Discography

Strange Moon Desperate times call for... Learning to fall I can't be drowing, I can see the beach from here

CD1 : Strange Moon	Approximately 2005-06.  First attempt at recording songs.  Several of these we're either colloborations from Kompoz orstraight out song writing attempts from scratch	CD2 : Desperate times calls for...	By this time I was starting to gain confidence in both my ability to play the  instruments as well as some of the basic recording techniques.  These came very quickly, and since the first album was pretty well "complete", they just fell to the second album.  There was no real plan or concept for it.  But I consider this some of my more "finished work"
Track 1 - Don't go down	This was really my first full song.  I wrote this piece literally bar by bar.  I never knew where I was going except by 2-4 measures.  In my early pieces you will note common mistakes such as over compression, very little equalization or pops.	Track 1 - A Sunday Afternoon	The basic concept for this song is a sunday afternoon nap.  Waking up a little groggy by the phone ringing.  Then that dis-orientated feeling and the final pleasure or re-orientating and feeling rested... really :-)
Track 2 - Every Day	Written from an organ melody that I put together using the "Organ Donor" loops.  A song written about the things we do EVERY day, over and over and over...	Track 2 - Down to the river	Another composition from a posting on Kompoz.  I really liked the sound of the vocals as well as my guitar parts.  There are some transitional timing issues that I never got 100% but that is common I think in amatuer work.  I did a second version of this I never 'published' that addresses the timing a lot better, but all in all I thought this was a great version
Track 3 - In the weeds	I wrote this one basically from scratch, measure by measure.  Was really based off of a CCR type of riff and just built it from there.  Someone compared it to a "Miami Vice" soundtrack :-)  I believe I played the bass on that one also.	Track 3 - Feeling misunderstood in Iraq	About this time I started to actually write songs out before I attempted to record them.  I would work out the chord progression and timing I wanted.  I punched all that into Band in a Box, took the Midi tracks and one by one ran them through a soft synth and bounced to an audio track so my PC wouldn't choke...  I thought this song came out really well and enjoyed composing and playing the melody line.
Track 4 - It's all right	Was my second time working with a singer (Rick) on Kompoz.  Was never quite happy with the timing although I was experiementing with changing the timing of the song.  You will hear a mix of acoustic playing from me and some from Guitarist2.	Track 4 - I'm in trouble	This was a vocal guitar track of not very good quality posted to Kompoz.  I just loved the feel of it.  I contacted the author but at the time he was un-willing to re-record and isolate the parts so I did my best.  I played the electric purposely on high gain so it would sound dirty and blend in with poor quality.
Track 5 - Little Rain	Sort of my 'flagship' song for this time period and technical level.  The laptop I was using was not very good, had plenty of power but would overheat constantly and I really couldn't have more than 8 Audio tracks open.  Any soft synths and CPU intensive tracks caused it to crash.  I was also fairly adept at scales at this point, and this song really helped me learn that I could say what I wanted,  I just needed to say it...  My friend Benny, a drummer (from Germany and now lives in Canada) was willing to record the drums for me.	Track 5 - Jobs for Junkies	Another song from a Kompoz colloboration.  Probably one of my favorite pieces in that I was very happy with my guitar playing.  The time was especially tricky because of the vocals.  Very punchy and a little uneven.
Track 6 - Put it this way	Was an idea more than a song.  An acoustic melodly line sort of drives the piece.	Track 6 - On the eastern side	This was a song that was written before, then I created the skeleton for the song in BiaB, exported into SONAR and then started to record audio tracks.  Someone called it a great soundtrack for a movie.
Track 7 - Strange Moon	Was the title track for the album.  An interesting piece.  Again this track was put together bar by bar.  I was starting to play with loops about this time because the PC was just not handling the soft synths.  I thought this song came out well.	Track 7 - Out my window	My studio office overlooks the cul de sac I live on.  I found myself playing acoustic guitar a lot and just staring out the window.  This song resulted from of the riffs I was working on at the time.  Although maybe a little 'overproduced' I was happy with the way it came out.  The electric lead I used was 'atomizer', I think there may be a time if I redid it I probably wouldn't use it...  but it was different
Track 8 - The Blue Road	This was really put together in an evening.  I enjoyed it but always thought what I was hearing in my head was a lot better and couldn't quite get there.  However is was an excellent learning experience and I worked on audio recording a little bit more.	Track 8 - Tomorrows too late	Again, more of an idea than a song.
