RPM Challenge 2011

Danny G · January 30, 2011, 02:51:28 PM

Anyone participating this year?

http://www.rpmchallenge.com

Going for the trifecta, did instrumental solo albums for 2009 and 2010 and going for a three-peat.

Have already done a little pre-pro work to test sounds recording in my room, as opposed to drums in the garage.

My other two RPM albums:

Red River Day Care http://www.myspace.com/redriverdaycare

Ocean of Stars http://www.facebook.com/dannygmusic (on music player).

neighbor664 · January 30, 2011, 04:08:19 PM

I'm gonna give it try again. Hopefully I get enough time to not half ass it this year.

Hemisaurus · January 30, 2011, 05:19:02 PM

clockwork green · January 30, 2011, 05:49:11 PM

What's the appeal? Is it just for the challenge of pushing yourself and writing?

eyeprod · January 30, 2011, 06:03:34 PM

I think it is kinda to push yourself. I signed up because it sounds fun and I need a project to get me motivated right now.

Working on lots of tune ideas on guitar always, but it's another thing to find the gems in the bunch and then figure them out on drums and bass. I also started setting up my recorded drum sounds. Just picked up a cheap set. So far, so good... I'm going for lo-fi, so it's a lot easier than trying to attain some unrealistic vision of sonic greatness. Actually, the trashy sound I have going will be alright for my concept since I'm doing a garagey psych thing with touches of ethnic and found sounds. Man, that bass tone I'm getting is forcing me to want to minimize guitar and keep the bass in the foreground! I jut love heavy bass in rock. Using that big thud and opposing it with a nice "reverby" snare, I think I can come up with 35 minutes worth of music. It's a challenge

spookstrickland · January 30, 2011, 08:51:35 PM

Fuck if Joe and I were still playing together I would totally do this we could crank out a 35 minute jam no sweat.

Good luck guy's give us a heads up when you are done so we can check them out.

Cheers

zachoff · January 30, 2011, 11:44:01 PM

I'd be into this but I know for sure I would fail... Not enough time in my day to record 10 songs in 28 days. Good luck though. Looks like it'd be a fun thing if you have the time.

giantchris · February 01, 2011, 03:55:53 AM

I am definitely doing it this year but I might not finish in time. I might just have to post mostly-vocalless demos and finish it in March. But I promised myself I'm gonna enter. Overall my stuff is turning out pretty well. Its kinda a weird mix of stuff little bit of old Celtic Frost/HoF with some Isisy type stuff. Either or its a hell of a lot of fun to do which makes it worth it. I've been really impressed with the guitar and bass tones I've been getting - I'm recording everything amp-less through my line 6 toneport ux1 and I've gotten some tone compliments from some people I know. Kinda have to get the amp expansions for the Line 6 stuff to sound good though the generic amps are only ok.

Danny G · February 01, 2011, 08:55:31 PM

Plotted out arrangements and laid down drums for 2 songs today. So far so good!

New heads on the drums (thank you Rob!) and good results with using my PA mixer board and three mics (kick, snare, overhead) as opposed to 2 room mics as used in the past -- digital 8 track only records 2 tracks at a time, so using the mono out from the board into 2 tracks.

Tomorrow will lay down guitar (and maybe bass too depending on my progress) and work out some more ideas. Sounds like the cheapie used power tubes I threw into my Marshall for last year's album are finally going out. Hopefully the tubes in the Epiphone Valve Standard chassis have some life left in them, may have to use it instead. Which ain't the end of the world as it sounded awesome last year \m/,

HeavyEar · February 02, 2011, 02:09:16 AM

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giantchris · February 02, 2011, 03:14:24 AM

Quote from: HeavyEar on February 02, 2011, 02:09:16 AM
Cool, glad you brought this up, DannyG. Just went to the rpm site after your Obelisk post. (will listen to Ocean of Stars when I can crank volume tomorrow - sounds good). But I gotta do the RPM challenge when it starts, looks like a workout.

Just did start its for the month of Feb.

HeavyEar · February 02, 2011, 03:24:08 AM

.

neighbor664 · February 02, 2011, 02:02:05 PM

I have not started the actual tracking yet. I've done a little recording to get levels and "pre-production" though. I was gearing up to do some tracking last night and instead came up with the seed of a song idea instead.

I work tonight till 10pm, so no recording at all today.

Danny G · February 03, 2011, 11:21:21 AM

Played guitar most of the day on two songs I did drums for on Tuesday.

Shit, trying to decide if I can live with the tempos on them. I tried these 2 ideas out last week while testing drum sounds and mic placements on amp, pre-production work. Ran two one-take scratch guitar and scratch bass track on them just to see how it all sounded. Can't use existing drum tracks cause now using 3 mics instead of 2 (and that would be "cheating" heh.)

Now I am struggling to re-produce those ideas. Fuckin hell, I hate when the magic is there but it is too soon to work on the ideas... shit shit shit fuck.

Will listen in a bit then decide if I will be playing drums today or guitar and bass...

But on a really cool note, have musician friends who want to guest track on this album. My good friend Adrian Conner (Hell's Belles/Adrian and the Sickness) has expressed interest in guitar tracks, which is awesome cause I've been trying to make music with her for years, heh! (Her and Heather from AATS played guitar and bass for the one set I've done so far as Ocean of Stars). That and my ex-bandmate rock singer roommate has expressed interest in singing on some of it too, that will be awesome cause she's a great singer and I am writing music with no vocals whatsoever in mind, so be interesting to see what she comes up with. That, and her BF is an awesome drummer. So if I need to retrack, I have a pro-level drummer spending lots of time at our adode, the House of DDT.

