The Great Tutorial Day

The Tea House Trials 

Pro Tools Tutorial Expectation: I get on the internet. I find several interesting tutorials, about fifteen minutes long each. There are also some longer tutorials, but I save them for later. Armed with these brief bursts of information, I have a short listening session before I go to work.

Pro Tools Tutorial Reality: I get on the internet. There are many tutorials, all at least forty-five minutes long (except for the part-one-of-twelve videos). Realizing that I could make and drink six cups of tea in the amount of time it would take for me to get through one video, I am swamped with information.

The good side of this story is that I found a helpful series of articles on getting started with Pro Tools from Jeff Towne. That is a good enough start for today, and hopefully I’ll be prepared with a kettle for next time. 

Tea of the day: Earl Grey with Jasmine. I may have an Earl Grey obsession. 

Day One: Picking a Song

The Tea House Trials

I had the first moment of “Oh, I didn’t really think this through all the way, did I?” today. Since I’m working on one song, I actually have to pick a song. I have six completed songs, plus a couple of uncompleted ones. I’ll safely rule out the uncompleted ones to eliminate extra work, and I have one song that I’m using for a collaboration. This leaves me with five songs. 

The first is a song of unrequited love. This song has the most potential for adding other sounds and instruments besides piano/vocals. 

Next, I have a reflection on Psalm 34. This song would need some polishing before recording, but it’s classic. 

I have two songs about songwriting, one funny and one serious. They’re both good options, but I can see myself getting tired of them before the semester is over. 

Finally, I have a song I wrote for my friend who told me about being assaulted. This song is close to my heart, and would be the simplest to produce. 

The biggest choice is probably between my first song (tentatively “Stardust” and the last (which I’m calling “There for You” until I find a better name). The decision will probably come down to whether I want a simpler production with less steps, or a fuller production with some added sounds. 

Today I’ll probably end up researching steps I won’t need until October and socializing with friends to avoid choosing a song.


Tea of the day: 
Earl Grey, a classic. 

The Tea House Trials

The Tea House Trials

I love music. My biggest experience with writing and producing music was a school project with my friend Tyler, but I mostly wrote and sang for this project, and didn’t do much of the mixing and producing.

Recently, I’ve been writing more music in my spare time. I love writing music, because it gives me a way to express and process ideas that are new or interesting to me. But I have no idea how to get this music from the page and a phone recording to a song that I would be happy to share with my friends and family.

This is the point of the Tea House Trials. For the Fall Semester 2018, I’m going to try to get a song from draft to done, using things I can learn online or from friends, and share the story along the way. Maybe it will all end in tears, but at least there will be lots of tea.