You Want a Hayoth Update? OK.

So, for those of you keeping track, we are very near the end of the ...And Getting Dollars Back project. I did final mixing on Reason, and re-mixed Haunting last week, and I'm extremely happy with the results. I think I've stumbled onto a way to record and mix my vocals that is pleasing to my ears.

Which is a pretty good trick.

I'm still not 100% sold on the lyrics I've come up with for Reason. They looked good on paper, but sound a tad clunky. So, I revised for the re-mix. Still not 100% sold. I may let the tune live with me for a while, and see if I can't come up with something better before the end of December. If I can't think of anything better, it'll stand. I mean, I don't find the lyrics embarrassing, or anything.

The big news is that I started on the musical side of the final track, Getting Dollars Back. The original concept in my head has been dialed back a bit, but I really like how it's working out. On Sunday, I was able to record a scratch guitar track, then the drums and the bass. I sort of astounded myself. It was just an incredibly productive day.

At this point, I have to build a final guitar track, which should be interesting, as my current plan is to have the verse riff change each time through. I'll probably have to build it in sections, in fact I know I'll have to, as the concept is for the wah-wah pedal to come in and out a lot during the track. It's just easier to do that in separate takes, rather than trying to switch it on and off on the fly.

Save that for some theoretical live gig, in the future.

The Reason experience has also left me feeling very critical of the lyrics. So, I think I'll probably work on some revisions there, too. I think, right now, I'm erring on the side of specificity. I often get too involved in storytelling, lyrically, rather than trying to create an emotional mood. As with my soloing, I think I need to learn to let the lyrics breathe more.

Well, what do you expect? My favorite songwriter is Springsteen.

A good example of this is how Dark Water ended up. The original lyrics were just bursting with me Dark Water may be the strongest song on the record. I like how the lyrics and vocal came out, and the solo, which is a long guitar solo, may be the best playing I've ever done on record.

Which is hilarious to me, because the song is a total compromise. If you recall, Dark Water used to be called Zep, and was a acoustic number heavily inspired by Zeppelin's Ramble On. Now it feels, to me, like a mid-tempo blues number. As I re-listen and evaluate my work, I keep thinking maybe I should do a re-mix on it (make the bassline more prominent, specifically), but then I just sort of sit back and find myself thinking, "this pretty much works for me as it is." I mean, I still flirt with doing some re-mixing, if for no other reason that a couple of tracks are mixed slightly more quietly than others, and I'd like to try to find a consistent volume level.
trying, probably desperately, to get the point across. What I ultimately came to (and I hope you'll agree when you hear it) was a pretty simple recurring phrase with variations. Honestly, right now, as I write this, I think that

But, then again, the volume differences aren't that huge. The tracks, so far, sound pretty great together (to my ears). I have those, "if it ain't broke..." feelings.

I'm so close to done, I can taste it. We've got house guests coming soon, and I'm gonna be able to pack up the drums completely. I won't need them until probably January or February. I have no intention of letting another six years elapse between these projects again. I've felt so inspired and creative since I really buckled down on this album. It all started with the drum purchase, which was in March, I think. Since then I've (almost) recorded eight complete songs.

Although, I've also learned to not rush. As I look back at Where Have All the Heroes Gone, my last "album" from 2006, that was so rushed, and almost every song was pulled out of my ass. So much so that I can't even remember how to play most of those songs. I was truly making it up as I went, and clearly not taking very good notes. The time that I've taken, even if it was too damn long, allowed me to write what I think are 8 solid numbers. I was more prepared to record, song wise, than at any time since my first "solo" project.

So, as I'm moving into the last phase, figuring out song order, artwork, deciding how to distribute the thing, I'm really happy with how this is all turning out.

I Have My Reason

"Reason" is aaaallllmost done.

I laid down some lead guitar, intro stuff, and vocals on Sunday. as I was working on the mix, I began to feel I should take another run at the main solo, and maybe re-record the vocal track. It's actually turned out even more "rock" than I ever expected.

The main riff was written with a bit of a swing groove in mind, and I think a bit of that is still there, but the arrangement has become much more aggressive. Switching back and forth from the main riff to vocals. It gives it a bit of a...I guess start-stop feel would be accurate. It's not a track you could dance to, but that's not my goal anyway.

Although, it would be cool to pull off a good dance track, just one. Ahh...on the next disk, maybe.

The opening and closing solos made me pretty happy, and I was feeling good about the main solo until I listened back to the track about 14 times, working the mix. Just seemed too much like what I always do. Which, really, is probably me just smacking hard into my own limitations. I wanna try to get more adventurous with it. I also need to just learn how to lie back and NOT play, instead of trying to fill every second with a note. Feel, man...that's the deal.

