Category Archives: music

Next Christmas Gift Album Underway

Work has finally begun for the next Christmas Gift album. It seems that the album will probably be just a seemingly-random assortment of different types of songs… instead of being a concept album, like that one Christmas Gift 2010 album.

A lot of thoughts have been put upon my mind over this past year: thoughts about loss, self-centered thinking, and (a lack of) spiritual growth. Somehow these thoughts will most likely find their way into songs on this next album.

I also am hoping to get another song in the Life of Christ series added… if possible. 🙂

Here’s an early quote from the project:

“You cannot have just what you want
without hurting yourself
and others, too.”

Decisions

Been rethinking the first song on the second album for Dream World. It’ll be the third try… the other two tries (Now or Never and Lonely Girl) just don’t quite cover the same emotions that I want to convey in this part of the story. I also want the album to start out in a way that at least attempts to draw the listener further into the overarching storyline.

Hopefully this helps…

DW Recording: Day 45

Added some weird lead guitar parts to the Drive Home song, tonight. The parts are layered in an attempt to create manually-created effects. Hopefully it worked…

I tried using the Washburn WI64DL for these guitar parts, but I haven’t changed the strings on it (yet…) and I don’t know what gauge or type of strings were originally used. The strings feel pretty thin and sound pretty tinny, so I’m guessing they are probably 9s or something. Anyway, I just wish they had had a slightly darker tone in the end. But… that can still be changed with EQ adjustments later.

DW Recording: Day 44

Added some pretend slide guitar sounds to a song, tonight. Overall, I think the slide sounds help gel the different guitar parts together.

I also realized why it is that some people double-track drum tracks, today.

Still Working on Dream World Part II

It’s been a busy summer. I thought there’d be more time to get this Dream World project recorded and hopefully finished by the end of next year. But, a lot of things came up during the summer… and I’m only just now getting back to the Dream World project.

Been adding detailed drum tracks to songs 11-14 this past week. It’s kinda interesting to hear how songs sound when some drum parts are taken out. It almost seems that even when a drummer isn’t playing… that silence, too, is part of a drummer’s (or a composer’s) toolkit. I guess I’ve never really thought about silence being a musical tool, before.