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| If I had to delete/destroy all of my music collection except for 10 albums, this is probably what I would pick (in no particular order):
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| "I close my eyes to see.
I cover my ears to hear."
I think I should somehow change my band name to represent that. Because that it how I write alot of my songs...by blocking out external senses in order to focus my attention and creativity. It is only when I close my eyes that I can see a visual landscape of the song that I am currently listening to. And it is only when I mute the TV and shut off my speakers, can I concentrate on creating new instrument parts.
Songwriting for some people may be: coming up with many different song parts, and seeing if they fit together, as if it were a puzzle. I think it is better to know in your mind what the song should sound like, and then translating that mental vision into reality. The hardest part, is creating that dedicated focus in your mind. The hardest part, is being able to hear a song in your head without actually hearing anything.
-Jeff
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| Well, Cyntext is rolling along. Had a few shows. We're currently doing some recordings which are almost done if you ignore the fact that we haven't started recording vocals (And I have no idea how long its going to take to record the vocals).
I feel its very hard to be motivated to finish these recordings, because I'm already hearing alot of details and things that sound off, and that I want them to be changed. Alot of these things, theres no way we can change them at this point...especially drums. Now that I can hear the drums on a recording, and not just in a very loud basement room, I can tell what drum parts work well, and what drums parts need improvement. Same can be said for guitars as well.
When were recording drums, I didn't expect miracles and I didn't expect the drum parts to be perfect. So I tried to be kind of lenient and let some extremely minor mistakes go by without saying anything...after all, we only had 1 day to record drums. If it was close to perfect, It would probably be good enough.
...Until we hit that one song, "Untrustable". This song was different than the rest that we were recording, in that it started out being a song I wrote for my solo projects. It was also at a much slower tempo, and had a definitely dance-feel to it, unlike the rock/punk feel of the other songs. But there was one drum part, that whenever Rob played it a little off, I could totally notice it. But no one else did. To me it was so clear that the drum part could've been tighter, and everyone else kept saying that they couldn't even notice it, and that we should stop wasting our time and move on. It was at that exact moment, that I gave up trying to make the music sound good, at least for that song. At that moment, I should have kept trying to record the drum part until I liked it, possibly even changing the part so its easier. I should not have let into keeping a drum part that I could not stand listening to. Even after all the guitar and bass and synths and vocals are recorded on top of that drum part, I still feel that that mistake will be heard, and that I will never enjoy listening to that song.
What is the point of recording music if I can't enjoy the final songs? This is why I created my solo projects in music. In these projects, I can almost create music that I could actually listen to along with all of the other songs on my IPod. And that is my ultimate goal in music: To create music thats as good as whats playing on the radios.
I think almost all of Cyntext's songs and live show can be improved. Last time we played a show, I wasn't exactly trilled and excited when I was playing some of the songs. Because I don't like some of our songs. How can we except other people to like our music, when I don't even like it? I believe a band has to totally embrace its music and believe that its music is the best, if that band has any chance out there. The band has to be its own biggest fan. And right now I'm no fan of our music...at least some of the songs.
I feel terrible about all the people who come up to me after shows and say "great job!" and "I really like your music!". Because, compared to many other bands, I think our songs are really weak. Theres a reason I started to like alot of mainstream music lately..because I'm starting to appreciate the delicate song work that goes into that music. The mainstream music may not be technically hard like Dream Theater, but instead, the song is complex in a way that cannot be easily explained.
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| ..although the vocals are pretty raw right now. Not pitch corrected yet, so thats how good/bad i really sing. I like how video game-ish these songs are coming out.
Higher Ground (Revision 5)
Let me know what you think.
-Jeff
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| I swear this ones better then the last one. Its the same song tho, but dramatically different. No vox yet.
Down Below (Revision 6)
-Jeff
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