Many bands and solo singer/songwriters like to write their lyrics on different things nowadays. Many like to write their lyrics on a word processor on their computers and they like to print them out. Some even like to use Ipads, tablets or even Iphones to write lyrics on.

With me? I still like to write lyrics on regular notebook paper. Honestly, I haven’t been writing new lyrics in a long while but I’m planning on getting back into it right away. I just bought a new 5 subject notebook for it. I like to write lyrics on notebooks with a regular pen ’cause it’s easier and quicker to get words on paper. Plus, I like to keep it old school. In the old days before all this technology, they had to use notebooks or typewriting paper

I need to get back into lyric writing. Some always believe it’s important to write lyrics after the music but you don’t always have to do it that way. I’ve always liked to write the lyrics before the music. Once I write the music for the song then I’ll change the lyrics around some for it to fit. There’s no rules in songwriting, it’s your choice whether you want to write lyrics first or after the music. I prefer first. Many bands and songwriters has been writing lyrics first nowadays anyways.

Like I said, I vow to keep politics out of my music from now on. I’ll write about other things. Write whatever comes to my mind. Writing song lyrics is awesome and I need to get back into it again. Itching to get new stuff out pretty badly.

Kev

For a long while now, I’ve been doing research on Acoustic Amplifiers. I really need an Acoustic Amplifier. I remember I bought my new Fender Acoustic/Electric from Parkway Music last year and I need an Acoustic Amp to go along with it. I could probably use my regular Fender electric amp to plug in my acoustic but the acoustic won’t sound “acousticy” if you know what I mean. If I plug in an acoustic/electric into an electric guitar amp, it’s gonna sound like a clean electric guitar and I don’t want that. I want a true “acousticy” sound and in order to get that sound, I need an acoustic amp and I will get one soon.

I found other acoustic amps that I got interested in as possible choices but I think I found the one that I definitely gonna wanna get. I think I fell in love with this amp here: The Boss ACS Pro:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ACSPro

I need an acoustic amp where I can sing and play guitar at the same time. If I get this amp, I will no longer need my piece of shit Peavey P.A. System which I want to get rid of soon. The best thing about this amp is that it has a built-in “Looper”… that way I can do my own back up harmonies and I can have my own rhythm playing in the background and I can solo lead over it which is what I want to do. This amp is both an acoustic guitar amp and p.a. system at the same time. That’s the kind of amp I need.

This could be good for when I start playing live acoustic shows again which is what this amp is made for pretty much. The amp costs $700 but I’ll save up for it quickly and will get it. This amp can also be very useful for home recording as well. Just set it up, turn it on, put a mic in front of it and away I record.

It definitely looks like a sweet amp. I got my eye on this one for sure.

Kev

From this point forward when I make new songs, I’m going to keep politics out of them completely. Meaning no protest songs, no topical songs, etc. None of that stuff. I used to write songs like that in the past but no more. There are too many musicians and songwriters out there that brings politics into music whether left-wing views or right-wing views. I believe music shouldn’t about politics anymore. If I were to ever play live again, I won’t even rant about politics in between songs ’cause I hate it when bands & artists do that shit. I want to keep politics separate from music the best I can.

I will still talk about politics on my blog and social networking but in my music, no. What will I write about in my upcoming new songs whenever I start writing again? I would write autobiographical songs… write song about myself and write songs about what I’m feeling. I would continue to write fictional stories by song too ’cause I’ve always liked doing that.

I’ve always wanted to write songs based on fantasy stories and medieval & Viking type of stuff. Write songs telling stories inspired by Game of Thrones and the show Vikings (on the history channel). I’ll try writing songs like that too. So if I were to make a metal album sometime down the road, I would write metal songs based on medieval and Viking stories ’cause I love that stuff. Fantasy stories inspired by the “Elder Scrolls” video games too which are games that I love to play especially “Skyrim”. I would love to try writing a song where a hero knight fights dragons and an evil sorceress, that kind of thing.

Time to leave politics out of music ’cause I’m tired of that too. Wish other bands & artists would do the same. I want all people to enjoy my music.

Kev

I’ve read the first chapter of this book already today and wow, I’m impressed! This book was worth the purchase after all. The book was kind of pricey but I bought it ’cause I wanted to improve myself with my work on DAW software. Yeah, I am a computer musician who prefers to make music digitally and I really need to improve that stuff. Thanks for the first chapter of this book, I now understand sound frequency and know what Hertz or kilohertz is. That first chapter gave me a better understanding of sound and all that stuff.

This book is definitely a must-read for those who make music on your computers through DAW’s and shit. I’m not even done with this book yet and already loving it!

I really need to get better with DAW recording and I will. I’ve always sucked at it over the years. I was never all that good with home recording but after doing heavy research on recording gear, I’m really getting the hang of it. I remember a year or 2 ago, I finally bought myself a basic home studio setup. New audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i4), PreSonus monitors, pop filter for microphone and a way better computer!

I really need to get good with DAW recording so I can make better sounding music which is my goal. I want to produce all my music myself. Track it, mix it, master it, etc. Do it all on my own. I got to figure out how to make the MP3 sound louder after rendering ’cause each time I render a song to MP3, the volume gets lower for some reason. I’ll figure it out by doing some reading so hopefully these books will help me.

