rock version of this and finished 95% of the drum arrangement and base track programming when I decided to just go with a simple live recording instead.

This was recorded live on the Hohner beater guitar, using the Zoom recorder’s XY pair and a Shure SM-57 for vocals.

A painterly image of a child crossing a stream on stepping stones.

This song is based on a mantra that helped me get through the last couple months of the year.

This one is fairly straightforward musically — just the usual diatonic suspects, with a truck-driver modulation. I imagine a “full” recording would use clean, palm-muted electric guitars for the first half, with the full band coming in for the instrumental part right before the bridge.

I recorded this track live, with the Zoom H6 on the acoustic guitar, and the Sm57 on the vocals. There are overdubbed backing vocals, but otherwise everything is from the live take.

 

Lyrics

It seems so far in the long run

No indication of any rest  

You can’t connect those far-off dots

And when will you catch your breath?

You know you gotta get outta here

You’ve got a direction but no plan

You worry you’ll stall forever

And you’ll be stuck where this all began

 

One step at a time, one step at a time

I know you’re feeling overwhelmed, one step at a time

One step at a time, one step at a time

Inch by inch we’ll get through this, one step at a time

 

So look to what you can do now

Where will your next step land?

This tiny piece is manageable

Not so hard to understand

Take a breath if you need some space

We’ll soon be on our way

Momentum helps to clear the air

And pulls to the next new day

 

Some steps are vast, some steps are small

But you won’t feel you’ve lost sight

We’ll take it on, we’ll fight them all

And we’ll know every step, every single step was right

The silhouette of a father and daughter reading together, in front of a full moon.

This is a song about reading with my young daughter.

It’s in that “blues key” centered on D, where you use the flat III, flat VII, with all major chords and lots of flat sevenths, plus mixed major/minor thirds and flat 7s. The second chord in the verse has a bit of a Lydian feel due to the presence of the flat 5 on the second chord in the verse (spelled E – C# – F# – A# – B – E).

After yesterday’s extravagence, I went simple with this arrangement — this is just acoustic guitar and vocals, the former recorded with the Zoom Recorder’s X/Y pair and a Shure Sm-57, the latter recorded with just the Shure.

 

Lyrics

Read with me, I’ll help you

Guess the word, I’ll tell you

Sound it out, what’s that say?

I’m prouder of you every day

I’m prouder of you every day

 

Crack the code on the page

Sometimes it might frustrate

We’ll make do, our own way

I’m prouder of you every day

I’m prouder of you every day

 

Don’t be afraid to make some mistakes

That’s how we all grow

What’s hard right now will be easy soon

It’s something we’ve yet to know

It’s something we’ve yet to know

 

So sit with me, let’s do this

I promise you’ll get through this

All your  work, it will pay

I’m prouder of you every day

I’m prouder of you every day