		Track 9 - What it's worth
CD3 : Learning to fall	The basic assumption behing this CD was that the first one I was learning to crawl, the second one learning to walk and this one I was learning more by the mistakes I had made in the previous ones.  I was fairly confident in my guitar playing and was now more focused on song composition and the production process, using eq heavily to reduce muddiness and hand craft tracks together...	CD4 : I can't be drowing, I can see the beach from here
Track 1 - Another time	I was working hard at acoustic micing.  Since I only have one mic and a bridge pickup I was a little limited but was practicing running both into a mixing board and then adding the eq to 'define' them.   I thought the sounds of the acoustic were some of the best I have gotten so far.  The chord structure was really an offshoot from the rain song.  Reminds me of a zepplin acoustic tune...	Wearing thin	Some songs just kind of come to you.  A very simple melody that I was working on the acoustic.  I created this one in Realband, thus the fiddle loops in the background.  I thought the rhythm piece came out really well.
Track 2 - Boca Raton	I had to go to a business meeting for a week in Boca Raton Fla where the company I work for is based out of.  I ended up being sick the whole week before with a cold, then getting a sinus infection while down there.  However, the up side was two of the people I worked with played guitar so we all got to play together.  This song, while written and performed by me was the way I 'remembered' it...	Circles	This one came from another acapella downloaded from looperman.  Not finished yet.  This one was difficult for a couple of different reasons.  One was that I had to figure out the key and chord changes by ear (with help from my wife) and the vocals parts are timed a little differently.  But all in all I think it is a good piece.
Track 3 - Came into this life	This was supposed to be a colloboration with a vocalist, but we never quite there.  I originally wrote it in Biab, which is where the piano came from.  I like the guitar parts and thought it just came together really well...  I was playing around with the chromatic transition from Verse to Chorus.  The lap steel guitar pieces were loops.  I don't really like working with loops all that much, very tedious and somewhat limiting from my perspective but I thought they added something here.	There's a place.	A traditional gospel song done by Johnny be bad from Kompoz.  I am working on a little more involved version of this song but this was what he originally posted and the parts I added.  I thought the solo came out nice and simplistic but really added something to the song.  I had a Robbie Robertson type of solo in my head since this song reminded me of the band.
Track 4 - Carmichael	I happen to be a big Neil Young fan.  I love his style and this was sort of my ode to Neil.
Track 5 - Dogs	I had just upgraded a soft synth and found the soft synth of the dogs and footsteps and couldn't resist.  The main theme is just a C Arpeggio that is repeated throughout.
Track 6 - I hear the choppers coming	This was an acapella that was downloaded off of looperman done by a young man by the name of Brian.  I loved his voice and wanted to do something with it.  I found a sound effect that I liked and worked it in.  I wrote this with the pictures of the Helicopters in Apocalyps now running through my mind...
Track 7 - I wanted it that way	This was a riff that was just stuck in my playing for the longest time until I finally recorded it and haven't played it since ;-)  Would love to get some nice vocals behind it.
Track 8 - In the mood	Was originally an attempt at a jazz blues.  I don't know about this one.  Some of the guitar licks I like but overall didn't reach my expections, I think this was more a learning experience.
Track 9 - Tel me again	This was a  song I wrote for my now wife.  I had the pleasure of being able to play it over the PA while we walked down the aisle.
Track 9 - One more day	This was a song written from loops.  I had gotten a new CD of loops and was trying them out.  I usually write at 120 bpm and below.  This was 130 and I felt it pushed me a little bit.  While not a great song, I felt that it was pretty a pretty good composed piece considering it was done mostly with loops