the creative journal of entropicon
I don’t spend enough time simply jamming on the iPad. I have a couple of soft synths on there and so I should really pick it up more often.
I picked it up just now. And now I have a new riff to develop tomorrow and create a new song.
And for a recommendation, have a play with solo synth on the iPad.
It’s that time again when I look at the previous month with a digital image. I don’t think I was overly inspired this month, but it is a creative work, so it goes here. I think I’m more concerned that I was uncreative in many areas during April. Still May is here and time is my own to play with.
April 2012 digital image
I have begun to alter a book. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for ages and as I was about to get rid of one particular book I thought, hey why not try to alter it first. It is an old Common Prayer book and so the theme of the alter will be to make an Altered Prayer Book. As you can see it isn’t rocket science. Here is the first page I’ve done so far, and it is very basic… baby steps for a first attempt.
Let's change the words
I’m not sure where the rest of the book will go and I suppose I should do a little research on altered book ideas and thoughts. But I wanted to start and as starting is so often the hardest part for me, I’m not doing too bad.
So If anyone has any altered book sites to recommend please let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to check them out.
March 2012
This is what my March looked like.
This past week I sat down and began to record two new tracks. The first track is currently called ‘Freeze’ and although that was a working title it is beginning to stick. This was a song I wrote during FAWM and it is sounding quite good. I try to write and record music that I would like to listen to, and this is one of those.
The second track is an older song that I have never gotten around to recording. It’s called ‘It’s summertime’ and is a bright and poppy little number.
Both tracks need quite a bit of work but they are coming along nicely. I’ll post them as soon as I do a reasonable mixdown.
Following on from the last update when I mentioned recording a song called ‘Freeze’ I felt a pang. This pang led me to finally getting my proverbial backside into gear and begin the recording of a song that I think many people will like. And it’s called ‘It’s summertime’.
No more excuses for wallowing in the murky gloom of winter the concept behind this song is to make you feel happy. In the next few days I hope to have a demo available.
Watch this space.
With spring in the air, what better time to begin recording a song called ‘Freeze’. It was a working title and one of the songs I wrote for FAWM, but the title seems to be sticking. It’s currently a fairly up-tempo rock/pop song. It was fun laying down the basics today, although I got distracted and started playing with the soft synths… it’s the geek in me.
Still here are the current lyrics, most likely they’ll change when I finally get to record them, but posting them here for the memory. I’ll try to update here as soon as I have a demo.
You’re like a subtle sound
Directionless but all around
Salt water to the drowned
But here I dive right in
You arrived as I wanted to leave
Dropped the bomb, I couldn’t believe
I saw a sign and felt my need
For there I stood the same
Chorus
And when I think the time has come
I freeze and let my drive succumb
I stumble with my words and deeds
As I approach your warm heart watch mine freeze
But in limbo nothing’s changed
I await and feel estranged
Hands tied, a dance deranged
Chess pieces waiting to play
Brief moments raising hope
Sharp intake, slippery slope
feel the words in my mouth choke
It’s too soon but inertia she calls
I found this meme floating around and you can find more about it by following the link at the bottom of the image. Basically these 30 things that have influenced me, or rather specifically my creative journey. They are in no order at all, but all have influenced in some way or other. I hope you find it as interesting to view as I did to create.
My Creative Influences (Click for larger)
I’ve been doing a little digital scrapbooking as an alternative way to detail what I’ve been up to and what I’ve achieved.
After 29 days I have completed FAWM. I have written 14.5 songs during the 29 days of February. It has been an enjoyable challenge and taught me one or two things.
Firstly the challenge aspect does seem to work. I have now completed this challenge and NaNoWriMo. I find it very easy to start things but a lot more difficult to finish them, so the time limit certainly helps.
Secondly, and perhaps linked, is that I haven’t been concerned with perfection. The time limit means that quite often I have to go with vague ideas, or ideas that I don’t think are particularly good. This didn’t always result in a fantastic song, but a couple of times it did mean something quite respectable was created.
Finally a quick shout out to a cool little app on the iPad that enabled me to complete the challenge. I used SongwriterHD (lite) a little app that enabled me to write the words but also record little snippets of ideas, perfect for this challenge. I am seriously considering ditching my songwriting notebook for it.
The next challenge? Record some of these songs!