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PLAYWRIGHT WORK ‐‐ CLOSED READING, TODAY:

The readers are, in alphabetical order:
• Jenna Gomes De Gruy
• Barbara Jorgensen
• Zach Katris
• Amanda Shannon

There will be a few guests invited to hear it and render some feedback. As I've said, I have some plans to submit the play several places soon, so it will be important to hear it out loud one more time before the final revision proceeding submissions.

click here to go to the index of the "Playwright Work" blog entries

ON THE BRINK OF TECH WEEK:

Today I am doing the wrap-up on sound design for the show. The play reading mentioned above is at The Guild, and when it's done I'll be sticking around to do the sound work. In fact, I'll be bringing my sleeping bag and toiletries to spend the night, something that is a bit of a tradition for me on Tech Weekends, especially when I am the sound designer.

Along with being the show's AD, I'll also be crewing the show as a stage hand. Plus there will be a couple performances where I'll be sitting in as the sound tech.

I'll also be shooting the promotional trailer for the show tomorrow. I'm shooting just about a thirty-second excerpt from early in the script.

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PLAYWRIGHT WORK ‐‐ SATURDAY'S READING:

Kudos to my readers: Jenna Gomes De Gruy, Barbara Jorgensen, Zach Katris, and Amanda Shannon, who served the words well, especially with no rehearsal beforehand.

At this point, beside consideration of that levity proposal, I only know of one slight revision I'll be doing before I start submitting the play. There is a line of direction that I am going to reword because an actor mistook it for an isolated line of dialogue, despite that it did not begin flush-left, as dialogue does in a properly-formatted play manuscript. Still, I will reword it for clarity's sake.

click here to go to the index of the "Playwright Work" blog entries

WOMEN (AND MEN) IN TECH REHEARSAL:

Working on the sound plot document, at The Guild, Saturday.

The sound tech side of the tech booth, mid-morning, Sunday.

Sunday, I shot the promotional trailer, which was in final cut by late afternoon, yesterday.

Click here for the trailer for the show

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Click here for the trailer for the show

Women in Jeopardy's Tech Week is wrapped, with last night's Final Dress. It's Opening Night Day. If you live close by, you should check it out. It's a darkly funny show.

I am happy to say that our sound tech, Ms. Sarah Saunders, has been able to join us for the run, having ironed out the issues that might have prevented her, which is good, because she's top-notch at the job. So I am now only a stage hand from this point forward, with the exception of two shows this weekend, tomorrow and Sunday, where it had been arranged since the beginning that I would step in to run sound while Sarah is away for previously scheduled personal events.

The production is ready for you. The cast and crew are both on top of their game.

See you there.

FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL'S TREASURE ISLAND:

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BACK TO THE VIRTUALLY APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE:

A big thing is that I have a lot of mixing and mastering to do. All that which had been previously mixed and mastered in Final Cut Pro X, not the correct tool for the job, needs to be redone in Logic Pro X. That's everything except the single, "Just One Shadow" and "Roll the Dice," though "Roll the Dice" will not appear on the album.

I have about 75-80% of the latest song, "Burning Bridge" mixed, and the recording sessions for it are done, so I'll probably work on that one tonight. I currently have an iterim mix of the rhythm track, but the lead vocal and the instrument solos are not in a mix yet. Plus, I want to redo much of the equalization and I might tweak the mix of the stereo pan, too.

I also want to record at least one more song, and two more if I can fit the second one in. But I have not decided what the next one, and the possible one after it, will be. I do have candidates, as I've written here before, some from my youth, the 70s or 80s of last century, and a few new songs, which would need their composition finished. I'm setting a goal to be pulling out the 24-Track recorder next week. My choice of material may be some eleventh-hour action.

One of the songs I need to re-mix and re-master sooner rather than later is my choice as the next single, which I plan to release around the same time as the album release. I also need to start conceptualizing, planning, and moving into preproduction for that song's music video.

Actually, I already have come up with an idea but there's neither the time nor the finances to manefest that concept into a final cut. My idea was a full-out animated video, which I would have to have an animator do. I simply cannot even think of asking someone to put that kind of work in without paying them fair-market wages. A 5:00 animated music video would cost me at least four figures, and likely five figures. It also would take some time to produce so the video might not make a deadline at the point for the release-date window I'm shooting for.

I think have a bit of catchup to do to get myself fully hooked up as an artist with iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, etc. The single is on all platforms but I haven't connected my self with artist's accounts on them.

I also need to send out another wave of CDs of the current single to public and independent radio stations, broadcast and internet. At this point I have no knowledge that any station I have already sent to has played either song, even once. That includes WYSO, which is a ten-minute drive from my home.

There are other business admin things I need to get in gear and attend to, as well. For One thing, I should go to BMI and see if the songs have finally been listed as registered. And I need to get the single registered with Soundscan, though the idea that the service would count enough downloads or streams to put the single on the Billboard Hot 100 seems more than simply far-fetched. This is mostly a case of Act as If.

FIRST WEEKEND OF THE RUN, DOWN:

The view from the booth during the opening night performance.

How did the first weekend go, you ask? It went

FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL'S TREASURE ISLAND:

The view from the booth during Tech Saturday.

For one thing, there's the balance between some of the ambient sound and the actors, when they are miked, which on Saturday and Monday, they were not. One of the reasons I do want to go back for other rehearsals, after the actors are using mics, is so I can deal with the true volume balance issues.

Director Jeff Sams and his AD, Lucas George, have also asked if I could add some underscoring in a few places. I can do it but they will be teching without it for the rest of the week. Fortunately they have two tech weeks for this show, so the cast should have some good chances to rehearse with the new sound and the several tweaks that will be happening, some which I haven't mentioned here, but I know I am making.

WILLKOMMEN, BIENVENUE:

The show runs tonight through this Saturday, at the PNC Arts Annex. It'd be a great way to spend an evening!

I must also note that fifteen years ago, Charity appeared in my first short film The Chorus for Candice.

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MIXING THE BRIDGE THAT BURNS:

Though I didn't get to it on Wednesday night as I stated I would, I started over mixing "Burning Bridge" last night. When I say, "started over," that is what I mean. I went back to 0 for all volume levels and I pulled all plugins (i.e: effects ‐‐ EQ, reverb, etc) and started fresh. However, I didn't change any of the stereo pan mixes, which doesn't mean I won't, but at the moment they are as they were after my first pass.

I'm not done mixing the song, but before I get to the mastering phase I want to do as much pre-mastering as I can. I've dropped some effects plugins back in, at this point only into tracks that weren't there during the last mixing session, which was for the rhythm tracks.

I have fauxed-up the faux guitar solo work. If you read some past entries you know that I performed that solo work on my Epiphone Viola Bass. But, as I have done with several other songs in this project, I used a pitch shifting plugin to push the part up one octave so we get into the range of an electric guitar. That goal had already been helped because I ran the bass through my Boss SY-1 guitar synthesizer pedal when I recorded it, which alter the sound before I started processing it in Logic Pro X. I also have added a distortion plugin, the Chromaverb plugin, an echo plugin, and an EQ plugin. This is the only thing I've EQ'd yet, but other tracks will get such same treatment during the mixing stage.

The lead vocal, also new, also has the Chromverb on it as well as a tad of compression, and a gain (volume) plugin to help boost the volume from a plugin rather than the volume control on the mixer -- that way I can use the mixer volume for fine tuning.

I'll probably throw some individual EQ on the drums tracks and the bass. At this point I don't know about the other instrumentation, but obviously anything is fare game if I think it needs it.

I have balanced the volumes of everything against the drums at the 0 volume level, so that in the sections where I need to boost the volume of the drums a tad, I can do so without pushing them to the point of going beyond the upper threshold of volume so that the signal has that too-loud distortion sound, called pegging or hitting a hot signal ‐‐ it's when the meter needle or LED indicator is in the red zone. And there are some spots where I need to boost the drums a little bit for better effect and dynamics for the song. There's at least one spot, if not more, where I need to do it for the bass line, too, but the bass currently sitting at -3.2, without a gain plugin, so I have some room, and I won't need to boost it that much, anyway.

I'd love to work on this mix a bit more today, but with crewing Women in Jeopardy at The Guild tonight, then again tomorrow afternoon, and with a Guild board meeting in the morning, I won't likely get back to this mix until tomorrow evening.

At least I'm on it.

THREE ACTORS ON THE ROAD TO MECCA:

The Cast of The Road to Mecca
CHARACTER		ACTOR
Miss Helen		Kathy Campbell
Elsa Barlow		Lynn Vanderpool
Marius Byleveld		Peter Wallace
To All!!!

