New song: "8AM", and the joys of hansei
Here's the new song I've been working on this month. I made the deadline
(barely), but I couldn't write this post before. I'm sure there are
fluctuations in the Dow Jones due to this delay, so apologies.
I am delayed in the process of starting the next song, because I'm doing a thorough, very enjoyable, post-mortem of this one. Going slow to go fast. I'm tranquil about the March deadline because I have a lot of songs that are "halfway there" in my wip folder, so, in Lean terms, I'm using the composing, preproduction and recording stages as a protective buffer. However, there is nothing sacred about my "one song a month" pace, so I don't intend to keep it stubbornly at the expenses of quality if that turns to be an issue. Let's see how I do this month, and then I might change to the "a song WITHIN each month" formula, or any other solution.
A hansei stage has been added to my process, and I think for good. The S-A (Study Adjust) part of the PDSA cycle is often very volatile, so I'm very happy to see so clearly its tangible results. "Next song will be better" is no longer wishful thinking. Better processes will lead to better results, there's nothing magic about that (no magic, although often good luck embraces you when you embrace this kind of thinking).The things I could, I solved along the way. The others went to hansei.txt, and I'm dealing with them one by one, and I love it. In the end, it's a matter of organization. Instead of the random "I'm going to surf Internet for audio production tips that I can add to my arsenal" that I used to do, now I write what went wrong, and then go for it like a sniper during this stage, and it all adds up. (I also write what went well, and standardize it).
Now with the particular song, "8 AM". This one's traveled in my head for almost 2 decades, in the zipped state I've described in a previous post. For a long time I ditched it because the melody in the crescendo part was too similar to that cheesy 80's song, "Footloose", something downright embarrassing when you're a young punk. I've faced that problem finally with a typical strategy of modern art, incorporating the criticism to the work itself; I say "footloose" and the end, like saying yeah, I know I know. I like this trick and use it often, maybe because it "pays homage" to others (art is not created in a vacum, you are what you eat), and also is a healthy way of not taking yourself too seriously.
As for other, less embarrassing influences, the start-stop-start-stop structure and the singing style probably have a lot to thank to Butthole Surfers (specifically "Moving to Florida", also anything from "Rembrandt Pussyhorse"). There are a lot of other influences from diverse sources enrichening the thing and I had a lot of fun recording this. I also want to emphatically make clear that this is NOT based on a true story. I have never, never, ever been in the situation described in the song. I've never been caught by my father while I was arriving home drunk at 8 in the morning. Nuff said. :P
I am delayed in the process of starting the next song, because I'm doing a thorough, very enjoyable, post-mortem of this one. Going slow to go fast. I'm tranquil about the March deadline because I have a lot of songs that are "halfway there" in my wip folder, so, in Lean terms, I'm using the composing, preproduction and recording stages as a protective buffer. However, there is nothing sacred about my "one song a month" pace, so I don't intend to keep it stubbornly at the expenses of quality if that turns to be an issue. Let's see how I do this month, and then I might change to the "a song WITHIN each month" formula, or any other solution.
A hansei stage has been added to my process, and I think for good. The S-A (Study Adjust) part of the PDSA cycle is often very volatile, so I'm very happy to see so clearly its tangible results. "Next song will be better" is no longer wishful thinking. Better processes will lead to better results, there's nothing magic about that (no magic, although often good luck embraces you when you embrace this kind of thinking).The things I could, I solved along the way. The others went to hansei.txt, and I'm dealing with them one by one, and I love it. In the end, it's a matter of organization. Instead of the random "I'm going to surf Internet for audio production tips that I can add to my arsenal" that I used to do, now I write what went wrong, and then go for it like a sniper during this stage, and it all adds up. (I also write what went well, and standardize it).
Now with the particular song, "8 AM". This one's traveled in my head for almost 2 decades, in the zipped state I've described in a previous post. For a long time I ditched it because the melody in the crescendo part was too similar to that cheesy 80's song, "Footloose", something downright embarrassing when you're a young punk. I've faced that problem finally with a typical strategy of modern art, incorporating the criticism to the work itself; I say "footloose" and the end, like saying yeah, I know I know. I like this trick and use it often, maybe because it "pays homage" to others (art is not created in a vacum, you are what you eat), and also is a healthy way of not taking yourself too seriously.
As for other, less embarrassing influences, the start-stop-start-stop structure and the singing style probably have a lot to thank to Butthole Surfers (specifically "Moving to Florida", also anything from "Rembrandt Pussyhorse"). There are a lot of other influences from diverse sources enrichening the thing and I had a lot of fun recording this. I also want to emphatically make clear that this is NOT based on a true story. I have never, never, ever been in the situation described in the song. I've never been caught by my father while I was arriving home drunk at 8 in the morning. Nuff said. :P
