:: anne in the attic ::

Create Your Own Countdown

:: Monday, July 14, 2008 ::

Ooh, I'm a baaaad blogger. If there are any readers left in the universe, apologies to you for the complete lack of updates.

The truth is, I quite often think of things about which to blog, but the sheer magnitude of each topic manages to overwhelm me by the end of the day-- and weighing in against all of the other tasks pressing on me, I tend to forego this in lieu of the others. Truly, there are not enough hours in a day for me. Or a month, for that matter.

Only two days ago, I had a "holy shit" blog idea that would have been a blast to explore, but today it has completely dissipated. This is why I very often have to make decisions about whether or not I want to follow the muse down the rabbit hole at ten (or even seven) o'clock at night, knowing full well that the next thing I see upon emerging from the studio will be the sunrise. With my work schedule, that just will not do. Of course, I am mostly talking about music composition/practicing/recording, here, but same applies to long stretches of film editing, or even "Photoshopping" a new project. (I remember spending almost an entire Sunday last year just playing with vector brushes under the guise of designing an album cover.)

That said, another new song happened yesterday. It was a strange discovery in that I hadn't written one that easily quite in this way before. It started out as a bastardization of a tune I know well, for which I wrote alternate lyrics (because I liked them better). What happened next was not so much an epiphany as those particular lyrics bringing about a completely different melody, for which I seemed only to have to recognize as the proper fit. It hasn't ever worked out that a set of lyrics fits so perfectly with another tempo and structure. To test my head and make sure I wasn't overlooking some huge blunder that would render it impossible after all, I began a recording "study" of the song... at ten o'clock at night.

You see, and that's how it happens. So, by three in the morning, I was sure about what I had on my hands. The study produced only a couple of fixable flaws, and those were vocally related (intervals that will need some practice, and a decision as to the lightness and quality of the dynamics). I was, however, going to suffer a little sleep deprivation. And it's really discouraging to begin one's work week already at a sleep deficit.

But I'm glad I did it. I was careful at the very least to lay down the details so that I can go back later and make a decent (i.e. better) recording. My completion rate for the songs I've written seems to be around 25-33%. Every three or four songs, I actually find a way to express it in the studio closely enough to what I hear in my head not to hate it too much. Yeah, songwriting is definitely love-hate. I think that, though there are parts of each song that I do like, I really only have two that I don't wince about anything from start to finish. I'd like to see that number rise, but a lot of it has to do with my rudimentary studio skills. The production part of it (orchestration, effects, and even the mechanics of playing an instrument the way that I hear it in my head) is not my forte -- I like the mixing better. I can mix and edit all night long, just like with film.

The nature of mixing and editing feels like my true calling-- I just see things, or hear them, and make them fall together in the requisite layers. It seems intuitive, not difficult-- only time consuming. I don't mind that, but I wish I could afford more time to develop it.

:: Anne 8:46 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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