Call it a momentary lapse of reason. I have realized that I didn’t give a timely update on when I got the last couple of songs done. I’m writing it now, song seventeen finalized is “You Can’t Hear”.
There is no excuse. I got wrapped up in throwing together another tune for fun. I’ll give the update about that track in the new few days for sure. Mostly likely Tuesday.
For “You Can’t Hear” it got a little bit of lyric treatment. Not much. Minor tweaks and a setup for another section where I’ll be bringing in a rapper who’ll knock it out of the park.
Sonically the song is getting a bit of a makeover. I’ll be tapping a keyboard playing friend that lift the chorus to new heights rather than sticking with the clavinet part I’ve got. I believe I’ll also run with live drums on it instead of the programmed sounds it’s set with. Mostly due to the fact that it’s hybrid rap and rock.
That’s about the size of the changes there. I’ve got one more song to be talking about in regards to this next release. Stay tuned, but for now, you’re in the know with the fact that song seventeen finalized is known as “You Can’t Hear”.
Productive day yesterday. Got a lot of calls made. Emails sent. Even got to finally sit with a bit of a tune and spruce it up. That would be why I can say song sixteen finalized is Stand My Ground.
This particular song underwent a slight transformation. I had to tweak a few of the lyrics. I felt it needed a little more cohesion in the presentation of the words. It’s now got that. Such that it remains universal and personal at the same time. Without being overly vague. Though it still has a strong sense of metaphor. Which is to say, I hope it’s not too clever in it’s telling of a story now.
The arrangement got shortened a little. I decided it didn’t need the Pre Chorus going into the second Chorus. It appears only before the first Chorus.
Sonically, I’ve made my notes of things that I wish to have happen once I hit the studio to be recording the final version. In the meantime, I’ll be sitting down to song 17 today, it’s got very minor tweaks. Who knows I might be announcing it tomorrow. Then I’ve saved the toughest song for last…
For now, you’re in the know that the sixteenth song finalized is Stand My Ground. Have an awesome day!
Bing, bang, boom. Been an interesting few days with a bunch of requests for some music to fit a few commercials. Fingers crossed that at least one of them get’s pics for some of the opportunities. Yesterday I got to put the final touches on to a song that got a bit of a major rewrite lyrically. Now I have song fifteen done before the Super Bowl.
This latest in the quest for the final 18 songs is now called “Brighter Side of Success.” The original title was “Imagine Life.” Fortunately that has changed. Changed in to a much better song lyrically. Stronger. More cohesive. Also, more positive. That’s a plus. It was good to reexamine the nature of the tune and what it should have been from a lyric standpoint.
Musically, I didn’t have to change much of it at all. In fact, there were only some very minor melody/rhythm of vocals tweaks to accommodate the new lyrics. I think it was pretty darn strong musically. Though I do think I will add some stuff in the studio once all the bed tracks are tracked. Maybe a synth or two here or there. But otherwise, it’s to remain a solid uptempo pop rock style tune that stays in the bass, drum, guitar, vocal realm.
Now I can sit for a day and take in the mother of all football games – The Super Bowl. Interestingly enough on iTunes my versions of San Francisco 49’s and Baltimore Ravens “Do You Want To Play” are hot on the popular meter right now. I’m making an educated guess that fans of both teams are picking up their respective versions to pump themselves up for the big showdown!
Which team you rootin’ for? 49’s? Ravens? I’m actually more interested in the commercials and seeing huge plays. My team isn’t there, crud.
Enjoy the Super Bowl, and stay tuned for next week should see at least two of the last three, if not all three of the tunes to complete the 18 to be finalized for the recording process. Remember “Brighter Side of Success” is song fifteen done and it’s right before the Super Bowl! Hell Yeah.
Gandolf the White has struck! Apparently the Weather Channel decided to start naming winter snow storms. The humor is, this one hasn’t been all that insane and yet it has a name, Gandolf. I didn’t even get to see the start of the snowing as I was holed up in the den working so I could write this: the fourteenth song finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”. That’s right, another song into the fire from the frying pan.
This song is one of those songs that underwent a rather strong amount of changes, comparatively speaking. It got a major facelift on the lyrics so that the words were more focused. Especially the Verses. The tone of it changed from a protagonist and antagonist switch in the Verses to simply a one point of view – that really helped the focus. The Pre Chorus then got a rewrite to make that transition work going into the slightly tweaked Chorus. Mostly because the Chorus had to reflect the change coming from the verse. The other change in the Chorus came from a slight rewrite of the title. Coming from “Things Left Unsaid” going to “Things We Left Unsaid”.
