Tried to get the rhythm track for the fourth song in the Dream World series done today.  I think the final take will probably work… but, we’ll see.  The Fourth song is Picnic Day.  I wonder what it’s about…?

Took some time to straighten out the rhythm tracks from the first and second songs, as well.  Pro Tools has a nice feature called “elastic audio” where you can stretch out audio tracks to match the beat you want.  As long as I have the right notes… I don’t have to worry so much about staying perfectly on beat during recording.

Had the opportunity to get the rhythm part of the third song (in the Dream World series,) recorded today.  The song itself is called Willow Green.  There are still some sound artifacts and extra notes in the final take(s)… but, I don’t really want to waste more time on trying to record this one again.  While the song (with lyrics,) is pretty boring… I am still keeping it in the Dream World project because it introduces a character in the story.

Still working on a lighter touch for the various syncopation patterns on electric guitar… someday it will be easier!

Ended up having to just re-record the rhythm guitar from Day 1 for Dream.  It’s still not perfect… but, the takes from today turned out a little better.  In the end, I’m realizing how much more I have to pay attention to the groove of the song when recording electric.  Otherwise, it just turns out sloppy and causes nausea.

Also, using a lighter touch is still hard for me to get used to on electric recording.  I guess I just have heavy hands.  It gets to the point where I end up tuning my strings slightly flat so that the notes will be in tune when I hold a note down.  But that’s like only treating the symptoms instead of the disease.

Had the chance to get the rhythm guitar part done (hopefully) for Purpose People, as well.  It’s the next song in the Dream World series…

Finally getting the chance to record guitar tracks for the Dream World project.  Been working on outlines for the songs over the past month or two to make things easier.  I like outlines because they give me a chance to map out a song before it’s recorded.

The first song is called Dream.  Like the other songs in this project, Dream was originally an acoustic guitar-based song.  Now when I go to record it using an electric guitar… it just doesn’t have the same punch.  That’s where the drums come in, though, so it should be okay.  But I still have my doubts about electric… haha.

Acoustic guitar is pretty nice for getting ideas down… just like the piano.  They both allow you to play rhythm, bass, and percussion parts all at once.  When the song is arranged later–by using rhythm guitar, bass, and drums–all I am doing is separating (or abstracting,) out the original song into different pieces.