Record Time

In a move that is destined to upend the home recording industry, and possibly save music itself, I have recorded 16 seconds of purity using only voice and a few well-chosen percussive devices. While some may argue that this piece will only further divide an already suspect industry, the forward thinking will come to full … Continue reading The 16-Second Revolution →

Why this: I was listening to a podcast where the interviewee said he liked funk because there was something a little wrong about it – that plus I was also inspired by a comment in the MyFive music discussion where a certain participant described Matthew Sweet’s “Divine Intervention” as a hot mess – albeit sexy. … Continue reading I Got Year-Ended →

I’ve picked up a Schwartz-reconditioned guitar and dug back into Dangerous. The demo I previously created is very clunky. I had to get back in and rearrange the lyrics as I had never updated my document with the changes I made with the demo version – poor configuration management

I edited the lyrics for Inherit the Windfall and gave it initial voice. Tried not to fall into Amazing Grace. Hear here:

Hear how the song has evolved over an additional four months.

The secret sauce of many producers.

Creative sprints can take an idea forward quickly, as in this challenge. How was it impacted these musicians and their normal process?

The musicians can finally sit back and listen to their creation.

The final 15 minutes will determine how Daniel and Patrick's song turns out. The clocks ticking.

With half their time spent, how will Daniel and Patrick take their song to completion?

Songwriting takes many forms. Daniel and Patrick share their process and insights.

Daniel and Patrick embark on the second 15-minutes, where the song's direction takes some turns.

The musicians hurry to work in their first 15 minutes of the hour.

What DIY music production gets you, and what it doesn't.

Get to know the musicians that will embark on the 1-hour challenge. Are they ready to get creative and work quickly?

Record Time creator, Matthew Abramson, shares how his music evolved over the course of several bands and sets the stage for the musical challenge.

Music is no doubt the soundtrack to your life, but how are songs actually created? Hear artists write and record original tracks, from scratch, and in Record Time… as musicians are locked in a DIY-studio and challenged to produce a song in just one hour from start to finish. Turn up the volume and enjoy Record Time.

They’re beating the drums again and I’m strumming the guitar in response. Here’s a quick sketch of an idea I started putting together this morning.

After listening to what I thought was pretty decent when I recorded it last weekend, I realized it wasn’t good enough. I toyed with some midi drums midweek – which improved the situation. This morning, I downloaded a midi keyboard app for my Android tablet (in the picture for this post). I added some simple … Continue reading Midi Weekend →

All analog in the dining room this morning (I did plug the bass in directly). There are parts of this that have the feel I want. I started with a scratch acoustic guitar track to put down the song structure (which may be a bit too long), then I did the vocals – two tracks … Continue reading Fool Played Again →

As I was waking a new song idea was in my thoughts. Started jotting down bits & pieces of lyrics while hearing a sound like Devo or Oingo Boingo, then it morphed into ska (think Specials, Madness, English Beat). The theme, our information, is large one in scope of course. For some reason I’m focusing … Continue reading Edformational Purposes →

I needed to go back to the sketch “pad,” if not the drawing board, for Fool Play. I was trying to make an album version of a song that wasn’t fully fleshed out. First I looked at the lyrics – I cleaned out some and tightened it up. (One change came from a mistake while … Continue reading Step Back to the Sketching Board →