Either way, wx shitty outside and no plans to leave the house any time soon. Gonna blaze up and work on music all day, and try to stay warm.

eyeprod · February 03, 2011, 07:27:38 PM

I've got one tune started. Well, I am piecing it together using cut and paste. Then after I get the arrangement down I'm going to do it over from start to finish. I'm not very good at drums, so basically I'll be using every drum beat I know to make up songs starting from the drums and adding things from there. Might work on it tonight, but I've got a family dinner I need to attend and will likely get drunk at. Then this weekend I'll be working on art for Mawsos band. Shit, I'm also leaving town for a week later this month. Hope I can do this with my schedule.

giantchris · February 04, 2011, 02:07:05 AM

Quote from: eyeprod on February 03, 2011, 07:27:38 PM
I've got one tune started. Well, I am piecing it together using cut and paste. Then after I get the arrangement down I'm going to do it over from start to finish. I'm not very good at drums, so basically I'll be using every drum beat I know to make up songs starting from the drums and adding things from there. Might work on it tonight, but I've got a family dinner I need to attend and will likely get drunk at. Then this weekend I'll be working on art for Mawsos band. Shit, I'm also leaving town for a week later this month. Hope I can do this with my schedule.

http://www.acoustica.com/beatcraft/
My drummer never gets tired.

Danny G · February 04, 2011, 12:20:11 PM

Spent yesterday re-recording everything I had done Tuesday and Wednesday.

Drum takes reasonably solid but tempos were too damn fast and losing the groove. Still have original drum takes tho in case I change my mind. However I was able to redo everything in half the time since I knew more where I was going with it. Drums not as tight in places, but sounds MUCH better over all.

Today learning how to backup and export data from my 8-track to my laptop (and then to my external hard drive). Yesterday learned I was out of room on my 8-track four minutes into my first five minute guitar take.

But now have (affordable) connection on tubes for my Marshall. Will get that fucker retubed now ASAP, back to JJ E-34L's as opposed to the current secondhand 6550's. The Epiphone Valve Std chassis sounds pretty good powering my Marshall 4x12 cab, but it's just *not* my JCM800.

Danny G · February 06, 2011, 02:47:46 PM

Really glad I re-recorded everything. Even with scratch bass tracks it's much improved. Layin real bass down tomorrow probably, then on to some more ideas.

May have guest players this time, have vocals, guitar and sax player friends interested in guest tracking. Awesome!

eyeprod · February 06, 2011, 05:09:52 PM

Cool. I did a 3 minute noise track today in about two hours. Kind of a break beat thing with a helios creed vibe. simple bass, heavily delayed guitars screeching and wailing, super distorted and processed vocals, and some other percussive stuff. pretty fun, but it needs some editing to clean it up with so much delay going on. Next I want to do a couple of acoustic tracks with the same spaciness, but cleaner vocals, sorta like something off hawkwinds doremi fasol latido, which is a favorite record of mine.

eyeprod · February 09, 2011, 12:44:59 AM

I've got three demos up now. Pretty much figured out my concept, and it's coming right along. Nonsensical psych rock is what I would call it. This is a fun after work project, and my drumming is getting a little better depending on what I try to do.

Check it out, but be prepared to turn down the volume.
http://rpmchallenge.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userprofile&user=9285

giantchris · February 09, 2011, 04:41:53 AM

Quote from: eyeprod on February 09, 2011, 12:44:59 AM
I've got three demos up now. Pretty much figured out my concept, and it's coming right along. Nonsensical psych rock is what I would call it. This is a fun after work project, and my drumming is getting a little better depending on what I try to do.

Check it out, but be prepared to turn down the volume.
http://rpmchallenge.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userprofile&user=9285

That stuff has a cool vibe man. Spike to the brain reminds me of what its like when you're driving home stoned and you think you see a cop a couple blocks behind you.

I just recorded a rough sketch of one of my songs without a lead instrument yet kinda get the feeling I'll never finish it in time. Probably need to re-record the guitar as well as I'm a pretty terrible guitar player. I am pretty happy with the instrument's tone and how the mix sits though. I also did a neato mini bass solo towards the end that I'm pretty proud of. This was all recorded digital with a Toneport UX1.
http://rpmchallenge.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userprofile&user=9084&Itemid=296

Danny G · February 09, 2011, 01:49:41 PM

Have basic drums, bass and guitar done for 2 songs. Listening to the mixes today to make sure they are up to snuff. Then passing these 2 songs along to friends for possible guest tracking.

Came up with 2 useable songs yesterday and a third idea which just needs another part.

Last month was kicking around the idea of doing an instrumental concept album based on the book "House of Leaves," but abandoned the idea as too ambitious for the RPM Challenge time constraints (that, and 1/3 of Ocean of Stars would have been PERFECT for it...). But one of the new songs I came up with yesterday I could easily see turning into at least a three-part trilogy based on the book. First track I am already calling "The Five and a Half Minute Hallway," which fittingly turned out to be 5:30 long. Nice.

Hell may have the album be a split EP and call it 'Sunrise on the Sea Floor/House of Leaves'.

eyeprod · February 09, 2011, 08:44:04 PM

Thanks Giantchris. That's a good description of that track. About to do some more right now

peyotepeddler · February 09, 2011, 11:34:50 PM

actually eyeprod, i've heard some of your music besides this, and the drums came out of left field, in a good way, has this triphop vibe to them, maybe its the production on them, i'm digging hazey, keep it up

eyeprod · February 09, 2011, 11:51:55 PM

Thanks dude. It means a lot coming from a discerning music fan (and Ali Farka lover)!

Just put up the one I did tonight and have remixed the others. Trying to balance shit out, ya know.

The new one is the heaviest yet. Came up with the bass line last night, but had to wait until tonight to work on it.