A few notes on the recording:

I used Garageband, but only used some of the EQ in it. The guitar sound is my Takamine G series running straight into my ancient Line 6 Toneport. The vocal is my Shure SM57 also running straight into the Toneport. I used Line 6 Gearbox for all the tones. Considering it’s almost an entirely digitally processed recording, I don’t think it sounds too digital. But I am no audiophile. I just know what I like.

While this setup is definitely more than I need to make demos of this sort, I am looking at upgrading my gear because it is long overdue.

But I will say this.

If you’re just starting out, don’t be tempted to buy a condenser mic thinking that it will sound better than a dynamic. You’re going to be better off starting out with a dynamic mic because you get better build quality for your money and they’re much more forgiving in terms of bleed and recording in an environment that is less than studio silent.

Plus, you can generally plug them straight into any audio interface that you end up with because they don’t need phantom power. Any USB interface that will take an XLR will work with it.

Also, I may be able to start recording in a couple of weeks?

To a degree, I can kind of understand it, but at the end of the day, isn’t it all just a different means of reading words? I wonder if people that find themselves attached to books care more about the book as a form than the things that books can hold.

For me, reading isn’t about the experience of holding a block of paper in my hands. It’s about a really good story.

When I was first starting to write songs, I would read everything that I could about how to write songs and I expected that to help me but mostly I got frustrated because I didn’t really understand that songwriting isn’t and shouldn’t be something that is forced. It may have worked for the hit factories when Motown was churning out hits, but it doesn’t work for someone that tries to write songs that they can actually feel.

Then, I went through a long phase where I was constantly writing down lyrics and trying to make them fit whatever music I could come up with afterward. This resulted in some of my worst songs.

Now, for that past year, I’ve been working the other way around. I know that “lyrics first” works for some people and it works really well but as I’ve been writing slower and working on figuring out if each song is really worth my time, I have definitely been focusing on getting the base of the song right.

And the songs that I’ve managed so far are starting to sound  much more coherent than my previous attempts. What I mean by that is I feel like they are all part of a bigger project. I feel like I’m writing an album rather than a bunch of singles. I don’t feel like I have to engineer them into a cohesive unit when it comes time to record them. They already feel like they belong together.

Every song that I’ve ever released for people to hear is really just a rough draft. I know that these songs have potential, if I could just find the time to invest into them, but now that they’re out there, I simply don’t have that attachement to them anymore.

That’s why it’s been months since I release anything at all. It isn’t that I’m not working on music at the moment or that I’m finished with that work, it’s that I am working harder on making sure the songs are everything that they could be before I share them with anyone. I don’t want to think that I’m offering anything less than my best to the people that care enough to listen.

With that being said, I’m probably three songs away from having what feels like it’s going to be my first real debut release. At least it will be ready to record if I manage to scrape together the money for some more equipment.

It’s a chance to have some quiet and alone time so that I can try and get sleepy enough to take a nap when I get home (I work third shift and this has given me a biphasic sleeping pattern).

It’s also a chance to limit the amount of time that I spend either sitting down or sleeping. While my work does have me on my feet for 8 hours, it is work that doesn’t have me necessarily walking around all the time. There is much standing at one station. I care very much about this because I have only so much time in the day to think about getting any exercise at all.

It’s a chance to smile at the face that while I am walking home from work, getting ready to head straight to bed, I am passing drivers on the road that are rushing to work and are likely running late. I walk passed businesses that are getting ready for the days work. All the while, I am going home to rest.

These are small things but they’re significant. And I’m going to try and stay thankful for them as long as I am walking home from work.

Death, where is your sting
Since Jesus’ victory
The Light that shines
Has not been overcome
You try and try
But the war has been won

Hear the trumpet sound
On your knees fall down
Behold the coming
Of our Saviour King
In him is all our
Hope and joy to sing

written in my journal a week or two ago. been focusing on John 1 a lot lately in my Bible studies.

It’s been amazing to have an unlimited number of books available to me and it really suits my tendency to read three or four books at a time. At the moment I’m working through Book One of The Awakened by Jason Tesar, volume one of The Harvard Classics and Grace Abounding To The Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan.

None of those are affiliate links, by the way. Mainly because two of them are free and one of them is a buck. So nobody is really making money there. Anyway, it’s all got me thinking about stories and what Don Miller explored in A Million Miles In A Thousand Years.

I’m reading all these amazing stories and I’m wondering what part of the story I’m in right now. Am I in that bit of the book just before a story begins? Am I in the backstory? Where significant things happen but you only find out about them through snippets when you’re reading the story proper?

What should I be focusing my attentions on right now? Basically, I’m at a bit of a cross-roads so maybe I’m at the part of the story where the protagonist reaches the point of needing to make a decision that affects the way the story ends.

Basically, I’ve got to think about career and the like. What am I supposed to do and how do I get to that point?

It’s resulted in a lot of journaling and a lot of thinking and a lot of wanting to escape into the stories I’ve been reading.

The truth is, I want to try everything. So that’s what I’m going to try and do. Learn as many things as I can until I know what that one, single thing is.

What is it that I’m going to master the art of?

It’s a bit late in the year, somehow almost a week has managed to go by, and I’m just now getting to the point where I am ready to start blogging properly again. I’ve made a lot of changes today, just trying to figure out what it is that I’m going to do with this piece of internet real estate. I’m still not entirely sure.

So in the mean time, it’s just going to be a place for me to write and post stuff. I’m going to use it a bit like you would use Tumblr or something. Maybe.

Maybe that’s what I’m going to do this year. Figure out exactly what it is that I’m going to do with this. Either way, it is no longer going to be me obsessing with trying to figure out how to use it to make money. I have a job to do that. I’m basically done with trying to make money on the internet with things like blogging and I’m done with reading about crap like passive income. They work if you’re lucky and if that is your idea of an honest job.

When I was in England, I learned that I really enjoy working really hard. I spent much of my time working in factories doing very labour intensive jobs. I was on my feet for 8 hours at a time every day. Then, I got a job in a pub kitchen and started working harder than I have ever worked in my life. I was in that room for anywhere from 10 to 14 hours at a time, generally not taking a break and not eating and working and working and working and working. I worked off 50 pounds.

There’s nothing wrong with working really hard. There’s nothing wrong with somehow making an income online. I’m just done with the latter because it depends on so much alchemy and fiddling that I simply do not have the time for anymore.

So in the mean time, I’ll tell you about the music that I’m writing and the books that I’m reading and the bread recipe that I’m trying out on any given day.

Occasionally, I’ll show you how to do something. Maybe I’ll teach you how to knit. It’s really relaxing and it’s a good way to watch tv without sitting there like a mindless lump.

Photo by libraryman