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ON THE VERGE OF THE LAST MILE TO THE FINISH LINE:

And, once again, "Finished" refers to the recording of instruments and vocals being done, not being totally mixed and mastered.

Looking at that goal of releasing the album by mid December, it's clear I have to dedicate much time soon on the mixing and mastering of the other songs for the line-up, most which will be re-mixing and re-mastering. That's a total of six songs. That total counts all parts of "Medley: The Death of the..../Memories of the Times Before/Memories Endbit/The Death of the (reprise)" as one song, and does not include Song #9, "Utopia's Dystopia," which hasn't been formally recorded yet, and I am not likely to finish for the project. There is a demo version, but that presented me with a lot of problems with the song that I'll iron out later.

As I have written before, the next song to be mixed and mastered will be the next single, which I'd like to have out by mid November, late November at the latest. And there's a music video to think about, that needs to be at final cut by the release date of the song ‐‐ and I barely have a concept for the video.

We're bearing down on sessions for Song #12, and though I am not completely sure what that song will be, I am leaning toward one from all those years ago, a little jazzy pop ballad I wrote when I was about twenty. There are a couple songs I've started in the last year that are possible, too. Perhaps what will happen is that I do this pop/jazz ballad from the late '70s then do one of these two new ones. If that is the case, the one most likely to be recorded would be a jazz/rock number (that I wanna see as Steely Dan influenced), which I started on that Winter Vacation 2020. Whatever I record next, the session will start first chance after I've finished the mix/master of "Burning Bridge."

It's looking like I need to create an artist's page or account for my social media connections. Some of the platforms where the music is available like them as credentials of identity. Of course, I was planning on eventually creating such, but I really would rather wait until there is something that would actually at least resemble a fan base. Creating an artist's page at facebook or an artist's account on Instagram right now feels sort of presumptuous of me. I probably have it backward. These pages and accounts are probably part of the process of building a fan base. As for any hopes and dreams of building a massive fan base ‐‐ I think I'd best keep my feet planted firmly on the ground as far as that notion is concerned.

But, I mean, I did start klstorer.com, so it's not like I haven't already built something for "fans" or other curious people to visit.

Though the laws state that I already own complete copyrights to both songs on the first single, as well as the copyright on the recording and the artwork, I have yet to officially register any of this material with the U.S. Copyright Office.

It's been both a question of sitting down to figure out exactly what I need to do to properly register each facet, as well as the expense for all the filings.

Registered intellectual property has much better protection against plagiarism and other infringements, so I do need to finally get this done.

I've been waiting for a shipment of two-hundred self-seal bubble mailer envelopes to mail off CDs of the single to more public and independent radio stations, but the order is hung up in this major supply-chain slowdown plaguing the world. I ordered the envelopes in early September. I really need to simply stop by an Office Depot, or an equivalent, and buy a dozen or so just so I can get some CDs out in the immediate future. And I ought to think internationally. I should especially research Great Britain and Canada.

Something else that needs my attention is me sitting down to administer the organization of a variety of information I need, as well as some record keeping. This will mostly mean creating and maintaining some Excel documents.

Some of it will have to do with expenditures out and income in, but a lot of it will be records, tracking promotional actions, what was mailed or emailed or otherwise communicated to whom and when. There also several different assigned numbers that I need close at hand for each recording or for compositions. Having those numbers collected together in one place will be a smart and handy convenience.

SIX DOWN, THREE TO GO:

I was on sound tech duty, those of you who are revisiting this blog might recall, on Friday and Saturday. I am happy to report no screw-ups from me, which pleased the sound designer to no end.

We have three shows left:

Friday - 8:00 Saturday - 5:00 Sunday - 3:00

You should check it out if you are or will be in the area.

FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL'S TREASURE ISLAND:

So, this is the spiral staircase up to the tech booth at Franklin High School. Of course, I’ve had to climb up and down that thing several times. As an uber acrophobe it has been less than fun!

They are wrapping their tech week with tonight's final dress rehearsal.

The show runs this weekend. I am not sure how many performances or if there are any on Sunday. but I do know that Friday is Opening Night.

Treasure island is a fun little show and the cast is having a blast doing it.

Unfortunately, mostly because of Women in Jeopardy at DTG, I will not be able to attend a performance of Treasure Island.

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MASTERS AND ANSWERS:

The single's B-side (aka: extra track), "Roll the Dice," is, of course, also in final mastered form, but won't be on the album.

The plan is still to mix and master the second single next, then from there I'll probably do the rest of the songs in the currently projected order they'll appear in the album line-up. That line-up is not solidly determined, but any changes will likely be minimal. The opening and closing songs are pretty much written in stone, especially the opening cut, which was written with the idea that it's opening the album.

Now I am leaning even heavier toward the next song recorded for the album being that song from the past. It's a jazzy pop ballad titled, "The Answer," and since I have spent a lot of mental energy the last few days thinking about musical arrangement and how I'll record it, it seems pretty clear it's forcing itself onto the agenda and the album.

If it's at all possible to make the mid-December deadline for release and still record one more song for the album, that is what I will do. It is my goal to make that happen. Again, at this point, what song that will be I am not sure. As I wrote before, it's likely to be one of the new ones that are on the docket to be finished. But, who knows. That would be a ten-song line-up, counting the medley as one song. The album would run about one hour, maybe around 55 minutes if that last song doesn't get recorded.

So I shared an MP3 of "Burning Bridge" with a few people have gotten positive responses from them all.

One wrote: "As the fan I'm happy with the new song. Good stuff. As the critical listener you've notably improved the recording quality. Congratulations."

Another wrote: "That is definitely a rock song! There was some major chair-dancing going on in this office. So when are you putting a band together?"

Another wrote: "Cool! I like that you have the bass sound pretty prominent. And, is that some fuzz guitar or is that something else doing the fuzzy sound?"

My response to the band question was a reiteration of what I've written here on the subject: "A band demands a commitment of time and energy I am not sure how I’d be able to give." I suppose the truth is that it's a demand on my time and energy that would mean sacrificing, or at least minimizing, my time and energy toward other artistic ventures, such as my thespian activities and involvements. At this moment I am not prepared to do that. It doesn't mean I won't be in the future. Plus, there needs to be a good rehearsal venue, to which at the moment I have no access.

The answer to the fuzz guitar question was: "The fuzz is actually three separate chorded bass parts, each played high on the neck, and all ran through a distortion pedal ‐‐ one panned left, one panned right, one in the middle, to get a sort of faux-surround sound," that which you five regulars may remember from past blog posts, where I'm at least reasonably sure I wrote of the process.

Also, the bass is so prominent in what he heard because he was listening on headphones which usually punch the bass end of recordings. The bass is not as prominent through most sound systems as it is on most headphones, though it's not buried, either. In the flat mix it's certainly close to up front. I've also noticed that on my headphones the Chris-Squire/Geddy-Lee-metallic-edge to the bass tone is lost, as well.

Here is the projected song line-up for the album, as of today, Friday, October 22, 2021, with an educated guess as to the length of "The Answer," and such guess also for the length of the unknown song, based on my habitual tendency toward songs in the 5:00-7:00 range, on average.

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SONGS #12 &13(?)

It's not probable that I'll start recording tonight, but rather just be reacquainting myself with the song. My memory of the chord spellings and progressions are that they aren't difficult, so I doubt it'll be a frustrating evening. I do want to play with the time signatures, at least in the begning of the song. I think it's what I was doing naturally back in 80s (late 70s?), but I need to correctly identify the beats in each measure, etc., for the arrangement.

For this one, I am going to finally use my Oxygen 61 Keyboard, in this case for some type of horn voice. Some will know that I've been using the Yamaha PSR-180 and the Yamaha PSR-12 for horn and reed voices for other songs in the album project, but now that I have the Oxygen, that'll likely be my go-to for such. And I haven't used it on anything yet, so we take our virgin voyage with this song.

My goal is still to try and get one more song squeezed into the sessions for this album. I've mentioned a progressively, Steely-Dan-type jazz song that I started last December, during the Winter Vacation 2020 week at the rented cottage in Dover, Ohio. It's another piano-bassed song, and it's a strong candidate for that potential Song #13. It's not a finished song, at all. It's only partially begun musically and I have no lyrics, whatsoever. So, because of the looming deadline, it's partial shape is not to its advantage. But I may at least give it a try. Unless, I get another inspiration.

A few times lately, I've heard a song on the radio, or elsewhere, and thought: Something in that vein might not be a bad way to go. That sort of thought really comes up frequently, anyway. But there have been a few really strong occurrences here lately.

