Last night:
After a quadricep-busting sprint workout, followed by my nightly backyard work, I nearly went to bed on time. But I hadn't posted in a week and could feel my calluses getting soft. I felt the summons, and knew I had to assume the mantle of Swamptooth.
As I entered my garage (oops, I mean "recording studio"), my foot slipped and I fell off the steps, acquiring diverse injuries and an undisguisable limp to explain at work. Duh.
With a throbbing, swollen, black-and-blue little toe, I felt morally obligated to get a song recorded, to have something else to show for that ill-fated garage visit. I iced and elevated my foot. That made it a little hard to sing. Oh well.
One of the intriguing aspects of the last several sessions has been the complete lack of advance planning. Once again, I literally had no idea what song I would play until just before I clicked the record button. It was a strange feeling, tuning up the guitar and plugging everything in, wondering what the hell I would record.
Regular readers may appreciate that this time, I left the laptop power supply plugged in, despite the subtle mains hum. Based on the way I felt, I knew there would be no "classic" tracks, so I wasn't worried.
I have been re-writing David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust," filtered through Love and Rockets, and re-cast around a different semi-fictional band. It's not ready yet, so that song was out.
Maybe because of a flirtation with Uncle Dave Macon's 1927 version of "Go Long Mule," I ended up playing Woody Guthrie's "Lay Down Little Doggies."
Lay Down Little Doggies (Take 1)
Lay Down Little Doggies (Take 2)
Next I did a single verse of "Pretty Peggy-O," and an aborted (and deleted) attempt at previously vetted Blur contender "This is a Low." Pretty Peggy-O is a standard warmup number for me. It keeps my flatpicking from getting too saggy.
I wrapped up with "Buckets of Rain," which I had recorded in early January. Shortly after the January 3 recording, I had figured out a better way to play it. I captured two attempts. The second is technically superior, but the first try included a messed-up verse that I cleverly improvised my way out of.
Buckets of Rain (Take 1)
Buckets of Rain (Take 2)
I had a feeling I was quitting before a "magic take," but I had to call a halt. I popped some ibuprofin and fell asleep before I could even get this posted.
Bought a Milwaukee jig saw just for the job. Set me back $140. I'll have to make a lot of puzzles to get that value back out of it. Still, it's pretty slick, with a built in LED guide light and sawdust blower to keep the cut line visible. Surprisingly, there's no safety like there is for my circular saw (visible lower left). In fact, there's an anti-safety: a button that keeps the saw running with no hands.
Made in the Czech Republic, with blades from Switzerland and carrying case from USA. So that's what they do over there besides drink beer. In Milwaukee, I mean. Hey, at least I'm not subsidizing the industrial base for this.
I don't really want a large collection of tools. I don't have the space, and there are other things to spend money on. Besides, I get satisfaction out of seeing how far I can get before I really need the help.
The "recording studio" is a few feet out of frame, to the left.
I was debating whether to post this. I kind of want to keep this blog purely music, but this deck business is why there is no music update. I'll probably take down this post.
New banner sponsored by mattmunson.com
It's a mood piece, not actually my favorite Donovan song (by a long shot) but I still like it. A pleasant way station between Fairytale and Sunshine Superman.
The acoustic guitar plus vocal take went pretty quickly. I did an immediate "noodle" track, followed by bongo drums and a hi-hat. The laptop battery died halfway through the hi-hat overdub, so I just took a few photos (per reader request) and mixed it, hoping to get this posted before midnight (no luck there).
Unfortunately, I was feeling musically lousy, and waffled around on a few different titles, including
A few days ago I found out (hat tip: Felix Aeppli) that Mick Taylor had released a single of the same title many years ago. Accordingly, I retitled the song "Bordered in Black," after a Larry Niven short story that blips into the lyrics. This song seems to complete an accidental trilogy begun with "April" and "Second Time Around." Like a high desert murder mystery.
The basic turnaround and melody are solid, but there are some definite clunker lines that need to be rewritten. Especially the bits about "Cousin Ida" and "having a burger." Also, it could use a bridge to break it up a little.
I got a slight but noticeable 60-Hz hum, because my laptop battery ran low just in time for the final take, forcing me to plug in the power supply.
I double-tracked my vocal to fill things out a bit. For the rough mp3 mix, I put a touch of reverb on the live vocal microphone, and then hard-panned the two guitar pickups on my Martin (one internal condenser microphone, one piezo-electric bridge pickup).
I will definitely re-record this song when my voice recovers from this cold.
C Jim Jones Am A Day is Far Too Long C Come My Way G Arms of Love Em Sand and Foam G Pigs on the Wing Am Everything is Free (short, long, and short versions) G Turquoise G Ferris Wheel D Moonshine Blues E You're a Big Girl Now E I Was Young When I Left Home (2 takes) E Pallet on Your Floor E Buckets of Rain (several takes) E Mobile-Texas Line/Phantom Engineer Number Cloudy Blues E You're a Big Girl Now (2nd attempt) E Let Me Be Your Guitar Player B Three O'Clock on the Docks G Pigs on the Wing (2nd attempt)
Okay, now 2006 was a long patch of tough sledding. A quick update:
