I thought I had today all sorted out but it seemed to be doomed with complications no matter how much I prepared for it. We are getting laminate floors installed in the basement. Last night we picked a sample out and the guy doing the installation told us he would be at our house at noon to start removing the old rug. I spent the rest of the night and into the early morning packing up all my musical gear, pulling books off of shelves and moving furniture until the floor was pretty much bare. If that wasn't enough I also spent some time learning a song for someone's birthday for my post for today. The timing of the floor installment was very crucial because I had planned to do some recording in the basement the following day.
When noon rolled around the fellas from the laminate place showed up and informed me that they could bring in the materials, but they had to start later in the evening because they were on another job that they had to finish. That wasn’t a big deal as long as they could finish the job by the end of the evening . So I spent afternoon looking after Julian at the park. It was a beautiful 20 degrees outside and there was no one at the park but the two of us. He had a great time and I thought I really thought I had tuckered him out but his afternoon nap didn't last very long. So I didn't get around to recording my song.
It's been tough some days trying to find little windows of opportunity to get things done. Being in daddy daycare mode limits your free time during the day and the length of a nap or lack there of, will determine what you can get done. Since Julian didn't stay asleep long enough for me to get around to recording, I decided I was going to have to aim for the time in-between Melanie getting off work and when the laminate guys returned to start the job. So when 5 pm rolled around I handed Julian over to Melanie and began setting up my camera and audio recorder. It's hard to get a good take when you have the pressure of time on your mind. It takes away from the focus of the music. I wasn't sure how long I would have so I just tried recording in hopes that I could get an uninterrupted and decent take. It didn't come easy. After a few false starts and outtakes of me cursing at the dog for barking, I thought I had a recording of the song that I could live with.
I was in the middle of importing my song to my computer around 6 pm when I got a call from the laminate people saying that they were delayed at the other job and they would need to reschedule in order to get my floor done. I could feel my patience starting to slip but I calmly told them that I would have to call them back in order to make other arrangements for my recording session the next day. STRESS!!! Before I got around to making arrangements for my recording session I noticed while listening to my song that I had made an obvious lyrical mistake. MORE STRESS!!!
I decided I needed to chill out for a moment so I left my computer and phone alone, cracked open the last beer in the fridge, drank it, played a bit of my video game and went back up to assess the damage. I made a phone call to my friend Ryan who I was scheduled to record with and we found an alternate location for our recording. One problem down. Then I called the laminate people back (who were very apologetic for the inconvenience) and told them they could come out the following day. Another problem down. Then I re-set up the camera and audio and re-shot my video with the right words recorded. Problems solved! It was a painful ending to a long day.
It really is challenging doing this video a day thing sometimes. It's not so much the music that gets difficult but the amount of time to make a recording happen. When the stress of a normal day overwhelms you, it gets hard to make it happen. Add parenting on top of that and sometimes it seems damn near impossible! But I'd say Mel and I do a pretty good job and for all the challenges of today, I was still able to crank out a tune for Danielle O’Connor on her birthday. Danielle likes Bonnie Raitt and I've always like the song "Something to talk about" so I attempted a blues shuffle feel to my piano version of this tune.
When noon rolled around the fellas from the laminate place showed up and informed me that they could bring in the materials, but they had to start later in the evening because they were on another job that they had to finish. That wasn’t a big deal as long as they could finish the job by the end of the evening . So I spent afternoon looking after Julian at the park. It was a beautiful 20 degrees outside and there was no one at the park but the two of us. He had a great time and I thought I really thought I had tuckered him out but his afternoon nap didn't last very long. So I didn't get around to recording my song.
It's been tough some days trying to find little windows of opportunity to get things done. Being in daddy daycare mode limits your free time during the day and the length of a nap or lack there of, will determine what you can get done. Since Julian didn't stay asleep long enough for me to get around to recording, I decided I was going to have to aim for the time in-between Melanie getting off work and when the laminate guys returned to start the job. So when 5 pm rolled around I handed Julian over to Melanie and began setting up my camera and audio recorder. It's hard to get a good take when you have the pressure of time on your mind. It takes away from the focus of the music. I wasn't sure how long I would have so I just tried recording in hopes that I could get an uninterrupted and decent take. It didn't come easy. After a few false starts and outtakes of me cursing at the dog for barking, I thought I had a recording of the song that I could live with.
I was in the middle of importing my song to my computer around 6 pm when I got a call from the laminate people saying that they were delayed at the other job and they would need to reschedule in order to get my floor done. I could feel my patience starting to slip but I calmly told them that I would have to call them back in order to make other arrangements for my recording session the next day. STRESS!!! Before I got around to making arrangements for my recording session I noticed while listening to my song that I had made an obvious lyrical mistake. MORE STRESS!!!
I decided I needed to chill out for a moment so I left my computer and phone alone, cracked open the last beer in the fridge, drank it, played a bit of my video game and went back up to assess the damage. I made a phone call to my friend Ryan who I was scheduled to record with and we found an alternate location for our recording. One problem down. Then I called the laminate people back (who were very apologetic for the inconvenience) and told them they could come out the following day. Another problem down. Then I re-set up the camera and audio and re-shot my video with the right words recorded. Problems solved! It was a painful ending to a long day.
It really is challenging doing this video a day thing sometimes. It's not so much the music that gets difficult but the amount of time to make a recording happen. When the stress of a normal day overwhelms you, it gets hard to make it happen. Add parenting on top of that and sometimes it seems damn near impossible! But I'd say Mel and I do a pretty good job and for all the challenges of today, I was still able to crank out a tune for Danielle O’Connor on her birthday. Danielle likes Bonnie Raitt and I've always like the song "Something to talk about" so I attempted a blues shuffle feel to my piano version of this tune.