Back from Florida, Back to Bloggin'

Back from Florida everybody!

Taken by: Yours Truly

Oh my God, I really should have done this blog post before I left for my relaxation marathon. Now I have two to do before Tuesday... hooray... (Max slowly cocks the gun back).
Anyway, as much as I would like to regale you all with tales of Florida and the astounding amount of sitting around I did, this blog is about my quest to make an album right? Well, there is a lot on that end too, so, here goes.

So, the week before this, I had a week long recording session with Owen. Literally every day for 4-8 hours recording using several instruments. The lineup is: Owen on drums, keys, some guitar, some bass, and maybe vocals (More recording tomorrow, haven't planned that far). I am on guitar, horns, some bass, vocals, and being the sex symbol for the band (not shown on the album but I assure you, it is a major part of the music). So, recording has been really rough.                                            
                                                                         
DAY ONE:

Somewhere between Ringo and Peart

The first day we recorded (being Tuesday before this week) was really rough. Reading about Reaper and monkeying around with it on my computer was one thing; actually recording with it was another. It literally took us 2 hours just to learn how to work Reaper with Owen's audio-recorder to get clear recording quality. Thanks a lot hours of reading the Reaper user guide and other random Reaper learning devices! You have taught me nothing! Anyway, after we got through the incredibly depressing first two hours, we were just about ready to shoot ourselves before we got a clear nice sounding rhythm guitar track down. Although not much, it was nice to actually have a real track done and recorded. From there, we recorded lead guitar, bass, drums, and keys. I also recorded the most godawful vocal track in the history of man that night, luckily, on day two, that was obliterated from the face of this planet.
DAY TWO:

Meet Max Franklin, the one who sang at the after-inauguration.

On the start of the second day, we already kind of had our things worked out and we were ready to go. That day, I had read a bit on http://www.makingitinmusic.net/vocalist-corner/blending-your-head-and-chest-voice-to-increase-your-vocal-range.html on how to sing better. My main problem was how to blend your "Chest voice" (Or your lower voice that I basically only use) and your "Head voice" (Or your higher, more Aretha Franklin- Esq voice). The site was pretty helpful for learning how to do this, or as helpful as a little internet lesson can be. In the end, when it came time to start singin', I think I was semi-prepared to try it out! So, we re-recorded the vocal track for our first song and then the drum track. Owen recorded a very simple drum track for us to record over the first time and wanted a more complex one to be on the real album. With that, our first song was BAM! DONE! If I could, I would definitely post the song for your listening pleasure. Unfortunately  I have no clue how and seeing as how it is 12:58 AM at the moment, I'm not going to figure it out right now. Day two was spent mixing the first song for the most part (getting things aligned and at the correct volume). We did start on song two though. We got down bass (recorded by that man/woman thing in the photo above) and drums down that night and then proceeded to do a bit of procrastination between going home.
DAY THREE: (Jeez, I should have just split this post into two and knocked em both out)

You can tell who the looks of the family is (Humor me please)

So, Thursday ended up being cut way short. For about four hours, I worked on the Social Studies project in which we made a board game! That is a blog and story for another day though. Anyway, when we finally got back to the ol' studio (AKA Owen's basement) we quickly recorded some lead and rhythm guitar for song two. We planned to finish everything on that song that day but unfortunately, we forgot to write lyrics for it. We decided a good way to save time would be to just get rhythm tracks down for song three instead and finish them when I got back. Again, we were cut short by my sister coming home from college, I had to rush off at around 5 to go and become a Family Guy (The question: do I paste my face on to Peter Griffin's also?). On the bright side, seeing my sister was great (Shout-out to you Summer!).

So, in the end Friday ended up being Owen and my Jazz Competition and then I took off for Florida that night (let me relive it all again!). Recording will commence once again tomorrow along with the preparation for our TED talk. You will be seeing another blog post on that tomorrow as well.
Thanks for reading this excessively long post.

~~Max

More blogs that happen to be gazed upon by the one they call "Max".

Here they are! The votes are in and survey says...

I commented on:

Sam's Blog: http://theartofwarsc2.blogspot.com/
Ally's Blog: http://heylookiwroteabook.blogspot.com/
Bobby's Blog: http://narwhaldeathmetalunicorn.blogspot.com/

Vlog that is not made of smog, not having to do with prog, and definitely not while living in a bog.

Sorry if this blog post is a little bit overlong and rambley  but if you have read thus far, you know it is just my nature!

Enjoy!

Recording Begins. If we kill ourselves you'll know why.

So... we are now at the recording stage of this project. Although it has been fun thus far, that is ending now. We have this terrible recording device bought by Owen that can half-assedly record one track at a time which means we will be recording guitar separate from lead guitar separate from drums separate from every other goddamn thing we need to throw into these songs. So, the main problem we run into here is that I will be relaxing in sweet sweet Florida over Spring break so essentially I will live at Owen's house this week and record. But, that's not it, as more complications come into play when I will have to have a Jazz competition on Friday night. This all on top of Owen's stupid drum lesson on Monday and my stupid guitar lesson on Monday. So that gives us roughly 3 days to do every song on the album.
We basically have 6 songs on our album that are original and maybe 2 covers. Most likely the covers will have to be cut from the album sine (as previously mentioned) we have 3 days to do EVERYTHING. Though, if we do covers, it will be Lost Cause by Beck and Layla by Clapton. Although I would love to cover Soul Man, we just do not have the bass player for it.

Thanks Jerome, couldn't have done it without you bud. 

