A slow day yesterday, I've worked solidly but seem to have got little done. I must remind myself that, if I have continued to work, it is good progress irrespective of feelings of completeness, or even of visible results.
I started by creating two new USB sticks for the MODX, two identical duplicates for live performances so that if one fails or if I lose one, I'll have a spare. In live music, it's a general rule to have two of everything in case of a failure.
After that I launched Gunstorm v1.08 and announced the Steam Spring Sale. I need more sales here.
Then, work on MODX instruments for 'Hitler In High Heels' and 'Passive Aggressive' for the open mic next Tuesday. So far I've used quite a lot of backing tracks for my live performances, perhaps half of the sound (on most tracks) was a pre-recording, but next week I'm thinking of playing it all live, at the expense of some instruments being missing, so a sort of 'unplugged' version. With the MODX I can still include quite a lot of sounds.
For 'Hitler' I duplicated the bass sound (which is simply two detuned saw waves, one an octave above the other), the 'siren' sound, the organ for the refrain, and a synth lead for the solo. The modulation wheel can be used to fade out the siren and organ, and fade in the synth solo on the right half of the keyboard, with the bass remaining on the left.
For 'Passive' I did something similar. Most of the tune is an acoustic bass line. I've added strings for the 'Don't be sad or sorry' part, and made those fade out too, with a mock-guitar for an optional instrumental.
It's a real challenge to sing and play these, and swap between all of the instruments. This is why I'm doing it, to improve these skills in an environment which forces such improvement.
After lunch I got started wth sorting out the new album, re-examining tracks. The first half has a sort of 'broken love' theme, and the second a a few tracks about cats. This broad idea allows me to organise them. The album reminds me a little of The Beatles' Revolver, a wide mix of short songs, not too complex or showy in themselves. These concepts and that link gives me a few clues on where to go next. The song 'Walls And How To Hit Them' is more personal and slightly different from the others, so I may save that for another album.
I need to extend 'Pictures On My Telephone'. It's only about 1 minute long and would benefit from being longer.
In the evening Deb and I watched On the Waterfront. Deb commented that it was dramatic at all times; true, and that made me think that this dramatic power should be ever-present in all art. I'll try to increase this in these songs.
One last thing I did was start some guitar practise; working though a book How To Play Guitar In 14 Days. It really means 14 lessons, as each lesson would ideally take many hours to practise and perfect. The first week uses an odd tuning, but I'm ignoring that and will ignore the end sound, aiming only for clarity and the correct motions.
Today, our Fall in Green performance in Winsford. It's our first performance of the year (excluding the open mic events at the Red Cow).