The Legato III and the Tascam 24-Track set up and waiting for me to get home to start working on "The Answer." Though, I may not use the Tascam today.	Dust covers while they wait: My Macca beach towel for the piano and an old kitchen towel for the 24-track.

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GETTING "THE ANSWER":

The first couple sections of the chords document. My music-theory challenged version of musical notating.

Last night I worked out the chords to "The Answer," though I’m not at all sure these are all the same chords as back in the 80s, especially in the bridge section.

My voice needs shaping up, too. I found it difficult to sing the song like I did back in my early twenties. Granted, my voice was not warmed up at all last night, but still, like my bass playing these days, I am not singing every day as I was in those days, so my voice is not in the same shape ‐‐ a point that I believe I have made before. I am definitely sure that I will need to exercise my voice to perhaps a serious extent before I can lay a vocal track that will satisfy me. I am wondering if I can match the vocal control I had in those days in any sort of quick time frame.

Tonight, along with rehearsal of both the piano part and the vocal, I'll also program the drums part in GarageBand. You may note on the right, that there are a couple of what I think might be 6/4 measures: six beats with a whole note valued at four beats; again, I think that would be 6/4, but my limited music theory knowledge leaves me quite unsure. It might just be that beats 5 & 6 are in an added half measure. At any rate, I know where the six-beat counts go, so however the music theorists would label it and put it on a music staff, I at least know what I want, where it goes, and how to play it. Those six-beat counts only appear in the first verse at the opening of the song. It'll be 4/4, for sure, from the first bridge, onward.

Last night, reacquainting myself with the chords to "The Answer."

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AN FB ARTIST'S PAGE & "THE ANSWER":

As I indicated I would, in a post above, I have had to create a facebook artist's page (I think "fan page" is a little presumptuous). Again, as I wrote before, I kind of think it's a little premature to create an artist's page at all at this juncture, but for technical reasons I need one to exist to satisfy particular interests that I am who I say I am. Thus I have created "K.L.Storer's Artist's Page" at facebook.

On the "fan page" idea, one of my friends has pointed out that "the artist creates an artist page. A fan page is created by a fan." To that I respond that facebook used to call all of these "Fan pages," I think keying in on the old fan club concept, with many fan clubs being actually created just as often by a celeb's publicity agent as by actual fans. But, regardless of that, and again, as I have written before, it's the chicken/egg thing. For me to believe I have a "fan base" for an artist's page is pretty silly. But then, part of self-promotion, of PR (publicity) and building a "fan base," or whatever we want to call it, is creating an artist's page.

Also, there's no doubt I'm over-thinking it, but what-a-ya-gonna-do?

Tuesday evening, Oct 26, I put together the drum part for "The Answer," programming it in GarageBand. I actually ended up adding four measures to the song, thus, also to the drum programming, the next day. I doubled the intro into the second verse. According to the drum programming, the song will come in just over 4:15, which is pretty close to what I had estimated. The next night I recorded the drums into the new song project on the Tascam 24-Track recorder, through playback from GarageBand project on my MacBook Pro. I also, rehearsed the piano part during the progression of the evening.

In the October 26 blog post I wrote that I wasn't at all sure I had all the same chords from when I wrote the song back in the 80s, especially in the bridge section. Now I think that there was only one chord in question, and that is in the bridge section. In reacquainting myself with the song, I'd been playing an E-minor chord for the second chord of the bridge. It does work with the melody of the song, which has not changed. But it throws a harmonic into the song that I don't like. It's not out of key or anything, I just don't think it fits the feel.

What I had was the following:

D minor E minor D minor C major

What I realized was that, when I wrote the song, the second chord was a C major, and that I had been, all those decades ago, repeating the same two chords during the bridge. But now, I want a change, but that E minor wasn't satisfying me. I tried other chords but none were working. The solution I came up with is to play the C major in that second position, as in the past, then to alter the harmonics of the final C major by adding an octave 3rd (E note):

D minor C major D minor C major with an added octave 3rd

I suppose that octave 3rd might possibly be called a 10th, but don't quote me on that; again, I know just enough music theory to be quasi-dangerous.

Also, I have re-written the lyrics to the first stanza of the second verse of "The Answer," drawing the point more focused on my intended meaning for that stanza. I revised some lines in the first verse, too. None of it is anything that anyone but me will ever be aware of; I doubt even my old music partner, Rich Hisey, would notice, if he even would remember the song; it's not something we ever put on a play list or even ever rehearsed, at all. Actually, I think he may have drummed on it a couple times in jams, but we never formally worked up an arrangement.

Above, I slide in that I laid the drum tracks onto the Tascam 24-track, Wednesday evening Oct 27 ‐‐ the stereo signal from GarageBand on stereo tracks #13/14 on the machine. On the 28th, I laid the main piano track, with the Legato III set on a combo of electric piano and baby grand. I got a good take on #6, but I'm wasn't wholly convinced I don't need another take; there are a few imperfections. I have so far decided to keep that take.

I am contemplating adding a second Legato track, set on electric piano, for some flourishes during the song, not heavy chords, maybe few or no chords at all, perhaps just some nice harmonic licks as garnish. I'd also like to come across a good MIDI interface saxophone voice that sounds authentic; I've never heard one that sounds the least bit real. I really hear a sax (tenor or bari) in the song and I am not inclined to go out to find a player, mostly because even if their fee was modest, I can't afford to pay any amount at the moment. I've fiddled around a little bit in GarageBand with one that seems to come close and that may be how I go, but I don't think it will feel/sound completely real.

My intention was to start working on the bass line for "The Answer" on Saturday, but had a serous amount of house chores to catch-up on, including several big loads of laundry, so I didn't pull the bass out until Sunday evening. I couldn't get to it earlier in the day because I had the sad occasion of attending a reception in the home of some friends who just lost the husband and father of the family.

But the big personal fly in the ointment over the weekend, at least as far as the bass work was concerned, was that though I was fortunate to get my COVID booster vaccination Saturday morning, I did have side effects, and they were a bit worse than when I got shot #2 in April. I was quite good until late morning Sunday, when a headache came on, plus my arm had a pretty knotty little soreness where I took the injection. Sunday evening, the headache was a little worse, yet still not horrible. Yet, though I worked on the bass line that evening, and got a lot of progress on the composition, I did cut it short and went to bed because I was starting to feel a pretty heavy fatigue, my joints were starting to feel sore, and the headache was intensifying. By the time I went to bed it seemed probable I was going to have a stay-in-bed Monday.

Sure enough, this past Monday I was down for the count: seriously fatigued, a borderline migraine-style headache, and the sore joints felt like I had been drawn and almost quartered. Plus, my temperature was 100.3°. I did not go to work and I did not work on music. I slept, a lot, most of the day and evening.

However, Tuesday, though I wasn't fully recovered, and in fact only worked half a day at the office, I made great progress in the evening on the bass line for the song. As you can see right below, I even shot video with my iPhone of me playing the bass arrangement, as it was at the time. I think maybe parts of it are a bit too busy, (not the beginning), so what you'll hear on the mastered recording will not be exactly what's in the video, but the basics of the bass line is there, for certain. Last night I rehearsed and developed some more, but I wasn't ready to lay the track. I did lay a temporary track so I could listen to the overall feel of the part without the mental focus on playing it. My hope is that tonight I can get the bass line in shape then get the track laid.

Here I am, Tuesday night, Oct 26, communicating to the "drummer" (Darcy) what I want played during "The Answer."	The GarageBand programming for the drum kit for "The Answer."	Playing along, Oct 26, with that drum part, making sure it works.
Rehearsing the piano for "The Answer," Wednesday night, Oct 27, with the drum part from GarageBand on the laptop.	Oct 27, again, playing back the "The Answer" drum part and recording it on the Tascam 24-track.	Rehearsing the piano for "The Answer" with the drum part on the Tascam, also that same Wednesday evening.
Recording the piano for "The Answer," Thursday night, Oct 28, in what may or may not be the final recording sessions for that instrumentation. I followed along with the lyrics sheet to help me keep track of where I was in the song.		Singing along with the drum and paino tracks, same Thursday evening, to audition the vocal ‐‐ or more accurately, auditioning my ability to sing the vocal melody as conceived some forty years back.
Sunday, Oct 31, some 30-plus hours after my Saturday morning COVID booster vaccination: major headache, joint aches, and fatigue, but I still was able to be productive for a little while, starting to compose the bass line for "The Answer."
The side effects from the booster were even worse Monday, so I did nothing but sleep, with the winter cold coming in through the opened window to sooth my 100.3° fever. But, Tuesday night I had a good rehearsal on the bass part ‐‐ re: the little excerpt video above.
More rehearsal on the bass line Wednesday night. There was one recording of the bass line, but it was just a demo recording so I could listen to it in the mix while not playing, then the track was cleaned out, because the composition of the line was still not exactly right.

