The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 3
Shame
THE GOAL: A new music video every month in 2024.
THE EASY PART: I’ve already written the songs.
THE HARD PART: Everything else.
I’m a sixty-something, mostly self-taught, amateur wannabe with some songs I want to share—and eventually leave behind.
These songs tell the stories of my life, sometimes quite literally, sometimes less so. But I hope others can find something of their own story in there. I think that’s why we do art of any kind—to connect, right?
This Month’s Song
This inspiration for this song is hard for me to pin down. I don’t remember exactly when I wrote it, about two years ago I guess. I do remember the lyrics came quickly and all in a couple days, which is unusual for me. And not too much revision since, also unusual. It’s not based on a specific true incident or situation, like some of my tunes, either.
So, it’s weird. Maybe it’s about the way people want to make you feel less-than for not falling in line with whatever their bullshit orthodoxy is, whether it’s religious or political or economic or whatever. They want to label you and make you feel shame for shit that doesn’t matter. But I think what really matters is the shame you put on your own heart.
Performance & Production
(The Nerdy Stuff)
As usual, it’s just me on vocals, guitars and harmonica, plus digital drums. I keep saying this because at some point I might have a guest collaborator join me on a song or two for this project. We’ll see.
On the two guitar parts here, I was experimenting with a ‘rubber bridge’ sound that’s popular right now, especially in indy folk music. Rubber bridge guitars actually have bridges made of rubber instead of wood, which give the instrument a sort of muted, plucky sound with limited sustain. Anyway, it’s a cool sound, and it turns out some clever folks on the internet have come up with ways to mimic the sound without buying a specialized guitar or permanently modifying one you already own. What came out of my experiments is not exactly what I had in mind, but it has its own bounce and vibe that I just went with.
Another experiment here is that the main vocal was recorded using my new Iconic Mars Comet, a foam rubber ball that isolates your microphone from room noise. Supposedly it helps get better vocals without having to acoustically treat your room, which is super expensive and pretty technical. As a test, I recorded another version without the Comet, and the Comet version was definitely cleaner and crisper. Then I used the non-Comet version to double and widen the vocal sound overall. So you’re hearing both, but the Comet version is predominant.
I’ve also added two key enhancements to my process. I’m now using two ‘plug-ins’. These are software add-ons or extensions that help your main software perform certain functions. I’m now using a plug-in called CLA Vocals to process the vocal tracks. And I’m using Abbey Road Studio 3 as a mixing environment—this is a very cool piece of genius that uses headphones and science to simulate the sound as if you were sitting in the mixing room of the legendary Abbey Road Studios. Of course, you’re still stuck with your own knowledge and your own ears, but it’s pretty cool.
That’s all the tech stuff I’ll bore you with this time. I know most readers don’t care about this stuff, but it’s my way of leaving a record of what I did, and hopefully of how I got better at this.
Gear & Software
(Tech shit)
Guitar: Taylor T5z 2016
Hohner Special 20 Harmonica, G
Digital drums: GarageBand Drummer
Hardware: MacBook Air 2020, with AOC 27-inch auxiliary monitor.
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Headphones
Beyerdynamic DT900 ProX Open-back Headphones
PreSonus E5 Studio Monitors
PreSonus M7 Cardioid Condenser Microphone
Love this project. Keep up the good hard work!