…in late December, because I wasn’t singing as often as I need to, to keep my voice in shape. So I decided to record 20 covers in 100 days. I figured recording would force me to sing more. (It has.) To make it a little more interesting, I also decided to do it without karaoke tracks.
But I’m getting a lot more out of it than vocal practice.
The biggest surprise is how much fun it’s been. I didn’t expect it to be a slog, but it has been surprisingly liberating to move quickly and not worry about perfection.
I used to nitpick every recording to death. Different vocal takes on different days, months of production, different arrangements, slightly tweaked melodies, stacks of vocals, .5-beat changes in tempo… on and on. Improvements with diminishing returns.
Now, with an average release cycle of five days, that means focusing on what’s important. What are the essential parts that make each song, a song? I don’t need to learn that exact drum fill, spend an hour looking for that exact synth sound, worry about redoing that wrong lyric on an otherwise decent take, or play all the parts. I don’t have time for any of that. As long as it’s a song and I like it, mission accomplished.
If 90% of my time used to be spent on eking out the last 10% of improvement before, it’s the opposite now. I’m spending 90% of my time on the easy, rewarding, broad-strokes part of music-making, and only 10% worrying about any finer details.
It has also been more of a kick than I expected (pun intended) to play drums. And it’s been surprising to find that even though I can’t really play guitar, I can still pick out enough notes to fill in important parts.
Even though I can’t play everything, with practice I can approximate the essentials.
I think sometimes people think it would take too long to get good enough at an instrument to play it with other people, so they get discouraged from even starting. But music is for everyone. That cliche is coming to life as I experience first hand the varying levels of skill I have on different instruments. I may be an expert on voice, but I’m a total beginner on guitar, and not much better on piano. But I can still record songs.
Making music in this playful headspace has also brought me back to something I haven’t done in a few years: write original music. I’m recognizing habits that hold me back, changing my methods, and breaking out of old ruts. I certainly didn’t expect this side effect from doing covers!
I’m also surprised to find I know more than I thought I did as a producer and engineer. When I gave “Dreams” (below) to Justin for a quick mix review and he said there wasn’t much to change, my confidence leaped. I can trust my ears. I do know what I think sounds good. Until that moment, I hadn’t given myself permission to decide whether I liked a mix.
And, finally, I don’t know if it’s related, but I have been hired to play bass for Pamela Machala and Cody Qualls and have been invited to start a new project of synthwave originals and covers. Maybe it’s just chance. Or maybe it’s from being out there doing my thing. Who knows.
How do you find joy in music? Is there a new way you could approach anything that feels intimidating or tedious? Would it help to have a more playful attitude? Is it possible you can do more than you’re giving yourself credit for?
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http://www.adrienneosborn.com
COMBO Member Adrienne Osborn Writes: I started a 100-day project…
