A Most Consistent Week

Update on last week’s promise:

Here’s what I accomplished throughout the week and a little bit about how and why I planned my week this way.

Monday: This was the day I wrote about consistency and my commitment to completing at least one music-related task each and every day. I promised to keep a journal of my tasks for the week and share them with you in the next blog post. This is that post.

I was feeling excited about recording a new Little Cricket song that’s in progress, but I wanted to record the remaining instrumentation in a particular order, starting with the bass guitar, and my bass strings desperately needed to be replaced.

I had just received a new set of strings in the mail, so I bit the bullet and got it out of the way.

Of course, no one is going to put new strings on an instrument and not want to try them out immediately.

So I started fiddling around on the bass. Next thing I knew, I had fleshed out the rest of the bass part for the new song. This is usually how the creative stuff happens: suddenly and without warning.

These three tasks (writing last week’s blog post, replacing the bass strings, and finalizing the bass part for the new song) really set me up for what I would accomplish over the rest of the week.

Tuesday: With a fresh set of strings on my bass and the bass part for the new song finalized, I couldn't resist recording the part.

I laid down several takes and comped the best parts pretty handily.

So handily, in fact, that I decided to take a swing at the first rhythm guitar part, the part that set the song into motion in the first place, months ago. I recorded several takes, but ran out of steam before I had a chance to comp them.

With the last of my energy for the night, I did some preliminary mixing, just to tighten things up for the rest of my recording sessions.

Wednesday: Overnight, I heard something that didn’t sound quite right during the song’s bridge. I knew it had to be either the newly recorded bass or rhythm guitar (which had yet to be comped), so I muted each and listened to the original scratch track to get my bearings.

I had played a wrong chord in every take of the rhythm guitar, so I spent the first few minutes of Wednesday’s session re-recording the bridge a few times to make sure I got that chord just right.

I wasn’t quite in the mood to comp the rhythm guitar just yet, so I took a little time to adjust the guitar tone for a second rhythm part.

After that, I comped the first rhythm guitar part and called it a night.

Thursday: I had a lot of momentum at this point, so I started out the session by recording several takes of the new, second rhythm guitar part.

Like the day before, I decided to take a break from this track and adjust the guitar tone for a third and final track, the lead part.

After that, I returned to the second rhythm guitar and comped the best parts.

I also spent a few minutes adjusting the tone of an already-existing synth track.

Friday: I was feeling pretty burnt out by this point, so I settled for recording the third and final guitar part and moved on from music for the night. It’s totally fine to have a stripped-down session like this, particularly after a period of concentrated productivity.

Saturday: Having recovered some of my enthusiasm for the production, I comped the lead guitar track and did some more preliminary mixing.

Sunday: This morning I modified the synth track and added a new synth part. At this point, the instrumentation is fairly solidified, with only the vocals left to be recorded and comped.

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This was a solid week. I could hardly be more satisfied than I am with what I was able to achieve in just a few days. If the momentum carries through to next week, I might take a stab at recording the vocals.

On the other hand, I have several other projects I can fall back on if I need a break from this particular song.

I hope this offers an interesting sneak peek at the Little Cricket production process. Stay tuned, because I’d like to make a video to show you what the session looks like at this stage. Maybe next week...

Until then,

Cheers!