Since I’ve been GOOOOOOOOONE! Pt. I

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I AM BACK!

I did a lot of creating during my blogging hiatus! Over the next few weeks I will show you all what I got into the last few months of 2017! It was LIT! Or, at least lit adjacent . . .

First things first!

My major project over the last few months (i.e. the “secret project” referred to here) was my VERY FIRST CHRISTMAS ALBUM!*

 A CHRISTMAS DREAM VOL. I

This project is the most involved and challenging of all my creative endeavors to date.

To make this album I had to do the following:

• Choose and learn songs
• Record songs
• Learn how to edit and then edit songs
• Design the cover/CD
• Get the CD printed and packaged

Choosing and Learning Songs

Learning the songs was the least stressful and most enjoyable part of this whole process. I found a beautiful arrangement of ‘O Holy Night’ by Julie Lind (you can find the sheet music here) that I am still obsessed with. This is the first piece that I interpreted and learned to play mostly by myself. Usually when I start a piece, my teacher gives me a lot of instruction and direction.This time I got started ON MY OWN, which was a very empowering feeling. Go me!

Here is ‘O Holy Night’ aka my first single:

Another first for me was adapting an arrangement. I found and fell in love with a version of ‘Silent Night’ that was SUPER simple and sweet. I then realized that simple and sweet can also be boring AF so I changed it. I ended up with something that was in keeping with what I liked about the original arrangement, but with more pizzazz (I mean, as much pizzazz as ‘Silent Night’ can have . . .).

Here it is!

Recording and Editing the Songs

Recording is even more stressful than performing live. For me, there was more pressure to be perfect because I had the opportunity to do multiple takes and edit the audio. Unsurprisingly, this mindset did not help me at all. During this recording adventure I did not have a single perfect take. So, for every song on the album I combined the best imperfect takes to create an imperfect final recording. I am mostly okay with this.

Another first for me during this project was using Audacity to edit my tracks. Audacity is software that you can use to record and edit audio. I did A LOT of research to figure out how to effectively use Audacity within the context of my project. Shit was very, very tricky.

Here is what music looks like in Audacity.

Design/Packaging/Etc.

I didn’t do as much with the cover art etc. as I wanted to. However, I was able to get the album printed and packaged, which made me feel hella fancy and like a real musician who makes albums. Also, one friend of mine was very impressed that it was shrink-wrapped, so there’s that.

All in all, I learned a ton from doing this and I am so excited for next year!

 

 

* Disclaimer: This album is not for sale. It was a Christmas present for my family, my friends, and myself. I made no money off of these Christmas shenanigans.