Just finished starting two new beats, neither of which really got anywhere. Let's reveiw them shall we?
BEAT01 - The idea behind this track was contrast. The verse or chorus would be sort of bare with this one repeated riff and then the verse would contain the same riff only with more melodic movement and with more shit piled on. The goal was that the difference between the two would be so jarring that it would sort of kick you in the face. I got close but I don't think it's really going anywhere. I still like the idea though. I'll probably come back to it.
BEAT02 - This one started with an instrument and a melody in mind and in the middle I thought it would make a great vignette peice, where it would fade in on the album and would be really short and only have one person on it, very breifly, probably only a minute and a half and then it would have sort of a long fade out into the next track. I think the album needs more of these but the problem is being able to sell the group ideas like this that are high in concept. I really think with this album being as heavy as it is, a few moments of brevity like this will be perfect for keeping the album dynamic and fluid sounding. As it is, if we were to assemble the album with what we have, it would only have one sort of continous drive. There may be different feelings and tones but it would probably sound like a bunch of singles strung together. I love albums like that: Sainthood by Tegan and Sara is like that and I fucking love that album. But I don't think that;s the kind of album I want this one to be. And that's sort of hard to explain to those who maybe don't have that sort of context or relationship with albums. I don't know. I'll probably come back to this one too.
____________________________________________________
In other news let me just say that Miller High Life is one of my favorite beers of all time, but it is fucking terrible to drink out of a glass. I've really gotten attached to drinking beer out of a glass like some rich bitch from Downton Abbey, and High Life comes out all foam, and leaves all foam. It's horrible. Maybe it's the exposure to open air that destroys the barely functioning chemical structure holding it together and it just decides to collapse into bubbles like a fucking bubble bath. DO NOT TRY DRINKING THIS OUT OF A GLASS. Leave it in the dirty, piss colored can it belongs in.
Also of note, the new Baroness album Yellow & Green is kicking the ever loving shit out of me recently. I know I just got done jerking off Pallbearer yesterday but this Baroness album is a different kind of awesome. It's less morose, less heavey but still potent and dynamic as shit. It's like a really really heavy Foo Fighters albums with out the busy drums. I can't reccomend a metal album for non-metal people more than this album.
Finally, I have to be honest about last night (Day 179): I didn't work on anything. Instead, I went to see Killer Mike and GZA do Liquid Swords live. It was a last minute decision and it was worth it. Killer Mike was kind of better than his album, altough that album is really fucking good. He was one of the most jovial, positive performersI've ever seen, which kind of surprised me. Most performers I see take on this non-chalant posture and maybe they seem happy or energetic but you never know for sure really. Killer Mike was incredibly genuine and there was no pretense about his performance whatsoever. That was probably the best thing about the entire show, seeing something that refreshingly honest. Keep in mind I saw The Polyphonic Spree the first time they came to Chapel Hill and if you know anything about them, you know they're mental-patient-type happy. Killer Mike topped all that.
GZA was great but he didn't do Liquid Swords front to back, which I totally understand but it wasn't what I was expecting. I don't understand why or how artists do the album tour. It seems like such an insult to everything else you've done. "What? My second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth albums aren't good enough? You only want to hear the first one?" That seems like it would be frustrating to have to live with, although I'm sure the exploitation of that is extremely lucrative.
I've gone on too long. I'm going to try to get some more work done this weekend but it doesn't look like I'll have the time. We'll see.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
New Album Production Journal: Day 179
Up to now my process works like this (for the most part):
1. start messing with an instrument by playing a bunch of notes
2. repeat
3. if something seems catchy, keep working; if not, start a new track
This repeats until I either feel I have something or I just stop altogether. So for the past 20 days I've done this at least three times a week, walking away from every "session." This is when things get really frustrating because nothing is taking. You start trying different things like closing your eyes while playing a streaming conciousness set of notes, or imagining you're being paid to make a new Beyonce single. The problem is these sorts of mind games work just enough for me to keep trying them so I just continue to set myself up to maybe succeed. The root of this evil is that because I mostly over-think every element of the process, I'm spending most of my energy trying to avoid this over-thinking.
And so now we're caught up to Day 179.
One caveat to this is I'll sometimes start on something I've already started maybe a week or so before and try to go at it again, which is probably where I'll start tonight. There is one beat like this where I came up with a vocal chorus and melody first, then set out to do the beat, and now that chorus section is sort of stuck by itself. I don't know how to get out of these 8 bars and this is another big problem for me. I will work on 8 bars for 30 minutes and get everything perfect: all the right sounds, all the drops, changes, all the flourishes, everything set perfectly. And I get it established so well that if I try to take the beat elsewhere, melodically with chords, it sounds like shit. Sometimes I can't even begin to do proper chord or melody changes because I'm afraid it will be too jarring. (Maybe stop reading for a second right here and consider how big a pussy I am. This is what I have to put up with every day.)
