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Just a few weeks left before we start the 2009 Song-A-Day festivities (a.k.a. 29 Songs). Looks like I really need to clean out the garage and the website before this gets going.

Maybe I can pick up a few things to help things along this year too. Here's a shopping list I jotted-down on the BART one night this week:

• batteries! Mostly for the tuner, but I'll play around with different sounds a bit more this year.
• strings for the acoustic guitar.
• sm57: snare sounds have been lame. Maybe this'll help? Maybe properly tuning my snare will help more.
• midi controller: I'd love to play with one of these.
• Another samson mic to record in stereo (from the road).
• a proper mic stand for the kick drum. I lost mine somewhere along the way.
• A piano. I meant to get one at some point in '08, mostly for the girls. I used to play a little, would love to have one in the family.

What am I forgetting?

If you have any interest at all in joining the fray, please shoot me a note. As you can see this is a great excuse to go out and buy some gear. Your spouse will surely agree.

After the last post about my lack of audio engineeritude, I came home to find the mic in the same absurd position as I left it after recording ' 2 i5 b3tt3r than 0n3'. As you can see, I wasn't really aiming it at the kit AT ALL...

Better Drum Recording: So I literally dusted off my recording gear and tried to use my standard shortcuts and equipment (D112, Oktava C-12s, SM58) to record 'Doomed From The Start'.

Guitar stuffs: More from recording 'Doomed'. I played the Fender Lead II into the Zvex Nano Amp into the Mesa 4x12. I think that thing is packed with celestions. I'll have to doublecheck tho. I'm using the Zvex instead of the dual rectifier because it sounds nice and because of the late-night recording sessions.

I recorded 'Doomed' with a SM58 about 6 inches away from the speaker.

Vocals went through the Pacific Pro Audio - LD-2UBE and I think I heard what Derek was singing about in his song about the microphone. There's something almost too transparent about the sound. I'll muck around with this a little more.

Lots of new stuff to listen to on the 29 songs site, so get started! I won't link directly to songs, just go click on the player.

Bruce: what's your deal? You're getting incredible guitar tones. You're playing all over the place... hitting jan hammer, buckethead, and tbone burnett in the same week.

• Black carpet fuzz - I loves me some fuzz. What are you using here?
• Sunshine - really polished, nice build.
• Smile - what am I listening to here? This sounds great.

Seth: You are cranking winners out at what, like 3 at at time? You'll have 2 years of material to refine by March at this pace.

• you leaving - very catchy, I sang that one for a few days.
• In fifths - fun!
• Something on me - I love the Billy Joel vibe: "I got you right where..."
• Simply meant... - I especially like the b section.
• Valentine - nice, quiet, sweet lyrics... oh yeah, it's almost valentine's day isn't it.

Peter: You're in the week 2 doldrums but you can bust through!

• This thing - you cranked that out on the fly? I love the woodwind arrangements.
• Long Road - deep & dark.

Derek:

• Bugs - I know 30 thousand people in india who will stand up in their cubicles and cheer when they hear that song
• Bird - roolz of course. Props for playing to the ad-lib'd a-capella vocals. Exploit those kids!
• Anne Hamburger - It's stuck in my mind now too.
• Microphone - You can have it if you really want it.

Derek & I had a funny chat about engineering voodoo the other day:

I'm uniquely unsuited for handling engineering responsibilities of any complexity because of my short attention span, lack of familiarity with the physics of sound, and penchant for shortcuts. I'm not recording engineer, but I played one on the web:

Check out the Clubbo Website for more about the Lazarus project and learn how lazarus keeps rock legends alive.

Sheesh!

I just barely made it in before midnight. This is gonna be tough.

I came up with the verse on guitar & vocal melody idea over breakfast, but didn't get a chance to sit down and record until about 9pm. A little over 2 hours later, and 'Took To The Air' popped out. I was really itching to record drums for this one, I wish I had my kit in my garage.

• Seth: Can't Get Over Love, the sweetest 50 seconds you'll get today.
• Derek: 29 Days, wow -- the theme song.
• Me: Took to the Air

Peter, there's still time! C'mon!

I recorded this on my laptop which is completely wrong for the job. Sure, I have the multitrack on there, but I was installing a mp3 codec at 11:15... Gotta get this in shape.

Also, Jim's Samson USB Mic is right for the job. Extremely handy to have this working with the laptop.