I’ve been working on this piece for about a week or so. You probably won’t notice, but to me this is a very sad song. Its mostly about mourning a childhood that is surely dead and was dying the minute it started. I used a lot of “metaphors” in sound design, certain instruments treading new ground trying to make it OK for others to come in and take the place of those that came first. Stuff like that. I know its a stretch, but its just was what I have been thinking about.

I was a good kid, and I never wanted to hurt anyone, but the world had other ideas. This song is about realizing that, and seeing that good kid who has died, put to rest finally. He’s done his job and has stood up to so much that its time for him to take a break… let someone else stand guard and take the hits.

Its a song about understanding that you can never go back, and you can’t make it better or make up for the bad in the present. It just doesn’t work like that. There is no making up for a bad past. I’m trying to realize that and writing this piece is just an exercise to help me remember that.

Last night, after getting my four miles in at the gym, I went back and re-recorded the guitar tracks, like I mentioned yesterday. I tweaked some knobs, cut the distortion, rolled off more high-mid frequencies to warm up the sound a bit more.

I listened to the takes a few times and even started messing with some piano and synth parts only to be completely disgusted with what was there. Here I have this likable bass line, with a nice progression and its just getting mired with guitar! I can’t believe it!

So, I did what I had to do, I deleted the guitar tracks, and well things are a lot cleaner now. I may go back and re-do some guitars in one part, the bridge, the part in the song when all hope is lost, just before everything picks itself up and begins again. That might need some good somewhat overdriven sad guitars ringing out in the background. We’ll see.

I dunno, no one really cares. I get it. I just like chatting about guitars and recording. Maybe next time I’ll go on and on about tone and how difficult it is to reproduce good warm natural sounding guitar tone to “tape?”

I think guitars, or more to the point, guitar tracks, are a real crutch for me. I think I rely on them too much, and in light of the fact that my music is currently going through a transition from straight forward post-hardcore guitar-driven compositions to the more fluid, electronic-based post-rock world, I think I need to start practicing a bit of moderation with regards to how much guitar ends up in a song.

Case in point. I was working on a piece this weekend, I’m enjoying it so far, has a nice solid melodic bass line, got some toy-like synth-pop-ish drum loops, and just has a nice melancholy feel to it I really like. Then I wanted to add some nice guitar accompaniment, then added a second track of guitars, all the way through the piece. It first sounded like what I was hearing, but then I woke up this morning and thought "that is just way too much."

So, I’m going to go back, trim down the guitars and not rely so heavily on them. I’ve got other tools now to use, and I just need to realize that guitar tracks now aren’t always going to be in the driver’s seat.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not ditching my guitar, and the wonderful all-tube Marshall head I have in lieu of the analog synths, but more moderation.

I have been an active user of the SixtyOne (t61) for a few months now, and I’ve noticed a few artists using Pump, basically an independent, non-exclusive publishing house.

It looks pretty interesting, and I really appreciate the non-exclusivity of their agreements as well as the potential for exposure. While I think it goes without saying that my exposure will be nil, it is, I believe, a worth while exercise.

So I’ve created an account, and am waiting to see what happens next. I’ve also been working on music too, heh yeah, the actual job of this record (everything else is just window dressing until the record is actually finished and done).

I was working on guitars today on an older song that I’m brushing the dust off. I’m not entirely convinced it will be on the record because its really different than the stuff I have been producing of late. Its more guitar-driven rock stuff, but it does have that “feel” that I’m looking for. I know I mentioned something about posting a rough cut of it, and I still will in the next few days. Frankly I’d like to get some feedback as to whether or not it should go on the record.

The absence of a post doesn’t mean nothing is being done on the record. In fact, quite the contrary. I was having considerable difficulty coming up with some new material, so I made the decision to look back at older material.

I have volumes of older songs, in various half-finished states that while I may cringe when listening (the quality of the recordings are dreadful… I’ve learned A LOT over these years) but there are some songs that have suitable foundations. This is what I’ve done, I found an older song I recorded in the summer of 2004, and basically gutted it completely. Recorded over the guitar tracks with new guitars, scraped the drums entirely and am in process of re-doing the bass guitar. This song, called “A Simple Restart” will most likely also go some other changes, adding some noisy synth parts, and things of that nature.

I like this song for its simplicity and melodic sensibilities. It has a “feel” that I appreciate, so I’m going to spend some time this weekend developing it, and probably post another rough mix.

Well, I should probably get back into the studio, but I’m completely engrossed in this John Adams mini-series. Paul Giamatti as John Adams is brilliant. Absolutely.

This aside is brought to you by the letters p r o c r a s t i n a t i o and n.