So, where I said in my last post about hitting the $8000 in savings mark… Well, that was true, until the other day when I decided to buy some new music gear (actually I decided a few months ago, and waited to make sure I wanted to buy it). I spent more than I would have liked (now I’m back down to $7000…), but I love my new gear. And I figure I won’t need to buy any new music gear for a few years now. Except maybe a new pickup for my guitar…

(for the non-gear-heads reading: might want to skip the next 3 paragraphs)

New Guitar: The Little Martin LXM

It took me three days of trying out different travel-size guitars (the Baby Taylor was a contender, especially for the built-in pickup) before eventually settling on the Martin LXM. I loved the neck on the Taylor, but the beautiful tone and sturdiness of the Martin won me over.

New Audio Interface: Edirol UA25ex

My old interface, the Zoom H4n, wasn’t really meant for what I was using it for – direct recording (it was made to be used as a rugged field recorder).  Using it as an audio interface, I wrestled with frustrating latency and timing issues. It’s still great to put down rough song ideas though. I bought the Edirol on the recommendation of my class at Roland – although, thinking about it now, Roland owns Edirol so they might have been a bit biased. I’m really happy with it. It’s got a tough metal case, and if there’s any recording latency, I can’t notice it.

New Microphones: Shure M57 and Beta SM58

Compared to the built-in mics on my old Zoom H4N – well, there’s no comparing really. The Shure mics are just way better suited to my purposes: recording guitar (M57) and voice (SM58). I still need a pop filter. At one point in the song, when I say the word “pale”, the air from my mouth causes a pop in the recording. That’s what Pop Filters eliminate. Although I’m hesitant to spend the $70 that they cost here in Japan. I’ll probably end up making one myself.

______________________

The Song: “Run Away”

This recording is the result of my first few hours playing around with my new recording setup. Overall, I’m about 70% happy with the recording.

The song itself is not bad. I wrote it about 2 years ago at my uncle’s cottage (about a year after I started writing songs). I think my songwriting has grown a lot since then, but I still like the song. I mainly chose it as my first test recording because it’s so easy to play.

The lyrics are very simple and the guitar is in standard tuning, which is rare for me. While some songs take me a week or more to write, this one came out in about 3 hours. The new audio interface and microphones made a huge difference in the recording sound from what I’m used to. That said, I’ve got a lot of learning to do with this new gear…

Some caveats before you listen

I’m not a singer. I love writing songs, and only record my voice because I haven’t found a singer yet.

—– If you’re a talented singer and live in Hamamatsu, definitely email me. —–

I’d love some feedback on the song: constructive or positive. Mostly positive though, as this is my first original song I’m releasing out into the world.   ;)

For some reason that I can’t put my finger on, it’s really difficult to click the ‘publish’ button on this post. Fear of failure? Fear of what people will say? I mean, have no crazy aspirations of becoming anything more than an amateur musician. I just love music and writing songs.

Regardless, as Seth Godin says, “You gotta ship your art.” Enjoy.

Run Away:

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Lyrics:

Baby did you take my gun

Baby did you take my gun

Did you go out and shoot someone

And run away

Oh, baby did you walk that line

Baby did you walk that line

Did you take somebody’s time

And run away, and run away

Baby did you understand

Baby did you understand

That I couldn’t be your man

And run away

Oh, Baby did you take my life

Baby did you take my life

Cause you couldn’t be my wife

And run away, and run away

Well she took my heart and soul

Now my body’s pale and cold

I’m just a story to be told

While she runs away, she runs away

While she runs away

UPDATE: I have discontinued wearing these shoes until I figure out a way to make them NOT smell.
 

“I’m not being seen in public with you if you’re wearing those – things.”
– A friend’s girlfriend to her boyfriend about his Vibram Five Finger Shoes.
 

So why would you wear them? My five favorite reasons:
 

1) They will make you run faster than Kenyans. Or at least, faster than you already run.
 
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