PLAYWRIGHT WORK:

In late 2003, after a pivotal experience, discussed in the essay mentioned above, I contacted Chuck about getting back into acting, which I had not done for more than a quarter-century. Chuck was my initial connection to the Dayton Theatre Guild, where he was on the board of directors while I was in high school and still was in 2003. Though Chuck now no longer attends productions, because his hearing is pretty bad, his wife, Kate, is a long-standing season ticket holder at The Guild, and I still see her at shows there, as well as usually at FutureFest each summer.

During the run of Women in Jeopardy, when I saw her, I told her that I had just finished the latest draft of the play, and she entreated me to send a copy to her and Chuck. Which I did. Last night they had me over to dinner to discuss the play.

They had both positive things to say and a few critical suggestions. One thought was that there isn;t enough action in Act 2, which I both agree with and disagree with. I was given a particular plot suggestion that I won't consider, not because it's a bad idea but rather that it doesn't fit with what I am trying to do with the play and its story. But I did attend to some problems they had with the script and will have those in mind for future drafts.

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WOMEN IN THE REARVEIW MIRROR:

First, I was happy to once again be Marjorie Strader's AD, mostly because she was generous enough to allow real input from me. I was able to give notes to the cast and in a couple instances give direction. On my end, of course, the caveat to the actors was always that the final say was Margie's call. Margie also sought my input in private conversations. It was good to have been seen as a valuable contributor to the production as AD.

Second, the cast was awesome. Not only did they deliver on stage, they were easy to work with off stage, always a major big plus. And everybody shined in their roles.

Cassandra Engber's work as Mary was impeccable. She spent a lot of the play playing the straightperson, setting up jokes for other characters, but still had her share of humorous lines that she delivered expertly. The real fun was watching her non-verbals, her facial expressions, her internal dialogue. I've always enjoyed seeing her on stage and was so happy that she was a part of this one.

Peggy McDonald Allen, who played the blunt, more cynical Jo, was new to our stage, this being her first appearance in the dayton theatre community, and, I'm quite happy to say, thanks to me. Back in July, I attended an on-line Zoom session of Film Dayton's Film Connections meeting, with guest, Cincinnati-based casting director, D. Lynn Meyers. Peggy was one the other handful of people who attended. At one point, she mentioned that she had been thinking about auditioning for theatre productions in Dayton; she'd only been auditioning and acting on stage in the Cincinnati region. I immediately told her about the auditions coming up for this show, and that she was in the age range for one of three good female roles. She took me up on it and I am so glad she did. Her work as Jo was spot on, very natural and snarky funny.

Heidi A. Porter as Liz was wonderful watch simply because she's very new at this acting gam,e and she came through witha really lovely performance. She'd done a couple other performances quite a while ago, my understanding is one in college then another instance, that was still some time ago. She is essentially a newby. She's also a natural. Her instincts were dead on. She should be proud of her work in this show.

Alex Carmichal made his comeback to stage ‐‐ it's been eight years ‐‐ doing double duty as Jackson, the suspected serial killler, and Kirk, the cop charged to find said serial killer. Alex has always done top-notch work and his work here is no exception. I'd say his return to the stage was victorious.

Valkyrie Williams' Amanda was so much fun to watch as well. She's a newer actor but a graduate of the Sinclair Community College Theatre Program, so she's got some productions under her belt, and she, too, has strong instincts and is a young talent I want to see on stage again.

Jimmy Fritchman, isn't new at performing, but this was the first scripted play he's ever done. Jimmy is a part owner and one of the lead improv performers for the The Black Box Improv Theatre. His clueless Trenner was a dead-on interpretation and I hope Jimmy decides to take on more scripts in the future.

The production crew should get a nice round of applause, too. Margie's direction was strong. Scenic Designer Red Newman's set was great. Jason Vogel gave us a great lighting design. Deirdre Root, once again, currated, and sometimes created, the perfect props for the show, as props manager. The stage crew, helmed by Production Stage Manager Cristina Mazzone, were on top of things. The crew consisting of Cristina, Deirdre (who was also our producer), Rhea Smith (a new and valuable find), myself, along with cast members Jimmy and Valkyrie, who helped moved set pieces when they could. There were a lot of moving parts, so we needed a lot of hands for some scene changes. Least I forget to mention our booth people: Shannon Fent, the lighting tech, and Sarah Saunders, the sound tech ‐‐ both doing their usual on-top-of-it work.

We had great run thanks to all involved!

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GETTING "THE ANSWER":

After several days of rehearsal and three days of recording sessions ‐‐ for a total of 44 takes spread out over the three sessions ‐‐ the bass line has been laid down for "The Answer."

Shortly, I had the stereo drum track, the stereo piano track, and the bass line all migrated from the Tascam 24-Track recorder onto my MacBook Pro, though I haven't imported them into a Logic Pro X project, as of yet.

The bass line is, truthfully, pretty simple, but there are some spots where I wanted a pretty exact execution. There's also a section, most of the verse-two section (12 of the 16 bars) where I'm doing some pretty tight fretting, which, because my left hand and arm are not as in-shape as they would be if I was playing and hour-plus every day, like I did in my youth, my forearm got fatigued quickly. It was so much so that I had to take a little break in between takes to let it recover. I had to take frequent breaks when I was rehearsing, before recording began, too. There's also some solo-type bass work between the first chorus and the second verse that I worked a bit to get right. My pickiness and my journey to master certain sections brought us to the 44 takes, which you can see count ticked off in the image to the right.

You can see from the photos below, and from those above in the last blog post, that I played the bass line on the Epiphone Viola Bass - Vintage Sunburst. At first I was running it though the Ampeg BA-210 bass amplifier, but I wasn't getting the sound I wanted that way. I wanted something closer to an acoustic sound, really, something closer to an upright, bass violin sound. I was getting too much of an electric-boom sound running through the amp. So I ran the bass directly into the 24-track and was able to get much closer. I contemplated using the Giannini acoustic bass with a mic on it, but with that bass having roundwound strings, I would not have gotten the benefit from it that using the Viola with roundwound strings gave me.

If you've read earlier blog posts you may remember that "The Answer" is a jazzy pop ballad, though it rocks a bit in the ending measures. So I wanted a very jazzy feel to the bass, almost a cocktail jazz bass sound. Plugging directly into the 24-track console and playing on flatwound strings did it. Although, the bass line is not strictly jazz bass work, large portions are, especially during the first verse.

Last night, and early this morning, I worked out and recorded the second piano part for the song, with the Legato III set on electric piano and the chorus effect active. The original plan had been to have it be mostly garnish-type licks, but I went with it being supplemental chording adding to the base of the song. The chords, however, are a bit more flourishing, taking advantage of the harmonic ringing of the electric piano sound. I don't introduce it until after the first chorus section ends, at the several measures of verse music that leads into the second verse.

It took me fourteen takes to get what I wanted with this second piano part. I had originally thought I would add more chorded instruments, perhaps a chorded bass ‐‐ either the Giannini or the Embassy Pro ‐‐ but, listening to a playback of the rhythm track as it is with the drums, the two piano parts and the bass, I think I don't need to add another chorded part. I think I'm close to done.

My goal is to have the song wrapped today. I'm going to give a try to adding that GarageBand, MIDI sax voice with the Oxygen 61 Keyboard. Then I'll finish with the vocal. I may double the vocal up in a couple spots, but I'm not going to add backing vocals to this one.

Then I can move on to mixing and mastering the next single, which is the next priority in the critical pathway for this project. Then I hope to record Song #13.

A bit more rehearsal of the bass line for "The Answer," last Thursday, especially trying to perfect the little bass run before verse #2.
The Sunday night rehearsal and first attempt at recording that bass line for "The Answer."
Tuning before more rehearsal and attempt #2 to record the bass line for "The Answer," Monday night.	Eleven takes, no good take.
The night of the good take.	Listening to playback.	Migrating the tracks recorded to that point from the 24-track to the Macbook.
The recording session for the electric piano part for "The Answer."

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"THE ANSWER" HAS BEEN ANSWERED; NEXT: A CHRISTMAS SINGLE:

Return readers may know that my hope was to find a MIDI saxophone voice that would not sound too inauthentic, that I could use my Oxygen 61 Keyboard to add to the song. I tried the sax voice in GarageBand, and frankly, it just did not work. I tried other horn voices in GarageBand, and though some of them sounded pretty good, I had two problems. One was that there was an attack-dynamics problem. I was having a difficult time getting a consistent volume and force. The second problem was, though the voices, such as that of the clarinet, sounded good, they didn't give me the feel I wanted.