So this one beat I'm working on has a chorus sung on my phone and I just have to get it to translate. If I can get it to work it could still go in a couple of directions. But if it goes the way I envision, it could be single type material. Right now it's looking like dumpage material. Shitty diaper material. Shitty ADULT diaper too.
Another beat I will revisit is sort of like the beat "DS" I made earlier this month, only more complicated. Just a second ago, in the middle of a fucking coffee shop, I tried out some different patterns, which speaks to how much it frustrates me. I feel like it could go but something's missing that I can't figure out.
Also in the works is a chorus idea for "Sleep" that Anthony came up with. I have GOT to record that tonight or tomorrow. The idea is a little complex in execution but the final effect should prove to be sort of eery and maybe a little psychedelic. One of the fun things about working on this new album are things like this. Where Anthony gets all the recordings and then the beat and starts to work on it and comes up with ideas on the fly, like choruses, or little production flourishes that make good albums good. Most of the things come out without discussion, like with "BIT" which Anthony did a few months ago. When I first listened to what he had it finally sounded real. It sounded realized, as though this was it's only purpose, to sound like this. It's crazy the things he comes up with. I kind of wish we lived a little closer because I feel like the distance keeps things from happening as fast as they could, but that's just a bullshit excuse I'm wrongly giving myself.
One note on the album's tone: I've been listening to a LOT of metal recently. A lot. I don't know if that has any effect on what I've been working on so far or what I will make in the future but there you go. So far "Sorrow and Extinction" by Pallbearer is getting the most plays and it kicks my ass every time. This album will be on my favorites list for 2012 with good reason. Anyway...
Thanks.
1. start messing with an instrument by playing a bunch of notes
2. repeat
3. if something seems catchy, keep working; if not, start a new track
This repeats until I either feel I have something or I just stop altogether. So for the past 20 days I've done this at least three times a week, walking away from every "session." This is when things get really frustrating because nothing is taking. You start trying different things like closing your eyes while playing a streaming conciousness set of notes, or imagining you're being paid to make a new Beyonce single. The problem is these sorts of mind games work just enough for me to keep trying them so I just continue to set myself up to maybe succeed. The root of this evil is that because I mostly over-think every element of the process, I'm spending most of my energy trying to avoid this over-thinking.
And so now we're caught up to Day 179.
One caveat to this is I'll sometimes start on something I've already started maybe a week or so before and try to go at it again, which is probably where I'll start tonight. There is one beat like this where I came up with a vocal chorus and melody first, then set out to do the beat, and now that chorus section is sort of stuck by itself. I don't know how to get out of these 8 bars and this is another big problem for me. I will work on 8 bars for 30 minutes and get everything perfect: all the right sounds, all the drops, changes, all the flourishes, everything set perfectly. And I get it established so well that if I try to take the beat elsewhere, melodically with chords, it sounds like shit. Sometimes I can't even begin to do proper chord or melody changes because I'm afraid it will be too jarring. (Maybe stop reading for a second right here and consider how big a pussy I am. This is what I have to put up with every day.)
So this one beat I'm working on has a chorus sung on my phone and I just have to get it to translate. If I can get it to work it could still go in a couple of directions. But if it goes the way I envision, it could be single type material. Right now it's looking like dumpage material. Shitty diaper material. Shitty ADULT diaper too.
Another beat I will revisit is sort of like the beat "DS" I made earlier this month, only more complicated. Just a second ago, in the middle of a fucking coffee shop, I tried out some different patterns, which speaks to how much it frustrates me. I feel like it could go but something's missing that I can't figure out.
Also in the works is a chorus idea for "Sleep" that Anthony came up with. I have GOT to record that tonight or tomorrow. The idea is a little complex in execution but the final effect should prove to be sort of eery and maybe a little psychedelic. One of the fun things about working on this new album are things like this. Where Anthony gets all the recordings and then the beat and starts to work on it and comes up with ideas on the fly, like choruses, or little production flourishes that make good albums good. Most of the things come out without discussion, like with "BIT" which Anthony did a few months ago. When I first listened to what he had it finally sounded real. It sounded realized, as though this was it's only purpose, to sound like this. It's crazy the things he comes up with. I kind of wish we lived a little closer because I feel like the distance keeps things from happening as fast as they could, but that's just a bullshit excuse I'm wrongly giving myself.
