Mastodawn

#PsychedelicGhostStories #ProductionDiary #writing

I'll do a this thread for the overall process, then individual threads for individual songs.

Recording/writing lasted from October 1 until November 15, just a touch over six weeks. This is longer than I usually spend total on an album, and I was hoping to use the additional time to develop my songs a bit more than I had in the past.

I definitely felt like the 28 day timeframe I had dedicated to my last two discrete albums (Oneirogen Codex and Tales of Etherspace, both done as previous #RPMChallenge albums) was not quite enough time to polish my ideas and execute on them. But previous open ended attempts had largely failed to produce much/anything. This time frame seemed about right, especially with the #writing / #production split.

My hope was to #write and #record at least 13 songs in that space of time. I was getting them to the level that I felt the skeleton was there, and as much as the substance as I could do in a reasonable timeframe, but not worrying too much/at all about the #layering, #polishing, and #production. I'd put #effects on things if they were necessary for it to sound "right" (eg a lot of stuff sounds off until the #delay goes on), including some #reverb.

#PsychedelicGhostStories #ProductionDiary #HomeRecording

I didn't mess with getting the #reverb just right, or any of that but a lot of insert effects did get used at this point. I think it makes sense why, listening to the album: it's pretty effects heavy/processed. Hey, as a matter of fact, that brings me to some other #guidelines I came up with in the early recording stages.

#EffectsMatter is the first one, and I capitalized it when I wrote it in my notebook, so you know I meant it LOL.

#PsychedelicGhostStories #ProductionDiary #HomeRecording #MakingMusic #MusicProduction

One of the reviews of my previous album had mentioned that for as weird as it was, it was a pretty dry album overall. And that stung a little LOL. They were right though, I still have an #oldhead approach to #effects -- a little on the conservative side, a habit learned before we could record everything digitally and had so many tools to sculpt the sound both precisely and in wild, unpredictable ways.

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So I decided to make sure I leaned into the #effects. Did I lean far enough? You tell me. I think I got a lot closer than I had previously, but still have some room for improvement. As #weird as some of this album is, I definitely backed down from a few effects stacks that were a little too out there even for me. Maybe next time.

The next rule I came up with/decided on (though it felt like #discovery, not #decision) was #ThisIsASamplingAlbum (even though I am mostly sampling myself). As I was in the early stages of #writing and #recording, I was faced with some decisions of how to actually build the tracks, including how much to do now vs later. Based on the #ThisIsAnMPCAlbum decision earlier, this decision (discovery) followed naturally.

#PsychedelicGhostStories #ProductionDiary #HowItsMade #MusicProduction #HomeRecording #MakingMusic #MyAlbum

Basically, the #MPC offers several #workflow options but the one that feels the most natural/native to the platform, and the one I was the most familiar with, was the #SampleChopping approach, which utilizes the so-called Drum programs in the #MPC to slice up #samples across 16 pads (or multiple banks of 16) that can then be played and sequenced.

#PsychedelicGhostStories #ProductionDiary #HomeRecording #MakingMusic #MyAlbum

So I'd #sequence parts via #MIDI to various external #synths and #DrumMachines, then record those onto #tape (specifically 1/4" reel-to-reel) and sample off the tape in realtime (three-head decks are the best). Some of those got used as is, some got cut up to some degree, and/or mangled with additional effects. I did a similar thing with the #modular, #syncing and #sequencing via #CV rather than MIDI.

This was definitely part of the #writing process, as well as a major element of #production. In the future, I might try to make a brighter line between the two phases... or possibly not. I think it worked, but it does feel like it needs a touch of refinement. Check back in six months after my next iteration of this process and I will have a better idea.

#PsychedelicGhostStories #ProductionDiary #HowItsMade #MusicProduction #Songwriting #MakingMusic

I've also got a note here about how useful the #PrePlanning had been in developing a #plan and a #vision but that's been covered. The final note I want to share is my reassurance to myself that "slow and steady wins the race" because I was definitely not thrilled with my progress at most points in this process. I mentioned wanting to finish 13 tracks during this process but before long I revised it to 11 and even lower. By November 15 I had 9 done.

Ah, but there are 10 songs on the #album! Yes, there sure are, and I'll get to that when we get into the #production phase. In the meantime, I finished the #recording phase with 9 #songs that I was happy with at a fundamental level, that I felt needed varying degrees of work. In all honesty, I was a little skeptical of whether or not I had enough time to get everything done in the four production weeks. But I'll leave it there. Next time, song by song!