So I opened Logic Pro X to see of I could get some midi plug-ins to work from there. I had tried once before and wasn't able to get any of the voices to sound through the Oxygen 61. This time, however, they worked. LPX has been updated a couple since that first attempt, so that may be why the success this time. There are several saxophone voices in the midi plug-ins section of LPX, and they all sound really good. The voice I have gone with is "Studio Tenor Sax 2," and it gives me exactly the feel I was hoping for.

And in a rare occurrence, after a few rehearsals to play around with the sax part, I was able to get what I wanted in one take!

The vocal, on the other hand, took 11 takes, though some of those were punch ins, each which I counted as a separate take. I think I punched in three times, just to shore up the vocal in specific spots.

A major problem I ran into was that I was not able to sing well some of the melody that I'd composed over four decades ago. It's a combination, I'm sure, of my not keeping my singing voice in shape, plus the fact that I wrote that song when I was around twenty. I don't have the range I had back then, due to both years of lack of consistant vocal work and, just simply: forty-plus years; I'm not as young as I was, and neither is my voice.

I have no doubt that I can train my voice back up to a wider range than I have now, and to a stronger vocal ability with more intricate control. I might even be able to get back to singing the song like I did in the late 70s/early 80s, who knows? In the short term, though, I altered some of the melody of the song. It is clear that it would be a while before I'd get back to the skill to sing certain sections of the melody, as originally composed, at a satisfactory level. So, I changed some of the melody.

Here's the intersting thing: I find the melody changes are better than the original. Yes, I am more than a little chagrinned that I can't achieve the vocal gymnastics it requires to sing the original melody lines that have been altered, but despite the fact that the melodies in those couple sections are now less challenging, they sound better to me.

My supposition is that there is a more adult character to the melodic changes. The guy who sang the song at an old upright piano, in a garage in East Dayton in, say, 1978 or 1979, was a youngster, legally an adult but still, a kid. He sat there quizzically asking about the meaning of life with his song. The man who stood in his bedroom last night, recording, finishing a song for an album project, is a sexagenarian, prone to moments of kid-like thought or behavior, sure, but certainly not a "young" adult. He stood there, contemplating what his experiences have taught him about the meaning of life. Certain lyric lines of the song that were once an expressions of frustration for the twenty-something, now suggest a cynicism from the sixty-something. Those old melody lines were youthful, and might have even been a little fraudulent if performed "successfully" last night. The new melody lines have a maturity inherent in the notes and the delivery. So I guess we can denote a serendipity in the need to change those melody lines.

Speaking of lyric lines, I'd already changed some lyrics, actually re-writing the first half of verse two. Last night I made a couple more tweaks. One change was for the sake of rhythm. I changed the word "somebody" to "someone," strictly to cut a syllable. I had also changed an original line from "How we recreate mistakes" to "How we repeat our mistakes." Last night, as I was singing it, I decided I liked the original wording better, so I changed it back.

The two new tracks from the Tascam 24-Track have joined the rest on my MacBook Pro, but I've not created the project for the song in Logic Pro, yet. I won't get to mixing and mastering this one for a little while, though I might do a rough mix, just to get a demo version to share with select people for feedback.

The next aggressive action is get the next single in shape and ready to get out there in pretty quick fashion. It's going to be most of my time and energy in the immediate future. I want to get it out here in the next few weeks. My original goal had been by November 15, but that's not going to happen. oIt's going t be Song #2, which was recorded almost two years ago, before I even knew I was making an album. That song is "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas," which perhaps someone reading this will have heard when the lyric video was still up on my YouTube channel. I pulled it down a few months back for several reasons. With its inclusion on the album, I wanted to be able to reintroduce it on YouTube when the single releases. I also knew I was going to remaster it and didn't want the inferior mix on-line. I hope to make a better official music video for the song, as well.

I also have an a capella version of a Christmas standard that I am considering remixing and mastering as the extra track (the "B-side"), but I need to check into my legal obligations concerning the copyright and the royalties. My vague understanding is that the mechanical royalties will be covered by the vender, but I am not 100% certain. Probably, if the mechanical fees are my responsibility the vendor will just deduct it from my cut of any sales.

A little while back I wrote of an idea I have for the new music video for "The Night Before...," at least, the overall concept, but it was for an animated video and I have neither the finances to pay an animator, nor is there enough time for an animated video to be produced and make a deadline that's approaching so quickly. I will look at what sort of magic tricks I might be able to accomplish with effects filters in Final Cut Pro X. There's a chance I might be able to process some footage to give it an animated sort of feel. Whatever it is I do, I need to develop the video concept and shoot it post haste. If push cokes to shove I just replace the old recording on the lyric video with the new mastered version and return that video to on-line, but that's not my first choice.

Recording the midi saxophone part, yesterday, on my Oxygen 61 Keyboard.
Last night, recording the vocal, altered melody, tweaked lyrics, and all.

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REVISITING THE QUESTION OF "THE ANSWER," SINGLING OUT Christmas, AND OTHER ASSORTED ALBUM PROJECT BUSINESS:

Not so fast on the studio wrapping of "The Answer." As I listened to the mix before I began the process of mastering the recording, I decided the vocal could be better than it is. So, I'll be re-recording the vocal.

I'm in the process of readying the next single, the Christmas single, for release. In all reality it should have already been released, somewhere around November 15, or earlier. I dropped that ball, but there's nothing to do about that now.

For those who haven't read previous entries, the single will be, "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas," which was, as the graphic indicates, the second song to be recorded for the album project, on December 23, 2019 ‐‐ the night before the night before Christmas. It was, in fact, written that same day. This was also, for those who don't know, before I had even decided to make an album. I was mostly just making a Christmas music video to upload to my YouTube channel then share on facebook as a sort of Christmas card.

The original mixed-master was done in Final Cut Pro X, which, as I've written before, is not the right axe for the tree. It does an okay job at taking the tree down, but not as good a job as Logic Pro X, software specifically designed for the task. I have just re-mixed and re-mastered the song in LPX.

That original video, actually there were two, has been pulled for at least several weeks, I think maybe a couple months now, in preparation for the better mastered recording to come out. That was the second video. There was an original lyric video, with a snowscape in the background, that was pulled in December of 2019, shortly after it went up. This was another case of me re-recording the vocal, plus I added the harmony backing vocals. For the new version I created a new lyric video with b&w pics of me playing the Embassy Pro bass. That went up before New Years 2020, and stayed up until I recently pulled it.

I have a vague idea for a new music video for the new mix/master, that needs to be shot and edited to final cut this coming ThanksGiving weekend. Had I more time, and some money to invest, the production would involve a greenscreen and some animation.

As I did with "Just One Shadow," I will again include a bonus track with the single, the proverbial, old-school "B-Side." That will cause my distributor, CD Baby, to classify it as an album, which is, of course, ridiculous. It's a damned single, but, whatever.

You'll note that the graphic icon for Song #13, which is this bonus song, is already showing "finished." I recorded it the end of last week, and it's already mixed and mastered. It's a five-part a capella rendition of the Christmas standard, "I'll Be Home for Christmas." It was originally recorded by Bing Crosby, and has since been covered more than 27,800 times.

Today I was granted the license to use the song. I've already created most all of the graphics for the CD single jewel case, all I need to do is plug in some copyright information for the coversong. I wasn't sure to whom to attribute the copyright ownership until I got the license approval.

On a related note, I have a few songs for the album project in final mixed/mastered form, including, of course, the single "Just One Shadow." I recently listened to them all, and I am quite happy with what I hear. Of course, I'm quite happy with "Just One Shadow" but it's not generating the response I had hoped for. I've gotten some positive feedback, however. And I think it's peaked at 252,374 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Tonight I'll top off the CD graphics for the Christmas single, then submit the audio files and the artwork to CD Baby. Above I stated that it would have been better if the Christmas single had released a couple weeks ago. Getting it out as early in December as is possible is the goal now. To be honest, the single will likely not drop until mid-December, a good month after it should have. Mea culpa. I did not have my ducks in a row and I let time get away from me

The CDs I'll order will be two to three weeks getting to me. Then I have to get those out to the public/indy radio stations. Getting a new Christmas record into a program director's hands that close to the holiday is not the ideal situation. Again, it's all on me. I blew it. I will start a blitz on it next Christmas holiday in late October or early November; it's a Christmas song, so it's not like it will go out of style.

My original hope for the album was that it be released in September. Well, that didn't happen. Then it was mid-October, then mid-November, then mid-December. It's looking like it may end up being January. I'm not thrilled about that, but I'm not going to wear sackcloth over it, either.

