A full length album has been hanging over my head for years. It has taken me a long time to be happy with where I am and figure out what I am. Well, I think I have gotten there. Though I have released an EP called Live at Featured Players, I haven’t actually organized my thoughts into a full length, studio album. I got the idea to document the process via weblog from Gary Melvin. I really enjoyed his video posts on the making of his new album and thought it would be fun to do the same. So, here goes.
I have several tunes that will (as far as I can tell at the moment) make the album. They have been played live and should only need a little tweaking.
A couple of nights ago, I started going through my digital 4-track’s hard drive and making notes of the music on it.
Notes from the hard drive
I simply noted the track number/name and what I thought it was good for. For instance, bass groove, melody, etc. I also matched up any tracks that I had previously written or sketched out. It’s always a good idea to write stuff down after recording it. That way, you still have the “creative” moment to work in without the whole writing-it-down thing getting in your way. By taking a few minutes to sketch it out afterwards, you can dramatically cut refinement time down.
I have a habit of using my voice recorder on my phone to record ideas, too. Whether it’s a bass line, melodic idea, form, or feel, it’s great to have it right there when I need it. I have a dozen or so of them to go through and will probably only be able to use a few. It’s a good possibility that several will be merged but I’ll just have to see.
I hope you guys follow along as I document this journey. It’s a first for me so I could really use the company.
Sweeeet! Can’t wait to hear the album!
[...] Add comments Back on the last day of February, I posted a blog which chronicled the first step in recording my upcoming debut studio album. So, here’s an [...]