Finished this up a little more than a month before the song tournament started. I saved offering it until I was sure I was done using these songs for matches.





I Ain't Got the Blues
These Plans
Daniel O'Mara Searches for Morality
Up to Here (not included)
Just When You Think You Know...
Asking for Water, Begging for Food

Light
A City of Screens
All the Time (not included)
The Novelist
Goodbye

-
Ashes of a Beautiful Day
One of the songs that didn't make the album, but I put it up here a while back.

A few of these songs aren't going to make it up here, I think. One thing about this album is that, when I was young, as soon as I could play chords I started writing songs. So I'd spent a lot of time on that, but very little as a musician. I played guitar, piano, and even drums on one track of this, and had just finished a 2 year stint with what I consider to be a stellar group of musicians who just never really repeated themselves, so I feel like my playing and my singing was started to come into its own thanks to that. I'm seeing even more of that reward with my new material, and cringe when I hear a few of these songs because I can sing them much better now. Stuff that's older than this record I can't even listen to.



Rehashing the story, though most people who will visit this thread probably have already read it at some point: One of my ex-students committed suicide earlier this year, at 14. I knew from when she was in my class that her father had killed himself, and she was living with her grandmother. I ended up learning that she had spent the last few weeks of her life learning as much about her father's suicide, and then mimicked it down to the day. In the few months previous, there had been a few other deaths at the school (all listed in the final verse of track six), and I had just come off of a pretty rough bout with the battle. So the night I learned about what happened, I wrote Asking for Water, Begging for Food. I put it away, and actually didn't record it until very last, but it started a deluge of songs centered around this event.

Every song on side one centered around it. Track three was written about a friend who was being too hard on himself for not living up to his own inflated expectations, but its no stretch to assume I wrote it as a direct result of Breanna's suicide. Side two ranges a little more in theme, but the songs fit aurally I felt.

This is awesome. Great artwork. I'm so excited to put all of these together and listen to it straight through. Thanks a lot for sharing all of this stuff McP.

i have heard a couple of these songs already and i'm glad this all yielded into a bigger piece. great cover as well. any reason in particular you omitted those 2 songs?

Up to Here is the same song I used in the contest, but not as good a version. The bassist had this idea to drop down low a half-measure before the chorus starts. It sounds really cool, but for whatever reason it seemed to just screw with everybody's sense of place. Wasn't natural enough, I guess. The solo version is better.

The other song suffered from a similar problem, and I'm hoping to redo it eventually as well.

Up to Here.

The version of Up to Here from the contest. This one is in the pile for my next project, so it might end up there, but feel free to stick it into the mix with the other tracks. I don't think that the album suffers hugely without All the Time, since the next track seems to follow a similar mood anyway.

that's awesome !
I'm listening right now, you have fucking talent
(I was a bit surprised when I Ain't Got The Blues started to get all black-metallish, but that was coming from a website I was browsing at the same time )

btw, last.fm doesn't know you yet :

Thanks!

I know. It cracks me up to see some of my songs from time to time on that band's most listened songs list. Or maybe I should tell people I had a "monster trance hit."

I don't tend to listen to stuff a lot after I cut it, but this was on my wife's IPod and I ended up listening all the way through this morning. I'm a lot happier with this thing than I realized I was. I may even put the other two tracks up later this weekend.

wow, McParadigm, this is pretty good stuff.

i listened to 'aint got the blues' a week or so ago, and i was incredibly impressed. i cant wait to hear the rest... ive saved it to my favorites so i can set some time aside and hear it all. thanks for posting!

Thanks, guys.

I just gave all of these a listen, excellent stuff. You definately have writing and musical skills.

The backwards git in Daniel O'Mara Searches for Morality is sweet.


What's your setup for recording?

This CD reminds me that I have to replace my acoustic, on which none of the kids "remembers" breaking the neck.

Love the artwork, i'll get round to listening properly later this week.

It's different now than it was then. But it's pretty low-grade, really. I used to record in a studio in my hometown called Prairie Dog, and then when I moved to Omaha I was using Rainbow (which Bright Eyes has worked in), but I decided I wanted to spend a lot more time than I could afford on a hourly basis. SO....right now, I'm using:

- Neumann M147 on vocals and keys
- AT2020's on acoustic guitar and percussion overheads
- SM57 on electric guitar

My pres are:
- Grace 101 on anything single-mic'd
- ART MPA Gold with full tube action on anything else. This sounds great on cymbals

I run it all into a cheap computer through a...oh, I don't even remember what. I've tried a lot of programs, and I now record using Cakewalk Professional. Most effects are done using plug-ins, although I try to limit that most of the time.

I don't have a treated room. I built some bass traps for two of the corners, and I have 6 pieces of acoustic tile that I place depending on the setup. The big thing is that, on this record, I literally took eternities trying to find just the right placement, micing, EQ, and compression on the instruments. It allowed it to sound like I had much nicer equipment than I had. And in almost every situation, I broke a ton of what are considered the basic recording rules. I like to mic from a greater distance than I'm "supposed to," for example, and do a lot of subtractive EQing.

I'm pretty pleased with that backwards guitar on Daniel O'Mara, yeah. It's actually my Martin dreadnaught with a detachable soundhole humbucker pickup, played through a blues amp. My favorite electric sound I've ever gotten, and reversed it occasionally sounds like horns.

Thanks for the reply. I can't imagine how long it took to get this done. A labor of love I'm sure and the results, IMO, are worth it.

I'm trying to square up a room so I can start using mics myself. Right now everything I do is direct in to the PC which isn't all that cool. I use Cakewalk too and after the initial learning curve, wouldn't want to use anything else.

i aint got the blues reminds me of mad season's wake up. which i havent heard in forever. i will be listening to both right now.

next week for me though
weekends are harsh...

I'm gonna get through this in bits and pieces...I listened to the first two, and have to say that i love the production on both. Everything sounds crisp and clear, and the levels are spot on. I really liked the effects and little sounds panned to the right in I Aint Got The Blues, but preferred These Plans as an over all song. I'm looking forward to getting through the rest - i'll try and leave comments along the way =o)

Thanks, ice. I really see those two songs as a pair...I think, if you listen to them back to back, I put little or no pause between them. As individual songs they're alright, but they really both shine brighter when they're put together. There's another set like that at the end of the record.

Amazing. I really like this. I only wish I had your voice because I would have fulfilled my dream of being a rock star. Thanks for posting this.

And since I'm pretty computer illiterate...how do I download these? Or are you only selling the record. If so...I'll buy a copy.