40 in 40: What It Is

I guess I should provide a little explanation about this project that I’ve undertaken.

I had absolutely nothing planned for any of this. I just happened to be up late on the night of Ash Wednesday and found myself in a bit of a somber mood, so I plugged in and recorded a song. People seemed to enjoy it so I decided to make it a thing: I would give up “not recording a song every day” for Lent*.

To be honest, I’m kind of making up the rules as I go along. As I’m progressing I’m finding that more than anything else it’s growing into an exercise for me to become more familiar and comfortable with my voice - discovering what works and what doesn’t, etc. I’ve never been a very confident singer and I don’t think 40 covers is going to change that, but I’m challenging myself to try it and find out.

So as it stands today, these are the rules:

Record 40 cover songs in 40 days.
Only one song from any one band or artist.
Songs from solo albums are OK (e.g., I can do a Rivers Cuomo song and a Weezer song, or a David Bazan and a Pedro The Lion song, or a Ben Folds song and a Ben Folds Five Song, etc.)
No Garageband loops or samples (Garageband instruments and effects are OK).
I have to completely finish recording the song before midnight and then draft up the post for the next morning. No touch-ups are allowed the next day, but I can get ahead of the game and work on more than one song in any single day, so long as the one that gets posted the following day is done by midnight.

Other than that, it’s a free for all. Some songs are coming out a little better than others. Some are getting completely different treatments than the originals while some I’m going for a note-for-note duplicate performance. I’m consciously trying to force myself to not be too technical with the recording process by not getting too mucked up with microphone placement, digital effects, tone, etc. I want to make it sound good, but I don’t expect it to sound great.

To answer a few questions that I’ve received:

No there won’t be a CD, but I’ll likely share the mp3s at some point.
No I am not taking requests or suggestions.
Yes I appreciate feedback and constructive criticism.
Yes I’m performing everything you hear on these.
Garageband, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, various mics and instruments.
You can find all the songs in the project tagged as 40 in 40.

So, thanks for listening and thanks for your hearts and reblogs and do not hesitate to ask me questions or provide feedback. You can reply, use my ask box, or email me at steelopus at gmail.