[Music] I Made A Thing

Technically, I finished a thing.

September 23, 2012. That's the date of creation stamped on the project file for the original concept for this song. A broken heart and a free afternoon found me sitting in my dorm room recording guitar tracks at random. A few hours later, I had the makings of what could become a fairly decent song. What I didn't know is how much that song would mean to me down the road. I don't really have recorded anywhere the full song that this concept eventually turned into, but I did find a video (I don't remember where it is) of me playing a good chunk of it. If I still had electric guitar equipment, I would gladly re-record and actually flesh out the whole concept "Invisible Year". Perhaps someday.

Anyway, today (or yesterday, I can't particularly remember) I dug up the project file for this song and looked at it, mostly for my own amusement. I realized the guitar tracks were pretty spot on to the metronome track, and realized that I now have software with which I can map out virtual instruments. So, I opened up my copy of Ignite by Air, mapped out a bass line, played with the instrument parameters until I found a sound I halfway liked, exported it to a .wav, and imported it into the original project. Well, I couldn't stop there, so I also mapped out a rough drum idea. Then I erased it, created several tracks, and mapped out each individual drum element  some separately. From there, I exported each element as its own .wav, imported those tracks into the project, did some general mixing work (EQ, reverb, levels, etc.) on those tracks, did a little more work on the original guitar tracks, mixed it all together, and mastered it out. 

I've been listening to it on repeat all night. 

It's strange to think of where I was at when I first recorded the guitar tracks vs. where I'm at now, and how much I (and times in general) have changed. It's almost surreal to think that I actually finished this thing (for what it was originally). Now I really want to map out the full thing (or as much as I can remember of it). Maybe I'll downtune my acoustic and just map it out for myself, so I don't lose it. Hey, a musician's gotta do what a musician's gotta do.