Well, the day has flown. I've worked solidly on Cat Parasites, adding the planned 'party' and 'drag race' sections, though there is more to add and refine (and vocals!). The drag race part started with rock drums of the right (fast!) speed, which always take me a lot of time. The drums are crucial for a song, and need note-by-note tweaking to sound remotely 'realistic' - that is with a feeling beyond that of a drum machine.
Then, electric guitar parts. There are four layers here; first a mute-guitar bass line, which was fun to play over and over. I played the guitar parts far more than needed, for extra practice, and used two takes of the mute pattern to create a stereo effect. Then some power-chords, and a screechy main lead melody, which was fun and one of the cleanest lead guitar parts I've played so far - I am (very slowly!) improving at guitar playing. Finally, a few high-pitched stabbed chords here and there, to add more spice to this section.
After that, a vibraphone solo for the party scene, which being on keyboard was more comfortable for me.
In between, during lunch and on my breaks, I watched the film The Commitments, which I'd never seen. An interesting portrayal of a band, who seem to gel together musically, despite arguing all of the time and generally being far more horrible to each other than any real musicians I've encountered in my limited way! They were offered a recording contract at the end, despite only playing 'covers'. I suspect that this would probably have never happened even in 1991.
I'm feeling tired and cold, unmotivated and run down, yet I press on. These songs seem to take years, but are they always taking longer, or did they always take a long time? Those early days of simple computer tunes resulted in music I'd now consider too simple, too electronic, too lacking in feeling. As we get better, we take longer. The drive to complete what is begun is vital in these circumstances. Fortunately I've never lacked drive.
Lots to do! I still have some programming ambitions for this month. I'd like to update Gunstorm 1 (and 2) with fixed controls so that the game controller, keyboard and mouse can all be active at once. It's in my list to update Taskforce and Yinyang with engine changes too, though the reasons for that are more a personal feeling of tidiness than anything important.
So much to do, so little time. Incidentally, the Gunstorm Soundtrack was successfully launched on Steam last night.
Onwards we charge.
