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.

Stuff

I have too much stuff. Slowly trying to get rid of it. Some things aren’t as meaningful… and are easy to pass on. I guess I don’t understand what to do with things that have personal memories attached. On the one hand, I can’t hold on to any of these possessions forever. On the other hand, some of these items are (sometimes handmade) gifts from family and friends; unique things that I cannot find in just any store.

I am definitely not as obedient to the Law as the rich young man who had kept the commandments since childhood. But I cannot stop being reminded of these words:

“You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” — Jesus

G-d’s People as a Body

Been reading through the book of Isaiah and have been thinking about how G-d tells his people that he is ready to offer them mercy and grace, though his people continue to ride fast horses and run away. It’s been making me wonder if there is any difference between G-d’s people as a whole (the “Body”) and the individual people in that body.

In the past, when some of G-d’s people disobeyed to a point of no visible return, they were cut off from the rest of the Body. The Body itself still remained… but with some parts missing. It reminds me of how Jesus taught about it being better to enter into life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.