Same with the vocals. They were energetic and raw, flowing relatively well, but I felt like maybe I was playing to the top of my register too much. Sounded a bit shrill. Vocals are always difficult for me, because I tend to cringe at the sound of my singing. It's mot even a matter of singing "well," or not (because I think I've been doing relatively well on these tracks), but just that the timbre of my voice doesn't please me. Something to accept/fight/work through.

I re-strung my bass on Sunday, too (don't even ask how long it'd been). And started mucking about with a line that sounded really cool, along the lines of Jane's Addiction's "Coming Down the Mountain." Started hearing guitar stuff that could go over it. Long story short...my "stop at eight" decision may get reversed if this can come together for me.

As it is, I just have "Getting Dollars Back" to finish for the eight. I expect that "Dollars" will take a bit of time, but who knows? I am, however, still committed to finishing by the end of the year.

Maybe even Christmas.

Haunted to Haunting

After some thought, I've revised "Haunted." I re-recorded at a faster tempo, and it all went very smoothly, I also reverted to the original title, "Haunting." It was always a short track, but now it's really short. Not even reaching 3 minutes.

I am pretty happy with it. I actually love the lyrics, some of the best I've written, I think. I may need to take another run at the vocal track, but I think that's gonna wait until right before I finish everything up. I'm feeling a sense of forward momentum now, and I don't want to lose it.

To that; "Reason" is on deck, I've been playing around with the progression and riff, worked out a bridge, and am generally ready to start working toward putting down the basic guitar track. This is usually a fair arduous process, because I don't like to piecemeal the basic track. I like the backbone guitar part to be a single flow. Now, with me, usually this track gets wiped, anyway, but jitters and starts tend to make the drum track difficult. You can make smooth, but it's also just a guide track for the drums and bass. Who wants to work that hard.

Although, I've been experimenting with building tracks out of separate recordings. "Haunting" has a drum track built out of two takes, with the bridge, key change section having a beat I was finding difficult to switch to on the fly, and it sounds good. Now, after "Reason," my plan is to move on to "Getting Dollars Back," and that basic guitar track I am anticipating to be an amalgamation of several takes. My hope is for that track to move around a bit, style-wise.

Work is progressing. I feel good about it. With Rehearsal for Shadow Over Innsmouth starting up next week, I'm hoping to at least get a good chunk of "Reason" completed this weekend.

Is Dropping My Bass On My Foot An Omen?

I was trying to lay down a temp bassline for Zep the other night, I was tangled up in cords, trying to puzzle through what I needed for the track. Something got hung up, and I gave it a tug to free it, and it yanked the strap right off the front button.

Down she went. Right onto my foot. the same foot I smashed the crap out of in college with a pallet jack while doing night stocking at a grocery store. Fear was my main response. After the initial yelp of pain, and "FUCK!!!," I had a sinking suspicion I'd broken the damn thing.

Of course, I also had a fear that I'd broken the bass. The last time I dropped it, it shoved the cable right through the jack plate. (Cheap bass, yes). I didn't even notice until weeks, months later when I was helping a friend record some acoustic tracks, and I suggested some bottom end might fill out the sound. Great idea. Having a non-working bass...not so great.

In the end? The bass is fine, and my foot has a nice, deep bruise across it, but otherwise none the
worse for wear. 

I was planning to hold off on the bassline until Paul C. could come over and do it, but I needed the bass track to put the guitar parts together. The song has been a bit of a bitch to wrangle. The drum parts are done...maybe. There's a few points where I think everything could be a bit more in synch. I'm thinking I might take another run at it once I've put down the guitar parts.

This is really going to be the first time I've "built" a track out of individual guitar parts...not overdubs, which I have done a lot, but different tracks for the different sections of the song. The verses are going to be lighter, acoustic, or at least clean electric. The pre-chorus and chorus are both heavier and distorted. This sort of thing just didn't feel possible when I was working with just 8 tracks (especially when only 4 were available at a time), but with 24, I have room to play.

But it's moving along, I think I've even solved the lyric question. I don't know that they're brilliant, or anything, but I thin they fit with the tone of the piece, and should be interesting. I am excited to move on to the next couple of tracks, which (as I've said) are more straight-ahead rockers, and ought to be easier to get situated. In particular, Reason has presented it's own lyrical solutions, as well as some structural changes that are exciting. I've also been refining a new riff and concept I'm calling Deliverance.

I feel good. It's been ungodly hot in Chicago, when you add a sealed-up room to record in, and my own sweaty nature, it does get a little..drippy. Even at that, I'm excited and invigorated. Of course, I'm starting rehearsals in a few days for Warped. Which is sure to slow me down, but I am DETERMINED to not get off-task with this stuff. The album will be done before the end of the year.

