Random Blog Post #12

Random Blog Post
What have I been dooooooing?! Here’s what I’ve been doing: I’ve been working on a buttload of music. It’s been easygoing and stressful at the same time somehow. It’s not because of deadlines I’ve imposed on myself or anything like that though.

So the first thing you’re going to see from my efforts will be coming pretty soon. Like so many other my songs-in-progress, the music is done; I just need to record vocals. One might think laying down vocals is the easiest part. Maybe it is for some people, but it rarely is for me. It’s a complicated thing. When I put together song with minimalistic parts, mumbling over the music sounds…passable. Even one of my most popular songs, “Everyone I Know Is an Alcoholic,” is pretty simple, and the vocals just follow the synth line. In my experience, how I sing at least, the more complex the music, the harder it is to sing over. I can have the lyrics all written out and practiced to death, but it always feels like dumb luck when I record vocals and they even remotely sound like they belong there.

The main trap I find myself falling into is attempting to vocalize 1:1 with the bassline or something. Sometimes that works, but for my songs, most of the time it sounds bad. The song I mentioned before is likely to suffer from that. The verses are pretty good now that I think about it, but the chorus is slightly ridiculous. I’m not sure if it’s ridiculous in a good or bad way yet though. I might just need to try singing it differently. But right now, when I’m practicing it, I start laughing halfway through because it sounds so silly to me.

That song will make its way out into the ether first as a single. Since it isn’t going to be featured alongside a batch of other songs, it feels good. I don’t have to compare it against anything else. Like, as long as that song sounds good, there aren’t 10 other songs that can compare or contrast it. Maybe it’s just me, but I notice it when a guitar or drums or whatever has been recorded better on one song than another. It’s especially true with my own music. It bothers the crap out of me, but I live with it.

Next on my plate is the album. There are more than enough songs ready to have vocals thrown on them and grouped together to be considered an album. But unlike the aforementioned single, I have to worry about consistency. I want the vocals to sound equally as good (or bad) across all the tracks. It’s mostly synths and programmed drums, and not a lot of real guitar or bass, so I don’t think I’ll have trouble getting the music sounding the way I want it.

It’s the vocals man, the vocals! Some people have lightly criticized my singing style, since it’s usually not singing at all. I agree with them for the most part, but unintentionally, I feel like I sound a little like singers that I enjoy. Sascha Konietzko from KMFDM, Blaine Cartwright from Nashville Pussy, and at least one of the vocalists from Laibach. Those bands have sizable followings, so I feel like my vocal talents can’t be completely to blame for anyone’s possible unattraction to my music. Hm.

What else? I put up a Store that you can buy stuff from. There’s a cool Christmas ornament and guitar picks for sale currently. Hey, you have to start somewhere. Oh, and like always, all my stuff on Bandcamp is 50% off for Black Friday. I’ll probably let it run for the whole weekend.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing. My next post will probably be a Jam Session. I haven’t posted one of those in a while.

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