I have eight songs left to mix and master, nine, if I do get to that planned next song, which would be Song #14. I also have all the album artwork to do. I plan on a booklet with lyrics and liner note*. So, I look at the date as I write this, and what there is to do, and a January 2022 album release is looking like the smart bet.

*) By the way, check out my "On-Liner Notes at klstorer.com.

THEATRE MASKS/COVID MASK:

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ThanksGiving dinner, last year My blog post for this holiday, last year talked of my sudden realization of just how important it is to me to gather with my family on this holiday for commensality: (the positive social interactions that are associated with sharing this holiday meal). Of course, I was not able to share that meal last year with my family, or with anyone else. I was home, by myself; hence, the sudden realization. Later today I will sit down to the ThanksGiving dinner table with my sister and her family. I will have a greater appreciation of it than I have for a long time. In November of 2016, I sat down at that same table, almost eleven months to the day after I had a heart attack and the subsequent quadruple bypass surgery. Believe me, I had a great appreciation that particular ThanksGiving. But today I'll feel an ever greater appreciation and thankfulness to be sitting with my family. Like I wrote last year, and have commented before then, I long ago abandone celebrating this particular holiday based on the nonesensical propaganda of the idealistic story that has been fostered on America of that first ThanksGiving. I see this day as a day to commune with, to celebrate family and friends. And I certainly embrace the concept of this being a time to reflect on our gratitudes, whatever they may be for each person. So, I wish all of you a wonderfrul holiday with the loved ones you are with. If you have to be by yourself, as I was last year, may you still be bathed in the warmth of love, however near or far it is from you.

NEW VOCAL FOR "THE ANSWER" & THE CHRISTMAS SINGLE IS COMING SOON:

The "Night Before the Night Before Christmas" single is scheduled to release December 8. Though because of holiday backup, it may not be available to stream or download from Apple Music/iTunes until a few days later.

I've ordered fifty physical CDs, mostly to send off to radio stations. Unfortunately, CD Baby Manufacturing says the disks are "estimated to finish on 12/03/2021," so I'm not likely to get the shipment until just about release date. It'd be great if I could get them sooner so I could get to to radio stations sooner. Not that I have any proof that sending them does any good. I have no evidence that any stations have ever played "Just One Shadow." But, I'll send the new one anyway. Actually I still have a lot of stations to send the first one to.

As for the music video, I have a studio with a greenscreen reserved this Saturday afternoon, at the rent-payer. I'll shoot footage for the video. I still have only a vague idea what the video is going to be, so this is going to be a real adventure.

The beginning of the vocal rerecording session.	Later in the session, with the Shure pop filter lowered. I find it gets in my way, so I often end up not using it.

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THE WEEKEND BEFORE THE WEEKEND BEFORE RELEASE:

Last Saturday I shot the footage for the music video for "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas." I suppose I should say I shot footage for the new music video, since, there once was a lyric video, of the previous mixed-master, up on my YouTube channel until a couple months back when I took it down.

The predominance of the new footage was shot in the Student Technology Assistance Center (STAC) in the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library at Wright State University ‐‐ that library, also known as my "rent-payer," i.e.: my day job. It was shot there, in studio A, so I could take advantage of the greenscreen, as I wrote in the last blog post. I shot footage of myself lip-syncing the song, then footage of me, more-or-less, playing the bass line on the Embassy Pro.

I say "more-or-less playing the bass line" because when I recorded that bass line, back in late December of 2019, I was riffing off the key scale. I was improvising as I went along, varying what I was doing throughout the song. When I shot Saturday, I'd not had enough time to learn all the variations played during the song. So, with the exception of some specific spots, I am not fretting the correct notes during the song. I probably shouldn't be revealing this fact, but here I am, doing so. However, you will see correct fretting in the bass solo section. I was able to easily relearn that section. There are also slow, descending scale notes in various spots of the song, that I photographed as still images, also in front of the greenscreen, that are correctly fretted.

That Saturday evening, I shot footage at home of me playing the chords on the Legato III. It was much easier to relearn the piano chord progression. First of all, there's only one chord during the verses, an A♭ major 7th, minus the root, though there are several chords during the chorus section. I also shot close-ups of me playing the same descending scale notes on the piano as on the bass, and I also took still shots of those. As well I took stills playing that A♭M7-R chord, from several different angles.

Previous to this shoot day, I had created 53 separate graphics panels, each with color-streak patterns on them, to serve as moving background in the video. I actually had already put those into the Final Cut Pro X video project, edited to the music. I believe I did it last Friday evening. I also have created one more graphic image for a specific spot in the video.

Like I wrote above, I technically started editing the video before I did the Saturday shoot with the greenscreen. I edited the background of the panels of color-streak patterns moving in the background. Technically, the rest of the editing didn't start until last night, so the title of this entry, "The Weekend Before the Weekend Before Release" is not strictly accurate, but what-the-heck.

There's a bit more to do than has been done in the postproduction of the music video. I expect that it will be at final cut this weekend, my guess is Saturday. I am mulling the idea of making the video live before the official December 8 release date of the single. We'll see.

Studio A, with the greenscreen, in the Student Technology Assistance Center (STAC) in the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library at Wright State University.
So, I wrote and recorded "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" all in the course of one day, almost exactly two years ago. Now that I'm making the new music video, lip-synching the words, it should be remembered that I'm not in a band and there have been no occasions to ever rehearse the song after that locked recording from December, 2019. Thus, as I'm doing the new music video, just shy of 24 months after having recorded the song, I gotta have the words posted so I can get them right for the video footage..... Due to the possibility that some may be able to discern the lyrics, they are © 2019, K.L.Storer
Bass work was performed, even if virtual in more ways than one.		And there's always a teardown involved.
Two of the 53 background graphic panels for the video.

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COMING ‐‐ A NEW MUSIC VIDEO FOR A NEW MIXED/MASTER:

A screen shot from the music video for the new single. The imagery is not complete in this still-shot; there is still a graphic that will be added in the background.

The last several days I have been actively in post on the music video for "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas," the single of which releases this Wednesday, December 8.

For the few of you who heard the song and saw the original lyric video, posted on my YouTube channel two years back, the new single is the same recording, but with much better mastering. The mix, though technically a remix, is virtually the same to the measure of about 99.9999%, I'd say. You five regulars might recall that the song was originally mixed using the audio tools in Final Cut Pro X, as was all the earlier music recorded for the album; then I decided to finally utilize my Logic Pro X software, which is specifically for recording, mixing, and mastering music (and other audio), and is a bit more robust for the job. This song is the first to get the LPX remix and remaster. It sounds much better.

The new video is, however, quite different from the lyric video that I put out in 2019 ‐‐ and that was the second lyric video. For a few days there was one out with a different take of the song, one with a different vocal and without the background vocals, and also a slightly different bass solo. But that original video was only in cyberspace for a few days. Now, of course, both are pulled.

I actually am considering editing a new lyric video version of the song, after I get this main music video to final cut. It would be based on the same graphics theme as the new main video. I already have the lyric panels from the old lyric videos, and the basic moving color-strip graphics for the new version are already edited together, so doing the new lyric video would not be a great task, whatsoever.

Editing the new music video, on the other hand, has been a much larger task than I anticipated. There are a lot of layers and a lot of proper timing of changing out the still images and video footage. I had hoped to have the final cut this past weekend but as it was nearing bedtime last night, it was clear that goal was not going to be met. It's pretty likely I will get it finished this evening.

On a related note, the physical CDs of the new single are finished and have been processed for delivery. However, when I checked the UPS website earlier this morning, the shipment was only at "label has been created" status. I doubt I'm looking at earlier than a Wednesday delivery, which is the official release date. Getting this seasonal CD, this Christmas CD, to public and independent radio stations well before the actual holiday looks like a dim prospect. It's not improbable that I'll resend a disk to most all of them next year, allowing for an earlier shipment date.

The first video layer over the color-strips background is footage of the bass man.
The editing progress on Saturday. Again, there is background imagery missing from both photos here.		Still editing Sunday evening, but getting closer to the end.

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"THE NIGHT BEFORE THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS" ‐‐ THE SINGLE AND THE MUSIC VIDEO, OUT TODAY:

So, the second single, "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas." from the forthcoming album releases today, as well as its music video.

Postproduction wasn't done on the DV movie until last night. I thought I had the final cut Monday evening, but, naturally, I decided as I watched the video one last time before bed that some tweaks were in order. I wanted to smooth out the image of the "lead vocalist", and I edited some zooms and pans into the footage of the "bass player's" solo.