Speaking of Warped, and Stage Left, if you have any interest in helping, or ability to help, a small, non-profit theatre company, you can find info here about our mid-summer fundraising drive.

The other thing on my mind the last few days is that The San Diego Comic-Con began today.

Boy, do I wish I was there. 

There really is nothing like SDCC. Other conventions just seem...underdeveloped, in comparison. My visit to the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo just felt underwhelming, and I know that's because I was trying to use it as a replacement for visiting San Diego.

It can't compete. Few conventions can. Certainly not the ones Wizard produces.

The planning is underway for a trip next year. As always, the ticketing/hotel situation may screw us, but, if it does, we've discussed a "Plan B," which would be the New York Comic Con. Which does not have the rabid, "I gotta go" craziness of SDCC, meaning you can get tickets without sacrificing a goat, but still would offer a trip away from home. Now places to explore, people to meet, etc, etc.

Part of the problem with C2E2, honestly, is that it just doesn't have that, for me. Because I live here. When I drive home, the fact that I CAN drive home, tends to move me into a more insular experience. I don't feel like I'm in a place where I can, and should, wallow in the experience.

But, yeah....I am deeply envious, downright jealous, honestly, of anybody in San Diego right now. I wish I was there.

That One Damn Song 2.18.2011

So, I missed this last week, but I have been working...I've got three tracks in various stages of work on disk, and the three other tracks I've had in waiting, plus I've got about three other songs moving rapidly in the writing stage. Conceptually, things are really moving quickly, but (as I think I've said before) the sheer flexibility of the new equipment has got me re-arranging and re-working well past where I would ever have before.

That said, I didn't have any time this week to record any monitor feeds. No ear candy for y'all. Mea culpa.

I'm beginning to understand what happened to Axl Rose with Chinese Democracy. Especially when tinkering costs me nothing. I can cut and re-cut, and re-cut...who cares?

Not like anyone is waiting with baited breath. Although, I do have my personal deadline, which I will stick to.

"Zep" is actually in pretty good shape, at this point. I basically did what I laid out in the last entry. There's now an acoustic bed under the entire song, for the most part, and I've succeeded in cleaning up the entire performance, I think. The "riff" section is now just bass, all the guitars were taken out. (No having to slam down the faders in mixing.) At this point, I have to go back and do the vocals and the guitar solo, which are always the last steps for me, and get Paul to lay in the final bass track(s), of course.

I was trying to not lay down any bass for these songs, since I had someone who is an actual bassist willing. Problem is, I want to hear bass of some sort when I'm working on guitars. It just makes things easier for me.

"Tobacco & Lotto" is pretty far along, I even got the vocal line down. Frankly, the step up in my equipment really hit home during that process. The new Tascam simply cuts much, much cleaner tracks, and offers many, many more effects options. I put an exciter mic effect on the input, and I've never heard my voice quite like that. I'm gonna need to "dirty" it up a bit, it's just that kind of track, but I certainly got a "pop" on the vocals I never had before.

The lyrics on this track also finally came together pretty damn well. I found a nice rhyme that tied into the title, and the direction I wanted to go thematically. I think I need to work on how I'm singing the chorus, but otherwise I'm firmly convinced it'll work well. I doubt I'll ever put up a snippet with vocals, as I just don't trust my voice enough without the full mastering "fix."

"Reason," which is the oldest tune in this particular recording project, is In the shop for a re-think on a riff that shows up before the first verse and for the bridge. It was a pretty pure "metal" riff, chugging on the open E string, with a little run, or power chords thrown in every two measures. Frankly, after playing it a few times, it bored me. So, I came up with something a little different for that section. I haven't actually recorded it yet, but it's worked out in "dry run." I expect to have that done this weekend, sometime.

Like I said, some new songs are in the process of being written. Last night on the train, I got really excited because I managed to scrawl out some really nice lyrics using a turn of phrase that I've had hanging around for a long time. Since before this project started, actually. It's a line I love the sound of, but I could never really work into a catchy wordplay.

I write lyrics on the train a lot, pretty much every lyric I've ever put to paper has come to me on the Brown Line between Belmont and Damen. Now, a lot of that has been crap. As with anything you put to paper, the vast majority will not work, but I've been chasing a flow for lyrics that has really eluded me since I was writing for my fist CD, Hourglass 34.

Those acoustic numbers seemed to come a lot smoother than anything I tried to put together for Where Have All the Heroes Gone? Granted, the second disk was me trying to be a lot more simplistic in my lyrics, but I think it got away from me, and just turned dumb. What was nice last night was that the words just started to present themselves, like in the old days. Made me feel good.

If I can get it done, I may have an addendum to this post over the weekend, and put up some more monitor feed samples. Much thanks to any of you that bother to read this stuff, I know it can be a little dry (especially without samples).

