#quarantinetunesvolume7 — Public Fediverse posts

There. Finally. I added a new music playlist to the My Music page. Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven is done and done.

This is a bandcamp.com playlist but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not buy it. I only use bandcamp for these things because the playlists look all nice on wordpress.com pages and they seem to work okay too. At least they did the last time I messed around with one. These recordings are absolutely not worth paying for. Believe me. Listen to your hearts content (which, obviously includes not listening at all. That’s 100% fine with me. I kinda suck at this stuff), but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not buy the album. Thanks.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/26/new-music-playlist/

#BandCamp #Guitar #Music #myMusic #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting

The Leafs came back to take game two of the best of seven first round series. If Swayman plays goal in game three and wins, will we have a full blown goalie controversy? We’ll see. Game three is Wednesday (I think… isn’t it?)

Anyway, let’s chase those hockey blues away by listening to a newly mixed crappy song. Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven is done save for figuring out the actual running order for the 11 songs. More on that to come in the future though. For now, here’s the last song.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/22/game-two-the-bruins-lose/

#BostonBruins #Bruins #Guitar #Hockey #Music #NHL #nhlPlayoffs #playoffs #postSeason #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #stanleyCupPlayoffs #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

A couple of years ago I was working on the Record Every Month Challenge and I had a couple of song ideas going at once. I didn’t realize until well into the recording process that the two songs had almost identical chord changes in their respective choruses. Ooops. I could have done the right thing and dropped one of them, but instead I leaned into my lack of creativity and used a line of lyric in both songs and turned them into parts one and two. Doofus, yes, but what do you expect?

Fast forward to the current re-recording project I’ve been torturing the universe with and I thought it would be further fun to sort of duct tape the two songs into one and record the whole shebang as if it were one longer song.

Done and done. I just finished mixing it. Here you go, universe. Enjoy my shitty song!

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/20/two-two-two-songs-in-one/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

To make up for not having a band practice today, I mixed the two songs that I had that were ready to mix. Both are for volume seven of The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, aka Quarantine Tunes.

I pretty happy with this one:

I’m not very happy with this one:

I think I have two more songs to work on for volume seven, then it’s on to volume eight. I’ve actually already started one song for volume eight… so are volume seven and eight really just one big double sized volume? I don’t know, I am making up the rules for this stupid thing as I go.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/07/two-songs-5/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

Hey, I mixed one of the songs that I put the vocals onto yesterday and the lead guitars onto today. It’s a song from the RPM Challenge a few years ago that is now part of The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, aka Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven.

I’m not sold on the mix, but when am I ever sold on something I’ve mixed?

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/24/how-about-a-new-mix/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I finished recording all of the guitar tracks I wanted to do yesterday but didn’t end up having time for. Hooray!

I played through a speaker again, but unlike yesterday I had to lower the volume to a tolerable level. I had the house to myself yesterday so I could approach ear-bleeding volume. Today my wife, the love of my life Jen, is home so I had to tone it down a lot. That’s okay. It’s still more fun playing through a speaker than playing direct into the computer.

I put rhythm guitars onto one song for the Record Every Month Challenge, and lead guitars onto three songs for my re-recording old songs project, aka The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, or also aka Quarantine Tunes.

My leads weren’t good, but they were better than most of the stuff I’ve recorded of late.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/24/more-recording/

#Guitar #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #recordEveryMonth #recordEveryMonthChallenge #Recording #remChallenge #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #z5

I haven’t played guitar yet today but it’s still on the agenda. What I have done is sing… a lot. I have been working on The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project this morning.

Remember all of those posts over the last couple of weeks where I complained about having a really bad cold? I am more or less over it now but I learned that singing seems to amplify the symptoms.

Sing a line, cough like crazy, blow my nose, repeat ad nauseam. It’s crazy. I don’t feel sick at all but I can’t stop coughing and I can’t stop needing to blow my nose. It’s all singing’s fault. I have managed to put vocals on three songs this morning but I have to take a break. My throat is killing me. I put a bass part onto one song too but that didn’t cause me any physical pain. That’s good at least.

I am going to take a break for a bit and then go get my hair cut and get an oil change. Then I will come home, do one more vocal part and a couple more bass parts, then I will play some guitar, then I will do some more vocal tracks.

Crazy day, kids. Crazy, crazy day.

My wife, Jen, is at a conference today. I miss her a lot.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/23/musical-suffering/

#Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I woke up this morning with every intention of working in the office. Now it’s 9:07am though and I am sitting at my desk at home.

I woke up a touch later than I wanted to, and that was the first issue. By the time I finished my morning exercise (jogging [pronounced yogging] in place for 45 minutes) I just couldn’t bring myself to drive into the office. Instead of packing up my stuff I just ate breakfast and finished the episode of The X-Files that I was watching (the one where the baseball player in the ’40’s is an alien in disguise… not the best episode).

I am still planning on making tomorrow (Saturday) a major musical day. Jen is going to be at a conference all day so I am on my own. The to-do list includes getting a haircut (which I desperately need) and an oil change for one of the cars. Other than that, it’s music. The Record Every Month Challenge and Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven… and maybe a start on Volume Eight too.

