Recording.. Atttempt #241
This weekend I went up north to Keswick, taking the 404 until it ends, then going north on a 2-lane road for another 30 mins! It was quite the trek, but worth it.

My drummer lives up there and has his studio all setup in his house. It's a nice studio, mind you dirty, but given the amount of equipment and #of musicians that perform there, it's not a suprise. I really like how it feels like a home studio; the "garage band" vibe :). I was also thrilled to see a wicked drum setup, with a rack mount and at least 8 cymbals around him. There was also a PA system and PA speakers, allowing for his band to really rock out and being able to hear the music and not just noise.

The drummer and I layed down 3 bed tracks that night. By bed tracks, I just mean the very basic rhythm guitar and drum tracks. The most critical part of the process is laying down the drum / rhythm, since everything will be based on top of that. We tried to record other songs, however it wasn't working w/o the rest of the band there. Many of the songs needed everyone else b/c the ending of many songs is dependant on the feel --- we couldn't just arbitrarily say "ok, we'll do a 12 bar outro" with our music.

I'm also super excited b/c my brother and I have been working on the band website. I think he'll do a wicked job, and he's using the tree that a bandmate and I created as the inspiration, as well as the original web template that was created. He'll be adding in more artistic flare to it. I was never totally happy w/it, however I couldn't complain since

a) He did it for free for me, and
b) I don't enough web html skills to freely edit it.

I'm also working on the mailing list and other promo things, along with a new song is ready enough to present to the band. I don't know what it will sound like after the band inputs their parts in the piece, but i'm excited to see what happens. I'm envisioning a cool lead guitar counter melody, which should go well with the rhythm guitar part that i'm playing. We'll see, since i'm actually singing this song so i won't be able to play the lead and sing at the same time. And who knows what the bass/drums and keys will add!

A Buzz at Work
Things at work have been quite hectic, because my manager and I were part of a pitch to a client for a promotion in fall. The team had 1 week to brainstorm, develop concepts, research the best concepts, mock it up, and create a deck / concept boards for today. Crazy eh? I helped out out on one of the concepts, and my one made it to the final 3 to be presented! woo hoo! :) It was a bit nerve racking speaking to the Marketing director of a potential partner, telling them what we want to do w/o telling them the client's name or info like that. But after the tough intro, thankfully she warmed up and I got her really excited about our idea w/partnering with them for the promotion! She dropped her afternoon to work on what I had said (i had no idea until later!), and called me back about her findings.

Thinking about it, this makes sense. Since this promotion could bring them over $100K, why not put a little effort into it? (it's not me trying to get money from them, like cold calling high schools in my last job!) In a sense, I was their client, so they'd first be happy that I approached them on my own, and second be excited about this unanticipated potential incremental income for her. I saw the concept boards from the studio and they look wicked! We had 3 art directors on it, so each concept gave a totally different artist flavour. We are presenting the concepts today, so we'll see how they take to them!

Buffalo Bound
Since it's march break, my sister and mother is off. What does that mean? Road trip to Buffalo! My family is going on a 2 day road trip shopping in the U.S., specifically buffalo. I'm not sure where else they're going, but i'm sure it will be a good time! The march break has so far been GREAT for me, b/c it's so much more quieter in my area. Since i live in a very residental area, much of our traffic in the morning / aft rushes are from the neighbouring schools. I live 15-20 minutes from work, driving in the area of at least 8 schools! So this morning it was desolate -- like chrismas day! No minivans and SUVs to battle. I also shaved off 25% of time on the drive to work today (I hope this summer it will be the same!).

So tonight I have the house to myself. I don't remember the last time I had the entire house to myself. May be 5 years ago? Who knows! It will be nice a quiet... well, except for a visit for dinner from my superboyfriend! It looks to be an eat, drink and being merry night!

Take care,

RE

"eat drink and be merry"