Been spending the past several days watching Avengers DVDs. Yeah, I’ve already seen the episodes three or four times each, but now that I have all of the Emma Peel era series on DVD I have to watch them again.

Also been doing a ton of recording on my digital 4-track. This thing is more addictive than Madden 2003. I’m having a blast pushing buttons, spinning wheels, and moving levers. I’m also discovering that getting the sound you want is a lot harder than it looks. And that finding the balance between a good technical performance and something that conveys emotion is a tricky task. It’s all so freakin’ subjective. Honestly, it’s a wonder anyone ever finishes recording a CD.

But it’s cool, because I’m getting my ideas on tape (well, actually into bits of data, but that sounds so cold). Many of these songs have been swimming around in my head for years, so it’s good to hear them come to life. The 4-track has backing patterns that can be programmed. The instruments sound horribly synthesized, so you have to be careful there. The fake horns and strings generally work well, as do percussion instruments. Forget the guitars, though.

The other great thing about being able to record these songs is that I’m learning a lot about their structure. I don’t have much formal training, so I usually just make notes on my lyric sheet where the chord changes go and hope for the best. But with this thing, if I don’t want the backing tracks to sound like hell I have to figure out exactly how many bars a certain phrase is, where chord changes occur within each bar, and the like.

I have to think about bass notes.

I say that only half-jokingly. Guitarists are notorious for not knowing much beyond their instrument (some would claim that even this is giving them too much credit), and I fit the stereotype. But sitting down and doing some arranging, even if it’s a bit crude, is forcing me to think about music in different ways. It’s expanding my world view, so to speak.

Anyway, this is teetering on the verge of unbearable self-indulgence so I’ll stop here. We’ll get back to baseball probably on Friday. Hope you like prospects, because that’s what we’ll spend much of January discussing at Ducksnorts. Meantime, have a safe and happy New Year. See ya on the flip side…