December

There were two things that I intended to accomplish in December 2011.

The first was to not drink alcohol. Unless something really unexpected happens in the next 40 hours, I think I will manage to accomplish that. It seems like a small thing...to not drink for an entire calendar month...but it is a small thing that I don't think I've accomplished since...well probably at least since 2000 and probably more like since 1997 or 1998. It gets easier and harder every day and it probably will for a while yet until it just isn't as big a deal anymore. At least that's where I'm hoping things are headed.

The second thing I meant to do I did not accomplish...though I made a decent start and I should probably not be too hard on myself...give my self some credit...for making that good start. The goal was to multi-track record...all by myself playing all the parts...covers of about 15 Breeders songs. I first mentioned it here on October 21st, though I'd been thinking about doing it for a while before that. I don't really remember when the idea first hit me. Somewhere between being pissed at one of our early CJ shows probably in 2010 when someone said I should start a Breeders tribute ("dumb ass" I thought..."I can't play guitar or sing well enough like Kim Deal to pull that off...and I don't even think that I like their music") and when bought and started listening to the records likely in early to mid 2011. Though it is true that I DID suggest covering "Cannonball" to the grunge band back in late summer 2010...so my brain was starting to turn anyway.

I've recorded full tribute albums twice before, so I knew that I could do it. Usually this involves me learning a couple of songs over a long period of time...and then deciding to do it. After that it is a month or two of relatively concentrated effort to learn all of the parts to all of the songs (sometimes only moments before recording them) and then laying down tracks. And then all the bullshit with getting the tracks together right. This last step I've never been good at. As per the cult of done...there is no editing stage. I never said that I did things well...I just said that I get them done.

So I've been sort of absent-mindedly learning the parts to the songs since October or so I guess. A real sticking point was fear of my equipment. I have a Boss 1180cd multi-tracker. It has served me well. But it has always been a bit of a black box that I feared. At some point a few years ago an effect got stuck on that I couldn't turn off, rendering it useless. This fall I finally figured out how to turn it off...making the Breeders project possible. But I was still afraid of the thing. And it is just old enough of technology that it is hard of hard to use. Very user friendly for its time...now it is...well a black box. And the only way to get the data out is via burning to the internal cd (which takes forever and adds an unneccessary step) or to record to an external device via RCA connections (I don't have an external device to record to...and this still doesn't convert the files to something my computer can use and, say, post on the internet. But last night everything changed.

Yesterday, for some unknown reason, I started wondering if I could use the free software program Audacity to multitrack. This had never occurred to me before. I've only ever used the program to edit mp3s that I've recorded...to chop up a full concert performance into individual songs...or to cut off the noise at the start and end of a track. I mostly use it to clean up rehearsal recordings that I make with my $100 Zoom H1 Handy Recorder so I can email the files to the band or practice along with them on my laptop. But I thought to google "multitracking with Audacity" yesterday at work (work has been slow over the holidays) and *boom* the world opened up.

Still not believing it could be so cheap and easy (I've been debating buying a microphone/laptop interface and software for years) I went home last night and tried it out with "Do You Love Me Now"...a recent addition to the planned track list. I recorded rhythm guitar, vocal, and lead guitar separately with my Zoom and imported the mp3s each into Audacity. They come in as stereo tracks...but you can split them and delete one side. Then...line them up...clean up the noise...export as WAV or mp3...and you get a finished stereo file out the other end. I had a song done in less than an hour (though it was a scratch track totally and will have to be redone). I recorded the rhythm and the lead guitar on both electric with distortion through my GK Backline 115 bass amp and with an acoustic direct to air. I still have to work on how to keep the level of the recorded track high enough without clipping the mic...but it is an easy enough adjustment to make. Today I'm gonna goof with the test song more and see about adding effects and such. Last night I was able to remove the background noise and delete coughs and such...already way more than I was ever able to figure out with the Boss.

I know that people (including Kim Deal) bemoan the rise of Protools (Audacity is essentially a cheap version of the same kind of software). It makes it too easy to create an artificial performance and it allows people with no talent and no business recording music to do it. But I think it is pretty awesome. I'm not trying to make great art...I'm just a plumber with a keyboard.* I'm just passing time on earth and trying to amuse myself. For years I couldn't find bands to play with...and so I played music alone. Multi-tracking allowed me to be my own band. And that's better than getting drunk alone any day of the week. I bet even Kim Deal could agree with that.

*Footnote: The plumber with a keyboard. I had a music teacher in college, Michael Iautaro. He was a composer. In addition to playing cello in the school orchestra under him for four years, I took pretty much any music classes he offered. Theory...recording...a few other things I think. One day he went off on how the world was coming to an end because "now adays" even a plumber could make music in his basement with a keyboard. He thought this tragic...that no talent hacks would muddy up his precious performance and composition world. This really pissed me off...and in a subsequent paper I debated the fact with him. In the grading comments he wrote "Give you a soapbox and you take it home!" I've always remembered that. Mike's dead now. Cancer I think. I didn't always agree with him and I can't say that I'm aware of him having a HUGE influence on me as a musician...but none the less...here I am a plumber with a keyboard. And that's the most important thing in my life.