One note on the album's tone: I've been listening to a LOT of metal recently. A lot. I don't know if that has any effect on what I've been working on so far or what I will make in the future but there you go. So far "Sorrow and Extinction" by Pallbearer is getting the most plays and it kicks my ass every time. This album will be on my favorites list for 2012 with good reason. Anyway...
Thanks.
New Album Production Journal: Day 1 - Day 178
It's been almost have a year since we started production on a new album and I'm really frustrated I didn't start this sooner. Because we've never really sat down to consciously start a long-term project we've never really had a good opportunity to maintain a journal like this with some regularity. Maybe we STILL won't be able to keep up with this at least on a weekly basis. Maybe we will do like every other band ever and post so sporadically and with so few details that it will always seem like a waste of time to everyone involved. But maybe, hopefully, this will be different. Anyway, let's catch up with the highlights from Day 1 all the way to now, quickly and efficiently, and without me writing 19 pages as I am wont to do:
Day 1 (04/30/2012):
Scurvy D proposes to the group in a Facebook message that we should start working on a new full-length album with all new songs, which may or may not also include two tracks that were on the "best-of" album released in March, 2012, 40PF. Also he suggested that maybe we combine this album with one of our running projects called Sample Pages and release the two together as a double album. This album set would be released on March 19th, 2013, to mark Forty Psychic Frames' 10 year anniversary.
I believe this idea and proposal was created by Scurvy D and Anthony Jackson on a phone call on or around April 29th where they discussed three main points:
1. March 19th, 2003 - Through extensive research over the years this is the date that Anthony Jackson has verified as the starting point of Forty Psychic Frames. He always reminds us on the day, every year, but it never really sticks with me for some reason, at least until now. The idea of this coming year being our 10 year anniversary is mind blowing and all that shit that people say.
2. Momentum generated by the best-of album 40PF release - This compilation album was also sort of started by Scurvy D and Anthony Jackson I believe and we worked on it for several months, pouring over track list selections, what should be included, what shouldn't be, and how it should be sequenced. In the end I think Anthony did most of the work as he designed the art, and remixed/remastered everything for this release. If you haven't already it's worth checking out.
3. Momentum produced by development of new beats - On April 8th, 2012 I had released a new beat to the group that got a fair bit of attention that we'll call "BIT." You have to understand that we haven't worked on any new, non-wedding related material in quite some time, so to have this new beat was immediately exciting. And maybe I'm extrapolating a bit too far but I think that given how long it had been since we had all worked on something that maybe we were inclined to ask where and how this new song would be used, as if to give it more of a purpose. The idea being, "If we're going to record something, lets make it fucking count."
Day 4 (05/03/2012):
New song "Money In The Bank" is released to the group. It is amazing. This song was recorded almost entirely during our first Reclamation Weekend group-get-together in October of 2010 (?). It was never edited, mixed, and mastered until early this year by Anthony Jackson.
Also, I released to the group two new beats: one we'll call here, "PWD" which was originally recorded in 2008 or 2009 (can't remember). I even recorded a verse with room for others, however the drums were not properly aligned so the beat has been sort of unuseable. I redid the beat in GarageBand and this time the problem is how shitty the guitar sounds. I have to re-do this shit soon. The other new beat released to group, we'll call "B2B" (not the band). I was really really happy with this beat, but I still want to keep my hopes at bay for fear it doesn't work out or end up on the album.
Day 6 (05/05/2012)
New beat released to the group we'll call "IFO." I think.
Day 12 (05/11/2012):
"Money In The Bank" video posted to 40PF YouTube Channel (link). Anthony not only produced the song, and created the artwork, but he made a fucking video. And it's fucking awesome.
Day 13 (05/12/2012):
New website goes live. Until there's more discussion (and time) the website will feature one screen plainly promoting "Money In The Bank" video, with a background of the single cover, and links to our bandcamp and Facebook and forum pages. Simple. Easy. Also all done by Anthony. (Note to self: we should be paying this guy, you know, money?)
Day 47 (06/15/2012:
New beat released to group, we'll call "(YN)CD" (EDITORS NOTE: This track will not be considered for the new beat and I totally agree. It doesn't fit the style or direction the album is going in.)
Day 82 (07/20/2012):
Reclamation Weekend begins at Scurvy D's house. Basically we all got together, got drunk and worked on new material.
Day 95 (08/02/02012):
New beat released to group we'll call "RWB." This beat was started during Reclamation Weekend and is deemed to be incomplete
Day 122 (08/29/2012):
One of the beats we've been working on, "PWD" has been tracked and edited in full by Anthony Jackson. All that is left is for me to redo live guitar parts and resequence the final beat.
Day 126 (09/03/2012):
I recorded my takes to "Sleep" which is a track that will be included on Sample Pages. (Later it will be decided that these takes will be re-recorded at a later date ie Reclamation Weekend Part II)
Day 130 (09/06/2012):
Album title ideas compiled for band only. You can follow these ideas live on Twitter too though.
Day 136 (09/12/2012):
New beat submitted to group we'll call "M." First new one in a while.
Day 145 (09/21/2012):
New beat uploaded with no title and in two variations. The idea of them is that they will ending up being track 01 crossing over immediately into "M," which would be track 02. "M"
Day 147 (09/23/2012):
Anthony posted an all-acapella demo of an idea he had for the sequence of the beat "BIT." It sounds great and it's a great idea. Collaboration is great and all that shit!
Day 149 (09/25/2012):
Anthony caught up with sequencing "BIT." We're trying this chorus idea that Anthony came up with and wrote and we all recorded our takes, but the recordings are so disparate they're not going to work. We'll add this to the list of things needing to be done during our next get together: Reclamation Weekend Part II.
Day 152 (09/28/2012):
New beat released to the group, we'll call "DS." This beat is unique to me in that I hardly worked on it at all. I almost wasn't going to upload because of how simple it was and was to make. I went into it only trying to achieve this one hip-hop trope in beat making, and I actually kind of pulled it off. My concern is that the beat is too bare and will sound empty with vocals set to it, but I'm worried I'm too close to it to achieve a true objective opinion. So, I refuse to listen to this thing for as long as I can.
Day 155 (10/01/2012):
Anthony posts a track we're calling "IFO" he has mixed and sequenced in the members-only forum.
Day 157 (10/03/2012):
Reclamation Weekend date set for November. Should be fun!
That pretty much catches us up to now. I've glossed over lots and lots and lots of small details that sometimes rewarding, sometimes pragmatic and some times debilitating In general I feel like we're about a month behind on everything, though Scurvy D has argued that we're maybe a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. We haven't worked on Sample Pages enough (partly my fault, mostly the samples fault!), I have written anything to hardly anything (all my fault), and we haven't decided on a title for the album. To me there's a ton of shit we need to get done but I know we'll get there. If I stop and think about it, like I'm doing now, I'll just overthink it, like I'm doing now, when really I should just relax. (NOTE TO SELF: I'm too hard on myself.)
Hopefully now we can capture some of these details that I've skipped over as we move forward. I definitely want to talk more about how we're directing this album and the direction it's going in but I don't want to reveal too much either. So, there's that. Anyway, enjoy and stay tuned and all that other salutary bull shit!!
Day 1 (04/30/2012):
Scurvy D proposes to the group in a Facebook message that we should start working on a new full-length album with all new songs, which may or may not also include two tracks that were on the "best-of" album released in March, 2012, 40PF. Also he suggested that maybe we combine this album with one of our running projects called Sample Pages and release the two together as a double album. This album set would be released on March 19th, 2013, to mark Forty Psychic Frames' 10 year anniversary.
I believe this idea and proposal was created by Scurvy D and Anthony Jackson on a phone call on or around April 29th where they discussed three main points:
1. March 19th, 2003 - Through extensive research over the years this is the date that Anthony Jackson has verified as the starting point of Forty Psychic Frames. He always reminds us on the day, every year, but it never really sticks with me for some reason, at least until now. The idea of this coming year being our 10 year anniversary is mind blowing and all that shit that people say.
2. Momentum generated by the best-of album 40PF release - This compilation album was also sort of started by Scurvy D and Anthony Jackson I believe and we worked on it for several months, pouring over track list selections, what should be included, what shouldn't be, and how it should be sequenced. In the end I think Anthony did most of the work as he designed the art, and remixed/remastered everything for this release. If you haven't already it's worth checking out.
3. Momentum produced by development of new beats - On April 8th, 2012 I had released a new beat to the group that got a fair bit of attention that we'll call "BIT." You have to understand that we haven't worked on any new, non-wedding related material in quite some time, so to have this new beat was immediately exciting. And maybe I'm extrapolating a bit too far but I think that given how long it had been since we had all worked on something that maybe we were inclined to ask where and how this new song would be used, as if to give it more of a purpose. The idea being, "If we're going to record something, lets make it fucking count."