I promise you, owe internets, that there will be guitar playing, song writing, and recording done on Saturday. Unless I change my mind and just sleep and watch TV all day, of course.

Anyway, here’s today’s photo a day challenge masterpiece.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/22/schedule-shuffle/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #Music #Nikon #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #plans #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #recordEveryMonth #recordEveryMonthChallenge #Recording #remChallenge #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #toDoList #weekendPlans

Check it out, I said I was going to mix a song and here I am with a second mix! It’s bonus song time!

This was the title song from an RPM Challenge a couple of years ago. It’s okay. It was probably borderline worthy of re-recording, but now that it’s done I am all right with it. It’s not a disaster, though the goofy panning tricks I did at the beginning and end are probably mistakes.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/16/surprise-another-song/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I mixed a song, just like I said I might in my last post. I guess I am just the kind of guy who keeps his promises to himself and his blog.

This one was written and originally recorded last summer (June, I think) for the Record Every Month challenge thing that I haven’t even thought about this month. I should probably come up with something new soon seeing as the month is half over. Anyway. I liked it a lot right away and immediately added it to the Quarantine Tunes list. Now it’s done and I still like it. I can’t say if I like this new take better than the old one, but I do think it’s all right.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/16/new-version-of-an-old-song/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting

I mixed a song for The Great 2015 Re-Recording Project, aka Quarantine Tunes (Volume Seven). I should really wait until tomorrow to share it anywhere because I am so freakin’ tired that I can’t tell if this sounds anywhere near decent or not.

I actually finished recording this song in June of 2022. Coming up on two years ago. Why did I wait so long to mix it? Because I fear that I actually freakin’ love this song. The chorus just slaps. Well, at least to my ears it does. The rest of the song is okay, but the chorus just makes me want to bang my head and scream. It is very rare for me to feel that way about one of my own songs. So rare that when it happens, the idea of screwing up a mix really scares the shit out of the tiny little creative portion of my tiny little brain.

I don’t want to screw up a good song, dig?

Anyway, here’s the good song that I probably screwed up. I’ll listen to it tomorrow after I’ve slept and see if I still find the mix acceptable. I doubt I will, and if I don’t then I’ll remix it.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/11/new-quarantine-tune/

#Guitar #Music #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

Hey everyone, raise your hand if you were able to sneak some guitar playing in before work this morning.

Robert timidly raises his hand.

Yup, I recorded lead parts for two songs. I now officially have no songs in progress that are currently ready for any guitar tracks. I have to do some MIDI work tonight, and maybe some car vocals in the morning, and then I’ll have some stuff ready to work on.

The Great Guitar Pick Journey of 2024 continues as well. I tried another new one today. Much of my internet research pointed to Dunlop as the brand to go with. I tried Max Grip first (1.14mm) and those were okay, but no as good as the Fender picks I’d been using for ages. They have little grippy things on them that are supposed to keep them from spinning around between your fingers as you play, and that worked but it felt awkward. I am sure I could get used to it but I moved on to option two this morning (for now at least). 

Option two is Dunlop Tortex Jazz III. This one was much better than the Max Grip in all ways but one. The little guy is just tiny. I kept going into muscle memory mode and literally missed the strings. It’s just small. It feels really good in my hand, and the overwhelming majority of suggestions I’ve received in my online questioning said to try them. I’ll stick with it for a while, but I am wondering if they make the same pick only bigger. 

I have two other options that I want to try before I start looking outside of Dunlop, but I haven’t bought either of them yet. One of them is pretty expensive for a pic. We’ll see.

Anyway, here are the obligatory pictures from this morning’s lead guitar playing extravaganza.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/25/anyone-else-play-guitar-today/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #GuitarGear #guitarPicks #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #picks #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #theGreat2024GuitarPickJourney

Hey everyone, raise your hand if you were able to sneak some guitar playing in before work this morning.

Robert timidly raises his hand.

Yup, I recorded lead parts for two songs. I now officially have no songs in progress that are currently ready for any guitar tracks. I have to do some MIDI work tonight, and maybe some car vocals in the morning, and then I’ll have some stuff ready to work on.

The Great Guitar Pick Journey of 2024 continues as well. I tried another new one today. Much of my internet research pointed to Dunlop as the brand to go with. I tried Max Grip first (1.14mm) and those were okay, but no as good as the Fender picks I’d been using for ages. They have little grippy things on them that are supposed to keep them from spinning around between your fingers as you play, and that worked but it felt awkward. I am sure I could get used to it but I moved on to option two this morning (for now at least). 

Option two is Dunlop Tortex Jazz III. This one was much better than the Max Grip in all ways but one. The little guy is just tiny. I kept going into muscle memory mode and literally missed the strings. It’s just small. It feels really good in my hand, and the overwhelming majority of suggestions I’ve received in my online questioning said to try them. I’ll stick with it for a while, but I am wondering if they make the same pick only bigger. 

I have two other options that I want to try before I start looking outside of Dunlop, but I haven’t bought either of them yet. One of them is pretty expensive for a pic. We’ll see.

