Here is the latest track from my album-in-progress, called “If You Remember (What I Did Wrong).” (Download: mp3 | lyrics & chords | tablature)
What I Did Wrong
Tag: guitar
U-Turn
Silent Night
We recorded Silent Night this year. My kids did the instrumental tracks: piano, guitar, and bass. I did the vocals with one of my sons and a daughter.
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Here is our musical Christmas greeting this year, a recording of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” This is one of my favorite Christmas songs.
Healing Heart
I just finished another recording for the Lost and Found album, a song called “Healing Heart.” (Download the mp3)
Look within your own heart
There is always another open part
This burden, can you forgive?
Oh, please forgive!
I sing for you and your healing heartDeep within my own heart
Can I open another broken part?
This burden, I will forgive
I will forgive!
Oh, pray for me and my healing heart
(Dedicated to the memory of John M. Stang, MD) (more…)
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 in a Linux Home Studio
Last year in late November my family sang Away in a Manger together, and my wife commented on how good we sounded with the kids making up their own harmonies. She suggested that we should record it for our Christmas card and email it out to our friends and family.
I said, “Then we need a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB audio interface!” She was taken aback at my sudden and specific declaration. So I showed her the website on my phone, which I happened to have open. “See? It’s The Best Selling USB Audio Interface in the World!”
“It sounds like you’ve been looking at this for a while,” she deduced, correctly.
“But clearly we really need one,” I insisted.
So it was settled, and I ordered it within the next week. It cost $151.19 from the Focusrite website, which I thought was a reasonable price. When it arrived we recorded our song and sent it out to our family and friends. The Scarlett 2i2 performed like a champ, and I was pleased with the sound quality of its input. Here is our recording:
Ye Olde Garage Band
“Claudia Doesn’t Like It” was my most successful garage band. We played gigs regularly during my junior year of high school, and I learned a lot about how to write songs for a three or four piece rock band.
We didn’t have access to good recording equipment in those days, so I don’t have many recordings that are worth sharing here. But in 2001 Jake Bracken and I got together to digitally record some of the old songs for posterity, and called the album “2001: A Claudyssey.” Some of these recordings turned out okay, but I was a bit clumsy on the drums. (more…)