Day 4 (05/03/2012):
New song "Money In The Bank" is released to the group. It is amazing. This song was recorded almost entirely during our first Reclamation Weekend group-get-together in October of 2010 (?). It was never edited, mixed, and mastered until early this year by Anthony Jackson.
Also, I released to the group two new beats: one we'll call here, "PWD" which was originally recorded in 2008 or 2009 (can't remember). I even recorded a verse with room for others, however the drums were not properly aligned so the beat has been sort of unuseable. I redid the beat in GarageBand and this time the problem is how shitty the guitar sounds. I have to re-do this shit soon. The other new beat released to group, we'll call "B2B" (not the band). I was really really happy with this beat, but I still want to keep my hopes at bay for fear it doesn't work out or end up on the album.
Day 6 (05/05/2012)
New beat released to the group we'll call "IFO." I think.
Day 12 (05/11/2012):
"Money In The Bank" video posted to 40PF YouTube Channel (link). Anthony not only produced the song, and created the artwork, but he made a fucking video. And it's fucking awesome.
Day 13 (05/12/2012):
New website goes live. Until there's more discussion (and time) the website will feature one screen plainly promoting "Money In The Bank" video, with a background of the single cover, and links to our bandcamp and Facebook and forum pages. Simple. Easy. Also all done by Anthony. (Note to self: we should be paying this guy, you know, money?)
Day 47 (06/15/2012:
New beat released to group, we'll call "(YN)CD" (EDITORS NOTE: This track will not be considered for the new beat and I totally agree. It doesn't fit the style or direction the album is going in.)
Day 82 (07/20/2012):
Reclamation Weekend begins at Scurvy D's house. Basically we all got together, got drunk and worked on new material.
Day 95 (08/02/02012):
New beat released to group we'll call "RWB." This beat was started during Reclamation Weekend and is deemed to be incomplete
Day 122 (08/29/2012):
One of the beats we've been working on, "PWD" has been tracked and edited in full by Anthony Jackson. All that is left is for me to redo live guitar parts and resequence the final beat.
Day 126 (09/03/2012):
I recorded my takes to "Sleep" which is a track that will be included on Sample Pages. (Later it will be decided that these takes will be re-recorded at a later date ie Reclamation Weekend Part II)
Day 130 (09/06/2012):
Album title ideas compiled for band only. You can follow these ideas live on Twitter too though.
Day 136 (09/12/2012):
New beat submitted to group we'll call "M." First new one in a while.
Day 145 (09/21/2012):
New beat uploaded with no title and in two variations. The idea of them is that they will ending up being track 01 crossing over immediately into "M," which would be track 02. "M"
Day 147 (09/23/2012):
Anthony posted an all-acapella demo of an idea he had for the sequence of the beat "BIT." It sounds great and it's a great idea. Collaboration is great and all that shit!
Day 149 (09/25/2012):
Anthony caught up with sequencing "BIT." We're trying this chorus idea that Anthony came up with and wrote and we all recorded our takes, but the recordings are so disparate they're not going to work. We'll add this to the list of things needing to be done during our next get together: Reclamation Weekend Part II.
Day 152 (09/28/2012):
New beat released to the group, we'll call "DS." This beat is unique to me in that I hardly worked on it at all. I almost wasn't going to upload because of how simple it was and was to make. I went into it only trying to achieve this one hip-hop trope in beat making, and I actually kind of pulled it off. My concern is that the beat is too bare and will sound empty with vocals set to it, but I'm worried I'm too close to it to achieve a true objective opinion. So, I refuse to listen to this thing for as long as I can.
Day 155 (10/01/2012):
Anthony posts a track we're calling "IFO" he has mixed and sequenced in the members-only forum.
Day 157 (10/03/2012):
Reclamation Weekend date set for November. Should be fun!
That pretty much catches us up to now. I've glossed over lots and lots and lots of small details that sometimes rewarding, sometimes pragmatic and some times debilitating In general I feel like we're about a month behind on everything, though Scurvy D has argued that we're maybe a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. We haven't worked on Sample Pages enough (partly my fault, mostly the samples fault!), I have written anything to hardly anything (all my fault), and we haven't decided on a title for the album. To me there's a ton of shit we need to get done but I know we'll get there. If I stop and think about it, like I'm doing now, I'll just overthink it, like I'm doing now, when really I should just relax. (NOTE TO SELF: I'm too hard on myself.)
Hopefully now we can capture some of these details that I've skipped over as we move forward. I definitely want to talk more about how we're directing this album and the direction it's going in but I don't want to reveal too much either. So, there's that. Anyway, enjoy and stay tuned and all that other salutary bull shit!!
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