Anyway, here are the obligatory pictures from this morning’s lead guitar playing extravaganza.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/25/anyone-else-play-guitar-today/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #GuitarGear #guitarPicks #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #picks #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #theGreat2024GuitarPickJourney

Hey everyone, raise your hand if you were able to sneak some guitar playing in before work this morning.

Robert timidly raises his hand.

Yup, I recorded lead parts for two songs. I now officially have no songs in progress that are currently ready for any guitar tracks. I have to do some MIDI work tonight, and maybe some car vocals in the morning, and then I’ll have some stuff ready to work on.

The Great Guitar Pick Journey of 2024 continues as well. I tried another new one today. Much of my internet research pointed to Dunlop as the brand to go with. I tried Max Grip first (1.14mm) and those were okay, but no as good as the Fender picks I’d been using for ages. They have little grippy things on them that are supposed to keep them from spinning around between your fingers as you play, and that worked but it felt awkward. I am sure I could get used to it but I moved on to option two this morning (for now at least). 

Option two is Dunlop Tortex Jazz III. This one was much better than the Max Grip in all ways but one. The little guy is just tiny. I kept going into muscle memory mode and literally missed the strings. It’s just small. It feels really good in my hand, and the overwhelming majority of suggestions I’ve received in my online questioning said to try them. I’ll stick with it for a while, but I am wondering if they make the same pick only bigger. 

I have two other options that I want to try before I start looking outside of Dunlop, but I haven’t bought either of them yet. One of them is pretty expensive for a pic. We’ll see.

Anyway, here are the obligatory pictures from this morning’s lead guitar playing extravaganza.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/25/anyone-else-play-guitar-today/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #GuitarGear #guitarPicks #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #picks #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #theGreat2024GuitarPickJourney

Hey everyone, raise your hand if you were able to sneak some guitar playing in before work this morning.

Robert timidly raises his hand.

Yup, I recorded lead parts for two songs. I now officially have no songs in progress that are currently ready for any guitar tracks. I have to do some MIDI work tonight, and maybe some car vocals in the morning, and then I’ll have some stuff ready to work on.

The Great Guitar Pick Journey of 2024 continues as well. I tried another new one today. Much of my internet research pointed to Dunlop as the brand to go with. I tried Max Grip first (1.14mm) and those were okay, but no as good as the Fender picks I’d been using for ages. They have little grippy things on them that are supposed to keep them from spinning around between your fingers as you play, and that worked but it felt awkward. I am sure I could get used to it but I moved on to option two this morning (for now at least). 

Option two is Dunlop Tortex Jazz III. This one was much better than the Max Grip in all ways but one. The little guy is just tiny. I kept going into muscle memory mode and literally missed the strings. It’s just small. It feels really good in my hand, and the overwhelming majority of suggestions I’ve received in my online questioning said to try them. I’ll stick with it for a while, but I am wondering if they make the same pick only bigger. 

I have two other options that I want to try before I start looking outside of Dunlop, but I haven’t bought either of them yet. One of them is pretty expensive for a pic. We’ll see.

Anyway, here are the obligatory pictures from this morning’s lead guitar playing extravaganza.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/25/anyone-else-play-guitar-today/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #GuitarGear #guitarPicks #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #picks #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #theGreat2024GuitarPickJourney

Was today the first car music of 2024? I think so. 

I snuck out of the house a few minutes after 7:30, got to the movie theater parking log (which wasn’t quite as empty as I like it to be) by 7:40 and recorded vocals for two songs until 8:25. I didn’t have time for any more, and even if I did I might not have. It was a struggle today. My voice was very scratchy and I’m not terribly pleased with the results… then again I am never pleased with the results so what difference does it make?

The upside is I now have two songs that are ready for lead guitars. The downside is that I have no calluses on the fingers on my left hand so recording lead guitars is going to hurt a bit. I can hack it though. I’m practically a pro at this… not really… whatever.

Here’s the view of my “studio” today:

There was a truck parked right next to my usual spot so I had to move over a few rows.

In closing, here is the obligatory clock picture:

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/23/car-music-2024/

#365 #365Challenge #iphoneography #methuen #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

When I finished playing guitar yesterday morning I had run out of tracks that needed to be recorded. Last night I started another re-recording song so that I could have something to work on today. Now here we are again with nothing ready to work on because for the third day in a row I played guitar!

I now have six quarantine tunes ready for vocals. That’s what I call a backlog. It’s going to take me a while to get through all of that. I have one more song on my list for this round of re-recordings. I had two but I decided to drop one of them. If I can prep that one with bass and drum MIDI tracks today then I’ll have something to do tomorrow morning. Then we start doing car music on Tuesday? We’ll see how it shakes out.

Obligatory guitar pics, via Hipstamatic shake-to-shuffle….

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/21/officially-on-a-streak/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #Hipstamatic #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I recorded some guitar tracks today! WOOHOO!

I put rhythm guitars on one Quarantine Tunes vol. Seven song. Lots of chunky wah-wah groove. Awesome. Here’s hoping I get to make some time to play a lot this weekend. I have a lot of stuff ready for car vocals too.

Get to work, Robert!

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/19/pre-work-day-guitar-playing/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject