August 7th, 2004
Ken and I recorded the drum and guitar tracks to two more songs last week.
One of them is quite old; it goes back to 1991. But I did some rearrangement work on it recently, and sped the beat up. It's kinda sorta one of those "magic and faeries in the forest" songs. And, like 50% of the songs I write, it's about the break-up of a relationship. The thing about this song is that the beat (which has a quick two-step over a 4/4 drum pattern) is hard to keep up with. I recorded a scratch guitar overtop the click track, then Ken and I did the real guitar and drums "live" together. It was a real task to keep the beat steady and moving quick. And the time was running out near the end of the session, so we had time for "just one more take" before we had to clear out of the studio, and we got it.
It's funny; sometimes you get a sense that you nailed a track and you know you can move on. Other times, you suspect that the result is no good, and have to give it several listenings. The latter was the case for this song until I got the recording machine home and listened to it repeatedly. Provided the click track is turned off, there is no problem at all with Ken's drumming or my guitar. I have to say that I was surprised when I listened to that recording. When we were recording, it felt like we were on a runaway freight train (or as Ken says on the recording after the end: "We were running after that one.") Well, maybe we were, but the result sounds tight.
Jangly etherial magic guitars and bright fast upbeat. It's an unusual sound, but not unpleasant. (See, this is how an amateur musician must measure his successes: "Nobody ran screaming from the room, so it must be okay ..."
I mentioned to Ken in email today that the sound was good for this song. He didn't reply to that point, so I don't know if he thinks I am just being bunny-headed about it or not.
We are now up to 101 minutes of music, without the leader in between songs. And I foolishly wrote two other songs recently. When will it ever end?
* * *
So the other night some chowderhead busted into my car. Nothing was stolen, mind you; I don't keep anything valuable in my car any more. But it irked me that the thief smashed the window and made a mess rooting through all my stuff (cassette tapes, insurance papers). For whatever reason, I more-or-less took it in stride. The replacement window was $225 installed (insurance is $300 deductible, so no relief there ... go figure). I used to be much more traumatized by thefts and damage of my stuff, but this one didn't keep me awake; in fact, we talked about other things on the drive home.
We had gone to one of the few fireworks shows here in Vancouver (it's pathetic; we get so little fun in this city where it's a Police-state for the middle class and a free-for-all for the thieves) and all the police had gone to the West End to look for ne'er-do-wells. The perfect time to burgle a car, eh?