Chalk Another One Up For Jon Stewart

I struggled with a couple of blog entries about what happened to Congresswoman Gifford in Arizona. I found myself really laying into everyone, on the Left and the Right, who allowed the environment that nurtured this act.

So, I deleted it.

I'm kinda sick of being angry. It's really exhausting, because I really am sick of all of it. I'm sick of the horrible things the Right says about, say, homosexuals and anyone that supports social programs. I'm equally sick of the horrible things the Left says about, say, Christians and anyone who's "rich." It's the lonely road of the moderate in this day and age, where you fell stupid talking about compromise, because the voices of the ends of the political spectrum have decided there is none.

I'd like to thank Jon Stewart for saying something rational and calming.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Arizona Shootings Reaction
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

Here's the transcript:

So here we are again stunned by a tragedy.

We've been visited by this demon before.

Our hearts go out to those injured or killed and their loved ones.

How do you make sense of these types of senseless situations is really the question that seems to be on everybody's mind. I don't know that there's a way to make sense of this sort of thing. As I watched the political pundit world, many are reflecting and grieving and trying to figure things out.

It's true that others are working feverishly -- feverishly to find blame and exonerate the other.

Watching that is as predicable as it is dispiriting.

Did the toxic political environment cause this? A graphic image here, an ill-timed comment, violent rhetoric, those types of things.

I HAVE NO (bleep) IDEA.

You know, we live in a complex ecosystem of influences and motivations and I wouldn't blame our political rhetoric any more than I would blame heavy metal music for columbine and that is coming from somebody who truly hates our political environment.

It is toxic. It is unproductive but to say that that is what has caused this or that the people in that are responsible for this I don't think you could do it.

Boy, would that be nice. Boy, it would be nice -- boy, would it be nice to be able to draw a straight line of causation from this horror to something tangible because then we could convince ourselves, is that if we just stopped this the horrors would end.

To have the feeling, however fleeting, that this type of event could be prevented forever.

It's hard not to feel like it can.

You know, you cannot outsmart crazy. You don't know what a troubled mind will get caught on. Crazy always seems to find a way. It always has.

That is not to suggest that resistance is futile.

It sounds futile.

That sounded dark.

Crazy people rule us all.

I don't think it's true. I do think it's important to watch our rhetoric. I think it's a worthwhile goal not to conflate our political opponents with enemies if for no other reason than to draw a better distinction between the manifestos of paranoid madmen and what passes for acceptable political and pundit speak. It would be really nice if the rambles of -- ramblings of crazy people didn't in any way resemble how we actually talk to each other on TV. Let's at least -- let's -- let's at least make troubled individuals easier to spot.

And, you know, again -- to see good people like this hurt, it is so grievous and it causes me such sadness but I refuse to give in to that feeling of despair.

There's light in this situation.

I urge everyone read up about those who were hurt and or killed in this shooting. You will be comforted by just how much anonymous goodness there really is in the world. You read about these people and you realize that people that you don't even know, that you have never met, are leading lives of real dignity and goodness.

And you hear about crazy but it's rarer than you think.

I think you'll find yourself even more impressed with congresswoman Giffords and amazed after how much living was packed in the lives cut way too short. And if there is real solace in this, I think it's that for all the hyperbole and have it -- vitriol when the reality of that rhetoric, when actions match the words we haven't lost our capacity to be horrified.

Please let us hope we never do. Let us hope we never become numb to what real horror, the real blood of patriots looks like when it's spilled. Hopefully it helps us match our rhetoric with reality more often.

The reality of dangerous rhetoric is, I think even those who speak hyperbolically all of that would recoil and say, wow, that's, you know -- that is not the picture of what we were discussing or talking about. I have to remember that there's a reality to that situation that we can't approach verbally. Because someone or something will shatter our world again.

And wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't take this opportunity and the loss of these incredible people and the pain that their loved ones are going through right now, wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't take that moment to make sure that the world that we are creating now that will ultimately be shattered again by a moment of lunacy, wouldn't it be a shame if that world wasn't better than the one we previously lost?

I wanna call your attention to one, specific line...

It's true that others are working feverishly -- feverishly to find blame and exonerate the other.

Watching that is as predicable as it is dispiriting.

Oh, yes, it is.

I wonder if anyone ever catches themselves thinking first, not of the health of Gabrielle Gifford, but how this tragic turn of events will help them "get" Sarah Palin, or whoever. I wonder, because, a lot of the posts I read about this seem far more concerned with making a political point than really sending well wishes to those poor people. I wonder if they realize it first, and do it anyway.

Once again, we find a late-night comedian more up to the task of providing a calm voice of reason and truth, for which we used to turn to such giants as Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow, a job that our newscasters and journalists have abandoned in order to curry ratings from the far extremes of the political spectrum.