Here is a blog for Saturday! I was initially going to take Saturday off but I was printing album covers and burning CD's at Staples. I spent a good three hours there burning the music to discs myself and printing everything with the people who work there. It began to get a little bit frustrating because I was having technical problems with sending and sharing my files over to their system but, we got it all figured out and I ended up sharing the files through a USB hard drive. Then everything was able to be printed. I then went back to Staples today to burn more disks and print more album covers so totaling the hours between yesterday and today I have worked five hours.

Week three has been so exhausting but I had such a fun time recording and creating the final product. I recorded two days this week for very long periods of time. I recorded on Monday from nine to one in the afternoon at PMAC, Portsmouth Music and Arts Center, and Wednesday from six one in the morning at the Bob Cat Recording Studio. Both of the recording places were so different from each other. At PMAC I was set up in a huge room with fantastic acoustics. There were microphones set at my guitar and myself and It was more of a live type of recording. I would play and sing at the same time and so all tracks would be recorded at once. Versus the Bob Cat Recording Studio I was set up in a chair and a microphone on my guitar but my guitar was also plugged in. I actually wore headphones and when it came to singing I was set up at a different microphone standing up. I wasn’t recording everything at once so the recordings took longer but I am extremely happy with the recordings that I got out of the experience. I think that from using both recording spaces I felt very intimidated especially when I was recording at the Bob Cat Recording Studio. It was just the feeling of being in a large glass box with people both watching and hearing everything I did, I did not want to mess up. I probably messed up so many times that I was in that studio for so much longer than I thought I would be, but again I am so happy with my final product. I have learned that with producing music you have to have the patience for it. I feel like I am a pretty patient person but when it came to making tracks over and over again, or punching in chords I could not get I got pretty frustrated because I just wanted to get it right and done with. I have never been or felt so frustrated and impatient about anything in my life. I feel like that was a pretty big takeaway from the experience. I now have the recordings done and all that is left to do is practice for the performance and get everything together for my final presentation. Combining all three weeks together I have officially completed 100 hours on my Senior Project.

I didn't do much today. I probably worked for like an hour on a slide show presentation for Express Fest. Other than that I have been practicing a song for the final performance. There hasn't been too much to do. I am burning music to discs on Monday, and am creating a small banner for my table at Express Fest. I guess all that's left is to present my final product. So excited to be performing next Wednesday night!

Today was kind of a rest day. I did not get home until like one in the morning from the recording studio. Last night was such a cool and intimidating experience. I was kept in a glass soundproof room along with my guitar and a huge setup of microphones and instruments for most of the time, meanwhile Bob the Producer was in the other room along with my mom and my mentor, Brian. I was in that room for hours. I played guitar so many times I couldn't say how many tracks I had recorded because of the amount of mistakes I had made, it took forever. On top of that I didn't even sing until all the guitar tracks were done so I had to sing on a whole bunch of tracks which also took up quite a bit of time but it was fun. I also got to play around with harmony. After all that was done Bob had set levels and mixed the music for us and put it on a CD and sent it to me through DropBox. I am now currently downloading the music and figuring out a way to present it for Express Fest. It is now six at night and I have been working on scheduling times at staples to print my CD jacket covers and burn music to disks. Next couple days I will probably be figuring out how I will be presenting my senior project aside from actually performing one of the songs. Total amount of hours working today is two. Here are some photos and videos from last nights recording session!

Today is my final recording day! I practiced from twelve to four in the afternoon and went to the studio at seven and I do not know when I will get out but I am going to assume two in the morning at latest. I am going to be recording all four songs and if I have time I might try and record some other songs to keep on the side. So excited to see how my Senior Project comes together! I'll be posting videos and photos later on throughout the night!

Today was more of an easy day. I practiced from eleven till two and then went from three to six which totals to six hours today. I mainly just played my songs over and over again. Even though I recorded two songs yesterday I plan on recording all four songs tomorrow night. I am recording all the songs tomorrow because I am going to a different place that isn't in Portsmouth. I know this seems like more work using two different studios but its not. I think of yesterday as a practice round and tomorrow as the final. I am so excited to be mixing and seeing the final product!

Today I woke up at eight in the morning and drove to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to start recording at PMAC, the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center. I met with a guy named Mike and we started right at nine sharp and went until one in the afternoon, I got two recordings done today in those four hours. I recorded Love Me For All That I Am, and Somehow.  I had to restart each song so many times because of all the little mistakes I made, but I got it done and I am now happy and excited to be mixing the songs. I later on practiced my songs again from three to five and plan to practice and rest tomorrow for my next recording session on Wednesday night. After Wednesday I should be printing the album cover and burning music to CD's. Total hours done today is six.

Today I woke up at eight in the morning and drove to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to start recording. I met with a guy named Mike and we started right at nine sharp and went until one in the afternoon, I got two recordings done today in those four hours. I recorded Love Me For All That I Am, and Somehow.  I had to restart each song so many times because of all the little mistakes I made, but I got it done and I am now happy and excited to be mixing the songs. I later on practiced my songs again from three to five and plan to practice and rest tomorrow for my next recording session on Wednesday night. After Wednesday I should be printing the album cover and burning music to CD's. Total hours done today is six.

Week two was pretty hectic in the beginning. The thing was I was just getting more and more nervous about practicing the songs and whether I would be able to get the songs down by the end of this week.  Adding to that I had to be playing the songs along with the metronome. It was hard but I was able to find and keep a steady beat for each song on the metronome, and that probably took me at least two days to get used to. I got all of that done and I feel very confident and proud of the progress that was made this week. I had practiced so many hours a day that it eventually become muscle memory. On top of that I have all the lyrics to each song memorized which is a huge deal cause my original goal was to just play just the instrumental part of each song along with the metronome and not have all the songs done.

I met with Brian at least two times this week and he helped me just go over all the songs multiple times which was what really helped me with the memorization of the songs. He helped me perfect the little mistakes I kept having for instance forgetting a chord or accidentally adding a chord that wasn’t supposed to be in the song originally.  He helped me with the little things that gave me so much trouble in the beginning of this week and with the help of him I am now able to find my way around the little mistakes that I still occasionally make.

Another thing that I had gotten done is the template for my album cover, I played around with photoshop, put the photos I want to be together for the front and back and am now in the process of writing credits and thank yous for everyone that has been helping throughout the entire process. Totalling the hours this week I have spent a full forty hours on practicing and perfecting everything. Next steps are to finish writing my credits and thank yous as well as practicing more for Monday and Wednesday night. So excited to be creating the final product of my Senior Project next week.

Today is the day I got all my songs done! I was able to play them with the metronome and not mess up. Today I met with Brian from eleven in the morning until two in the afternoon, I performed the songs for him and we talked about next steps. Brian said to me that he thinks that I have come a long way since last week and that I am ready to record. I could never agree more. Brian left and I then practiced my songs for another two hours from three to five which totals to five hours of work today. Because of how many hours I have put into this week I plan to take Saturday off again.

Today I started right at nine worked until five pm than went from eight to ten, so I got a total of ten hours done today. I practiced all my songs again and I feel so much progress happening each time I play my songs. I have been constantly playing the songs over and over to the point where it feels like it is all muscle memory. Although I have been playing the songs with very little mistakes I feel as if I have been improving a lot. I make mistakes on the smallest things like forgetting one word up to one line from the lyrics so I have to keep back tracking and replaying the song until I can remember. Or I will make a mistake with one chord, I will instantly restart the entire song as many times as I can until I can get that one chord inline with the song. I feel extremely confident in having the songs ready by Saturday and I am so pumped for recording next Wednesday!