Every musician hits a wrong note You just try to do it at the right time. The lyrics might ramble and get lost You can be sure they end with a rhyme.
Dress it up in lights and fantasy Fill it with glitter-truths and noble lies. Pretty poems form a pleasant jingle Packaged with a bow and ribbon ties.
Beautiful From A Distance We desire what we see. And only From A Distance It’s easy to believe.
What seemed warm and delightful Is now turned bitter and freezing cold. It only happens when you get too close Not sure I always knew that or was told.
Then you learn it’s a sale and not a gift No surprise now they expect you to pay. Payments for years turn into a lifetime For the shiny bobble you’ll just throw away.
Beautiful From A Distance Until you hand them your pay. Beautiful From A Distance You’ll just throw it away.
Every musician hits a wrong note You just try to do it at the right time. The lyrics might ramble and get lost You can be sure they end with a rhyme.
Dress it up in lights and fantasy Fill it with glitter-truths and noble lies. Pretty poems form a pleasant jingle Packaged with a bow and ribbon ties.
Beautiful From A Distance Until you hand them your pay. Beautiful From A Distance You just threw it away.
After smoothing out the timing and lyrics to match the mood I was after for this new song, I wrote a melody that seems to fit pretty well.
I squeezed some of the lyrics as I mentioned and cleaned up the instrumental glitches (a technical term for anything that isn’t right) and added a few parts to the instrumental verison I posted earlier.
Minor changes go on for a long time in the final tracking stage. A lot of it will not be used at all and some will be low in volume so as not to hear distinctly. But similar to color splashes added to the face in a painting, it can really bring out the rest of the ‘image’.
I have a rough version of a new song called “What You Want”. Well, it is called that now because I put lyrics to it from an earlier Lyric Post.
This is a tune using an old Yamaha drum machine I recently became caretaker of. I set up a nice but simple drum pattern using my Alesis MIDI drum pad and recording again in Studio One 5 by Presonus. I am using the internal sounds in Studio One 5 to play the bass guitar parts, triggered by an M-Audio MIDI keyboard I got with the drum machine and some other cool toys.
After the beat was down and feeling a bit more fun to play with, I added the two guitar parts using my Ibanez electric guitar. I recorded two tracks but instead of hooking up my amplifier and all my pedals, I plugged straight into the mixingboard so it would go direct-out to my computer input.
I used one of the many plug-ins included with Studio One 5 to add effects to the guitar. The built in guitar tuner plug-in is also really handy and I like the way it operates. So no need to connect to a tuner after each practice take. Each guitar track used the same plug-in but set to different guitar effects.
I am working on adding vocals but for now here is “What You Want”.
Some time ago I was on a trip and opened up Google Maps on my cell phone. I put in the address and after traveling for about fifteen minutes I heard a notification I did not understand. I wanted to see what my next turn was………
As I got closer to the exit I did not recognize the highway or route other than I 74 in the top left corner. It said I was in Cincinnati …
I have never seen these routes and highways in Ohio, let alone Cincinnati
I know the city fairly well and it was no panic but if I was on the road in an unfamiliar area and I had a turn in less than 2 miles that showed a highway not in the region and not even believable, I would have been in trouble lol. I slowed down and stopped to take a couple screen shots.
As I got closer I took a screen capture of the mystery highway direction
I saw this recently in my photos and thought it might give you a bit of a laugh.
I have been working on a new musical piece I call “If When”.
This is a jazzy feeling groove. I am using loops for the drum tracks that I have mashed and cut and edited to give the odd shuffle feel. I use a MIDI controller to trigger tom fills and cymbal crashes to fill out the persussion tracks. Then I add a piano chord progression that plays with the timing of the verses. The piano and bass guitar come from a plug-in in my recording software.
I wrote some lyrics earlier that might fit this so it will eventually have vocals and usually a different name once the lyrics are assigned. I might also add a ‘solo’ instrument like a muted trumpet or other soft horn sound if the next song doesn’t start bubbling up right away. Please enjoy a short groove from my studio.
I have not posted pictures as often this year as in previous ones. I love taking pictures but have not gotten out as much. This has been a beautiful fall in many ways. Taking walks in our local parks and our favorite Spring Grove Cemetery, my wife and I took pictures all day.
As usual it is cloudy and overcast, but the colors held their own. It was simply beautiful everywhere. I hope you enjoy our glimpse of fall.
I’m feeling a little analog and unnecessary Like Unused Words in a lost dictionary. Not forgotten but so unimportant A millionaire who never spent his fortune.
Worthless as a solar panel on a rainy day A scarecrow that can’t make birds fly away. The star of the show that forgot his lines Lost with no direction in a field of mines.
The only one still listening on the telephone The circus clown that wants to be alone. Every day everyone feels the same You look and look and never find the pain.
Unused Words become a forgotten language Only the ancient and the wise will recall. No one else will ever hear for no one will speak Images fade in both the strong and the weak.
It seems I’m just a handle without a door Without knowing what I’m searching for. A fantastic painter but I forgot my brush Left in a hurry but I forgot to rush.
Unused Words become a forgotten language Only the ancient and the wise will recall. No one else will ever hear for no one will speak Images fade in both the strong and the weak.
A bit like a ticket taker on the last show Or a great teacher students will never know. Best-selling writer who’ll never publish a book A telescope to the stars but no one will look.
