There’s a new song coming called “I’m Back”. I’m still wrestling over the music and working on the lyrics. All lyrics here are copyright 2010, David L. Whitehurst, All Rights Reserved. Here are the lyrics so far.

I worked up and down the highway, playing my songs

Just dreaming about another world

I was beating my guitar, waving it around

Just looking for a small town girl



I played at the hotels, slept in a motel

I played with a top funk band

I sang for the Daughters of the American Revolution

And, I worked in a cube for the man



Chorus



Have your friends all told you that I’m playing again?

And I’m living in a new small town

Dusted my guitar, got a new set of strings

And I’m gonna be coming around



I won’t be up and down your highway

You won’t find me on an in-store rack

Turn up your computer volume, baby, tell all your friends

I’m making music again and I’m back

My son Philip Whitehurst has Aspergers syndrome and he lacks empathy in others emotions most of the time. He does this irritating noise when he comes through the house where he sucks in his breath while making this horrendous noise. I’m recording now a lot so I thought, “why not?” I’ll record his noises. He does this noise because he knows it irritates everyone in the house. And, we tell him over and over to stop. He never listens. He knows it gets attention. We recorded these noises and I think you’ll agree that this very short clip of music will get your attention. So, here’s my first recording with my son Philip David Whitehurst. It’s called “An Aspergers Dream”.

Here’s the link to the song An Aspergers Dream

Are you thinking about producing your first album? When you start there are many questions that need to be answered. I’ll share with you my notes as I’m beginning this journey myself. I’m writing this post to document my thoughts and considerations. Let’s begin.

A friend shared a site similar to CD Baby called Magnatune. Anyhow, I know nothing about these sites but I had said something about doing my own album without a label. I read their requirements and submission guidelines but I didn’t realize that I would have to pay for the product packaging. My first vision was that I submit the music and simply the front cover art; they would do the rest. I was wrong. They take you on if you’re very good and they “expect” sales. You have to be chosen to do business with them. Then, you pay. Yes, your cost may be reduced because you will be independently marketing your own product. But, you pay to manufacture or put together that product in a marketable form.

So, am I going to try a submission with Magnatune? No. I will provide a download-for-fee service on my websites. Now let’s talk about what is needed to have a “product” in a marketable form to place on the website. Here’s my first rough list.

• Approx. 10-12 songs
• 45+ min in total listening time
• Top quality audio in several formats
• Artwork in wallpaper (marketing) size for free download
• Artwork in thumbnail for album download
• Instruction for or setup for iTunes artwork

After I accept the fact that I need more music altogether, I focus on polishing the songs that I have. I’ve added each song to my MP3 player and I’ve been listening to them over and over. I’ve noticed a ton of small things that need to be fixed. Here are some of the things I’ve found.

• Every song fades at the end
• Several songs have slam introductions
• Only one song has drum fills to break the loop monotony
• intonation issues between MIDI and real instruments
• Songs could take a sonic turn more often
• Some real instrument tracks have tiny mistakes
• Some played midi tracks have tiny mistakes

Once I fix everything, I’ll go back to creating the new music. I actually started another one last night. The artwork is another seemingly huge undertaking. I have the talent and creativity to do the album artwork, but not the energy or focus right now. I’m still trying to convince myself to have someone else do the artwork, but I like the idea of doing it myself too.

In conclusion, doing this first album will be difficult, but my first priority is to produce tasteful music. I will update with new posts as things move along.

This is too cool. It’s a YouTube video for the Nobel Funk Peace Prize winners.

I recently purchased a music notation software product called Songwriter by Finale. This software was reasonably priced for what it does. I use a Macbook Pro and this software allows me to write music and then convert the final product to a MIDI file. I wanted to record a tasteful piece using my guitar so I had been learning Joe Satriani’s “Always with me, Always with you” and I wrote a similar arpeggio thing using chords that I had chosen instead. I just messed around with some chords on my guitar and then devised an arpeggio pattern that I liked. I then wrote the actual music in detail using Songwriter. The Finale product actually allows the playback of the music using the notes in MIDI. It sounded good. I was in business. I now had my accompaniment.

I saved the Finale music file and then tried Save-As. I was smiling now. The save as feature had an option to save the file as simple MIDI. I opened Garageband and also a Finder window. I dragged the MIDI file over the Garageband window and a little green plus icon showed itself. I released the mouse and the MIDI file created a complete track using the Electric Guitar as the software instrument. I played the track and it was perfect. I’m sure there are many products that can be used to record your music notationally. And, I bet most have a Save-As MIDI option.

Here’s a taste of the piece I was playing. The instrument was changed to “Grand Piano”. Listen for the arpeggio and chordal accompaniment. Hope.mp3

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