recording in a cell.

Alright, so it’s not exactly a cell. I have a set up in a room that is maybe ten by ten with a 7-8 foot ceiling. It is also right up next to the roof, so the ceiling/walls arch into the center, giving me about a 5 foot di. to walk without hitting my head. / \ kinda like that.  But hey, it works, and sound doesn’t echo all that bad.

I sat down the other day and recorded all of the rhythm guitar for 20 songs I intend finish. I record everything separate so that I can individually manipulate tracks after the fact, which is something that I have found to be invaluable. Not only can I edit out external noise and redo mistakes in vocals easily, but the balance in sound ends up better.

Kyle came by the other day and recorded  Cliche, Sisyphus, Bring Me Back, and The Oak (tag names for songs, I haven’t come up with titles yet). He was nervous about it at first, about how the would come out with the program I use and whether I would be able to successfully add him without messing up what I already did. Once he did the first go around his confidence both in himself and in the recording process boosted.

I  even streamlined a friend Josh in the process. He claps on Tracks (a song, not a recording track… well, both I guess) and snaps on City. I had the three of us do some ‘playful’ harmonizing on Sisyphus. We chase the chorus with a “Hey Sisyphus…” which is fun and worked fairly well.

I have been busy writing bass for the songs now, which is also a new step for me. In the past I would turn up the bass eq on my guitar and just wing a simple bass line. It worked, but was rarely great. With my recent purchase of this bass I have pushed myself to actually write out the bass lines so that I can play it over and over before I record. I found that this gives my playing much more confidence. The bass doesn’t ‘hide’ in the music. In fact, there are moments where I show off with little improvised flares in some songs that I have recorded.

So now that I am in the process, gaining momentum, I am going to find it hard to think of anything else.

Oh yes, one other thing I am trying. Guitar pro. I am trying to add in little accents of string sections and horns on tracks. Because it is a computer program and doesn’t sound all that great I am using it sparingly. I’ve recorded two songs with adding a little bit of it, and it works to make the tracks sound more full. It is an extremely time consuming process.

But, I’m diggin’ it.

Another Bitching Session

Relationships:

intimate, friendly, unfriendly, academic, or working.

What is that quote? No honor amidst enemies? No hero’s amidst friends? No  truth amidst thieves?

Whatever it is, I feel… slighted.

I was among a group of peers whom I felt were my friends, or at least I felt that we sustained a decent relationship through our mutual aspirations. I was treated with malice and disregard.

Why?

Good question, since none have the decency to speak their minds I am left to wonder.

So here is my wondering:

I was talking with another friend about this and he brought to my attention that

a) I de-masculate those around me

b) I am abrasive and don’t give any quarter to those about me

My response:

I don’t intentionally de-masculate those about me. I have standards that I strive to reach both in myself and in others. I try to speak my mind, however abrasive I may be, in an attempt to gain honesty in the instant at hand. If that means being truthful to the point of pain so be it. Take the  pain and do something with it.

His repsonse:

Who are you to hold standards?

My response:

Who are you not to?

I expect that we have different morals and ethics and just ways that we approach things in life, I don’t expect you to do things “my way”. But I do expect, if I am having a relationship with the other, that it be honest, diligent, assertive, and progressive. I TRY not to have any room for slack.

What does that mean? It means I keep a tight ship, and a tight coil snaps back hard.

So maybe that’s what this is. The effect of not having any slack. Brutal honesty with brutal results. For who? For me, yes. For them, yes.

What are these results? Well, I can’t and shouldn’t speak for anyone else and so I’ll speak of myself.

I was pissed. Why turn on me? I do. I make a move on everything I get my hands on. I involve people, I help people when I can, how I can. And in turn I push them to do.

What turns me off: People who take a backseat in their own life.

So now the question: what do I do?

Oh, full of scorpions is my mind.

There’s one more great quote:

ah, fuck it.

I have not a vengeful heart, I regard none with malice or intent to hurt or destroy, I let it go with passionate release.

Enemy, friend, acquaintance, lover, teacher, student, peer: Masked stranger.

Released, to do as they will, how they will, when they will.

Without me.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

something worthwhile

ok, so it has fallen to me to tackle a worthwhile subject without beating around the bush. For the sake of ease I’ll just refer to myself… also, that is more direct, don’t you agree?

Choice.

Sure, I have choices. All the time they are presented to me. I could pay my bills or not. I could run the red light or stop. I could take a shower with cold or hot water, shave, brush my teeth, eat dinner, watch a movie, sleep, go to work, finish school, talk to my family, develop a meaningful relationship outside of sex, stop drinking, clip my toenails, tell my boss that she is a dipshit.

Now I have a choice as to which string to develop. And rather than be obscure again, let’s go for the meat, eh?

SEX.

That’s right. I’m talking about it.

or writing about it.

What about it, if you know me you know, if not here it is: I run from it. big time. Now, I don’t mean to say I’m afraid of it, like the first time jitters, let’s clear that up. I’ve been having sex since I was 9 goddamn years old. And fuck you if you don’t like it.

I didn’t have a choice.

But nowadays, for the past 6 years or so, I’ve been running from it. Why? Because it is always there. I’ve gotten so good at allowing it to enter my life in a meaningless unsubstantial way, it bothers me. It bothers people I am involved with, intimately and otherwise.

Maybe you don’t know this about me. Maybe you are reading it and are shocked at my lack of reserve toward the subject. Boohoo, now you know, get over it.

Maybe you do know this about me and are one of those who are reading and thinking “wow, levi has finally come around”, well screw you too. I’ve been privy to this information long long before we ever shook hands, and I’ve wrestled with it for far longer than you could possibly conceive being sane.

So, why the sudden change of heart? I’m just plain sick of it. I’m sick of cowering from it. I am sick of not being able to choose when the opportunity presents itself.

“grow a set of balls” right? Well, friend, sometimes it ain’t so easy. But maybe from writing this down I can give myself a kick in the ass. Shed some light on the not so subtle need for change.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

something a little different

ok, so instead of posting poetry I’ve decided to give a little journaling a try.

I am in the process of recording a new cd, which I am calling Sleight, and I figured I would endeavor to write about how my experiences with the process go.

So far I’ve recorded 8 songs. But I plan on re-recording them, or rather the bulk of them with a friend, Kyle, laying down some vocal tracks.

I plan on recording two cd’s each with 10 songs on it. Which I will get too in another post.

Equipment:

A small sound mixer/board from radio shack.

My laptop.

My Dean, Espana, and epiphone guitars.

My Johnson banjo.

My harmonicas.

My AKG microphones.

Various things in the house that make noises.

Kyle.

And if I can swing it some other musicians.

The program I use for recording, mixing, and editing is acoustica. I am considering buying a new mixing program though. I saw one at office max that sony makes… but we shall see.

anyways, thats all for today.

Light