Hi! Mel Farrimond here. I made it to the finish line! Somebody bring me some water...
The hardest part of the challenge for me was the recording/production part. Though I have recorded in a studio, I have never tried home recording...other than when I was a kid and would record my voice to cassette, play it back and sing a harmony while recording the whole thing on another cassette. Those were the days! So I finally got a Mac and introduced myself to Garageband. I figured it's a start, and this challenge got me to that start line.
I most enjoyed the fact that this challenge made me be as disciplined as I could be, time-wise. My schedule is very full. I'm a university prof and it's a busy time of term. And when not teaching, I've been shoveling... but I did my best to write and record the songs in the time I had.
I learned that my songwriting can be pretty same-y. The challenge helped me explore different genres and gave me snippets of ideas I will pursue in future songs. I also learned that a bit of pressure helps me focus. I think I actually knew that already, but this was a reminder.
I would definitely do this type of challenge again. I'm all for anything that gets me in the songwriting groove.
So thank you to the wonderful SAC, to Lily, Debra and the adorable James (we go way back...). I have learned a lot in the past 6 weeks and it was a wonderful escape from the winter blahs!
The hardest part of the challenge for me was the recording/production part. Though I have recorded in a studio, I have never tried home recording...other than when I was a kid and would record my voice to cassette, play it back and sing a harmony while recording the whole thing on another cassette. Those were the days! So I finally got a Mac and introduced myself to Garageband. I figured it's a start, and this challenge got me to that start line.
I most enjoyed the fact that this challenge made me be as disciplined as I could be, time-wise. My schedule is very full. I'm a university prof and it's a busy time of term. And when not teaching, I've been shoveling... but I did my best to write and record the songs in the time I had.
I learned that my songwriting can be pretty same-y. The challenge helped me explore different genres and gave me snippets of ideas I will pursue in future songs. I also learned that a bit of pressure helps me focus. I think I actually knew that already, but this was a reminder.
I would definitely do this type of challenge again. I'm all for anything that gets me in the songwriting groove.
So thank you to the wonderful SAC, to Lily, Debra and the adorable James (we go way back...). I have learned a lot in the past 6 weeks and it was a wonderful escape from the winter blahs!