Song-A-Day 2023

Lapis

After finishing up Laska’s Dream in the early afternoon, I had both the time and motivation to get today’s track written and recorded before a reasonable bedtime. I’ve definitely been fading a bit with the reduced sleep schedule so far this month. I didn’t rush back into the studio, instead doing a bit of housework, watching a little TV, having a relaxed dinner. It was around 6:00 PM when I got started. This one only took about 90 minutes to get into near-final shape, and much of that was listening to specific bits to get the balance between the various … Continue reading

Laska’s Dream

Note: The first bit of this page is what I wrote back in February when I composed this piece of music as part of the annual Song-A-Day challenge in which I take part. It is immediately followed by a coda with my thoughts on Laska and why the music is what it is. With the frustration of Sineposts not being finished still fresh on my mind, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with today’s song. Many times when I write anger while I’m feeling it, the results aren’t great. I lose any sense of subtlety (what little I … Continue reading

Sineposts

Now here’s a track that’s certainly adequate. I’ve satisfied the requirement of Song-A-Day by writing, recording, and posting. It’s more involved than many that I’ve done before, and maybe even better produced. So why am I negative about it? Because it’s not what’s in my head; it’s not living up to its potential. Now, often when I have this feeling about a piece, it’s a failure on my part. It’s missing something, but I don’t know what, or I do know what but don’t know how to do it. That’s not the case here. My negativity is entirely the product … Continue reading

I’m Going to Candyland

Sitting down in the studio after an evening of socializing, I was in a pretty chill mood. I had two false, though promising, starts that ended up in the sketches folder, but the third time was the charm, as I landed almost immediately on the beat that sparked the rest of the track. I made some pattern edits and then duplicated the kick twice to get the additional notes I needed, then looped that for awhile and built up the various synths. There are pros and cons to being under the influence in the studio. On the plus side, I … Continue reading

Mare Imbrium

If you’ve read past entries covering some of my ambient tracks and how I go about producing them, you’ve learned some of my tricks. Things like drawing in periodic oscillations for moving faders and filters, or copying and pasting tracks between different instruments and finding fun ways to make them interact. And all of that was my plan for the evening, especially after I found the primary sound that would anchor this track. I quickly loaded up the various sounds and zoned out for about an hour just letting the relatively long loop play. While the main chord progression is … Continue reading