Musically speaking, I decided to down-step the song a full two semitones. What brought this part of the rewrite? Well… The Verses stayed the same melodically. The Pre Chorus stayed nearly the same, there was a slight adjustment to the melody and rhythm based on the new words and wanted a better swing into the Chorus. The Chorus ended up getting an entire facelift melodically. The main reason for it was two fold. One, I wanted a way for it to stand out more from the Verses. The original version had some interesting lines but they didn’t stand too far apart from the Verses rhythmically. Now, the melody is fashioned to have a much much stronger hook. Not only rhythmically but also melodically. This is where the key change had to happen for the song. Where I took the Chorus melodically was becoming a tad to straining to sound powerful in a full voice fashion. Thus stepping the song down two semitones put it back into a range that gives the Chorus full power.
The added bonus of bringing the key down of the song is that now the guitar parts sound beefier! That helps the vibe of the groove too. I can’t explain why, but it feels way better now. Thus the fact that people liked it enough before to vote the song into the final round, now it’s become a real contender to make the final cut and be a bonafide hit.
I’m much happier with the overall state of the song. Arrangement-wise the song a way more traditional in it’s situation. However, I think once in the studio it will get a little extra window dressing. Though that comes down to how it’s reflecting once it’s finally re-recorded.
To close out for this update, I’d like to happily send you on a merry way – hopefully you’ll be one of the people to enjoy the snow, especially if you’re headed to Sundance! Until the next update (coming soon) be in-the-know that the fourteenth song to get finalized is “Things We Left Unsaid”.
Cue the twilight zone theme… Cause if you’re superstitious, then today is the kind of announcement you might not want to hear. However, I am not superstitious. Thus I’m A. O.K. with writing that the thirteenth song finalized is “Jupiter Bowl”.
The song is my first co-write with a musician by the name of Mark Luna. An absolutely fantastic singer and amazing writer. When we first met and chatted on the phone Mark wanted to hear some of my music before agreeing to pen a song with me. After hearing some of my original work his response was: “We could do some serious musical damage together.” That phrase sticks with me. What a compliment coming from such a talent like him.
Jupiter Bowl is not about the planet. Nor is it about a bowling alley. No. It’s about the place located atop the Park City Ski Resort.
The goal in writing the song was to capture the vibe of Jupiter in the summer. The off-season. What strikes me about this song is that Mark and I discussed every detail in the lyrics, the tempo, and the concept of the arrangement. Way more so than any other co-write I’ve ever done. It was magical. Much like my early memories of hiking up to Jupiter Bowl.
For the most part I’m sticking pretty strong to the original demo version we did. It’s so powerful despite it’s lazy acoustic nature. Then again, isn’t that what nature is? Powerful with such beauty. Again it’s another song that I can’t wait to fully realize in the studio with a group of players. Anticipation is the word!
One funny thing I can think of right now, is there there is going to be that “What the hell did he sing?” type of thing that will happen with this song. Much Like “Blinded By The Light” where people think it’s saying wrapped up like a douche, when it’s actually deuce. I know this because a couple of peeps have already said it. While I understand where they’re coming from – I do believe it’s going to be alright and I’m going to let it slide. Create the controversy!
Rounding out the beginning of the teens is the thirteenth song finalized, “Jupiter Bowl”. Until tomorrow or the next day – Stay tuned.
Yesterday. Monday. Odd day. Good day. Full day. Was the day where I got some more time in on this impending release… The short announcement is that the twelfth song finalized is “Vaporize Your Heart”.
One would love to envision that musicians/rockstars sit around all day long lollygaggin until they get to making some sort of brilliant music. Not this one. After a hearty workout, it was on the phone making calls for meetings with networks. The alternate ‘N’ word. Then I spent several hours taking my dog to the vet to get his shots updated. Glamorous shit right there!
Once I was back from the vet I beelined for the studio to get to work on tweaking the arrangement of this song. Make some serious structural changes that give the song a bit more drive. Not only more drive but also more ebb and flow too. It had a nice swing to it before. Nice don’t cut it. Now it pumps my blood and gets me moving. Which is what it was supposed to do before and it did. Only it’s got ‘Tude now!
It will be exciting to see what the players bring to it in the studio based off my fleshed out sketches of the music. I can’t wait. The anticipation on it has me feeling some tension with how close all the songs are to being totally ready and with how much they’re really nailing emotions, vibes and ‘tudes.
Six more songs are lined up to get some more tweaks. But for those in the know right now (today) you know that the twelfth song that’s finalized is “Vaporize Your Heart”. Be aware that you’re ears are gonna love it!