I also swapped out an image at one point in the song/video. I had an image of a woman's silhouette in a doorway but I decided I didn't want to so commit the song to be about a boy-girl relationship so I created another image of just an open doorway with no one standing in it, so the person who "standing at our front door" could be a more open question.

In the last blog post I stated that I'd checked the UPS site, that morning, to see when the physical CDs of the single would be arriving. The website said the label had been created but that it had not left the factory. The site clearly had not been updated, because within an hour after I posted the blog entry the package was at my desk. That's good, because I need to get the disks to selected radio stations ASAP before the full-on Christmas holiday has begun.

I realize that likely most of the CDs will end up on a slug pile and may not be listened to for a while, if at all. That's the game. And I'm new at this. As time moves on I will cultivate more savvy about how to get noticed.

Then, there's that topic of putting a band together to play gigs. Something to contemplate for a future.

And here is the music video:

*) Dec 1, 2022 addendum: you may note that the video says it's "remastered" ‐‐ this is the remastered version that released with the album, almost a year after this post, and the video was rereleased with the new audio

Tonight I finally get back to the redux of "The Answer," mixing and mastering with the new vocal.

I still have plans to write and record one more song for the album. I'm still ot sure if it will be one of the songs I started last December, while renting the cottage in eastern Ohio, if it will be something from the long distant past, or something that hasn't been started yet. It's not a worry, especially after seeing the Get Back series ‐‐ more on that later.

The video rendering in Final Cut Pro X.	The physical CDs arrived late morning, Monday.
Yesterday I packaged and sent out the CD to several public radio stations, complete with suck-up cover letters.

ANNOUNCING THE CAST OF THE NORWEGIANS:

CHARACTER		ACTOR
Olive		Jenna De Gruy
Betty		Cydnie Hampton
Gus		Mike Beerbower
Tor		Adam Jones

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THE ALBUM, VIRTUALLY APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE, IS TURNING THE BEND ONTO THE FINAL STRETCH OF THE RACETRACK:

Something else I did that I am want to not do is I used the Flex Pitch function in Logic Pro X to adjust a slightly sharp note I sang in the background vocals ‐‐ the "oohs" ‐‐ during the instrumental bridge. That action is pretty much exactly comparable to using Auto-Tune and is an action that I shy away from. If I am going to go in to alter notes I have strict rules I follow:

It's a special effect, such as when I push a bass part up an octave to emulate the sound of a regular guitar, or if there was some legitimate artistic reason to make my voice sound extremely high-pitched or low-pitched. It's a convenience of expedience and I am correcting something that I would also be able to perform. In conjunction with #1 & #2, it CANNOT be employed to create a performance that I am not capable as a singer or a musician to otherwise perform, unless it's a special effect that the listener can clearly recognize as such ‐‐ in other words, I can't use it to present myself as a better singer or musician than I am.

In the case of "The Answer," it was far more convenient to use Flex Pitch to correct the note than do another take, and as that exact note is sang in other parts of that very section, it's clear that I can hit the note and sing it in tune.

Well, "The Answer" is finished. Now, all I need os one more song for the album....

Last night I sat down at the Legato III, set on electric piano, and revisited a song I started last year during my week at The Cozy Little Red Cottage, in Dover, Ohio, for Winter Vacation 2020. The song still has the workshop title "Cozy Cottage Jazz," as there are no lyrics, yet. So I opened GarageBand on the laptop and brought up the 8/8 drum loop I had created last December for this new song, got out my notebook sheet of paper with the chord progression, and refreshed myself with the song.

Whether or not this one becomes Song #14, the last song for the album project, or not, remains to be seen. At this point, mostly because of time constraints, I am inclined to believe it will be. It would offer a fresh musical flavor to the album, which spots it a lot of points as a strong candidate. If I can come up with some lyrics....

You five who are revisiting this blog may know that the original goal was to have the album finished and released by mid-September, and that the date kept being pushed back. It's now early January. Early January is doable but it means that my forthcoming two weeks off from the rent-payer, which begins when I leave the office this afternoon, will have to be a working vacation, with most of my awake time dedicated to the album.

Along with writing (or finishing writing) that one last song for the project, whether it's "Cozy Cottage Jazz" or something else, then getting it recorded, mixed and mastered, there are five other recordings that also need to be mixed and mastered.

Then there's the album artwork. Months ago, almost a year ago I believe, I started the front cover of the album. I took a couple photos specifically to be mashed together for that cover, and I am still planning on that. I've done the work in Corel Painter on the cover. It's not completely finished, but mostly what needs to be done is the title work. The art-design image is finished, I just have to create the words over it: essentially the title of the album and my name.

But I'm also heavily invested in the idea of a booklet, with the lyrics and probably peppered with photos from the recording process and perhaps more original artwork. But that's a lot to take on in two week's time, especially with sound engineering still left to take out.

I also would like this blog to be migrated to klstorer.com on January 1, and that means I have about fifty html pages left to convert to the new design format before then, though that's mostly a process of cut‐&‐paste. However, migrating the blog takes a back seat to getting the album and its artwork completed. The album's already four months delayed!

Last night, reacquainting myself with the chord progression for "Cozy Cottage Jazz," which I started almost one year ago, to the date. The GarageBand 8/8 drum beat loop and the chords written out, are both also from last December.

ASHANTI AND HER MOVIE:

*Just a reminder this can only be a small sampling of the professional work of my friends and colleagues. I'm simply not going to be aware of all their good fortunes.

My past castmate, Ashanti J'Aria, whom I met and worked with ten years back in Caroline, or Change at The Human Race Theatre Company, stars in a new indy film, Maya and Her Lover, which has just recently been made available to buy or rent from Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

I watched the movie this past Monday evening. What a nice little film. It's about the crisis of purpose of a black woman in her late thirties, and, believe it or not, I was still able to find things to identify with in Maya's struggle. That says something about the script, the director, and certainly it says something about Ms. J'Aria's work. Her performance is wonderful ‐‐ understated and often subtle, but always quite poignant.

Congratulations Ashanti on your fine work!

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A COZY FINAL(?)/PENULTIMATE(?) SONG FOR THE ALBUM:

Despite that I've been off work since last Friday, it took a few days to get to Song #14, what may be the last song for the Virtually Approximate Subterfuge album.

The title has morphed from the working title of "Cozy Cottage Jazz" to simply "Cozy Cottage." I considered renaming it "Virtually Approximate Subterfuge," to make it the title cut for the album, but nixed that idea. My instincts tell me the album title is better if it stands alone.

The plan was to finish the music, probably adding some new chord progressions, and then either write some new lyrics or match some already written lyrics to this music. Yesterday, when I worked on the song, I decided to keep it instrumental. I did add a chord progression in the middle of the song, a musical bridge, and I set the structure from the intro section through to the ending chord of the piece.

Having all the measures planned out, I programmed the drumkit into GarageBand. The only problem is that I wanted the bridge to be in a slightly different time signature and you can't do that in a GarageBand project, have a portion in a different time signature. The workaround is to create a separate project with the new time signature, then put the two together as separate tracks in yet another separate project; I created the final project in Logic Pro X. It's three separate drum part projects: the first half of the song; the bridge; the last half of the song. The first and last part are in 2/4 time, the bridge is in 4/4. The song was originally conceived all in 8/8.

As is my practice, rather than rendering a WAV file of the whole drum part then importing it to the 24-track recorder, I played back the assembled drum part, in real time, on my laptop and recorded it onto the 24-track. Then I rehearsed the piano part for a while, then made the first valiant attempt to record the piano.

It took twenty takes. I did not get a good take. I will be back at it, today.

You may spot some of my DV cameras in a couple of the photos below. I set up all four of them to shoot the writing, rehearsal and recording process. I will continue that through to the end of the recording sessions. Then I'll edit together a little mini-documentary about the process. It's too bad I didn't shoot from the very beginning last December, when I first came up with the original chord progression at The Cozy Little Red Cottage, in Dover, Ohio, during Winter Vacation 2020. That would have been cool. I could do this if the next section of this entry comes to fruition.

The title of this entry, "A Cozy Final(?)/Penultimate(?) Song for the Album," along with the statement above, that "Cozy Cottage" may be the last song for the album, are obvious indicators that I am heavily considering one last song, after Song #14, for the project. It really depends on when I get 14 to a finished recording.

As always, there are some titles from my younger musical days ‐‐ in the late Twentieth Century ‐‐ that I am eyeing, but still there is the possibility that I'll write something brand new. If there looks like there's time to pull it off, I'll assess the album repertoire and decide what sort of song would feel right to add to and enhance the dynamics and continuity of the collection. Armed with that conclusion, I'll either pull from the past or start from scratch, if I decide to do Song #15.

