My next lyrical adventure, with the working title Saving Our Lives, was inspired partially by the terrible story of a 51-year-old man who texted that he was okay after the explosion at the airport in Brussels, only to be killed in the metro bombing. I happen to be turning 51 this week. I know that inspiration from thinking about one’s mortality has been just about done to well…

For what am I waiting? This is really nothing new for me. Every so often something happens that inspires me to strive to live “better.” That of course means different things for all of us. For me it’s partially to love better. Pastor Charlie – who married my wife & I many years ago and unfortunately passed from this world not too many years after that – impressed me as being someone who truly lived his life to serve others. While I don’t claim to be attempting to achieve that level of selflessness, I would like to step in that direction.

It also includes not being afraid of doing, and taking the time to do, things like making my album. Which may very well be selfish.

The proposed song initially plays with all types of saving (see the first “notes” below).

More than likely, I’ll slide back into the day-to-day. Maybe, together, we can give each other the support to do better. Unless, of course, you’re already at the level you want to be at – then kudos & send some positive vibes.

-Edventually

“Saving Our Lives”

I want to save your life

Saving the living for later
Quality (of) life

Life saving
Life savings

I can’t save your soul
I can only save your place
And that may be
My saving grace

Who will come to the rescue
Who will be our hero
Saving our lives

Worried about 

saving face
Saving time

Most of my recording sessions occur in the morning hours and are usually aided by a cup of “high-octane” coffee. Get-Up band-mate, & fellow home recording enthusiast, David Husted once recommended a craft beer as a recording studio tool and a Sierra Nevada Torpedo seemed to fit the bill nicely. (“Friend” me on Untappd – I’m GetUpBass – if you are so inclined.)

I toyed with the idea of taking the previous sketch of “What Say You” and copying and pasting the existing instrumental tracks for other verses and adding items for breaks/bridges and/or other segments, but I decided that I had “heard” something a little different so I decided to bake from scratch. Started with the slit drum, then a new (and improved?) bass part. Sang my song over it and experimented, to varying degrees of success, with background vocals. I even threw in a nod to Mary Poppins. Listen to the results via below, Soundcloud link.

Another eye-catcher this week was E-Home Recording Studio’s Tweet on the Fletcher Munson Curve my takeaway being that they recommend making your mix sound best at greater volumes. Kinda like hooking a fish, a listener hears something of interest and turns up the volume – reel ’em in – making sure you don’t lose them.

-LubricatEd

Spent time I hoped to be recording fighting with the setup of the  DAW Remote (Humatic TouchDAW) which I blogged of yesterday – some of the struggle was admittedly exacerbated by my barging ahead without fully reading the instructions.

Step 1: I purchased the TouchDAW app ($4.99) instead of going with the FREE version.

Step 2: Found out that I needed to install Tobias Erichson’s rptMidi Network Midi driver (software) on my laptop. Installed without that nasty Apple Bonjour software it had pre-checked.

Step 3: Fought with the setup and failed. Repaired the software so that it installed said “nasty” Apple Bonjour software.

Step 4: Still getting “connection failed” – re-read instructions & completed the steps I had skipped over.

Step 5: Still getting “connection failed” – being as I am an avid Android & Windows user, I realized restarting computer, phone & software one last time, before considering the dark, Apple side, might be a good idea.

Step 6: I have an app that remotely controls my DAW (Ableton Live 9 Lite)!

-Still AndrEd User

I spent a lazy Saturday morning on Twitter (@MasterEdTC)  & enjoying Obie’s company. Ran across a few interesting items: @diymusicbiz‘s Not Your Standard Quantize (2/25) & @ehrstudio‘s How to Set Up Your Room for Solo Recording

The thing that stood out for me from the latter was the idea of a DAW remote. Similar to my excellent investment in a headphone extension cord, the idea of an app for my smartphone that would allow me to start, pause & stop recording while away from the laptop is just, well, a bit liberating (These apps seemingly do more . Yay!). The one mentioned in the article, DAW Remote by EUMLab, is apparently not available for Android. The one I think I’ll try 1st is TouchDAW by Humatic.

The appeal, to me, of the 1st article is the idea of finding my own groove outside of standard quantizing – the author reinforces the importance of practice to accomplish this goal. There clearly is a difference between a loose, organic feel & just “poor timing.”

Looking to record tomorrow morning – more work on “What Say You?“.

NOTE: This is the 1st post done from my phone which has it’s limitations in this regard.

-Tech Ed