Sing for the first time...

Why hello,

And this week is a spare of the moment upload called ‘Silo’. It is the first song with lyrics that I have uploaded onto youtube and an acoustic one with my face up and everything. As I say in the description it is a bit of a work in progress but I think it has some pretty nice chords in it.

I have been thinking a lot about the theorising of music and how different combinations and approaches could change the outcome in a piece of music. If I was to write a song, for instance, with the guitar as the melody or tune and the bass guitar as the repeating structure of the song then I could swap the roles of each instrument to see what would happen. It’s not exactly mind blowing stuff but it forces you to look at music in a different way and not to fall into old conventions. Even the song that I’m uploading here is using open strings on the guitar to create a different chord sound from the standard E minor progression.

Vocally I have a plan of warm ups and exercises that I haven’t been keeping to... Well it can be awkward to lip roll your way through the evening especially as I’m preoccupied with the other things I neglect to do. Lyrics are often a problem for me. I just do not spend enough time writing and constructing them. The theme of this song ‘Silo’ is supposed to be about someone who can’t find a place in society and now even his dreams are getting over taken by the mundane and misfortune of life. Whether I was able to put that forward is only for others to say. Other people’s opinions is probably the main reason I have started this blog so hopefully I will start to hear what people have to say!

Here is the video, enjoy:

As a side note I have been listening to a lot of ‘original’ artists on Youtube for obvious reasons of comparison and curiosity. I thought Reina Del Cid had some really nice acoustic stuff, she warms your heart- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN1pymBfiTE&feature=feedu.

New Ideas, New to Blogs

I was at a friend’s house the other day and we were ‘jamming’ together, my friend on keyboard and me on the guitar. This atmosphere, along with some easy to use music software (Logic Pro 9), can lead to some creative output. However, when you’re at home and the Xbox is screaming out to be used or the endless trail of cables leading to nowhere or even some technical fault with the computer can make it hard to motivate yourself for the recording process. So I conferred with my friend the idea of a ‘1 Hour Song Challenge: It works!’ Aside from the convincing slogan, this would make for some short sample like songs and ideas that don’t require five hours of re-recording because perfection isn’t important.

I’ll admit my software is limited (Adobe Audition which is not too bad) and the drum machine I’m using is genuinely awful (DT-010), but then it’s in place of a real drum set that I don’t have.

In the last week I have gone all experimental with various reverb and echo techniques which are essential for anything experimental. This song is called 'Glooming':

I have also gone a bit ridiculous with computerised voice samples that seem to be reciting a robot bank robbery. Inspired I know! This song is called 'Put the Money in the Bag':

Thanks for listening, more updates coming soon.