I would have figured that this post should have been posted yesterday. However I ran into a little issue of having eaten something that didn’t agree with me a couple nights ago. Nothing like getting incapacitated after dining at a local eatery. Yuck. Thus I had to take Friday off and recover. I was back in shape on Saturday and was able to smash out another tune’s tweaks. Which leads me to write that the eleventh song finalized is “Stand Up”.
Song that had a couple of lyrical issues in that it was attempting to cover too much ground. Now it’s much more focused on one aspect and has been honed in on a subject that I think a lot of us can all relate to. Doesn’t matter what side of the political fence you’re on, I still think it will resonate with at least 99% of the world. Especially the U.S.
Now mind you, in being ill I couldn’t sit idly by – so I started a crazy project of tagging all of my music in my iTunes library as well as adding all the lyrics to every song. Well, to the point of whether the two apps I’ve procured to help with the procedure. Thus, I’ve added an additional thing to my load that could take at least a month when done in my spare time. Yikes. Why? Why did I do that? One, I wanted to really go through my library. Two, since starting it on a day I was under the weather, I’ve noticed that it’s akin to pouring through liner notes and covers to really get at the heart of all this music – but in a digital sense. I’m re-enjoying some music that I haven’t heard in quite a while. It’s a good diversion.
Ok, back to the song…
I’ve added a couple of additional elements to the first verse. I also added some additional noises to the chorus to help flesh it out with a little more kick.
The one real experimental area of the song is going to be in the bridge where I’ve decided, that much like another song, this will gain some interesting twists enlisting a rapper to rattle off the words I’ve come up with. That makes two or three songs now where I’ve going to cross that hip/hop rap/rock type of hybrid line – hmmm… Weird.
This one is going to have a bit of bite to it when it gets recorded live in the studio. I really think it’s got some great legs to whip up some anthemic shouts in a stadium. Which means that people will enjoy the eleventh song known as “Stand Up”. Easy to follow. Easy to shout.
On a roll at this point. Yesterday marked a moment where I had a chat with a co-writer about a track. We made some additional tweaks to our song. After that writing and tweaking session it was time for me to put the axe down on yet another one of mine. This has me saying the tenth song finalized is “It Burns”.
This song is a bit of an exploration into a very quirky area of Pop Rock for me. The song structure is vastly different at the end from pretty much every song I’ve written. It doesn’t really end on the chorus, but it’s still got a hook. I did end up taking out one part of the song as it wasn’t propelling it along like it should have. Removing the part helped keep it moving along.
There were some minor tweaks to the lyrics which I also re-sang today as well. Made some additional notes for the studio when it goes for final recording.
Get the forks out because it’s done for now. Song number ten finalized is “It Burns”. More than halfway home. Soon. Very very soon.
Getting the new year off to a productive start. Day one had me making some re-records of vocals from songs already finalized. But yesterday found me getting yet another song’s vocals re-recorded as well. After that recording my ninth song finalized is “Touch”.
I got some additional vocals layered in on it. More for the addition of a couple of female vocalists to do some backgrounds to add spice. Once I hit that, I ended up scrapping the original bridge lyrics. In their place is a large flow of words that require bringing in a rapper to spit it out. The bridge is now way more over the top, blunt, rhythmic, and slammin. Got me saying to myself – Fuck Yeah!
No doubt this is going to hit the charts when it’s released as a single. I’m confident of that.
Another thing that I’m confident on it is, I’ll have to mix a radio-friendly version or bleep some of the bridge vocals. Not the first time I’ve had a song that would require bleeping, but it is the first time on a hit calibre one. Let’s see if I’m right this time.
I’ll be back at it later today getting the next track pre-flight ready for hitting the studio. New fire in the sails for this new year has me feeling gung-ho, ready let’s go! With that, I’ve got my ninth song finalized and it’s called “Touch”.
Ah what a year it’s been. Say goodbye to 2012. A year of interesting change. Musically, politically, and so much more. Help me in saying welcome 2013 Happy New Year!
For me, I’m knee deep in finishing preproduction on a a slew of songs. I’m currently about midway through. My first couple of weeks will be pushing those gears to get them all done before running around LA coming mid month. Got meetings coming up with some of the networks and attending the infamous NAMM show.
In the past 24 hours I finally got a couple of the lyrics changes recorded on a few of the finalized songs. That’s a great way to finish out the year!
Next stop this year: new music. Plus another idea I’ve been kickin around is finally going to start getting of the ground. To the outside ear it’s huge. In my mind – it’s the way this event should be done. Stay tuned to find out what it might be.
In the meantime, I hope you’ve enjoyed your evening’s festivities in a wild fashion without causing injury. Be well. Love to see more of you in 2013, Happy New Year!