Working on "Cozy Cottage," composing during the rehearsal stage.
One section of the drumkit part in GarageBand, then the three assembled sections in Logic Pro X.		Notations of chords, etc.

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ANOTHER NIGHT BEFORE ANOTHER NIGHT BEFORE ANOTHER CHRISTMAS:

Thursday I took out a significant portion of the rhythm work for "Cozy Cottage," recording three separate piano parts for the instrumental on my Williams Legato III piano.

I recorded the main piano ("piano1"), in stereo, with the voice set on the grand/baby grand setting as well as the chorus effect on. Then I recorded with the electric piano setting ("e.piano"), again in stereo, and again with the chorus effect. Then I recorded the third piano ("piano2"), with the upright piano voice setting.

All the piano parts are the same, save that I only play a slight amount of left-hand work on piano2 and none on e.piano. The point of the three separate pianos is to reinforce the chords, with no harmonies differentiating the three. They are a unison of chords that give the chord progression a certain strength, or, richness, if you will.

My agenda for the day today is to work out and record the bass line. I'm not sure if I'm using the Embassy Pro or the Viola. "Cozy Cottage" is pretty much a straight modern jazz piece, maybe a little pop-rocky, but more heavily jazz. I haven't decided what feel I want for the bass line: the sound of Embassy's more metal-ish roundwound strings, or the mellower sound of the Viola's flatwound strings. I suppose the Embassy might flavor the song a bit more in the rock arena, while the Viola will enhance the jazz aspect. So my decision will be based on which way I decide to go, which I haven't yet, but clearly will have to shortly ‐‐ like, shortly after I've posted this entry.

If I am ambitious and productive enough I might just get to some solo work today, on at least one of two probable different instruments. I'm also going to add a horn chart, likely a quartet, this time using the midi horn voices in Logic Pro X, played on Oxygen 61 Keyboard. At least one of the solo instruments may be pulled from this. LPX, as I discovered with "The Answer" has some great midi sax voices, and there is definitely a lot of room for some good sax soloing in this one.

Addendum: For the record, piano1 took an additional twelve takes for a total of 32 takes. E.piano was five takes. Piano2 was three takes. I forgot to mention that I continued shooting with the four DV movie cameras, too.

The Tascam 24-Track ‐‐ Piano2 on track 1 Drums on stereo tracks 13/14 Piano1 on 15/16 E.piano on 17/18	Recording the upright piano voice ‐‐ "piano2."

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SLOWER COZY PROGRESS THAN I'D HOPED:

Okay, it's a good thing that I create bass lines that it takes me a little while to conquer, that make me a better bass player. It's what I have done here with "Cozy Cottage." The down side to that is that getting a good take has not been just around the corner from when I sat down to compose the part. There's been some rehearsal, a lot of it. In fact, the rehearsal is on-going. Recording the bass line has not happened yet. Yep, it's taking time to work out parts of the bass line, especially in the bridge, which is essentially a bass solo section.

Beside that I haven't yet firmed up exactly what I'm playing in at least a portion of most sections, and that I have composed a line a little bit beyond my ability (as stated above: a good thing), I have also had to take breaks because of fatigue in my right hand, the plucking/picking hand, because to not take breaks would risk injury. You know you’re not playing enough when the bass line you’re working on is wearing your picking hand out and you have to take frequent breaks so as not to damage it. "Playing through the pain" may sound valiant, bit it's actually a bad idea. The rule is, if the muscles in your hand are starting to hurt: STOP.

Then there are the sore fingers, the rising blisters from not playing on a regular basis. The blisters and soreness is especially pronounced on both my forefingers. This has slowed down progress as well. The bass line moves, is what is known as a walking bass line, and it got to the point where I needed to take breaks because working on the bass line was becoming painful to execute. In fact, yesterday I barely worked on it. Today, I'll give working on the bass line a trail, and if my fingers are still too sore, I'll switch to working on the MIDI horn chart.

As for which bass axe I choose, as you can see from the photos, I went with the Viola and its flatwound strings, for more of a The Beatley/Paul-McCartney sound, despite that "Cozy Cottage" doesn't sound much like The Beatles or solo McCartney. I didn't even pull out the Embassy Pro with its roundwound strings. I immediately liked the sound from the Viola; it fits.

The chronicling of the writing, arranging, and recording of this instrumental continues as a multi-camera shoot with all four of my DV movie cameras, and occasionally also employing the DV function on my iPhone for a fifth camera. At this point, between the four (sometimes five) cameras, I've accumulated just short of six hours of action, which multiplies to 23.5 hours of footage when adding up that from all the cameras.

That also adds up to 2.9 terabytes of media files. And I'm have more instruments to go: all the MIDI horns. I was running out of memory on the 4TB harddrive, so yesterday I transferred the media files for the "Cozy Cottage" documentary to my 5TB harddrive which has no other DV movie projects on it. Now there are two terabytes left on the 5TB HD, which I hope will be enough space to fit the rest of the footage and create the final cut. There's an inside change that I'll have to migrate to the 8TB HD before I get to the end of the shooting.

I actually would have worked on the MIDI horns yesterday, but I need Logic Pro X on the laptop, and the laptop was employed for the overwhelming portion of the day, migrating the media files for this from the 4TB to the 5TB. As I wrote above, if my fingers aren't in shape to successfully execute the bass line, I'll work on the horns today "" the horn quartette and maybe the sax solo, if not another horn solo.

Because I'm chronicling this process on camera, I've been running the audio from the 24-Track recorder through monitors rather than listening on the headphones as I rehearse and record, so the camera mics can pick up the music. But I am in an apartment, and though I'm not blasting the music, I do switch to headphones about 11:00 pm, so I'm not inadvertently disturbing my neighbors' peace. To paraphrase Paul Simon: "One person's apartment wall is another person's apartment wall."

I really, really, really cannot allow the album project to go on much longer. The release needs to be firmly in mid-January at the latest. With Song #14 clearly not finished by now, it's obvious that there will not be a Song #15 for the project. There's still a lot of mixing, mastering, and artwork to get to, and I can't see this project wrapped before New Years Eve, as it is.

The Viola bass, on its guitar stand, waiting for me.	Late in the rehearsal when I switched to the headphones in deference to my neighbors in the apartment building.	My chord sheet for the song, with the chords spelled out, which I used as a guide when compsing the bass line.
Importing DV footage of the rehearsal into Final Cut Pro X.	Some Christmas Day footage in FCPX from Camera D.	Footage from the next day in FCPX from Camera A.
Working out the bass line for the bridge, on Boxing Day (as the British call December 26).
Being a man with a heart condition and hyper-tension, I don't dring coffee or most teas, but I do consume copious amounts of hot chocolate, especially when doing music.	Tuning the Viola bass.	Risking injury for my art.
Continuing to work out the bass line, with sore fingers, late night/early morning December 28/29.

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STILL COZY-SLOW, BUT MOVING:

Last night I did work on the "Cozy Cottage" bass line. My fingers, though still a little sore, were in good enough shape that I could get some woodshedding done, whilst I watched TV.

I was able to both work on execution and composition, even with the Gilmore girls on the screen. It's all still going a bit slower than I prefer. I haven't completely decided what I'm doing all the way across the song. The song has a main "A" section, with various subsections, that is repeated four times. There's an intro based on A, then A is ran twice, then there's the bridge, then A, twice again, with the last subsection of the fourth play vamped a few times into the final chord.

I am varying what the bass line is in each play-through of section A, but I haven't totally solidified what I'm doing, as of yet. I'm getting close but am not quite there. Rather than improv through each time, I want to have exact notes for each of the four runs through the section. I still need to compose the last half of what I'm doing in the bridge, as well. Again, I have much of it but not all. There's still some rehearsal of the execution in front of me, too. It would be so sweet and lovely if I could buckle down and get the good take of this £u¢|<!|\|@ bass line recorded before I go to bed tonight ‐‐ or, more realistically, early hours tomorrow morning.

Seriously, I need to shortly be pulling out the M-Audio Oxygen 61 61-key Keyboard, plugging it into the MIDI interface horns in Logic Pro X and working out both the MIDI horn chart and the horn solos, at least one of which we have established is going to be a saxophone. Oh but if it could start this night, but, likely not.

MAYBE A LITTLE HEARTWALK TODAY?:

My last hike was two-and-a-half weeks ago. I've been so focused on the album project that I have blown off going for hikes, that being my pandemic go-to for exercise. I have been reluctant about being in the gym so I have not gone since COVID came to town.

My BP was a little higher today when I took it. Still not anything like in the danger zone, yet still a higher reading than I like.

So, as soon as this blog post is up, I am out the door for at least a forty-five-minute to one-hour hike.