Anyway, essentially the lineup will be: I will record most lead and rhythm guitar tracks, Owen will record drums and keyboards, and I will cover horn sections. Also, we will have vocals and bass split between the two of us. Trombone is finally coming easier to me so for the two or three times when it is needed in the album, the horn section should be strong. Also, I got a new trumpet Jerome Callet mouthpiece that should help cover the higher parts of the songs (as well as Jazz Band).

I need to play over the key changes

So, reading wise, I have continued to research how to write music and although most of our songs are already written, I still need to add in a lot of horn sections to make the album complete. This will require knowing how to transpose and know the keys. So, of course, I looked to my regular sources I have been using but found a couple more helpful resources. Firstly, I have been using http://musictheoryblog.blogspot.com/ as a regular resource (as I have mentioned in previous posts. This blog really taught me about the differences in clefs such as how everything in treble clef is two steps above bass clef (trumpet verses trombone). Also, I have been learning about how to play solos over key changes such as what is going on in my hilarious picture up above. Next, I have been using a website about theory. Thanks http://www.musictheoryhelp.co.uk/! This website has provided me with a lot of the same as the blog although a lot more in depth with guitar soloing. It taught me about how to move all over the fretboard to solo instead of staying in the same old pentatonic form.

So, lastly, I wanted to include a quick demo of what is to come on our album. Although we are not quite as far as I'd like into the process, I was able to throw this together as a little sign of what to expect. Next blog post I'll post a fully recorded song!
Note: Sorry if the video looks like crap, my computer's camera is less than bad.

Blogs blessed by my presence

That's right, it's that time that I read other people's blogs. So three new blogs have been picked that are blessed with the presence of the Max.

Ally's Blog-
http://heylookiwroteabook.blogspot.com/ 

Jenny's Blog-
http://designsbyjennyd.blogspot.com/

Isaac's Blog-
http://gnisaacw.blogspot.com/

Reaper, Bass clef, and more!

THE MUSICAL ENDED! FINALLY!
I swear I never need to hear any song from Jekyll & Hyde ever again. So, this week I will actually have time to write lyrics and horn sections! Of course, there are still regular complications such as a Owen's drum lesson and my guitar lesson but these things come and go. For the most part everything is back on track and hopefully will go smoothly.
So far, we have 4 tunes basically plotted out and finished that only need a bit of polishing up with the lyrics and horn sections. Since I am interested in learning multiple instruments, I will be recording drums on one song and Owen will be recording guitar on one song. This will probably make this song a little more simplistic but overall with make us better musicians. Anyway, the four songs consist of pretty easy chord progressions but with lots of changing time signatures and melodies. Although the chords themselves are not to complex, it's everything that goes over them that really builds the songs up to be as good as they can be. Lyrically speaking, I am trying to write 3 lyrics as well as Owen writing 3 lyrics for his three songs. The lyrics for our music is an interesting thing, Owen writes well, although generally his music tends to fall towards a depressing side which seems to only go over something in a very minor key. Unfortunately, only one of our songs is primarily minor. For me, I have always loved to write, but generally enjoy creative writing in a big picture sort of way. I would much rather write 30 pages for the beginning of a fantasy epic than a couple lyrics. That being said, I've been giving it my all and have plotted out something that could hopefully be considered "Artsy" although probably also considered "Pretentious". Either way, what are lyrics for if not being pretentious or talking about the three main rock topics (which probably should not be mentioned in this blog).

Hopefully it will end up looking like this

In addition, I have been given yet another task in the music field. For our social studies game project, we have been commissioned to create an advertizement for the game. Of course, what makes a better ad than a jingle?  Hence I have been given one more task: to write a jingle for a commercial. Time to break out a C chord over and over again! But, that is beside the point, I think a jingle may be just a little easier than a fully fledged rock song.
So, on to the reading portion. Actually, I have used a lot of resources in people. As far as learning Reaper recording software I have used Ben Chaiken and Ben Kessler as prime people to help tell me understand how to use everything. Since my guitar teacher has been sick for a while or I have been at pit orchestra, I haven't really had a chance to have him help me with Reaper. Other than them, I have found the Reaper User Guide at this website:
http://www.reaper.fm/userguide.php
The user guide has been really helpful as it really educates as to how you actually record with the audio-plugin. Essentially you plug the input into your computer and then plug the microphone/amp into the audio-input to start to record. The only annoying thing about this whole process is that with only two people we will be recording over ourselves multiple times. Also according to the user manual, depending on the audio-input you own is how many tracks you can record. Hopefully, Owen's will be able to record at least two at a time.
Essentially, our master plan for the recording process is to record drums and rhythm guitar together so that they may be a jumping off point for recording bass-lines, horn parts, lead guitar riffs, and most of all vocals.

Isn't Bass clef ugly?

Last but not least, I have been reading a lot about reading bass clef verses treble. Seeing as how both trumpet and guitar are written in treble, I have had virtually no experience with bass clef. (Bass clef is the one in the picture that is a little curly q with two dots, treble in on top with a large curly looking thing going below the bar lines). As sources for this reading, I have used Mr. Hood to help me read bass clef (As he is both a professional trombone player and a music teacher) and a blog about music theory I found online. This blog has really helped me to understand how to read this music as well as how to compose basic solos and melodies over the given chords. The blog can be found at:
http://musictheoryblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/staff.html
Overall, now that all of the time put into the musical is done and overwith, I think the project will go a lot smoother. Hopefully next week I can post our first complete song!

~~Max

Everyone! EVERYONE! AAHHH OTHER BLOGS

Ladies, gentleman, and all other genders that enjoy my blog, know that I am not the only one with an awesome blog. There are others that even I have taken an interest in. This post will be updated frequently as I comment on more blogs.

http://kuroy22.blogspot.com/

http://gnisaacw.blogspot.com/

http://johnrecording.blogspot.com/