We Came, We Saw, We Recorded

March 12, 2008 8:28 AM

We're a couple weeks into March and there's not really been a post-mortem of MeFi contributions to RPM '08! So let's, you know. Have one.

I know pyramid termite's been posting his RPM entry to Mefi Music, as have I (one more track left to post on mine). Who else from the earlier thread finished? Who was less successful?

What do you think of the thing you made?

posted by sparkletone to MetaFilter Music at 8:28 AM (11 comments total)

This playlist has 9/10 of my RPM 08 entry. I'll post the final (and possibly best!) song tonight once my 24-hour-limit's gone away again.

Overall... Given how badly work tried to eat me... I think mine turned out pretty great. The last song has the best vocals I think I've ever recorded, and the worst I can say about the tracks I don't like is that they're just underdeveloped rather than being an outright awful idea.

I went into the thing thinking I would do a genre exercise and make some vaguely-sorta-kinda-not-really-minimal-ish dance music, but that ended up not working out quite like I thought. I ended up doing something more like the other things I've been working on the last few months.
posted by sparkletone at 8:31 AM on March 12, 2008

While I'm kind of abstractly grumpy that I haven't been doing much personal recording lately, I'm glad I skipped RPM this time around for general reasons of sanity.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:36 AM on March 12, 2008

I was able to get all 10 songs done, which made me very happy. I posted a couple of the songs to Music, and have a few demos up here. I figured I'd wait for the to release the jukebox for the whole thing to be online.

I was surpised I actually got it all done. I decided to go ahead and write everything last month too, and it was almost too much. By the middle of the month I had 8 song structures built but no lyrics or melodies. I had to write one song on the 29th and record something I'd written a couple years ago to get to 10.

Overall i think it is pretty good- the songs flow together well, and I don't consider any of them to be throw-aways. The recording could be better, especially the vocals, but for my first time on this big a project I'm satisfied with the final product.
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:08 AM on March 12, 2008

My absolute favorite part of this year's challenge was collaborating on a song with another RPM participant from halfway across the world (Finland!) She has a simply amazing voice which you can hear on My Voice in Her Heart, a beautifully haunting song that sounds a bit like a cross between Dead Can Dance and Yann Thiersen.

I'm pretty happy with the rest of the entry, though I think it pales in comparison to our collaborative effort (which is hopefully just the first of many). But just like '07, I was able to reach most of the goals I had set for myself, and had a great time in the process!
posted by malocchio at 9:29 AM on March 12, 2008

I got the songs recorded but during our first mixing session, my partner and I decided not to post them. They need to be fleshed out some more as several of them were calling out for more elements that we did not have the time to do in order to complete the challenge.

I had an awesome time trying to get it all together in a month and finally got to attempt all the cool stuff we had been talking about doing for a while!
posted by Asbestos McPinto at 10:20 AM on March 12, 2008

I finished, just under the wire, turning it in at the office right at the noon deadline. My entry is 8 songs and a bit short on the 35-minute time challenge, but it was complete in my view. The writing was fun - final title was "Winter Rental." I've tried uploading to Music, both from home and work, and I run into a file type problem every time. Frustrating.

Congratulations to everyone. RPM is such a fine exercise in music making.
posted by Miko at 11:15 AM on March 12, 2008

I wimped out for no good reason. I feel pretty bad about it.
posted by O9scar at 11:52 AM on March 12, 2008

I managed a single recording session wherin I managed to record an outline of a single song, which I will hopefully turn into something eventually but, uh, yeah - crashed and burned!
posted by TwoWordReview at 1:25 PM on March 12, 2008

I got nuthin'. But, hey, I was busy.

Big congrats to those of you who pulled it off this year, though! Miko, I'm especially looking forward to hearing what you've put together, since I've heard only tantalizingly little of your stuff. One song, to be exact!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:10 PM on March 12, 2008

I uploaded the last of my songs last night, so those are all there now.

Congrats to everyone else who mentioned finishing!
posted by sparkletone at 7:53 AM on March 14, 2008

Just to follow up: the RPM 2008 Jukebox is now up live. The search function on the Library tab is pretty cool, just type in any word and it narrows the results if that is part of the track name, artist, song title, or genre. You can find my songs by typing in "Jimi Jimmy"
posted by InfidelZombie at 10:52 AM on March 29, 2008