Jody Whitesides

Tag: Recording

  • Drum Fill Love

    Drum Fill Love

    drum fill loveIt’s not often where you’re in a studio talking about a drum fill. At least not often where you’re proclaiming you love it. This is precisely what happened during a moment in the recording process of Till We Meet Again, a song written by myself and the awesome Jesse Stern. We’re in the studio doing vocals with George Leger III when George blurts out something entirely unusual for an engineer / co-producer.

    Talk about getting caught off guard, especially when drumming is like ESL. I remember wanting to be a drummer when I first wanted to learn an instrument. However that got nixed by my mom due to saying it would be too noisy. Instead I got a guitar and an amp. How much noise did that make? A whole lot more.

    Imagine my surprise when a drum fill part I created elicits a response like what I get in the video. Of course the most polite response is what I gave, but seriously, in my head I was like – hey! I did that. Maybe I should have been a drummer first. What a different world I’d be in if that had been the case. I might not be the songwriter I turned out to be. Who knows, I could have become an on call studio or touring drummer. Ah, who am I kidding – I love the musician I am, but there are times. Times when I do wish I were a better drummer.

    Drum Fill Love

    YouTube player

    Transcript:

    I said I love that drum fill!

    Thank you.

    Fuckin’ love it.

    It’s a cool drum fill.

    It’s totally cool.

    I done did that.

    Totally fuckin’ cool.

    yeah.

    I have to make that a Phil Collins thing somehow.

    Get it to sound like it’s in a fuckin’ glass room or something bizarre.

    Oh lord.

    Aw, c’mon man.

    Have you subscribed to my YouTube Channel yet?

  • Eighth Song finalized Is "Waiting On One Thing"

    Eighth Song finalized Is "Waiting On One Thing"

    Getting these songs done is taking a little longer than anticipated. Grrrrr. Outside interests wanting music created in a hurry is the main reason. Another is the onslaught of the holidays. Of course there was recent mic issue. Despite that, I’m happy to announce that the eighth song finalized is “Waiting On One Thing”.

    I spent time rethinking the arrangement. Mostly I’m adding additional bars of things between sections to give it some extra ear candy to the flow of the song. It was short before. Now it’s at it’s full length and it’s still less than 3 minutes long. Kind of surprising to me. I don’t usually write songs for myself that come in so short. Especially full fledged pop/rock style stuff.

    At this point the flesh is there. I’m waiting on the mic (one thing) to come back so I can lay down the tweaked lyrics. That’s the last part. An important part, but it won’t change the arrangement at this point. No, the song is not about waiting on a piece of gear that is out of order. Geez. I have little more depth than that.

    I’ve got 10 songs to go. I have my guesses as to what it will be. You’ll have to wait to find out when I announce it. However, I won’t stop you from emailing me a guess (The Song List Link). Maybe it will change my mind…

    For now, be aware that song eight to be finalized is “Waiting On One Thing”. Have a great day and spread some cheer whatever your holiday greeting is!

  • Song Decisions

    Song Decisions

    Music is flow. Music is life. When it comes to getting ready to record new music, decisions have to be made. Sometimes they’re easy, sometimes they’re not. I’ve been slotting out new songs and have finally got it down to 18 new ones that seem to resonate best. Not only with me, but with others as well. It’s these song decisions that make up what artists will release.

    I’ve been mulling it over and I’ve come to decide the following. I will put full effort into the final 18 songs that are left in the hopper. Meaning I will record all 18 of them to studio greatness. Once I’ve done that 12 of them will go on to make the official release. The other 6 will be bonus gems to be fawned over by die hard fans.

    Here’s the song titles, in no particular order other than alphabetic:

    American Mayhem
    Careful
    Femke
    Imagine Life
    In Disguise
    It Burns
    Jupiter Bowl
    Love Takes a Holiday
    New Here
    Stand My Ground
    Stand Up
    Things Left Unsaid
    Thump Thump Thump
    Till We Meet Again
    Touch
    Vaporize Your Heart
    Waiting On One thing
    You Can’t Hear

    I’m not going to tease you with a time frame just yet but these songs are going to see a release date. I promise you that. Besides what good would it be for me to make these song decisions and then screw up the date if they weren’t done yet? None, I tell you. None good.

    — Jody

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