I’ll get better with home recording at some point. Just gotta practice, do my homework on this stuff, doing some reading and researching.

If I were to start recording music again, what music would I make? Like I said before, I would try to make all kinds of music. Try to make everything but I mostly want to keep my focus on guitar rock oriented music. I want to try to make tight rock n’ roll which I will. I will still write some acoustic songs and try to write piano ballads too. I want to make rock guitar music. I’ll try to make full band music using MIDI and all that stuff.

Kev

So today, I just bought a couple of books that could help me a lot with DAW recording. I’ll admit that I’m not the best at DAW recording but I could learn to do it better. A lot of musicians would just record bits and bits of riffs and things like that and edit it them together. I tried to do it like that but it’s hard to do. That’s why I’ve always liked to record the song live… play it all the way through while it’s recording. I love recording songs “live” in DAW but I should record songs the other way… record bits and bits of piece and put them together. I gotta learn how to use DAW like a pro. I’ve always saw DAW as a tool to get songs out of me. I didn’t care about sound quality or editing or anything like that but I should. So I just got a couple of books that would help me

I just got these to read on my Ipad:

Making Music With GarageBand and Mixcraft:

Music Theory For Computer Musicians:

I already know quite a bit of music theory and have most of it memorized but there’s still a lot of stuff I gotta learn. The “Music Theory For Computer Musicians” would help me with MIDI instruments when multi-tracking other instruments, ya know?

I really need to learn how to use DAW like a pro ’cause once again, I admittedly suck at these things. I’m also gonna learn mixing and mastering all by myself too. Well, there is a guy that I know who actually went to college for music “producing” so maybe I’ll have him help me out some.

I just want to record the best sounding music possible. So I’m gonna do some researching and studying. Figure out how to do all this myself. I will always be a “self-taught” kind of guy ’cause I like that better.

As for learning the piano/keyboards, that’s going really well too. I want to get good at piano/keyboards before I get myself a MIDI controller. Piano is not all that hard after all. Just gotta practice and stick with it just like you stick with everything else.

Kev

Ever since I upgraded to the full version of Acoustica Mixcraft 8 DAW software, I’ve been trying to mess with drum programming on it. Trying to figure out how I would add drums to my songs. It seems they make it easy for ya.

As long as you have a sense of rhythm and understanding timing — also, having an understanding of reading drum notation, you should be good.

http://www.freedrumlessons.com/drum-lessons/reading-drum-notation.php

I have a drummer’s instructional book so I can learn how to create basic rock beats with that. I could probably get drum beats of what I’m hearing in my head to recording easily. I’m still planning on getting Superior Drummer or ToonTrack EZ Drummer sometime down the road but I’ll start off with what I have now.

Even though I want to start writing and recording full band rock tracks, I will still make acoustic music, though. With my acoustic songs I can add all kinds of various instruments on those type of songs like bongos, congas, cellos, saxophones and all kinds of stuff. There are all kinds of percussion instruments on here that I can mess with.

I like Mixcraft a lot. Think I’m definitely gonna stick with this DAW. I’m new to this software so it’s gonna take a while for me to get good with it.

I’m also gonna teach myself mixing and mastering as well ’cause I want the best sounding music as possible. I remember in the past when I was recording on other DAW’s, I had trouble trying to get the MP3 to sound loud after rendering. That’s probably ’cause I’ve been rendering unmastered tracks. If I want the songs to sound loud after rendering to MP3, I need to learn how to master. That’s the whole point of mastering I believe. I’m gonna teach myself mixing and mastering by reading books about it. I’ve been googling about that stuff too.

I’m tired of recording on DAW with just my voice and acoustic guitar. Time to do some creative stuff with my music this time around.

Kev

Since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to name my top 10 favorite love songs of all time in no particular order. I don’t obsess with love songs too much but I do like some of them. Here are my favorite love songs of all time. These 10 songs will always be amazing. No need to explain why I love each of these songs ’cause they’re all great songs. I can listen to these all the time and would never get tired of ’em.

Enjoy.

Kev

Berlin – “Take My Breath Away”

The Righteous Brothers – “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”

The Righteous Brothers – “Unchained Melody”

The Scorpions – “Still Loving You”

Firehouse – “When I Look Into Your Eyes”

Whitney Houston – “I Will Always Love You”

Eric Clapton – “Wonderful Tonight”

Elvis Presley – “Love Me Tender”

Ritchie Valens – “We Belong Together”

The Penguins – “Earth Angel”

This year I’m going to be taking electric keyboard playing a little more seriously. Stay committed with that stuff. All week, I’ve been looking at MIDI controllers and synthesizers online and I’ve been enjoying it.

The synthesizer I’ve been looking at online is the Novation MiniNova which looks pretty cool. The Novation Mininova is about $400 so it’s not bad at all.

I would like to get a synthesizer sometime ’cause I would like to make instrumental music sometime down the road. Wouldn’t it be cool if I made instrumental guitar music with electronica sounds in the background? I could make instrumental space music with lead guitar playing over it. Play instrumental shred music inspired by my heroes Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Jason Becker, etc.

I really want to get into keyboards and synthesizers and things like that. I’m not giving up the guitar, I just want to experiment with something new. I’m honestly getting tired of acoustic music and want to branch out, discover some new things.

Kev